I personally think that the SNES was the greatest console of all time, however, I think the Wii came close. Sure it didn't have massive 3rd party support but it really went back to its roots. 2D platformers made a huge comeback and even though NSMB Wii can't stand up to the older Mario games, DKC Returns stands tall even with the best of them. Kirby's Epic Yarn is the best Kirby game since Kirby's Adventure on the NES. Having two 3D Mario games on one system was awesome and Galaxy 2 was beyond fantastic. Xenoblade and The Last Story were two fantastic JRPGs which, while not at the level of, say, Chrono Trigger, were huge steps forward in the genre. The two Zelda games could each be considered the best in the series with significant differences between the two. The Metroid Prime Trilogy was just brilliant. Honestly, the Wii was incredible and for me it was a return to form for Nintendo. If you think about it, the N64 was a very new era and a lot of the old ideas were forgotten and/or ignored such as the 2D platformer. The Game Cube was a very experimental console with some very strange ideas such as Mario Sunshine and a cell shaded Zelda. It had some incredible ideas but I felt that they weren't fully realized and were in no way what the customers really wanted (hence the terrible sales of the system). The Wii brought back all of these old genres and continued making great games and fixed a lot of the problems of their older games.

Because the SNES had unbelievable 3rd party support as well as some of the best Nintendo games of all time it still surpasses the Wii. However, The Wii (unlike with many people) left me very optimistic about the future of Nintendo. If Nintendo can continue to look back for inspiration for new games that would be incredible. Also, if the Wii U gets the third party support needed, and if Nintendo with help of MonolithSoft continues to push out bigger and better JRPGs.....Well, lets just say I'm psyched for the Wii U because of (not in spite) the Wii.

I don't know, things change and it isn't something across the board. But as for 2D mario I played NSMBWii and it was terrible. Well...not terrible, but it was nothing compared to the NES titles. I suppose my biggest upset about it was the entire game tutorial. Every single time you got an item it gave you a tutorial on how to use it, regardless of how many times you've done it, used it, or have stockpiled in your inventory. Even while playing it has to motion you some controls as if you didn't know how to do it by the end of the game. There was barely a point in the game that I wasn't at 99 lives. What gives? I suppose the levels were good and the worlds were alright but it was very disappointing to me. Mario was always seen as a little kids game but NSMBWii is made for an even younger demographic...or something.

As for the rest of their games, their choice to create a system with the hardware power of last generation has really left them out of a great deal of innovation this gen. I want to see what they do with the Wii U, but it might take a while before they get use to the new tech they've been isolating their developers from for years.

I was there man, the NES had graphics like you wouldn't believe. We had just come from the era of Atari and Coleco. Sure the Master System had more power, but it didn't have the graphics. The NES had smooth scrolling graphics that made you think you were playing a cartoon show.  Home computers even had trouble doing that. In processing power it may not have been top dog, but graphicaly it was a show stopper. And I did say graphical powerhouse.

I'd rather have a Gamecube 2 than the Wii. I don't like motion controls, even when done right like in Skyward Sword. It would have been a much better game without motion controls. Honestly, if my choices are "Gamecube 2 fails so Nintendo goes 3rd party like Sega" or "Wii motion controls, Wii U Tablet gimicks", I'll take the 3rd party Nintendo with standard controls for multiplatform Mario, Zelda, and Metroid.

That's coming from someone who's been playing Nintendo games since before there was a Nintendo Home Entertainment System. It would be sad to see an end of an era, but the painfull lose of Sega consoles taught me that the name on the machine doens't matter so long as I still get the games, with standard controls that is.

For me, Nintendo is just as good as they always have been.

old nintendo created some to the best franchises ever. new nintendo releases the old franchises. that's not always a bad thing but many of the new entries just don't feel fresh. the truely new experiences they are bringing are just not good overall. they've gone a ways from creating new gameplay to creating new gameplay though hardware. the difference is that i've enjoyed SSB, zelda, mario kart for the last 20 years. i'm already exceedingly bored of wii sports, wii fit, and really everything else that was fun for a while this last gen.

Ive been gaming since the Sinclair ZX spectrum and Atari 2600 days, but i never owned a Nintendo console untill the Gamecube. Before that i was a Sega fanboy and was caught up in the console war between the big two, when Sega went bust i blamed Sony (lol sounds pathetic now) so i switched to Nintendo. I have been hooked ever since, and i learnt a valuable lesson not to get blinded by fanboyism. Since i was so loyal to Sega i missed out on gaming gold all those years.

I started gaming on the GBA and GameCube... and I FELT those were better, even, than what we have now. But that was a while ago. xD

Back when I got my Nes, Nintendo may have been my least favorite developer. Well, after LJN, Acclaim, and a lot of other companies that made shovelware at the time. I was into stuff by Capcom, Konami, Data East, and Sunsoft. Nintendo's early stuff really seemed to suck.

After a while, I got my hands on stuff like Punch Out and Super Mario Bros. 2 and things started to look up. That was when I noticed something that I didn't notice when I played the older Nintendo stuff (didn't play Zelda and Metroid until later. Played a lot of Donkey Kong, Balloon Fight, Mach Rider and other archaic stuff). Games like Spy Hunter, Jaws, Contra, Shadowgate, Bionic Commando, Ninja Gaiden, etc--they got old. Nintendo's titles always seemed to be replayable and fun. So, my love affair with Nintendo began.

Old Nintendo always seemed to push new boundaries. Yeah, a lot of the time, it was some other company that made the product and they just licensed it. That didn't change the fact that the Power Pad, Zapper, Super FX Chip, Mode 7 graphics, MMC3 Chip, and more just seemed like something from the future. They were always pushing new boundaries but at the same time, always offering the most polished and fresh gaming experiences you could find. No broken games or games that felt like rip-offs. If the Nintendo name was on the box, it was quality. Something that meant a lot back when money was tight and shitty games lurked around every corner.

And Nintendo of today? Yeah, they dabble in a lot of stuff that doesn't appeal to me. Things like Wii Music, Pokemon, and Nintendo Land--not the kind of stuff I'd spend my hard earned money on. When they release something like Mario Galaxy, Wave Race, Skyward Sword, or Metroid Prime 3, old jaded d21lewis suddenly becomes young, wide-eyed d21lewis. No other company does that for me. No other company has a hard line straight to my childhood like Nintendo does.

So, the "Too long, didn't read" answer is: Old or new, Nintendo is Nintendo and I love 'em. The other companies are managing to polish their games to Nintendo quality these days, though.

I've been playing since the Atari days, and have owned every single Nintendo console (minus the Gameboy) to date. This thread specifically covers Nintendo as a software company, so I'll strictly stick to the point. During the NES days Nintendo was more exciting, in that every IP was original. Obviously there was more originality and surprises for what kinds of games they would make next. Fast-forwarding to the 3D era, new Nintendo IPs (major titles) were much harder to find than before. Sure, there were new ways to play Mario, Metroid, and Zelda, but they were still technically the same games from the 2D era.

I had just as much fun with the N64 and Gamecube as I had with NES and SNES. But much of that was due to very strong non-Nintendo titles (even though N64 and Gamecube get an unearned bad rep for weak third party support). Nintendo was at their prime in the NES and SNES days because so much effort was necessary in order to make a name for themselves. Not only that, but Nintendo actually considered their competition as their competition. Creative lulls happen when a company feels they no longer have to be so original (only talking software).

Complacency is a real danger for Nintendo (or any company, for that matter), as long as they put their previous IPs before new ones. They enjoy taking risks concerning innovations in hardware, but their software feels less fresh and less exciting with every passing generation. That being said, it is possible for them to continue making enough money to stay afloat indefinitely, even with no new IPs. However, that train of thought has a negative effect on how all players view video gaming in general.

What makes gaming in this form unique is the ability of developers to offer something the world has never seen. We've all seen Mario, though he never necessarily has to go away. But it's time for a new set of characters to step up and remind us why everyone around the world recognizes the Nintendo name.

I'm 33, so I am THE generation as far as console gaming is concerned. I've experienced every generation as they happened and imo, Nintendo isn't anything like they were back then. That isn't to say they're no good at what they do, they are, but back in the 80's the franchises that people are playing now, Nintendo INVENTED them. Metroid, Mario,Donkey Kong,Zelda,Kirby etc....they were all created back then. Nintendo didn't just release great games, they created great new IPs that changed the industry. Those days are LONG gone as they're now more concentrated on pleasing their fanbase than creating new core IP. So imo, the Nintendo of 1985 to 2000 is way better.