Nintendo's Greatest Era: NES, SNES or Wii?

[SpoodBeest]

This thread will be a debate amongst us all on which huge eras in Nintendo's history was most definitely it's most biggest and it's most popular. So to start off such a thread we will begin with the era of the Nintendo Entertainment System. This was the console that gained Nintendo world wide notoriety in the world of gaming. It was an innovative and advanced piece of technology during the time of it's release in the 1980s. It's popularity ended the video game crash of 1983, introduced the world to the most popular video game character and franchise of all time in Mario, and it lasted over ten years in length during it's run of dominance. Also the game library was very huge for the time, just ask Lucas from The Wizard! 61.91 million units were soldworld wide before it's ultimate discontinuation in 1995. Now the one problem Nintendo faced during the NES' initial run was Sega as they debuted a seemingly bigger and better console right as the 80s ended in the Sega Genesis. Now this is where our next chapter begins

Then to match the Genesis in power and mascots. Nintendo debuted the Super Nintendo Entertainment. It was released right at the beginning of the 90s. This console had it all: great graphics at the time, classic games, and was just an overall beauty of a system. Mario would continue to be the bigger seller of the new console as Super Mario World remains the most popular game for the console (my personal favorite Mario game as well). This new console along with the power of their mascot Mario would eventually out power Sega and Sonic and blast their way to the top of the gaming charts once again. This was one drought that Sega was never able to overcome and they slowly began to self destruct as they tried to come back at the console wars with shittier and shittier consoles. Nothing captured the magic of the Genesis, and SNES was just that much better than it. By the time the SNES was discontinued in the late 90s/early 00s it had sold 49.10 million units world wide.

Now while Sega self destructed, Nintendo went on to have a very uneasy drought over the next few years. After releasing the Nintendo 64, Sony was on the way for the rebuttal with the debut of the PlayStation, which ended up dominating that era. And by the time the Nintendo GameCube arrived, it was too late as more advanced and cutting edge consoles such as the PlayStation 2 and Xbox were out and dominating the gaming scene for yet another era which Sony claimed victory.

Now enter the Nintendo Wii. This was Nintendo's next big thing, it was going to revolutionize the way we play games, and it was their big hope for their next huge success. Then it's release came and it's been dominating the gaming markets ever since. Nintendo has used a clever gimmick and were actually able to capitalize on it's uniqueness and make it work. They made motion sensitive games fun and interesting. The idea to move around to play a game is interesting to anyone and the Wii has proven that through it's short lifespan of the four years it's been out. It also appeals to the old school Nintendo fans by releasing all the old school franchises that we love like the top notch Super Mario Galaxy series, Zelda, Smash Bros. Brawl, and others. It's clever marketing, smart gimmick, and fun games have once again put Nintendo in the lead by far over both Sony (PlayStation 3) and Microsoft (Xbox 360) by having a current and commanding lead of world wide sales at 73.97 million units sold. Pay back must seem like a bitch for the two companies that raped Nintendo in the GameCube era.

But again this leaves the question, which era is Nintendo's most successful and most notable. Which one has benefited their business as a whole, and which one entertained you the most through it's reign on top? Also chaps the Wii era has just begun and it has already proved it's worth. While the other two are classic eras that were innovative for their times and also did well for business. Just cast your vote and post on what you believe is Nintendo's Greatest Era!

 

[Dagger Dias]

The best Nintendo era was the SNES and there is no contest because it had the perfect balance between good graphics (at the time), good gameplay, and good music. Ever since then, graphics have become far too "realistic" as opposed to the cartoony feel of the NES and SNES. Gameplay has also become far too complicated. I miss the good old days where games were just as fun as they were impressively built.

 

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

I'm going to agree with Dagger here, and say that the SNES era was best. However, I also liked the NES era alot too. But the SNES, was really the gateway to Nintendo's greatest creation, the Nintendo 64. There were many great games on the SNES, such as Super Mario RPG, which is my favorite SNES game of all time. However, as Dagger said, the controls on the SNES were so simple, yet the games were so fun. Something that this era's gaming systems have trouble with. So, in my opinion, it's definitely the SNES era that was Nintendo's best.

 

[SorgFamily]

I'm almost forced to choose the NES because it WAS my childhood. I only had the luxury of a super when visiting my dad's. I burned so many hours into the original Mario's 1-3. Even though the SNES had, obviously, way better graphics I still can't tear away my childhood. Plus duck hunt..................good times.

 

[Lee]

I think the question is its biggest and most popular.

Well biggest is definitely the NES, argue how you want but without that gamble in the mid 80s we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Most popular? As per sales figures it's the Wii at 70+ million.

That being said I think neither of those should be the answer. Lets just pick a little thing you said..."Pay back must seem like a bitch for the two companies that raped Nintendo in the GameCube era."
Microsoft Xbox: Units sold: 24 Million
PS2: 145 Million
GC: 21.74 million.

That's just 3 million behind Microsoft, hardly a raping now is it? Now when you consider something else, for you see Nintendo didn't just do 21.74mil in this era, oh no. They sold 100million for you see we forgot to account for the Game Boy Advance.

The Game Boy Advance sold 81.5 million, it paved the way for the DS and the PSP it made people realise just what hand helds are capable of. Gone were the blocks of the GB but now things were in colour, good sound and looked good.

I made a thread arguing that Nintendo would have been bust without the GBA at the time and I still hold that theory due to the low sales of the home console at the time. Needless to say the DS and Wii were born, and the rest is history (over 200million between the two and counting). All I think wouldn't be possible without the GBAs involvement.

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

I would say the Nintendo NES.

The Nintendo Entertainment System not only raised the game industry from the brink of destruction, it also managed to establish Nintendo's most dominant brands in Mario, The Legend Of Zelda (Link), Metroid and probably more, gaming history was established with this gaming genre and turned Nintendo from a small little company making hand held games to one of the most dominant gaming companies in the industry generating over one billion of income.

Look at some of the games currently on the Wii, games such as Mario Galaxy, The New Super Mario Brothers, Ocarina of Time and Metroid prime all drew strengths from their predecessors, I can tell you most of the guys who own a Wii or DS are probably 80's babies.

NES all the way in my eyes

 

[enterkey]

I would have to say that the best Nintendo Era was the Super Nintendo Era. This era brought us the greatness of Super Mario Bros, the best Mario game other than Super Mario Allstars which had all of the Mario games up to that point, turned Donkey Kong face, and basically held a monopoly on my time until the gimmickyness of the N64's new age technology and amazing wrestling games stole me away from it. It is one of the few old consoles that I can dust off and play without criticizing any part of it including the graphics, unlike the N64, playstation, or PS2 which I couldn't really care less if I ever were to play them again. I also feel that back in that period they developed far better games that were, at the time, harder to beat and as such I could play for years on end without becoming bored of them unlike the new games that I get bored with as soon as I beat them once.

While the NES is a classic era it holds extremely little impact on me other than the Duck Hunt game and one of the Marios that I used to play a lot whenever I went over to my cousin's house so to me it is nowhere near the level of epic badassery that is the SNES. The Wii on the other hand is flat out a gimmick console that is full of weak storied kiddy games that seem to have a limited array of things for you to do. It is basically a console that plugs motion detection technology and Wii Sports/Wii Fit without really working on making the other games more compelling to anyone that is over the age of 12.

 

[ABMorales787]

What? No love for the N64? This was the console that cemented multi-player games. It was the ultimate party console. Bring it to the BBQ, plug in four controllers, call your friends and start playing. It didn't matter if it was Mario Kart, MKT, Goldeneye, Star Fox, Mario Party or Snowboard Kids, it was the console to have. Not only is it the king of multi-player, but it also had some of the most ground breaking games in videogame history. Ocarina Of Time, Goldeneye, Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros.

Smell the air and see the influence all of the aforementioned games have given. People today wish they had multi-player 1 person shooters like Goldeneye. As a matter of fact, there is about 10 different games released every year. Halo, Modern Warfare, Gears Of War, does the Xbox plan to live off this?

Look at Ocarina and Mario 64. They were the fathers of 3D adventure games. With out them, no Devil may Cry, Onimusha, Soul Reaver, Infamous, I could go on.

The games in this console set the stage for the games on the market today. So Playstation would "dominate" the era. Yup. Took 'em about 5 years, but they "did". Took them long enough.

While the NES did establish overall videogames and layed out the business pretty much, and SNES kept the train rolling, the N64 is why Dreamcast wanted to try online. Because the N64 had 4 freakin' controllers? How do you top that? Going online. N64 took cartridges to their absolute limit. How to counter? Perfect the use of a CD. The N64 has one freakin' comfortable controller. What do we do? Nothing. Still no better controller.

Don't deny it. While NES and SNES did have their success, I'm not gonna sit down and let the N64 go unnoticed. And the Wii? It's all in one, genius. You can't top that. N64 era, for me.

 

[lenguy]

[QUOTE="iMPACT! Player" Riaku;2393977]Halo, Modern Warfare, Gears Of War, does the Xbox plan to live off this? [/QUOTE]

I could also say the same for Nintendo. They have been living off Mario and Zelda Since the very beginning. So yes lol they most likely will.

But I'll also have to agree and go with the N64. For me that was THEE console to own back in the day. Its where a majority of my gaming memories come from. Playing games like Mario 64, ZeldaOoT, Mario Cart 64, Donkey kong 64, Super Smash bros, fucking Banjo Kazooie. all those great games. I had a blast playing them all, Iv got most downloaded on virtual console on my WII and go back and play every now and then purely for nostalgic reasons. Im not saying the NES or the SNES were shit consoles, For me there were only a handful of games I played or could even get my hands on.

But once I got the N64 For Christmas( wanted a PSX but got and N64 lol Best Xmas gift ever!) and played Mario 64 I was blown away by the pure depth of the game. It wasent like any Mario game iv ever played before but yet still felt like any Mario game out there. Not to mention the amount of hours I spent on OoT, For me its my all time favorite. I even refused to upgrade to the gamecube after because I was still enjoying my N64. My friends and I had so much fun playing that system.

Not to mention the controller, it looks weird when you first gaze at it but then you put in your hands and it just feels like you've been using it all along. It had a natural fit and feel to it.

So yeah the N64 for me. I cant put my finger on it on just what made it so special. The games, The controller or maybe it wad just the transition from 2D gaming to 3D that brought all your favorite characters and games from the previous Nintendo systems into a whole new world of gaming. But for me the N64 beats every Nintendo console. Past or Present.

 

[Cracka Jack]

No N64 love? My favorite console gets snubbed again. I voted NES, if only for its importance to the industry overall. Games were all but dead (in America at least), and in a time where video games were looked at as a fad, the NES not only survived, but thrived in the market. Plus, great games like Super Mario Bros. and the original Legend of Zelda were on the console, two franchises for whom my love and admiration cannot be overstated.