A Nintendo Rant

After the Atari game crash of 83, video games were a dirty word in consumer's minds. The infamous E.T. Atari game and the less famous Pac Man game not only crashed the market but reminded customers that there wasn't a quality check when it came to video games. Nintendo, fresh off the heat from their wins in the arcade sector, released the NES three years later. But how was a company that made video games supposed to get over the bad taste in consumer's mouth. The answer was R.O.B. Short for Robotic Operating Buddy, the NES was marketed as a toy, not a game console. R.O.B served as a second player for anyone who had the accompanying games. It was, in a way, the first computer player of it's kind. Later on R.O.B. was dumped once people realized how fun Mario and Zelda were without the extra player. Nintendo would follow this success with many systems to come but their foot in the market came at a cost. Nintendo demanded that game designers stick with their consoles, not the upcoming Master System by Sega, or God forbid, their Genesis system. In time, Sega would eclipse Nintendo's market in the US. I remember an anime jokingly based off the battle between the two companies. But in time, Nintendo would fly despite it's ups and downs while Sega would sink with the Saturn and beloved Dreamcast consoles. Despite missing the mark with systems like the Virtual Boy and other poor decisions like refusing to move over to disks (which cost them Squaresoft) or trying to work with the Philips company (which cost them Sony), Nintendo has still maintained it's stride. But old habbits die hard and Nintendo has always been wary of compatition. In the days after the Gamecube failing to the Xbox and PS2, Nintendo insulated itself with the Wii. The company took a bold risk by going against the grain and developing a console with motion controls, something that Sony and Microsoft would try to emulate. Nintendo's vicotry with the Wii and the DS systems carried it through the rough patches such as the Wii U which sold poorly. But Nintendo surprised everyone by doubling down on their ideas and came out with the Switch for the next generation, another enviable possition that kicked off the portable gaming market (not to be confused with the mobile gaming market on phones). But in trying to distance itself far enough from the war between Sony and Microsoft, they have insulated themselves from competition. Here's the beauty of Nintendo, they have a game for almost every type of gamer. There's Smash Bros for fighting fans, Zelda for adventure fans, Mario for platformer fans, Mario Party and Mario Kart for the respective party and racing fans. They have Fire Emblem for RPG fans, Yoshi and Kirby for younger audiences, Metroid for scifi and FPS fans, Star Fox for shooter fans, Wario for mini game fans, and a host of classic games that people want to play. With a few excepitons, if there is a type of gamer, Nintendo has a game for you. And they own all these IPs that are bronzed in gold. Few are the bad Mario or Metroid games and the ones that are released, are buried in a flurry of great games. The good outway the bad so much that the bad is quickly forgotten, unlike the mediocre Sonic games that get released. But here's the problem, Nintendo has such high quality that it doesn't feel the need to lower their prices. Nintendo games almost never go on sale either online or in the store and they like it that way. Why let their games off for a few dollars when they know you will be willing to pay the same sixty dollars you paid ten years ago? Nintendo's current system, the Switch 2, is on the way to hosting all of Nintendo's greats, at a price of sixty dollars a year. A subscription service that you will never own. And why would Nintendo allow you to own a game? It's easier to make you buy a new one at full price than buy a used one. Full price for all eternity and the only way in is with a six hundred dollar console. What happened to when Nintendo used to care about lower prices? That was last generation, they've built up enough good will that they know that you will pay extra for their games. Nintendo has jacked the gaming price from sixty to eighty buckaroos for a game. Now, not all their games are at this price but the average one is set at seventy. That's a lot of cash for a game that might only last a few hours. Nintendo has also taken aim at competition in another way, lawsuits. They've brought their lawyers to a fight with the developers behind Palworld claiming ownership of certain game mechanics. Not only are they willing to crush their competition, but they're willing to destroy the gaming market by holding licenses on mechanics. Imagine if I owned the mechanic for jumping, it would mean that Nintendo owed me a buck each time Mario jumped in one of their games. A ridiculous notion but that's what their lawyers are arguing. Nintendo has tried to push itself so far from the competition that without someone to meet them head on, like Sega, they can do whatever they want with prices or lawsuits. If this was anyone other than Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, they would be left in the dust. In fact, Microsoft tried to copy Nintendo's homework with their pricing of Outer Worlds 2 and were slammed for it. Games are on the drop these days when it comes to price. The indie market is so big that it's easier to buy five games for seventy bucks than it is to buy one game. Why spend all that money on a few hours of fun when it's more economical to spend it on dozens of hours? Nintendo has placed itself on a high ledge that's ready to fall off. If they don't get with the lower prices, they might not have another generation.