Nintendo
Entertainment
System
Atari owners felt burned due to a slew of really poor quality games. So
families weren’t keen on embracing another system, especially when the
home computer scene had taken off. All Nintendo needed to do was show it
how much fun it was.
They marketed it more as a toy/entertainment unit in its aesthetics so
audiences wouldn’t feel like they were making an investment in another
system for video games. It came with a toy robot and resembled a smaller
VCR. Once they got them out in the wild to popular toy shops in New York City,
the rest was history.
NES was a phenomenon, paving the way for every hardware developer
since. The first rule for the company was to create great games. Once classics
like “Super Mario Bros.” and “The Legend of Zelda” came out, everyone was
sold. Stores sold out of the popular games in a hurry. The system created
competitors such as Sega, but nothing really came close to the powerhouse
that was the NES. Not all the games were gems, but the library was great
enough.
Game Boy
Game Boy is portable gaming
at its finest. The original version
didn’t have pretty graphics as
the screen was spinach green, it
had no backlight and it constantly
required four AA batteries but it
was revolutionary in that it catered
not only to children, but to adults.
“Tetris,” which came with the
device, was a system seller. It allowed
adults who didn’t have much time
to play games at home to take their
hobby on a train to work, on a plane,
etc. It also featured smaller versions of
its Nintendo counterpart. Not to mention
it had one of the longest lifespans of any
hardware created by Nintendo, thanks to
the “Pokemon” franchise.
Although it hasn’t aged as well, it’s
perhaps Nintendo’s most significant
release. They’ve been the kings of handheld
gaming since, and yes that includes today’s
smartphones.
Nintendo Switch
It may be too early to call the Switch great,
but in a year, it’s surpassed expectations
and got fans that were burned by the Wii U
back to gaming with Nintendo. The simple
and effective marketing worked.
Take it with you on the go, something
Nintendo is great at, and dock it to your big
screen television. It may not rival Sony and
Microsoft graphically but it’s more than
good enough since the software so far
has been incredible.
To release arguably the best Zelda
and Mario games in the same year gave
the system the strong start it needed.
The sleekness adds to the allure. They
have to figure out how to make it
more online friendly, but this is
certainly a game changer that
other companies will attempt
to imitate.
QNS.COM
22 SUMMER 2018