PixlBit

The GameCube was the last home console that completely held my attention. It was, after all, the final "coming of age" console of my life, that pivotal moment when the dying boy inside of me grew a healthy beard and discovered the fabled real world. Drunken late-night Soul Caliber II tournaments with my roommates; going on a vacation every time I played Super Mario Sunshine; being sucked in to the intoxicating gameplay of Metroid Prime. If the Nintendo 64 lost my interest, the GameCube begged for it....but it also made me all the more aware of a problem that was bigger than Nintendo: a dearth of quality, third-party software.

 Multi-platform games either bombed on Nintendo's purple box or were cancelled altogether. One-time exclusives were either released at a later time on PS2 (Viewtiful Joe, Resident Evil 4), bombed completely (P.N. 03), or were cancelled (Dead Phoenix). Meanwhile, the PS2 was gaining genuine traction, and the Xbox was itself gaining a respectable library of both exclusives and superior ports of multiplatform releases. It was painful to see the GameCube left behind, but it was a sign of things to come.

 The Revolution

 In hindsight, the Revolution was a stupid name. In all honesty, I may be the only person who dug the name Wii. It was simple, and it conveyed the message of the latter-day Nintendo: let's play together. For the first two years, I was a genuine believer in the rally cry of "gameplay over graphics." Wii Sports sucked me in, Super Mario Galaxy invited me to stay, and Metroid Prime reminded me of why I chose to stay with Nintendo. The in-between was what killed it for me. The limited processing power all but guaranteed that ports would either be nonexistent or severely compromised; both points were proven to be true. I still loved the console, and it did serve as home to some damn fine gaming experiences, but everything about it felt somewhat cheap, hollow. The packaging of the games, cheap. The library, inundated with shallow cash grabs. I was once again lured back into Sony's camp, and I quickly lost all interest in motion controls as I gave in to the temptation of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted, Demon's Souls, and Infamous. I found that I could no longer defend the droughts, the questionable decisions, the two big games per year. I needed something that felt like an evolution of what I loved rather than the uncertain revolution that could fail. I have enough uncertainties in my life, as is.

 Fast forward to the present, and I have a Wii U that gathers seasonal dust while my PS4  keeps me playing. I am just now understanding the undercurrent to Nintendo's philosophy of not competing with Microsoft and Sony. Their consoles will, for the most part, continue to act as secondary purchases. Is the Wii U a bad console? Not by any stretch, but it IS incredibly limited in scope. For the first time in ages, I have absolutely zero interest in whatever the NX turns out to be. It could be the most innovative piece of plastic that Nintendo has ever churned out, but I'm over innovation. The Wii was innovative, but the PS3/360 had the games. As somebody who grew up with Nintendo, I can't help but to feel a tinge of sadness, like watching an old friend give up on himself and die. I hate the idea of a future without the Big-N as a top-tier HARDWARE manufacturer (I'll touch on that in the next installment), but gaming will live on, regardless of what happens.

 In all honesty, I'd rather live in a gaming world without Nintendo than the sort where they are seen as nothing more than a painful anachronism.

 

(To be Continued)