Ok so I'm watching the latest episode of Bonus Round and the topic is "Japan: Culturally Biased" and one of the panalist, Nathan Paine co-owner of Pink Godzilla - a major importer of Japanese videogames and other products, and he says something which bugs me everytime I hear it, that "Nintendo saved videogames and if it wasn't for Nintendo we likely wouldn't have videogames today".  I have to ask, have these people never heard of the Commodore 64, Apple 2, or any of the other computer platforms that did well after the collapse of the Atari 2600 and other videogame consoles? 

Some of the biggest Western studios actually have their roots on those systems (EA for example) and those systems had an amazing diverse spectrum of games, games with basically no Japanese influence, so how can anyone claim that Nintendo saved videogames when there was a branch of videogaming that did extremely well and in which they had no influence?

I would agree that Nintendo did save videogames in Japan since computer gaming was never as big there as it is in North America and Europe but otherwise I think people that repeat the claim that "Nintendo saved videogames" are just ignorant of history and are spreading an untruth.

Bonus Round episode Japan: Culturally Biased: 

http://www.gametrailers.com/bonusround.php?ep=11&pt=1

Maybe...but you can't deny its immense growth of the Western industry as well with the NES.

Na, really SEGA deserves some credit.

No, nintendo can never get too much credit for single-handedly lifting the video game market out of the pit it had put itself in... without them nobody would be gaming today...

"Nintendo saved videogames" is a bit overblown and exaggerated, yes. But they did have a huge effect on the gaming industry in the 80s. Most of the big hits in early 90s NA were based on Japan-made games. The source of Japan's games? Nintendo.

Videogames wouldn't be like they are today without Nintendo producing the NES ... The Atari ST, Amiga and Commodore existed at the same (approximate) time and had lots of games developed for them but were designed and priced in such a way that the mass-market consumer would never adopt them.

Without Nintendo's (and eventually Sega's) influence on the market it wouldn't have grown nearly as early or as quickly as it did

The Atari ST and Amiga could be compared to expensive videogame consoles of today (and previous generations) and would have eventually come down in price. The Commodore 64 could be compared to the PS2 in that it was immensely successful and attracted a wide range of gamers both because of it's price and library of games.

That's exactly the thing people say that bothers me, how can anyone claim that when PC gaming has *always* been around since the early 80s?  And it has always been strong and with basically no Japanese influence.  How can anyone claim that PC games simply would have ceased to exist when many computer game companies were making profits?

No, Nintendo deserves that credit. If there was no NES, then videogames would have a even SMALLER niche market than today.

nice retort legend11, but pc gaming isn't adopted by the average consumer... how many vgchartz users are proper, bonafide pc gamers... I'm willling to bet that everyone who owns Halo 2, has it on their Xbox but not on their PC...