Nintendo's Death Knell?

It feels like I’m standing in an intensive care unit staring down at a beloved friend who lapses in and out of consciousness. The experts have told me that there is nothing more they can do; that my friend brought it on themselves with the choices they made recently. I can’t believe their opinions myself. After all, my pal’s been with me for most of my life and I feel I know them better than the experts. This isn’t the first time I’ve been standing here, only for them to jump up as though nothing phased them and carry on.

Perhaps I’m overdramatizing slightly (almost certainly). The friend I speak of is Nintendo, and if the opinions of ‘experts’ are to be believed the release of the Wii U is Nintendo’s death toll. But I can’t quite see it myself. As I mentioned, I have been a strong supporter of all things Nintendo for much of my life; I own almost all of the European released consoles. My fondest memories are of playing Super Mario Bros with my brother on our NES, always waiting patiently for his death so that I could step up to the mark and try to prove myself (ironic that I was always Luigi). Whilst I do agree that Wii U sales are worryingly low, I am keen to point out that it’s just a continuation of the trend Nintendo sticks to upon releasing consoles.

Out of context, yes it does look like Nintendo have made a grave error.
But the console wasn't released until Q4 of 2012 anyway!

I can think of numerous times when it has seemed like my choice in buying a console at launch was a mistake. I was an early adopter of the Gamecube, Wii, 3DS and, hell, even the DS, snatching them up close to day one. Each one, I admit, had terrible launch titles which led to bad sales and dreadful reviews. Each generation the gaming experts would point out that Nintendo had made another grave error by including some new ‘gimmick’ in the console. Yet, with each they ended up setting a trend that the other companies followed. The Wii had motion control, which was accused of being too focused towards casual gaming. Fast forward and the Xbox has Kinect and PS3 has Move. The DS introduced touch pad and again it was seen as an unnecessary, yet now our society runs on prodding tablet and phone screens in our palms. If anything, the Wii U’s tablet controller is now behind the times.

The lack of sales, declining projections and increasing number of third party publishers refusing to show support for the Wii U does upset me. There was also a time when I regretted buying the Wii U and not waiting for Sony and Microsoft to show their next gen consoles. At launch and for the first year or so all I really had was ZombiU, and whilst fun, I soon grew tired of repeatedly bashing zombies’ heads in. What I needed was titles that made me proud to own a Wii U; something that I could use to defend my Nintendo fanboy status with. Well, with the launch of Mario Kart, Windwaker HD, Wonderful 101 and the announcement of Super Smash Bros Wii U, I finally have evidence to back my purchase up. Just one example of Nintendo releasing a console early, then drip-feeding us big hitters. Some of the Wii’s greatest titles came mid or late generation cycle - think of Super Mario Galaxy and Xenoblade Chronicles. Both are seen as prestigious games, yet if Wii critics had been believed they shouldn’t exist. Whilst this makes it apparent that the console is in need of more strong games, I prefer this to having mass-released games that I’ll never get around to appreciating.

This chart screams,
 'Have faith we know what we are doing'
,well, to me it does anyway...

The announcement of other contenders just reaffirmed my choice. Microsoft seemed eager to enforce their one-box entertainment system idea (which was more expensive by far compared with buying other entertainment systems separately), before further alienating gamers with various anger-inducing features. The lowest point came at the announcement of tying each disc to your account, which meant lending to friends was out of the question. The handling of such criticism was met with back treading or responses along the lines of ‘deal with it.’ This made me sigh and generally left a bad taste in my mouth. It has reached the extent where I feel dirty upon booting up my Xbox 360, let alone considering buying the Xbox One (or XBone). As for Sony’s PS4, I don’t really have any major qualms apart from the painfully high price and as of yet the games lack appeal to me. Maybe in time I’ll buy it (like a good little hypocrite), but for now I’m happy. Although, the lack of backwards compatibility across all three is beyond belief - have these guys not heard that we enjoy playing all of our games on one box (irony), rather than having to keep multiple consoles for necessity?

Can this playful summer turn the Wii U's fortunes?
If its opening weekends anything to go by then... Yes!

No, right now I am happy with my Wii U – tempted, yes, but happy nonetheless. I would like to make it clear that I don’t think the Xbox One and PS4 are bad, and I am not trying to start yet another console war. I merely point out that my own preference is for the Nintendo and that it upsets me when people dismiss it so easily. For once, show them a little love and support and you’ll be rewarded like we have been before. Although, what were you thinking with the 2DS? I mean, seriously?


(Statistic picture from Statista, Mario Kart 8 image from Kotaku, Nintendo console chart from OldGen)