As we’re gearing up to move in the very near future, I’m attempting to simplify my digital life by shedding weight wherever possible. Because of this, I’ve decided to replace our separate TiVo and DVD players with a combination DVD recorder and TiVo (I may think TiVo’s days are numbered, but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts). To finance this consolidation, I’ve decided to sell off a few key parts of my collection. I’m going to sell off my uberhacked TiVo as soon as the new one arrives (and is set up to my satisfaction), but for now I’m selling two things: my copy of Snatcher for Sega CD, and my GameCube. Snatcher is up for sale on eBay, and I’m selling that because it’s worth a lot of money, and I doubt I’ll ever play it again. The GameCube is up for sale on Shackifieds.
I’m selling my GameCube for one simple reason: I don’t play the thing. Since buying the system several years ago, there have been only two decent games for the platform: Ikaruga and Soul Calibur II. As much as I like those two, they’re really not that good, and there’s absolutely nothing on the horizon for GameCube that interests me in the slightest.
These days, I’m no fan of Nintendo, and I make no attempt to hide that. I think Nintendo is making themselves too niche oriented for their own good, and they seem to be getting less and less relevant to the industry at-large with each passing year. Am I saying that the company is going to go under? No, I definitely am not. But the DS is everything I hate about Nintendo right now. It’s a novelty, one that is kind of cool for about five minutes, but eventually gets tiresome. I don’t doubt that Nintendo’s going to make money on the thing (they already have), but I’ll be surprised if anyone but Nintendo’s own development studios manages to take advantage of the hardware.
I wanted to like the GameCube, really I did. But every game that came out was a disappointment to me. Metroid Prime was good but lifeless (no dialogue == suck). Mario Sunshine was a big let down. Zelda…well, I’ve never liked the series, so I can’t say I was disappointed there. The only game I regret never getting to play is Paper Mario 2, but even that doesn’t interest me enough to hang onto the system. I’m sure it’s fun and all, but I always have Mario & Luigi for GBA.
Sadly, the future prospects for the system don’t appeal to me either. Advance Wars was the one I had high hopes for, but they managed to screw that up by making it a third person action game. Resident Evil 4 should be pretty good, but I’m just burnt out on that whole genre (and if I change my mind, there’s always the PS2 port). As for the new Zelda, it certainly looks less grating than the last one, but somehow I don’t expect the gameplay to change much at all.
So will the GBA be the last Nintendo system I own? Quite possibly. SPOnG is hardly a reliable source, but this rumor (which didn’t come directly from them) suggests that Nintendo’s next home system will have a non-traditional interface. Considering Nintendo’s recent statements about gaming in general, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this turned out to be the case. Since non-traditional interfaces do nothing but send me running in the opposite direction, I don’t have much confidence in Nintendo’s ability to make a game or system that appeals to me anymore.
Eh, can’t blame you. I was a vocal anti-Nintendo voice on the Shack for some time (which is how I found your blog, just in case you were scratching your head and wondering “who is this guy? :) I was actually one of those kids that “played Nintendo” back when they were THE name brand of gaming, and aside from my parents’ old pre-crash gaming systems, I never owned any non-Nintendo system until PlayStation.
The problem, for me, is that when Sony decided to change the rules by working for an older audience and slowly changed the gaming experience to a more marketable, polygon/FMV-filled experience (face it, FF7 will be what goes down in the history books as the game that best represents the system) Nintendo didn’t actually bother to adapt or even to adjust to remain competitive. They simply said “Sony’s way is wrong, even if it’s squeezing our market share away and making millions. We’re right, and we’re stubborn enough to not even consider what we’ll do if we’re wrong.”
Certainly, they have a few aces in their pocket. I can’t imagine Super Mario not being a reliable franchise in the future. The problem is that while any Mario game guarantees sales, they’re not nearly the sales they used to be. Same with Pokemon now. And they’re not looking for the next Mario or Pokemon, because it’s easier to trot those same old familiar names out for another go.
They need some kind of corporate reshuffling at the very top. I don’t think that means they should make it more American, as that brand of leadership would just misteer the ship into greater misfortune (although giving the American branch of the company more independence would certainly help, they want to fight their saccharine image but are forced to walk in line behind Japan where no such image crisis exists.)
They just need to… I don’t know. Get rid of the fossils in there and hand it to the younger generation of Japanese businessmen who have a greater sense of what works in the gaming industry, I guess. I never thought guys like Yamauchi and Iwata had the right impression of the younger generation, since they didn’t have a childhood in a world of RPG games, giant robot anime, and all the other popular trends.
The scary thing of course, is that Nintendo is run by younger blood these days. Iwata’s no spring chicken, but he definitely is younger than Yamauchi.
Having said that, he’s shown himself to be pretty much the same stubborn type as Yamauchi. Maybe slightly better if Nintendo actually starts doing some online stuff with the DS and/or Revolution. But I’ll believe it when I see it.
For what it’s worth, I was a Sega kid, which is probably why I never got into Zelda. I’ve played almost all of them (well, the major ones, anyway) and I’ve only finished Majora’s Mask, and even that one dragged towards the end. They all just get so repetitive after a while.
You inspired a big ole blog post I won’t spiel here.
http://www.misterorange.com/2004/12/how-to-dismantle-nintendo.html
Read if so inclined :)
I don’t play any console games anymore, but I own a GameCube. Why? It was a birthday president last year. I love Super Mario Kart, but it’s not much fun to play alone. It’s more a party game.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t trade it in right now. I enjoy — are you sitting down? — Donkey Konga far too much for my own good. There’s no better way to work out one’s frustrations than by slamming on that bongo drum controller.
I picked up a second controller recently, and plan on finding out how much more fun it can be with multiple players at the same time.