An Ode to Nintendo

Super Mario Bros. 2- Overworld Theme

Hey, guys. It's been a while, hasn't it? Recently, I have entered the g1 Tournament to attempt to win. I've had 2 successful battles so far and I'm hoping to make it to the end. Now this tournament is covering video game companies and I have gotten Nintendo, the company that I obsess about more than Capcom. Like last time, I will highlight my personal experiences first, then cover the company's history as a whole.

My Experience:

Oh, Nintendo, how I love you so much. You've given me countless memories of joy and frustration (mostly frustration (D) ), ranging from your fantastic consoles to your fantastic games. If there was one video game company that I would sell my soul to, it would be you. Well, I would, but I kind of already sold my soul... to.... you know.... Capcom. Yeah.... Well, moving on, I really loved Nintendo all of my life and since I was a kid, Nintendo was the face of gaming for me.

The earliest memory that I had with Nintendo was back when I was around 6, and my cousin had a Famicom in Iran, with quite a collection of games. We played games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Chip and Dale, Mario (of course), and many others. Among those good games, however, were not so good games like *shiver* Terminator 2, which was absolutely awful. We never managed to beat the stupid second level with the motorcycle driving, but honestly, it wasn't worth our time and sanity.

The source of hours of fun and misery

Another thing I remember was the co-op games my cousin and I played and how he was a jerk, from stealing my lives in Super C by dying on purpose to grabbing me in Chip and Dale and flinging me into the sink, causing me to drown. Let's not forget that he always spammed Shredder in TMNT: Tournament fighter, BUT OH WAIT, I wasn't allowed to play as him? Perhaps that's what sparked my jerk nature in video games where I always kill my own teammates and cause mass carnage, murder, and seeing countless innocent lives screaming in agony, clenching their flesh as I deliver the bullet to their deaths, laughing manically as blood splashes likes the waves of the ocea- wait, what the heck am I saying? Moving on.

Although I had some of my frustrations in games because of my dear cousin, we played through many games like Mighty Final Fight and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters. The greatness of the Famicom was unrealized for me for many years, but soon, I was going to be blown away by the first console that I have ever received.

When I was 7 years old, a package came from my uncle. When I opened it, it was a black Nintendo 64 with Star Wars Episode 1: Racer inside of it. I was blown away and never witnessed anything that could ever reach this type of greatness. Although I never really bought any AAA games as a kid (those were bought years later), I loved playing Mario Kart 64 and Spider-Man, both totally awesome games, even to this day.

IT'S A NEW LAP RECORD! (you'd get it if you played the game)

I guess the N64 was the first true taste I got into video games, before that not owning a console to play any games on. It gave me some fantastic times, spending time on weekends and playing some Pokemon Stadium or sprinting some laps in Star Wars Episode 1: Racer. However, the most fun I had was when I spent one summer borrowing games from my friends who had an N64, while picking up Goldeneye 007 myself. Games like Perfect Dark and Kirby 64 were absolute joys to play and still hold up as legends.

Come fourth grade and I finally get my hands on the Nintendo GameCube, the next generation of consoles. I bought Pokemon Colosseum (for some reason, I keep thinking Pokemon console games would be good), and I witnessed some fantastic games along the way, including Super Smash Bros. Melee, Metroid Prime, Viewtiful Joe, and plenty more.

Metroid Prime is honestly one of my favorite games that I have ever played and love everything about it. I remember seeing it on sale for $5 at my local GameStop. I distinctly feel nostalgic, as I bought that, Led Zeppelin I and Appetite for Destruction in that time period and would listen to those two as I was blasting away Space Pirates. Such an amazing experience, when I first stepped unto those harsh and hostile alien planets, riddled with corruption and painted with the beauty of the rain.

Such an amazing game

Metroid Prime went on to become one of my absolute favorite games and jump started my love for the Metroid franchise, as this was the first game in the series for me to play. The ending was the icing on the cake, with the beautiful landscapes sprinkling rain upon Samus, as she laments of the actions that she had to deal with. But this experience barely comes second to the next game.

It was the winter of 2006 and I get a game as a Christmas gift. What may seem like just any ordinary GameCube game shaped up to be one of the best experiences I have ever had with a game. That game was The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. From the moment that I started the game to the ending, I loved every single thing about the game. The beautiful twilight ridden landscapes and the dark and fantastic scenery made this game brilliant, added with an amazing score and the best gameplay out of the 3D Zeldas. Seeing Link journey across the unforgiving hours of twilight with creatures lusting for blood, soaked in corruption. I just loved the dark nature and beautiful aspects of it. Sometimes you just want to ride Epona across the fields, soaking in the ambient detail and experience all that the game has to offer. Everything was amazing and when I finished it, I had a warm feeling over experiencing one of the greatest games ever.

Eventually, I said farewell to that generation of consoles and was introduced to the Nintendo Wii. I got Resident Evil 4 with it and loved it (in case you didn't notice I'm an RE fan, with RE 4 being the first RE game I played through, oddly enough). It was a refreshing experience and HOLY CRAP I COULD PLAY SPORTS LIKE YOU DO OUTSIDE WHEN, EXCEPT YOU DON'T FLAIL YOUR HANDS LIKE AN IDIOT IN REAL LIFE, BUT THAT'S NOT REALLY THE POINT, BUT WHATEVER, IT WAS STILL INNOVATIVE. *ahem* Sorry about that.

IT'S LIKE PLAYING THE SPORT WITHOUT ACTUALLY PLAYING THE SPORT!

Back on topic, the Nintendo Wii for me is a very special console and surprisingly my favorite console of this generation, mostly because it offered simple fun, and so much creativity in the gameplay design, all while feeling familiar and nostalgic. Games like Super Mario Galaxy take the feel of a standard Mario game, while infusing it with innovative platforming, cleverly centering around gravity. And let's not forget the hectic multiplayer you can have with your friends online using Friend Codes. Oh yeah, so aweso- no wait that sucks. However, you don't need to be online to enjoy the hectic nature of games such as Brawl and Mario Kart Wii when it's so much more fun playing alongside your friends joining in on the insanity.

Speaking of friends, you know what it's time for? Another segment of How to Easily Lose Friends In Gaming. For this part, all you need to do is have a copy of Super Smash Bros Melee, 3 friends, and 4 controllers,. First, wait until a friend is going to go get a drink or using the bathroom. Then disconnect their controller. When they return, unpause the game and let the trolling commence.

Let's not forget the Virtual Console, absolutely fantastic for those who don't own the consoles or want expensive cartridges at a cheaper price. It was really enjoyable being able to play such classics such as Super Mario Bros. 3 (World 8 annoyed me (D) ), running and gunning through the brilliant Super Metroid, slaying yout vampires in Super Castlevania IV, and erm.... well.... punching out in Punch-Out!!, which took me forever to beat Mr. Dream. I remember the nights when I would be miffed because Mr. Dream would punch me out one too many times or me getting my butt handed to me by stupid World 7 of Super Mario Bros. 3. But eventually, while preserving my sanity, I sat there one day playing Punch-Out!! when I managed to knock down Mr. Dream twice. Albeit getting knocked out, I finally beat him with that blinking he does. I just stood there, dumbfounded by this achievement of mine. Running around the room, I celebrated and then went to do homework. Yeah, I'm pretty lame with celebrations.

It was all fun, as I managed to play a good share of games that I never grew up with due to no console or just being stupid and never getting them. Oh yeah, did I mention, that the Virtual Console is the reason I started playing Street Fighter? Yeah. (author's note: this was just an excuse for me to link Ryu's Theme in the beginning of the retrospective portion =3 )

These were all of my experiences that I had with Nintendo. Now we will move on to my commentary on the history of Nintendo and the progress that they have made throughout the years as a video game company.

My retrospective:

Ryu's Theme- OC Remix

Nintendo is a multinational company found in 1889, founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi, who had this company to produce hanafuda cards. Eventually, the company tried out many other elements outside of video games, such as a cab company and hotel service. They eventually tried working in different branches of business such as being a food company that sold instant rice (similar to today's instant noodles) and becoming a television network.

In 1966, Nintendo became a Japanese toy industry, working to make different types of toys and devices, such as the Love Tester. However, with stiff competition like Tomy and Bandai, Nintendo fell short in meeting quick development schedules, despite some successful products. After losses, Nintendo resorted to Laser Clay Shooting Systems, using the same kind of light gun technology found in light gun arcade games today. After excessive costs in these centers, Nintendo made one final change in their focus in business, which would be their last.

Before becoming a video game powerhouse, Nintendo made love testers

At that time, Nintendo decided to move into the video game industry, hiring such future icons like Shigiru Miyamoto as an understudy for Gunpei Yokoi, originally having jobs like creating casing for several Color TV Game consoles. In 1980, Nintendo went on to produce the Game & Watch, created by Yokoi, as a handheld console, with each game being dedicated to a specific device.

After successes in arcades such as Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., Nintendo went on to create a landmark in video games, presented as the Nintendo Entertainment System, or Famicom if you are from Asia. Alongside the colossal library of fantastic games, the strong point of the NES was the ability to play spot on arcade titles at the comfort of your home. It was also the console that brought back video games into the spotlight after the video game crash in the 80s.

Let's also not forget the introduction of some of gaming's most known characters, including the transition of Jumpman into Mario. Super Mario Bros. was one of the many brilliant games that were created by Shigiru Miyamoto. The gameplay also gave an often copied structure of the platformer, which involved you to run from Point A to Point B in an allotted amount of time. Let's also not forget about the adventure infused Legend of Zelda, high octane Contra, the teeth grinding hard Castlevania, goofy and extremely fun Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, and role playing legend Final Fantasy. There was something for everybody to enjoy.

Finally, my lifelong dream of fighting a soda drunk Russian can be fulfilled

Aside from the vast number of fantastic games available, the NES also had fantastic graphics and extremely memorable music in their games, making it one of the most renowned video game consoles in the industry. The NES had a long life span, going well into the 90s until Nintendo decided that it was time for it to sing its swan song before being introduced to the next Nintendo console, whereas the Famicom discontinued in 2003. The NES was a phenomenal success, selling over 61.91 million units.

So now, Nintendo had to develop the successor to their phenomenal NES, and the answer is the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or Famicom) that is designed to compete with Sega's Genesis and their BLAST PROCESSING. Fearing that they would lose the grasp in the video game market that they had, Nintendo went to the drawing board and started designing a console to act as a competition to the newly released Genesis, hoping to achieve superiority. The system designer of the Super Famicom was Masayuki Uemura, who also designed the original Famicom and the system also had a variety of enhancement chips that were integrated on the circuit boards of the the cartridges, which also made games like Star Fox stand out, with its Mode 7 3D graphics. The Super Nintendo sold at a ridiculous rate at launch, selling out and resulting in many social disturbances. The system even garnered the attention of the Yakuza, leading to Nintendo's decision of shipping the consoles at nighttime to avoid robbery.

With the Super Nintendo and Super Famicom vastly outselling the competition, Nintendo once again became the leader in the video game industry, with much of the help coming from the fantastic first party games and third party support, including Capcom, Konami, Tecmo, Koei, and Enix. Along with fantastic games, the real deal breaker for many consumers was that the Super Nintendo was the first console to finally obtain the arcade transition of Street Fighter II, which gave them a good boost in sales (Sega of course gained retribution when it got the uncensored version of Mortal Kombat). Although the Genesis had a larger library of games, cheaper price, and a head start, it only controlled 60% of the 16 bit market when the Super Nintendo arrived.

Slaying Dracula has never felt this good

The Super Nintendo was a phenomenal console, in my opinion. Not only did it bring in many sequels to fantastic franchises, including Super Mario World, Kirby Superstar, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, and more, but it brought in so many fantastic third party titles and some amazing new franchises, like Castelvania receiving its magnum opus at the fourth game, Contra returning with high octane action, Donkey Kong starting his own series in Donkey Kong Country, Square shooting out amazing RPGs like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, Super Mario RPG, Actraiser, and many more. While the NES was a phenomenal console, the Super Nintendo is arguably the highlight of gaming with its amazing library filled to the brim with timeless classics, color, personality, and most importantly, pure fun.

After the phenomenal success of the Super Nintendo, Nintendo now wanted to cross into the 3D realm, albeit  attempting to make a disk based console with Sony and the Phillips CDi. Named after the 64-bit CPU, the Nintendo 64 launched on June 23rd, 1996 in Japan with 3 launch titles, being Super Mario 64, Pilotwings 64, and Saikyo Habu Shogi (Japan only), priced at $199. Although being the last contender in the console race, it the first party support gave it a strong pushing against the competition.

However, one fault that the system had was the hardware. Although boasting that the technology used in the Nintendo 64 could rival those of a supercomputer, a major flaw that the games were difficult to program on the hardware and many of the issues like cartridges and storage didn't have to be worried with the Sony PlayStation, the rival console. With Nintendo's strict policies and issues arising from the hardware, many third party publishers like Square, Capcom, and Konami severed their ties with Nintendo and mostly focused on Sony instead.

One of the best experiences that I have had with a game

With these down sides, the one redemption that makes the console so fantastic is the games. Not only was it a challenge to make transitions of 2D games into 3D, but it was a bigger challenge to Nintendo, due to their memorability of the older games possibly overshadowing their new games. But Nintendo proved everybody wrong and churned brilliant pieces of gaming, by releasing legends like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina or Time and Super Mario 64. Not only that, but Rare did a brilliant job by delivering so many ridiculously good games like Banjo Kazooie, Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong 64, and Conker's Bad Fur Day. It was just a joy going through all of these memorable games, and although the PlayStation had some brilliant games, Nintendo managed to blow me away like always.

We are now at the last major console released in the 6th generation, the Nintendo GameCube. After the success of the Nintendo 64, Nintendo tried to fix the mistakes that they made by being more lenient in their policies that have angered many companies to the point of them ceasing support of their popular series. Companies such as Konami and Square Enix (formerly known as Square Soft), have abandoned Nintendo in favor of the PlayStation. Hardware wise Nintendo had the weakest console in the generation, mostly because Nintendo used mini DVDs instead of full-sized DVDs, opting the inability of DVD or audio playback. This was worsened that the disks can only hold 1.5 GB of memory rather than the larger 8.5 GB dual layer disks used by Microsoft and Sony.

This often led to games being either made into 2 disks, become stripped down ports of the other console titles, or just simply not made for the GameCube Instead Nintendo tried to step into the online crowd. Unfortunately their Broadband-based activities were short lived and only a few games were able to be released that used online play. One positive feature about the GameCube was the ability to play Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games through the use of a cable to connect a Game Boy Advance to the system or the use of a Game Boy Player.

It seems that Nintendo could never get the concept of a disk down

The launch of the GameCube fared well and had a small number of good titles. Over time though, the sales lagged for a while, mostly due to the audiences skipping out on the console in favor of the more action packed titles available on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. For a while Nintendo has ceased production to sell their many units, which eventually led Nintendo to reduce the price of the GameCube to $99. They also bundled games to theit systems, which had the console selling steadily. Unfortunately, even though Nintendo pulled off their policies, many major companies did not develop many of their titles for the GameCube.

I personally enjoyed the GameCube. While Super Mario Sunshine wasn't the stroke of brilliance people say it was, I was treated to some amazing games like Metroid Prime, Viewtiful Joe, SoulCalibur II (it was the best on the GameCube because of Link), Harvest Moon, and Resident Evil.

This was simply because the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions sold a lot higher copies than the GameCube version. That being said, the GameCube is considered one of the most underrated consoles and people missed out on some great gems such as Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader and Tales of Symphonia. In the end of the run, the Nintendo sold 22 million units worldwide, with most of the sales being attributed from Japan.

And the GameCube gave me an opportunity to be the worst father (or mother because I accidentally bought the girl version). On my bad parent profile, I don't acknowledge my son, make him do all of the field work, and take him to the bar at night to drown my miseries in drinking until the dad comes and takes him back home. And I never hugged my child. Yeah. Bad parenting aside, the GameCube may have not been the best console in technology, but had a lot of good games in the library.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess- Recover the Light

 One of my favorite video game themes ever. So dark, yet hopeful and absolutely beautiful, This is the track that sealed the deal with me for my love of Twilight Princess.

So now we are at the last console released so far in the seventh generation of gaming, the Nintendo Wii. To start things off, Nintendo did not do as well as they should have with the Nintendo GameCube. In fact, the Nintendo 64 outsold the GameCube in its run. So sitting down, Nintendo managed to create one of the biggest innovations used in gaming by introducing a console codenamed "The Revolution". Initially the controller was to be presented at E3 2005, but it was withdrawn. Instead the console was unveiled followed by the controller at the Tokyo Game Show and ked to Nintendo to name the console, the Wii. The thing that set apart the Wii from the other consoles was through the Wii-Mote. 

As stupid as it looked when revealed at E3, it actually is a pretty neat design

The Wii-Mote is a wand shaped controller that can detect a person's hand movements through Bluetooth connections. This allows people to interact with their games more, if the games are developed correctly. The system's hardware is considered to be the weakest, though it was already known by Miyamoto, who's goal for the console was not power. The system uses a 512 MB internal flash memory and the ATI "Hollywood" graphics chip. Unfortunately, Nintendo still did not use the methods of DVD or audio playback, which was a major complaint for the Nintendo GameCube. Another issue that arose was the lack of a proper hard drive, in which Nintendo has offered the use of an SD card as a usage of storage. 

A new thing that Nintendo tried to test again was the use of online play. Through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo set up the option to use Internet play once more. The basic mold came from the Nintendo DS handheld, and they tried to carry over many functions including the infamous friend codes, which were the only way to play with your friends. Nintendo also added a new "Channels" interface in which each feature of the system was a channel.

In 2006, Nintendo released the Wii and it was a huge success, yet many countries had large shortages of the console. The console was praised for the revolutionary method of play and improvements over its predecessor. Nintendo also added the Wii Shop Channel to their service allowing players to download older generation titles from Nintendo, Sega, SNK, and other systems through an emulating service known as Virtual Console.

The game console also had quite a great variety of games. Albeit having long release waits, we were treated to some fantastic and fun games such as Kiby's Epic Yarn, Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil 4, Punch-Out!!, No More Heroes, and many more. With the Wii Motion Plus, games like Wii Sports Resort and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword can integrate more precise movements into the gameplay. Overall, I found the selection of Wii games to be quite good, with some fun and creative games.

Now you can create yourself in video game form.... without the smelly, nerdy, basement dwelling part

It also introduced the ability to create avatars known as Miis, which can be used for select Wii games. Along those, Nintendo added full functionality of Nintendo GameCube games and allowed GameCube controllers to be used for certain Wii games and all Virtual Console games, along with adding a Super Nintendo-like Classic Controller. However, the console was still criticized for the overabundance of shovelware titles (Nintendo does not use its strict policy rules anymore) and the lack of HD graphics. That being said Nintendo has managed to pull from their slump and deliver one of the most successful console in history. The Wii has sold about 56 millions units worldwide (as of September 2009).

Well, that about does it with my retrospective of Nintendo's console history. I am excited to be seeing the future of Nintendo, and despite my wariness of the Wii-U, I am reminded of my wariness of a Wii-Mote, which ended up letting me have a fantastic time. 

Handheld Madness: 

Author's note: I couldn't come up with a better title name, shut up. (D) No wait, please don't leave. ;-; I was only kidding. Look, I baked cookies. Come back! Also did you think I would forget about handhelds? Nope, I don't need your 'console'ation lololololololo- I'll stop.

Pokemon Red and Blue Medley- Nirreman

Carrying over from the Game & Watch, the Game Boy was the successor to the humble beginnings of Nintendo's gaming department. It was developed by Gunpei Yokoi with Nintendo Research & Development 1, the staff who worked on the Game & as well as NES games. When you look at the system as a whole, it was basically a hybrid of the NES and Game & Watch, combining the 8 bit graphics, yet held back from more than 2 colors.

The basic construction of the game was 4 operational buttons, a D-Pad, volume control dial and power switch on the side. There was also a link cable that allowed for multiplayer madness for games like Tetris and the ability to connect to the Game Boy printer. Eventually, the link cable made its way into the Pokemon video games as a method of training.

Speaking of Pokemon, it is one of the games that caused the whole Game Boy craze. Essentially, it's an RPG, but with a huge level of customization, allowing for over 150 different characters (or Pokemon) to be chosen. It sparked a large number of sequels, an anime (that kinda sucks now and I used to watch every Saturday), and so much merchandise and appearances in other games like Super Smash Bros.. While Pokemon was a huge selling game, Tetris was a larger craze. Already ridiculously memorable on the different consoles, the Game Boy version was perfect, due to the easy pick up and play nature and the compact nature of the Game Boy. Tetris became the best selling game (mostly because it was a pack in title) with 30.26 million copies sold, while Pokemon Red and Blue came in second place at 23.64 million units.

Addiction on the go

The Game Boy was a step up from many consoles for a few reasons. Albeit being more powerful in terms of graphics, the Sega GameGear was way too bulky, and much more expensive. A person wanting to go on the bus or just traveling would much rather carry a compact gaming device than a colossal beast like the GameGear. Also considering how the other handhelds had ridiculous battery requirements over the Game Boy's 2 AA batteries, the Game Boy looked much friendlier, and to seal the deal, the system was filled to the brim with fun games like Super Mario Land and Pokemon.

Following the success of he Game Boy, Nintendo decided to take the system one step further. Although the design was essentially the same, the Game Bot Color was introduced on October 21st, 1998 to Japanese audiences. The main reason why the Game Boy color was created was because many developers felt that they wanted a more sophisticated model of gaming as opposed to the 2 colored system. Nintendo responded by creating a more sufficient system, with more colors, extra manipulation instructions, and a clock speed of 8 MHz, which is twice as fast as the original Game Boy. Another advancement made was the usage of an infrared communications port for wireless linking, which was dropped for the regular wired linking design for the GameBoy Advance.

Essentially, the Game Boy Color wouldn't be considered a giant diversion from the original Game Boy, but more of a much needed update over the original Game Boy. And for those who still owned Game Boy games, Nintendo was kind enough to include backwards compatibility to original Game Boy owners (not vise-versa though (duh)). Once again, Pokemon made a fantastic triumph at sales, selling the most for the console at 14.51 million units combined, with The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Seasons and Oracle of Ages selling at 3.96 million copies each as of March of 2004. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color proved to be a powerhouse in handheld gaming, selling 118.69 million copies combined.

Now to jump from 8 bits to 32 bits! The Game Boy Advance (I thought it was the Game Boy Atlantis as a kid) was the answer to people wondering if a small and efficient console like the Game Boy could actually display high quality graphics without turning into a colossal beast like the GameGear. The color support of the system using 15-bit RGB and able to display ocer 512 simultaneous colors in "character mode" and 32,768 colors in "bitmap mode". Like the Game Boy, it only requires 2 AA batteries and could play for over 15 hours. The only downer with the system was the lack of a backscreen lighter, which was fixed in the future.

Yeah, it didn't stand a chance

Facing against, the competition, the Nokia N-Gage was attempting to take Nintendo's pla- pffft.... pla- pffft... place as the... kin- pffft... of the handhe- BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, yeah, N-Gage sucked. lol.

Oh wait, I have to be informative? Fine. The N-Gage did not really compare to the plethora of good games on the Game Boy Advance. For one, the Game Boy Advance had a huge library of classic titles revisited, like the Mario games in their All Stars format, Final Fantasy, the original Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past, and many more. Plus, there were plenty of good games that spawned from Nintendo series like Metroid: Fusion and Zero Mission, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, and Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga (just too bad I was too stupid to buy these good games as a kid (D) ).

Despite the fantastic marketing it had, there was still one problem. No backlit screens made gaming extremely difficult in our parents' basement (stereotyping lol). So Nintendo rereleased the Game Boy Advance in a sleeker, more compact fashion called the SP model. The SP was vastly superior, as it featured backlit screens, improved buttons (the original GBA was painful to push the buttons with), and no longer the usage of batteries required, instead going with a charger. Aside from that, the screen was split from the buttons, with the screen on top and the interface on the bottom in a flip phone fashion, sort of like a future Nintendo handheld. The Game Boy Advance once again went into a new redesign with the Game Boy Micro, going back to the design of the Game Boy Advance interface, but smaller and with the backlit screen of the Game Boy Advance SP. However, this time around, Nintendo didn't sell the device too well, due to the release time being extremely close to that of the Nintendo DS, the next generation handheld. Aside from that point, the Game Boy Advance units sold over 81.51 million units worldwide, with Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire as the best selling game at 13 million copies.

Cornered (Variation)- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Moving down the line, the Nintendo DS finally came into play, launching in the US on November 21st, 2004. Overall, it looks like a bigger Game Boy Advance SP, but the biggest distinction about the Nintendo DS is the dual screen, with the bottom acting as a touch screen to accompany the top screen. Also improved is the microphone and Wi-Fi support, allowing you to play against anyone around the world through Nintendo's Wi-Fi supported games. It also had 2 ARM processors built inside as the CPU and 4 MB of mobile RAM, which is expanded upon by the Game Boy Advance slot. The system also dropped the larger bulky cartridges for smaller game cards. Also supported are 3D graphics, allowing games up to the Nintendo 64 era to be shown quite well. The touch screen itself played a rather large role, serving as an information screen for some games, while others had you using it as part of the gameplay, like slashing sword with the stylus on the touch screen.

I find the competition of the DS rather objectionable....

When Sony announced the PSP, the Nintendo DS triumphed over the competition rather easily with the much better library of games and the much lower price point. Technically, the Nintendo DS had inferior technology to that of the PSP, but you can't be triumphant when you don't have a huge number of amazing games to back it up. Once again, many companies churned out many remakes and ports to fantastic games like Square RPGs  (Chrono Trigger for example), Super Mario 64 DS, Resident Evil (<3 <3 <3 <3), Phoenix Wright and plenty more. Amazing games like The World Ends With You, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass do not have you assuming that the console was only good for ports.

There were some other nifty things added to the DS, like a main menu, with features like PictoChat added for awesome chats (or just being immature and writing profanity). There was also a browser powered by Opera, a store (for DSi owners only), and a camera and sound channel (once again, DSi owners only).

At a low price of $149, the Nintendo DS was considered a steal and it underwent four changes. The first model, the Nintendo DS Lite, didn't add much, but a sleeker and smaller surface and sliders instead of buttons for the volume switch. The DSi added more customization to the fray, with downloadable games and app-like programs available from the shop and camera support. The double edged sword here is that the Nintendo DSi didn't have the Game Boy Advance slot, making games like Guitar Hero: On Tour incompatible. The final design, the DSi XL was essentially a larger DSi. Overall, the Nintendo DS was a phenomenal success, selling over 146.42 million units worldwide, with New Super Mario Bros. being the highest selling game at 26.21 million copies.

Everything you love from the DS.... IN 3D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now we are at the latest Nintendo console release with the Nintendo 3DS, which is the first major console to use 3D without glasses. It basically uses an auto-stereoscopic device to project 3D images without the need of glasses. It also features backwards compatibility with the Nintendo DS, but no Game Boy Advance support. You can also adjust the 3D slider to add how ever much depth you want to your 3D, and a circle pad has been added to make analog stick based gaming so much easier. The storage also has been upped to 2GB NAND flash memory. The graphics also look a lot smoother, with the capabilities being boasted by the Nintendo as more powerful than the Wii (whether that's a testament to the 3DS or a low point of the Wii, I don't know). The only down side to the system is that the battery lasts only 5 hours at the most and 8 hours on DS compatibility mode, making it obsolete for long road trips.

Song of Storms- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

One of the first things that Nintendo announced with their 3DS is remakes of the beloved Nintendo 64 games, like the universally acclaimed Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64, both of which sold extremely well. Future and current games that have been raising attention have been Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 3D, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, Mario Kart 7, Resident Evil Revelations (THIS BETTER NOT SUCK. YOU KNOW HOW ANGRY RESIDENT EVIL 5 MADE ME?! NOT PLEASED ONE BIT WITH THE STORY. WHY IS HE ON STEROIDS!? WHY IS SHE BLONDE!? WHY DOES THE STORY SUCK!? GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Moving on.), DJ Hero, and Kid Icarus Uprising. 

With the PlayStation Vita having an impressive arsenal of technology behind its back, we will once again witness to see whether technology triumphs or the huge emphasis for fun and well made games. I personally feel that the Nintendo 3DS has a good chance of succeeding and after some time, we will be talking about how great of a success it was when looking back. Statistically, the 3DS has sold over 4.32 million units worldwide with the best selling game being Nintendogs + Cats and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D coming in at second with over 1.08 million units sold.

In conclusion....

Closing up, I want to end up on this note. Nintendo has been there all of my childhood and life and provided me with some of the best memories with a video game. Whether it was being trolled by the Super Mario Bros. 2 ending (CURSE YOU DREAM DEUS EX MACHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), to yelling and laughing with my friends playing these games, I always loved sitting down and playing some Nintendo games. Just the joy of playing as Mario, Link, Kirby, Samus, and more is just a simple joy. It provided memories that I would never forget. If I were to ever continue playing video games, I can assure you that Nintendo will always be there by my side.

Thanks for reading.