I think the new Nintendo is more often then not completely out of touch with the needs of gamers, in contrast with what the old Nintendo was. I have no better way to put it without being called a poser or whatever a person who cares about how relatable games are is called. The worlds are just fake and gimmicky and have absolutely no appeal to gamers of all ages, they are watered down kiddy porn and alienate those who love games in general, even kids.

So in general I think the old Nintendo kicks the New Nintendo's ass. That said, their games are of higher gameplay quality then they were back then. Still, lots of issues I have with their games of late. (constant messages in Zelda games for example). Their games were also more challenging back then in general imhoand had a better difficulty progression than today.

The new Nintendo is no longer at the forefront of gaming for gamers. The proof is that Nintendo games should take few queues from the advancements of other companies, for example games like Assassin's creed that come out at roughly the same time period as Twilight Princess (just one year later), yet are so much more advanced from a character movement perspective. You just get the feeling that the devs at Nintendo don't even play the games the other devs are making in the West and abroad.

OLd Ninty overall. SMB3 alone blows away any 2d Mario they have made recently. Never really cared too much for the Wii series, didnt do much for me. Mario Kart Wii IMHO isnt as good as prior MKs. The only actual improvement has been the 3d Marios, they keep getting better. But the handhelds have pretty much stayed the same for the most part which is great.

I've been thinking about this a bit more, but what do you guys think of my thought? Nintendo of old was a company that made games. Nintendo of now is a company that wants money. Even though they made a "revolution" with the Wii; the Wii-motes have become, in most cases, a gimmick. They throw Mario on every genre (Racing, Soccer, Tennis, etc). Wii U's tablet to me is nothing more than a gimmick for the sake that they might be too scared to release hardware without a twist. So what do you guys think?  Has Nintendo become blinded by money?

I agree and disagree.

The Nintendo of old was more of a venture business than the Nintendo of today. The Nintendo of today doens't venture anymore, it stays within the realm of video games and risks within that business. It was an even more business aggressive company than today, and was more intent on making money. The Nintendo of old ventured into many other markets and tried with many different hardware entertainment. (Amusement park games, arcades, cards). The Nintendo of old invented the gameboy and the game and watch, it invented Rob the Robot, the virtual boy and many other cool hardware technologies for games. It generated huge cultural phenomena that people believed in.

The Nintendo of the day was much more ready to challenge the status quo, and Hiroshi Yamauchi made sure to pit his development teams against each other so that only the best made it through. Today's Nintendo is a company with much more internal harmony, and that affects the internal dynamics of the company and reflects into the games we play.

In the Nintendo of old, there was a better disconnect between the games and the gamer, and provided a better immersion (as paradoxal as that may be). It also spurned many new ideas that never existed before in the world of software, like all new games based on boxing, duck hunting, ice mountain climbing, and other such natural activities. The games tried to be as real as graphics permitted (punch out, duck hunt), despite the obvious humor and caricatures. Nowadays most of Nintendo is in cartoony and fantasy worlds that lack touch with reality and lack most of the raw humor of the original Nintendo games.

In general, the Nintendo of today is a much less risking Nintendo than the Nintendo of yesterday, and is much less tolerant of failure in a way that makes it more careful rather than more agressive. To put it simply, the Nintendo of old was aggressive, the Nintendo of today is defensive.

You can kind of see it in there Mario games, pretty much any Mario game that is not 3d IMHO just seems to be thrown out there, because they know it will move consoles. They are making them not because they really want to but because they know it will make money, i feel that the games are kinda rushed and lifeless. Mario Kart felt rushed, Tennis felt rushed. NSMB2 feels rushed. Not sure about the Wii U one, 3DLand actually felt like they really gave a damn about, thats just me

My gaming history began with the snes, being the n64 the first console I bought with my very own money (it also gave me a nickname YAY!) IMHO the N64 is the best console of all time, but that being said, I dont think old nintendo was better than the new nintendo. At least their main franchises just keep getting better and better 3d mario is awesome, metroid, DK, kirby, pokemon, fire emblem, advance wars, smash, mario kart, zelda is still my favority franchise, 2d marios are not as good as SMW, but not bad at all. The only thing that I would ask them is to revive star fox, fzero, wave race, earthbound and to make sure not to forget about sin and punishment & kid icarus.

I think one thng old nintendo got right over new nintendo is sound, this goes for music and sound effects. Sound effects play an important role in games for me as it shows the extra polish developers put into their games.

Who remembers in SMW how good it felt to hold that turtle shell in the first level and kick it towards the koopa's lined up in a row, it just made a satisfying sound as it hit each koopa and you got the extra life, or the impact you felt when you power dived into ground with the cape, nothing ever felt cheesy or annoying or as some would say kiddy.

And the music were the best back in those days, SMW, Link to the past, DKC, all had excellent music ,proof being that most of them are still recycled to this day and I rather not have any other way.

Edit- As a matter of fact nearly all 16bit era music was great.

p.s. new super mario bros has terrible music

I started with the NES and Zelda 1 and Super Mario Bros and Metroid were my very first Video games. The NES had also really strong third party titles like Mega Man and Castlevania. I still play these old classics from time to time and I really like the Virtual Console for this.

Then SNES was a huge step forward because you had a greater variety of Genres. This was the Time when I played my first few JRPGs like Terranigma or Actraiser (No Final Fantasy in Europe ...). Zelda 3 is still my most favourite Nintendo game... it was absolutely brilliant. Its a shame that they went away from the bird view (thats why I really liked 3d Dot Game Heroes for the PS3... a great Hommage). Super Mario World is still my favourite Mario Game. It is a pity that they forfaited the two player mode when they went 3D.

But to be honest, Nintendo lost me with the N64. I wanted to buy it for the new Zelda, but somehow the new 3D-games didn't caught my interest. I have bought a PS1 before and I the games I saw there just blew me away. Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid... They all delivered something that Nintendo just do not want to deliver... Characters and Storytelling.

Nintendo Games still put their focus on the gameplay, but that is no longer enough for me. "Ratchet and Clank" and "Jak and Dexter" succeeded in combing Jump'n'Run with funny characters and Dialogues. Final Fantasy tries to make you think about deep philosophical matters, Assassin's Creed brings you back to the Renaissance in Italy.

So Nintendo will aways have a place in my heart... But for games like Zelda 3, Metroid or Super Mario World. But nowadays I will prefer Ratchet and Clank to Mario or Final Fantasy XIII to Zelda because they offer more than just gameplay.

Well, Nintendo just wants to be the "Family Console", where parents can play together with their kids. Thats a decision and they deliver exactly what they want. But this also narrows down their game design because it has to be accessible to kids as well.

The next thing that I didn't like about Nintendo from the N64 era on I just hated their controller. The Wii Mote maybe was the selling point of the Wii... but Motion Controls are simply a bad control scheme for me. It is nice for Mini-Games but you simply have to sacrifice smooth controls and button variety for it.

What I really like about the "New" Nintendo is that they are not so keen on the online thing. Assassin's Creed, God of War, Uncharted... everyone tries to tack on an online mode. I hope this hype dies down because online multiplayer modes of most games are almost dead after several months and you often have troubles with finishing your online trophies.

I agree with Nintendo that it is just more fun playing with your wife or your Kid in the same room as to play with a complete stranger who behaves like an idiot and thinks he is so funny. No insulting, no cheating, no stress.

So, all in all, I think that I really liked the 2d Nintendo games. But as I grew older I started to miss the story telling and character development in Nintendo games. They are still very good games gameplay wise but I started to miss something when I play the newer games since the N64 era. If you have played games like Jak and Dexter or Ratchet and Clank, you will probably understand what I mean. Jrpgs are something difficult to compare because Nintendo simply do not offer them (ok, Pokemon is NOT a JRPG for me because it lacks the focus on storytelling and character development. If you have played games like Final Fantasy or Suikoden you will probably understand what I mean...)

Can't they just be both? Sometimes I wonder what's so complicated for them to understand that.

I'll take 2D Mario over 3D.

2D Zelda over 3D.

That said, the modern 2D Zelda and Mario games aren't any worse then the past ones.

While the rest of their properties I would say are better then their 1st party properties of the NES/SNES days.


Tell me i could only play NES or Wii games for the rest of my life... and I think I would pick NES.

Though I'd pick NES over PS3 or 360 as well.

NES is just fun.