| Tootylicious said: But is this a phenomenon you would only attest to Nintendo games? What's with other games of similar quality? 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. |
It absolutely is a phenomenon that only applies to Nintendo, but that doesn't mean that Nintendi is the only publisher to make great or impactful games. Bioshock is one of my favorite games of all time, and I feel something incomparable when ever I play it, and I like it more than many Nintendo games, but it does not have Nintendo's magic. It just doesn't. Similarly, Kill Bill is one of my favorite movies, but it could never have the magic that Disney's The Little Mermaid has, even though I like the former more than the latter.
Saying that Nintendo has magic isn't saying that other games are less compared to them, but there's a special quality to a Nintendo game. It's a very specific thing and it's not explainable. There's a soul to Nintendo games that other games just don't have.
It has nothing to do with nostalgia. You can play a Nintendo game, not knowing it's a Nintendo game, and know for sure after 10 minutes that it's a Nintendo game. You can feel that. It's not about the characters. I felt that way with Dillon's Rolling Western. Many people feel that way about Pikmin. You can already see glimpses of it in Splatoon. Smash Bros is a game built on fanservice. That much is obvious, but it's "magic" doesn't at all come from having Mario and Link duke it out. If you were never raised on Nintendo, there'd obviously be nothing compelling you to buy the newest one, but I guarantee you that if that person sat down and played it with three other friends for an hour, they'd get it. I've seen it happen, and I'm sure you have to. They'd probably be getting their ass kicked, but they'd love every minute of it.
