Ah, Nintendo. Surely they, the almighty
bastions of perfection, have done nothing wrong over their long and storied reign at the
top of the industry. Right? Right?! ANSWER ME. Yes, the fact is that even the companies
held in the highest regard have made some pretty massive stumbles along
the way. What matters, of course, is how the company managed to recover from those
stumbles…but that’s much less fun to talk about, so today we’re focusing solely on the most
foolish things Nintendo has ever done. We’ll be looking at a mix of
examples and, I should mention, even if something on this list was financially
successful, that doesn’t necessarily mean it was a good decision. If Nintendo’s
credibility took a hit, we’re counting it. I’m Ben from TripleJump and here are the
10 Worst Decisions Nintendo Ever Made. 10. Limited availability of Super Mario
3D All-Starsand Super Mario Bros. 35 I’m sure you’ve all heard of
FOMO. It’s exactly like YOLO, only with a different spelling,
pronunciation, and meaning. FOMO is the “fear of missing out,” and it’s
been a marketing ploy for many years now. Sales and discounts are effective ways to
FOMO people into buying things quickly, and telling people that a product isn’t going
to be around forever makes them even more likely to panic-buy. This is what Nintendo
is doing with Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which was no longer available for
purchase as of March 31, 2021. So, of course, everyone needed to buy itas
quickly as humanly possible. While limited availability is sort of understandable
for Nintendo hardware – such as the Game & Watchreissue and even the Switch, to an
extent– to do it with software is just shameful, especially when there’s no real reason
to remove it from digital storefronts. Speaking of which, the download-only Super
Mario Bros. 35 is technically free, but its limited availability was a way to sell Switch
online memberships. If it were around forever, chances are people would only buy a month of the
subscription to try it out. If they say it’ll be around for only six months, people will buy six
months so they don’t miss out. I’m on to you, Mario. I knew you were an arse ever
since you imprisoned Donkey Kong. 9. Selling Rare Truly iconic game studios are…what’s the word? It’s right on the top of my
tongue… Anyway, Rare is one of those very studios. Responsible for such beloved titles as
Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, and
Conker's Bad Fur Day, the British studio was a gaming institution for many years. But
in 2002, Microsoft swooped in and bought the studio and thus signaled the end of
Rare as a competent game developer. The likes of Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo did appear
early after the acquisition, and they were… fine, but by the time the Xbox One rolled around,
Rare was stuck making Kinect games. What a waste. While losing Rare didn’t seem to
harm Nintendo in the long run, you’ve got to wonder what we could have today
if Rare were still part of the family. Instead, they’re languishing at Xbox, producing
additional content for Sea of Thieves. 8. The Switch’s myriad issues The Nintendo Switch is undoubtedly a success.
Its multifunctionality as both a handheld and a home console is exceptional and
it issellingincredibly quickly. However, for as much as the Switch does
right, there’s a lot it does wrong. The device has a number of genuinely
confounding issues, for example: Switch Online is weak and not really
worth the subscription price. Nintendo going with an accompanying social app
instead of integrating one is baffling. Third-party support is choppy at best
with far too many Triple-A ports being broken. The initial 32-gigabyte memory
card is frankly pathetic when single, downloadable games can fill the entire
thing. And, we can’t forget,Joycondrift. Don’t get me wrong, the Switch is a good console
and it’s not to say that the competition is perfect, but don’t let that distract from the
problems. Like the fact that I still can’t play Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom with my NES
app. Does anyone at Nintendo even care anymore? 7. The Genesis vs.the NES The NES was a revelation. Its U.S.
release pretty much single-handedly saved the industry from the video game crash
and it’s responsible for some of gaming’s greatest franchises. However, it did
last a bit longer than it should have. Nintendo’s 8-bit console appeared in Japan in
1983. Two years later, the Sega Master System joined it. The pair lived in 8-bit bliss until
1988 when Sega launched the 16-bit Genesis. The NES had vastly outsold the Master System,
partly due to its two-year head start. Perhaps emboldened by this success, they decided to
stick with the NES instead of jumping to a 16-bit console themselves. Nintendo only launched
the SNES two years after the Genesis. This wait resulted in Sega gaining a major foothold in the
market and closing the sales gap considerably. It’s not as though this decision signalled the
end of Nintendo, but it does make you wonder why they waited so long. This trend of being
late to the party happened again with the N64, and while they did try to get back on track with
the GameCube, it was too late. Good thing they gave up on the supposed “console war” and stuck
to making handhelds and Wii Sports instead, eh? 6. Friend codes Usually, systems develop overtime to
become easier to use or to comprehend. Tech is confusing after all,
especially to those not in the know. So you’d expect a brand like Nintendo to
streamline everything and make it palatable to the masses. Well, for their online play
at least, it turns out that Nintendo drew far too much inspiration from Superman 64 and
decided that the best course of action would be to get their players to jump through hoops.
That analogy was rubbish. I do apologies. Rather than traditional usernames,
Nintendo went with Friend Codes, claiming that it would be “simpler”.
Anybody who has ever dabbled with any Nintendo online system knows that
this is definitely not the case. Unless you really feel that1652-7899-8012
is easier to remember than MarioFan98. Friend Codes are just one of the ways in
which Nintendo seems to actively discourage online play. Not only are their online systems
shaky to begin with—take the Smash Bros. Ultimate fiasco for example—but they seem to have no
interest in actually pushing the concept, despite online console multiplayer being a
key industry focus since the early 2000s. Then again, Nintendo being a step
behind isn’t exactly new, now, is it? 5. They stopped innovating, for a bit Some of you may know the
name GunpeiYokoi. Admittedly, my pronunciation may not help you
recall the name, but you get the point. Yokoi’s legacy of successes includes creating
the “Cross” D-Pad, the Game & Watch series, designing the Game Boy and producing Metroid,
Donkey Kong, Mario Bros. and Kid Icarus. No, not that one. At least, I don’t think
he produced that one. Right, that one. But it was Yokoi’sconcept of “Lateral Thinking
with Withered Technology” that caused problems for Nintendo, for a while at least. The
philosophy states that Nintendo takes older, cheaper tech and does creative things with
it. This ideology made the Game & Watch, NES, and Game Boy successful,
but success is never guaranteed. After Yokoi left in 1996, Nintendo
stopped bothering to be innovative, sticking to cheap tech for their consoles,
only upgrading as it became cheaply available, and rarely doing anything interesting.
This was the case with the N64, N64DD and GameCube. The system of imaginatively
using older tech came back with the Wii, which used some of the GameCube’s hardware,
but innovated with creative motion controls. It’s one thing to stick to a philosophy,
but their lack of forward thinking during the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s caused a
shift in the industry, opening up plenty of room for their competitors to steal the
spotlight. Nintendo might as well have just advertised for Sony and Microsoft
with how little fight they put up. 4. The Wii U and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival
[Wii U] [AC] Attempting to capitalize on the success
of the Wii, the Wii U landed in an awkward middle ground between its predecessor and
what would eventually become the Switch. It was an interesting idea at least;
not a good one, but interesting. Even if the Wii U was a bad home console
masquerading as a limiting handheld, a good game library could have saved it. This is
where Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival comes in. Amiibos are a fun and harmless, if not
far-too-expensive, Nintendo creation. Amiibos differ from Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and Lego Dimensionsin the important
sense that they are still profitable. By 2015, Wii U owners were craving something
that would make their purchase seem worth it. Excitement was high when a new Animal
Crossing game was coming to the platform, until the announcement trailer anyway. I’ll
just leave this like-to-dislike bar here and, oh, how about this Metacritic score
too. I think that about sums it up. 3. Nintendo vs.modders Mods are good. They can increase
the lifespan of certain games, improve underlying issues the devs originally
missed, and even finish abandoned projects. You’d think that every right-thinking studio
would want to push them. Not Nintendo, though, who’d likely rather see a modder
shot than touch “The Plumber.” Possibly their worst anti-modding campaign
was when they outright destroyed the Smash Bros. Melee tournament scene by issuing
a cease-and-desist to the company that was using a mod to host the event. It
was especially puzzling as Nintendo officially abandoned the game in 2007
when the GameCube was discontinued. They’ve been handing out cease-and-desists like
coins in New Super Mario Bros. 2 for many years now, banning anyone who even imagined the
words “mod” and “Bowsette.” They once shut down a SuperMario 64 PC port which, is at
least understandable, but we can’t help but wish they’d embraced the work modders had done
instead of crushing it. Remember Black Mesa? 2. The Sony/Phillips debacles A very quick summary: Nintendo wanted to
release a version of the SNES with a disk drive and were to work with Sony to build it. It
was pretty much ready to go and had an existing prototype. Then Nintendo pulled out and left Sony
looking a bit silly. From here, Sony decided to push forward and make their own console, that
being the PlayStation. You may have heard of it. Nintendo then did the exact same thing with
Phillips. Phillips then went on to create the CD-i and use their license agreement to create
the worstZelda and Mario games imaginable. From this double bout of indecision, Nintendo
unwittingly created the most successful console manufacturer ever and also ended up with
permanent blemishes on their two best franchises. Simply terrible. Then they didn’t
even go with a disk-drive for the N64! That’s a new level of stubbornness. 1. Nintendo vs. content creators Once upon a time, Nintendo started the Creators
Program. What this meant was anybody who made a YouTube video that used Nintendo-licensed
footage would lose a chunk of their ad revenue to Nintendo. Anybody not in the program…well,Nintendo
would take all of the ad revenue. Thankfully,this was eventually discontinued and Nintendo loosened
its grip—a bit—but the damage was already done. Nintendo was not only losing credibility and
coming off like a child having a tantrum, but they were losing what is literally free
advertising. It’d be understandable to limit narrative spoilers or late-game surprises,
but I could’ve told you the plots of Super Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild back
in late 80’s. And I didn’t even exist then! Wait, should we be using Nintendo footage?
Should we even have made this video?! Please don’t be mad, Nintendo. I’m sorry. I’ll
buy a Wii U and eighteen Amiibos, I promise.
