Define "Nintendo Magic"

[Tootylicious]

spemanig said:

Tootylicious said:
Most of the Nintendo magic comes from nostalgia. Most of us grew up with Nintendo, because they had the most popular consoles and each of them had ground breaking titles.

Also, most magic moments have fantastic music combined with it that sets you in the right mood. Music is such a strong medium, it does help to make you still appreciate old games.


- Intro of OoT is a classic example.
- same goes for final Bowser in Mario 64. If some organ starts to play in the background of a 90s game (same for OoT Ganondorf), you know sh!t's about to get serious. Also the color scheme of Bowser is just phenomenal there

About the Twilight Princess reveal trailer, I tend to use this video because the crowd goes nuts!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE2Dc1sx71U
At first I get goosebumps, later I even get teary-eyed and smile uncontrollably. Every time!
The way this trailer slowly reveals what franchise this trailer is about combined with the incredible Conan the Barbarian music playing in the background is just so much joy at once. Especially in a time where 3D videogames started to actually look good and people desperately wanted a realistic looking Zelda 3D game.
To me this is the best game reveal of all time, it created so much hype to me like no other reveal could ever do. Sadly I was not blown away by the game itself, I am more of a Wind Waker guy, but that's another story.

I don't buy the nostalgia claim at all. I never played an F-Zero game (GX) until I was an adult. I didn't play Metroid Prime or Super Metroid until this year and those are my first metroid games. Super Mario Galaxy was the first 3D Mario I ever truly played. Mario Kart Wii was the first Mario Kart I ever truly played a lot of. Brawl was the first Smash game I ever truly played a lot of.

I still felt the "Nintendo magic" with all these games despite having absolutely no nostalgic links to them. Even Nintendo games that I feel are over rated like Ocarina of Time, have that magic. I even feel silly using the word magic, but there isn't any other word to describe it. I can explain to you why Super Smash Bros. is such a technically superb party brawler, but I can't explain to you why it's so fun to play a game that literally makes me hate my friends. I can explain to you why Wind Waker is one of the most well designed games of all time, but I couldn't tell you why a cynic like me cracks a smile when Link gets the Master Sword and realizes for just a second how much of a bad ass he's become before becoming humbled in it's presence. I can explain to you all the smart design choices that makes back tracking in Super Metroid fun, but I couldn't explain to you why feeling lonely in Super Metroid is fun. And I couldn't tell you why all the unexplainable feelings I get from these three completely different games is, in truth, the same single feeling.

Nintendo makes games that make people feel something that can't and need not be described, because everyone feels the same thing. It's like Nintendo crafted a secret language of pure emotion that only it's players can hear, speek, and understand. That's magic.

But is this a phenomenon you would only attest to Nintendo games? What's with other games of similar quality?
I never played the early Sonic games in my youth, but when I play them nowadays I get so much joy from it. I can hum the music like I knew it since 20 years and smile about the various character animations or feel the guilt when i can't reach an air bubble in time.

I know that Nintendo is a profit-oriented company like all others, but I still feel like they put more heart into their games than some other publishers/developers just milking their franchises for profit, especially nowadays. This might be due to Nintendo's history. They once completely ruled the video game market and did not have to worry about their future if the Virtual Boy or the 64DD was a financial failure. They could do what they want and try out what might be fun or not.

SEGA did the same but their customers lost faith in them at some point.

 

That said, Nintendo still uses lots of nostalgia by keeping their old franchises alive. The new Zelda or Mario game would not sell as well if it would star a new character as the hero.
Smash Bros. is nostalgia to the max. They put in characters from their whole history in there (Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B., Villager), add stages and music remixed from old classics and people love it. There's a character for any Nintendo fan in there.
If you've been isolated from Nintendo stuff all your life, chances are you would not care about Smash Bros. at all.