That is a nice story!

But just it becomes confusing: What I am saying here is that Nintendo brought the industry back from the dead, not invented it. That didn't impede companies having some success before the crash, but nobody managed to actuyll save it after it did crash. Not until Nintendo.

So Nintendo fixed Amiga 500 sales and started Bullfrog so they could produce Populous...
They also fixed Sierra online so they could keep producing mainly PC adventures like they were doing before the 'crash'

Sierra entertainment was founded in 1979, Bullfrog in 1987 but they didn't develop for the NES, it was licensed to be ported to the SNES after the game had won awards and proved to be successful. Same happened to Metal Gear, success first then ported to the NES (drastically altered btw)

Lucasfilm games was doing fine as well (Maniac mansion) also got ported to the NES later (A port for the Nintendo Entertainment System had to be reworked heavily, in response to complaints by Nintendo of America that the game was inappropriate for children)

NES got a lot of (mangled) ports from already successful games. Great save!

Nothing exists in a vacuum. Yeah, Nintendo brought gaming as a whole, and that also helped the popularity of PC gaming, even if on a smaller scale. That also applies to other gaming consoles.

People jumped in/invested in gaming because Nintendo showed them it can be profitable and sustainable, which made poeple make games for both the NES and other gaming consoles(obviously after the NES and Super Mario Bros was a gigantic success).

I should also mention, because it seems that if I don't say anything about everything people don't get it, that while Nintendo saved gaming, it's not like it was completely defunct. Arcade was doing reasonably well and it's not like gaming didn't sell a single copy until the NES came. Their sales were just so stupidly low(even a few million for a console, considering that you needed tyo invest alot, was rather low back in the day) that you couldn't considered that a success, even if there were a few exceptions.

So yeah, yet again, Nintendo saves the day!

So what company would've saved it, Sega or Atari? Let me ask you how is Sega and Atari doing right now.... Yea......

Also, the reason why you are saying it takes more faith to believe the industry wouldn't bounce back is because you are living in a world where video games are flourishing more than ever and hasn't ever died since Nintendo saved it, you can't imagine a world where video games aren't big cause they are now a norm of society at this point. Put yourself in 1985 where the industry was dead and buried and you wouldn't believe the industry would ever recover from the crash, and most people thought video games were a fad. Just like how fidget spinners or hoverboards are a fad now that is clearly completely dead, imagine if you are a company looking to manufacturing more hoverboards and plan to make a consistent major income from that, do you think any company would take that business seriously?! No cause they believe hoverboards are a fad and a lost cause now, that is how companies looked at the video game industry. Nintendo was the only one to have a major amount of faith in the gaming industry and believed they could expand and grow off their video games alone, and they were willing to jump through a bunch of hurdles laid by retailers and consumers to release the NES. Believing the video game industry would've recovered without Nintendo takes as much faith as believing hoverboards will become a permanent trend that will flourish for years to come.

It’s absolutely a myth. I’d say NES advanced gaming and win teased the bar for commercial success of dedicated platforms. But saying “Nintendo saved gaming” is hyperbolic nonsense.

I’ve been a Nintendo fan since about the beginning, but there were clearly other platforms popular around that time, Vic 20 and C64 for starters. Granting Nintendo this sort of messiah status is silly. This reminds me of people claiming Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition was a full remake; they had to make up the myth of it being something different than what it actually was. Silly fanboyism. We as Nintendo fans don’t need fiction/lies to make it sound greater than it was - what Nintendo achieved with the NES was already phenomenal.

So, how is Commodore doing right now. I'm sure they really are the reason the industry is flourishing as much as it is now and they're still going strong 35 years later.... oh wait they aren't... I would rather put faith that pigs fly than believe that I could leave the hands of the gaming industry to a stupid and dead commodore companyor PC gaming in general. PC gaming was filled with piracy and limited returns and profit with no strict quality control. PC gaming was not the future and would've crashed and burned in Europe as well, or at least the gaming industry wouldn't be nearly as big worldwide, especially since Nintendo is the reason why Playstation exists, which made gaming much bigger in Europe overall. Plus the Gameboy was extremely popular in Europe.

This guy's response is exactly the sort of silly fanboyism I'm talking about. Rather than addressing anything I've said, or addressing the argument of how Nintendo saved gaming, he writes this silly posturing post that has absolutely no relevance to the conversation:

"So, how is Commodore doing right now." he writes, as though this somehow proves that Nintendo saved gaming or proves that Commodore didn't exist in the 1980s.

Thanks for demonstrating the sort of silly fanboyism I was talking about, Javi.

When there is a financial crash, does money cease to exist?

Why do people seemingly assume game consoles would have ceased being a thing after the early 80s gaming crash?

Nintendo’s effort did kickstart the gaming renaissance. But had it not been them, another gaming company would have eventually done it.

The way I see it, Nintendo rescuing gaming and "someone else would've done so at some point if they hadn't" aren't mutually exclusive.

Say you're adrift at sea with no raft or anything, but in an area where fishing ships often go. The first ship to pick you up and pull you alive from the sea can be said to have "rescued" you even if there's a likelihood that if they hadn't, another one might have come along later.

I personally think gaming would still have made a comeback eventually without Nintendo, but it still seems accurate to me to say that the NES drove its resurgence after the 2nd gen crash.

Just the way I see it anyway.

Apparently, the video game crash didn't really happen in North America either. It was more or less just the downfall at the end of the Intellivision and Atari 2600 generation, but that gaming didn't go away in North America - apparently, PC and Arcade gaming were exploding at that time. This doesn't really sound like a gaming industry that needed saving to me.

This guy, who was a gamer through the 80s, clarifies what it's all about. He says the whole idea of the video game industry in North America is false and describes what actually happened.