It's the games, obviously. The games are designed to be played by (almost) everyone...

I'll just look at the last two big games, SMG and SSBB.

I love platformers but I'm not good at games that require manual dexterity (turn-based strategy is my kind of game). SMG was a blast and I can only get to 94 stars. After a week of being stuck and making no progress I went to GameFaqs (oh, the shame). Wow, that got me one more star, one of the hidden stars. So the game is made so I could get the 60 star "Big Battle" and see almost all of the universe and of course I loved the platforming. Overall it was the most constantly surprising and mind-bending game I've ever played.

The there's ROlStoppable, my arch-nemesis. He finished the game 12 times with the alternate character. Who knows how many times he did the first playthrough. With as many times as he played it I'm just guessing that he liked the game. Or maybe he believed that rumour about unlocking Star Fox.

Two players of WIDELY ranging skil levels and yet a great game for both. I'm still trying to get all 119+ stars. I may have to fly Rol over to complete all the levels for me.

SSBB, what can I say, I'm still terrible at games that require manual dexterity and wasn't even sure if I should get this game. I was (just barely) able to beat the final boss on easy mode. Afterwards I went to the smashboards and was amazed to find out that you can press the A button when you're falling down on top of an enemy to attack them. I thought you always had to stand next to an enemy and press the A button as fast you could, and then press the B button occassionally when their power was low. And yet on EASY mode I made it through the SSE game and I loved it. Absolutely loved it. It was just like an old-school platformer to me with a little strategy involved with the selection of characters. I may even try it on normal now.

SSE was the best 12 hours (yeah, it took me twelve hours) I've had this year since SMG. Oh yeah, I hear people play this game in competitive tournaments and it's actually a game that has some slight bit of strategy. Imagine that. It's almost like it's a real fighting game. There are actually people that can beat the SSE on hard and that play against each other competitively. Rubang has said there's a slight chance he might be able to beat me (although I don't think so). And also (I'm just guessing herre) but people enjoy the hell out of the game.

It's brilliant. Nintendo can make two games that can appeal to someone who is a poor gamer and at the same time appeal to RolStoppable (and the lesser but still skilled gamers like Rubang). "E" for everyone indeed.

Sure, I enjoyed NMH (on easy of course) and I had a lot of fun. Strange thing is that Nintendo has figured out that it doesn't need to make games like that. Nintendo is "merely" concentrating on making games that are accessible to all level of players and that are fun for all level of players. It is quite a high bar they've set. Let's see if they can keep it up.

What Nintendo has... not so much 'the game', but 'the tradition' or the 'name recognition'

It has proven countless times that Nintendo doesn't even need to make good games, they just need to 'whore' their mascots around.

the fact those games are good (SSBB and SMG) is just a bonus.

That's been Nintendo's GAME plan (har har) ever since the beginning, something fun, interesting, and that everyone can play from the new players to the hardcore.

I'm sure it was luck that they were good games. A good way to shit up the thread with the first reply. Kudos.

It's like all Nintendo needs to do is follow Sega's old game plan, eh? 

I do believe Nintendo does do the best job at given their fans what they want. Most Nintendo games are fun and family friendly, my question is why didnt that formula work for the Gamecube ?

 Are you for real? If what you say is true then the N64 and NGC would have been great successes like the Wii but guess what they weren't not even close.

 DId I say it was "luck"? I said it was a nice bonus.

So I believe that your trying to say that Nintendo games are for the hardcore and the casual fan. I couldn't agree more. Anyone can pick them up and play but it takes an absolute maniac to master them. By the way, the final 15 stars in SMG are the hardest. Oh , the Melty Molten world Daredevil Comet and the Bouldergeist can't take a hit Comet are really hard too. Just giving you something to look foreward to.

I don't think there's such a thing as a "poor gamer."  The goal in games, at least to me, isn't so much to win as to have fun.  No matter how skilled/unskilled someone is, a game can still be fun.  ^_^

Why does anyone ever respond to kingofwale? He complains about how House of the Dead was rereleased in its original form but bought Time Crisis for 800000000 dollars or whatever it costs since the PS3 doesn't have a controller that has an IR pointer.