| Jumpin said:
The game that not only saved the SNES, but brought it to dominance. It is probably the first mega-hyped game ever made, and it really changed the tide of the 16-bit era, not just so that Nintendo caught up to Sega, but that Nintendo sales began to so heavily surpassed Sega that they ended the 16-bit generation quite a bit ahead of the Mega Drive.
While the N64 lost the generation, this game did save the console from dwindling into obscurity early on in its lifetime. While the N64 had Ocarina of Time, Mario 64, and Lylatt Wars from Nintendo, if you were going to play games with friends, there was a very high chance that it was going to be this one. The N64 without Mario Kart would have been an obscure system with a few forgotten gems without Rare. Luckily thanks to Rare, not only was there GE007, the most played game of the generation, but there were also a number of single player gems to accompany the first party games. GE007 was to the N64 in the West as Monster Hunter was to the PSP in Japan. |
I absolutely get and appreciate what you're saying, though I felt I would point a few things out from my own point of view, having lived through the 16bit era also.
1. DKC was a landmark achievement for it's time, and deserves all the praise it gets. The graphics and music were phenominal, if the gameplay itself wasn't innovative. And I certainly wouldn't argue that it helped deliver a "killing blow" from the SNES to the Genesis.
However, I would point out that the only real reason the Genesis had a lead over the SNES in the first place, was because it launched earlier, and then released Sonic the Hedgehog which became an instant popular success. But on the other hand, Super Mario World was incredibly well received and popular, especially in NA, as well. The SNES also had many things going for it that drove system sales early on, not the least of which being Street Fighter II being exclusive for a good year or two. If people wanted to play SFII at home, the SNES was the system to play it on, and that alone drove sales. The fact that you could only play games like Contra, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Actraiser, Mega Man X, etc. on SNES also helped. Not to mention the fact that even before DKC released, major hits for Nintendo like F-Zero, Sim City, Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario Kart, Mario Paint, A Link to the Past, Earthbound, Star Fox, and Super Metroid, all of which were highly acclaimed, sold well, and helped push the system.
2. Goldeneye was absolutely one of the single biggest hits on N64, not to mention on any system that generation. As were Banjo-Kazooie, Diddy Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, etc. However, again, Nintendo themselves also had massive hits in Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, etc. before Goldeneye came out. Goldeneye CERTAINLY had a major hand in helping system sales and making a lot of folks want to own one, it was one of the "Games to Have", but then again, so were Mario 64, Mario Kart, and Ocarina of Time.
I'm not trying to downplay Rare's hand in pushing Nintendo hardware, they absolutely were a big part of Nintendo's success. In fact it's rather unfortunate that Nintendo ever sold Rare back their majority stake, or allowed Rare to sell themselves to Microsoft. That loss, while not detrimental, was certainly a big one, and Rare's presence on Gamecube, combined with their own, and Retro Studios and Silicon Knights (at the time), would have really helped. But I suppose I am just a bit resistent to the idea that Rare "saved" Nintendo's consoles. There is a stronger argument to be made that they did in fact "save" the N64, or at least helped keep it relevant. But I don't think, even as good as DKC and Killer Instinct were, that the SNES really needed "saving", and honestly it was already kind of kicking the Genesis' ass before DKC even released in late '94. Like I said, DKC definitely did help them give Sega that knockout punch, but Nintendo was rockin' fine at least in the SNES gen by themselves.
