Hello everyone. I'm finally eligible to create a thread of my own, so I hope you enjoy it.

There has been a decent amount of talk on this site and elsewhere about Nintendo failing to properly support the Wii over the past two years.

I happen to agree that this is, unfortunately, the case. But it got me wondering about how Nintendo's support (or lack thereof) for Wii compared to its support for other previous-generation consoles with a next-generation console on the way.

So I've done a bit of research on the topic. Let me explain the parameters. I looked at software released on the last-generation system in an 18-month window before the release of the next-generation system. I limited the software to first-party published games, and I precluded games that were released after the launch of the next-generation system. In other words, Twilight Princess (GCN) is out and Donkey Kong Country 3 is out.  Another important note: these are all North American release dates.

I selected what I consider the most high-profile or highest-rated games. Please add others that I missed. I did my absolute best to be as thorough as possible.

If there is any interest in this thread, I would be happy to work on a follow-up that includes Sega, Sony, Microsoft, etc.

Enjoy!

Support for NES
February 23, 1990 - August 23, 1991

1) Nintendo World Cup (December, 1990)
2) Dr. Mario (October, 1990)
3) Final Fantasy (May, 1990)

Support for SNES
March 29, 1995 - September 29, 1996

1) Kirby Super Star (September 20, 1996)
2) Tetris Attack (August, 1996)
3) Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (May 13, 1996)
4) Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (December 14, 1995)
5) Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (October 4, 1995)
6) Killer Instinct (August 30, 1995)
7) EarthBound (June 5, 1995)
8) Kirby's Avalanche (April 25, 1995)

Support for N64
May 18, 2000 - November 18, 2001

1) Mario Party 3 (May 7, 2001)
2) Dr. Mario 64 (April 8, 2001)
3) Pokemon Stadium 2 (March 28, 2001)
4) Paper Mario (February 5, 2001)
5) Banjo-Tooie (November 20, 2000)
6) The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (October 26, 2000)
7) Mario Tennis (August 28, 2000)
8) Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (June 26, 2000)

Support for Gamecube
May 19, 2005 - November 19, 2006

1) Baiten Kaitos Origins (September 25, 2006)
2) Odama (April 10, 2006)
3) Super Mario Strikers (December 5, 2005)
4) Mario Party 7 (November 7, 2005)
5) Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (October 17, 2005)
6) Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness (October 3, 2005)
7) Battalion Wars (September 19, 2005)
8) Mario Superstar Baseball (August 29, 2005)

Support for Wii
May 18, 2011 - November 18, 2012

1) Xenoblade Chronicles (April 6, 2012)
2) Mario Party 9 (March 11, 2012)
3) Rhythm Heaven Fever (February 13, 2012)
4) Fortune Street (December 5, 2011)
5) The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (November 20, 2011)
6) Kirby's Return to Dream Land (October 24, 2011)

Note: I did not include The Last Story, since it was published by Xseed in N. America.

Awesome list, man! Can't say I can think of a title that you've missed. Perfect Dark came to mind, but your note can be used against it.


It seems evident that Nintendo cut off their support for the Wii in favor of Wii U (despite Reggie's bullshit claims). It's pretty ridiculous in my opinion how the Gamecube (!!!) got more support than the Wii in its final days, but hopefully this Wii U investment will pay off in the end. (After all, the first years of a console are far more important than the last years.)

We should also note 2 things regarding this (very well intended and put together) list.


1. The time frame from launch leading up to this 18 month cut off point.
2. Length of game development time.

Based on number 1, you have the following to consider:
NES - 52 months
SNES - 43 months
N64 - 43 months
GC - 42 months
Wii - 54 months

This means they had to support the Wii for an extra year longer than most of the consoles making it a more difficult period to support. Go back a year earlier for the Wii and you'd have a lot of software to add.

The other factor (number 2) should be considered because games take far longer to develop now than they did in generations past. Gone are the days when a team of 10-20 can make a high quality console title in 6 months.

Well, you actually missed SMB3 for the NES I think... That was (and is) a massive game!!

It JUST missed the cut-off. It was released in N. America on February 12, eleven days before the beginning of that 18-month window.

Which I acknowledge is somewhat arbitrary.

Off Topic: I just read this on wikipedia:
"As of 2011, Super Mario Bros. 3 remains the highest-grossing non-bundled home video game to date, having grossed $1.7 billion, inflation adjusted."
I'm really blown away!

haha ok then =) I wasn't quite sure WHEN it released ;)

Those are really good points.

Taking those points into account, which would you identify as the best supported system?

I would rank them SNES > N64 > Wii > GC > NES.

SNES wins because of 4-7.

GC has the joint most in quantity but none of those games are ever going to be considered major Nintendo classics.

I wouldn't overlook Metroid Prime so hastily.

As for personal taste, I think Super Smash Brothers Melee and Luigi's Mansion will be timeless classics for me.