I got Sonic and the Black Knight this week and after playing the game for a few hours, I wondered why I am even a Sonic fan despite most of his games sucking lately. This made me also think about Nintendo in general. Why do I keep defending them and playing their games? Probably because they made some great games in the past, just like there was a time when Sonic was great. But how much longer should I stick with them when they are not the same they used to be?
Personally I view many of Nintendo's current games in higher regard than their past games.

Let's be honest here: Most of us (as in Nintendo fans) would have defended Nintendo no matter which choices perhaps, I don't have any reference on which to say "yes, certainly" though. they made this generation. Here are some examples:

Graphics: Last generation we were proud to say that our console of choice, the Gamecube, was a technological masterpiece. Higher performance than the PS2, but still more affordable. This generation? Graphics somehow hit the point of being good enough, now that Nintendo has backed out of the race for more horsepower.
I was never proud about the GC being more powerful, I didn't know it was and wouldn't have cared if anyone told me... I do however use the fact this generation against odd Sony fans who seem to think PS2 was more powerful, or who's gaming ideals seem to be set on high end graphics when last gen all they had was a PS2.

Online: It had hardly any importance at all during the last generation, because aside from Sega's Phantasy Star titles, no games supported it. This generation we drool over Mario Kart Wii because it has lagfree online play. There are these friend codes and some other annoying things, but all in all, it's once again "good enough". The features of Xbox Live or PSN aren't really needed for us to enjoy online gaming (at least that's what we say). I don't say that, I would like some of the features of the other consoles... although to be honest the Wii does have most of the best features, it's just that for some reason only certain games have certain features, so most X360 games might have some online feature that is present in only a handful of Wii games.
For my online experience I would first of all for a higher percentage of Wii games to have online components where they are clearly an advantage... then I would like game specific friend codes to be scrapped, but still have the main Wii code is a good thing IMO, and we shouldn't be able to make Wii friends via Wiis online service, but swapping 1 single code via other methods (in person or on forums) is no hassle. Things like online "rooms" or whatever they are called for joining with friends would be nice in more games, with voice chat and keyboard support of course (though I probably wouldn't buy anything to voice chat with, keyboard is fine for me as it is cheaper) and chat support in games that require it during gameplay.

Controller: With the introduction of the Wiimote we started to claim that playing console games the old way was getting boring and that it was time for something new. However, a button press replaced by shaking the controller, like it is used in countless games, is hardly innovative. The pointer has some advantages, but it doesn't take away from the fact that the Wiimote simply has too few buttons to work with more complex games. Nevertheless, we Nintendo fans defend it as being one of the greatest innovations in gaming history. I love it, and to me some of the "waggle" is just nicer than pressing a button, spin attacks in Mario Galaxy, wheelies in Mario Kart, and many other things fit nicely with motions like that.
True there are as many poor uses as there are good ones though.... but sometimes the simple act of replacing a button or control stick movement with "waggle" makes it better for me.... No More Heroes finishing moves just moving the control stick, or a simple button press for the grapple beam in Metroid Prime 3 just seems wrong.

So yeah. As you can see, we are happy with everything Nintendo does and would defend them no matter what. Some of us even bought Wii Fit and/or Wii Music, like the sheep that we are. But as a wise man once told me:
I haven't yet, but I may end up with Wii Music

"I have no problem with being a sheep as long as Miyamoto is my shepherd."

There's certainly a lot of truth in those words for many of us. After all, Nintendo raised our sorry asses better than a parent ever could.

Thanks for reading.

I got Sonic and the Black Knight this week and after playing the game for a few hours, I wondered why I am even a Sonic fan despite most of his games sucking lately. This made me also think about Nintendo in general. Why do I keep defending them and playing their games? Probably because they made some great games in the past, just like there was a time when Sonic was great. But how much longer should I stick with them when they are not the same they used to be?

Let's be honest here: Most of us (as in Nintendo fans) would have defended Nintendo no matter which choices they made this generation. Here are some examples:

Graphics: Last generation we were proud to say that our console of choice, the Gamecube, was a technological masterpiece. Higher performance than the PS2, but still more affordable. This generation? Graphics somehow hit the point of being good enough, now that Nintendo has backed out of the race for more horsepower.

Online: It had hardly any importance at all during the last generation, because aside from Sega's Phantasy Star titles, no games supported it. This generation we drool over Mario Kart Wii because it has lagfree online play. There are these friend codes and some other annoying things, but all in all, it's once again "good enough". The features of Xbox Live or PSN aren't really needed for us to enjoy online gaming (at least that's what we say).

Controller: With the introduction of the Wiimote we started to claim that playing console games the old way was getting boring and that it was time for something new. However, a button press replaced by shaking the controller, like it is used in countless games, is hardly innovative. The pointer has some advantages, but it doesn't take away from the fact that the Wiimote simply has too few buttons to work with more complex games. Nevertheless, we Nintendo fans defend it as being one of the greatest innovations in gaming history.

So yeah. As you can see, we are happy with everything Nintendo does and would defend them no matter what. Some of us even bought Wii Fit and/or Wii Music, like the sheep that we are. But as a wise man once told me:

"I have no problem with being a sheep as long as Miyamoto is my shepherd."

There's certainly a lot of truth in those words for many of us. After all, Nintendo raised our sorry asses better than a parent ever could.

Thanks for reading.