Mario in Super Mario Bros., one of the first games he starred in. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Nintendo saved video games from the crash of the 1980s, like them or hate them. They got the general public thinking of video games positively and outside of the computer world there might not BE a gaming culture without Nintendo. Only old fogeys like me remember when Atari was a good company.
However, in a world where the prettiest graphics seem to be the demand, Nintendo is usually a step behind, focusing on gameplay rather than graphics. But for all the haters of motion controls and touch screens there are also plenty who enjoy them, and the Wii sold itself on a family experience, while I’ve talked about seeing a Wii in the therapy room at the convalescent home I recovered in last year. (Still wish I could have played it but that wasn’t the therapy I needed at the time.)
And for all the reduced hardware, it may actually benefit not only a Nintendo fan’s wallet but creating a “house style” of how Nintendo as a brand looks. When you see a game by or for a Nintendo console it looks like a Nintendo game, while exclusives to other consoles and computers don’t have that same cohesiveness. In this video Mike Rugnetta from the PBS Idea Channel explains why Nintendo’s lax approach to the graphics compared to Microsoft or Sony may actually benefit the Nintendo brand.
