One thing always used to confuse me.
What's with all this teary eyed "muzziness" (i dunno....I just made that up
) that come over people when discussing "Nintendo" (quotation marks intentional)?
I mean, it completely goes over my head really...
"oh I miss my nes"
...but to tell you why I'd have to start from the beginning.
Well, in the beginning I vaguely remember playing on something called an Atari 2600. Pong was THE game of the moment.
I have similar misty eyed memories of the zx81 me and my bro used to share (that is, he'd program it and I'd "share" the view :-p).
I also had those nintendo Game&Watch games at one point....Donkey Kong and Oil Panic.
Then there was a Sinclair QL amongst others....
....but my first
true gaming machine was the venerable Commodore C64.
Aaaaaaah.........lengthy loading times along with that wierd "techno" soundtrack and multicoloured screen on load up. The selling point was similar to the PS2 from later years....namely a HUGE library and plenty of quality titles.
The
main genres from this era were (for me) platformers like Auf Wiedersehen Monty, Frightmare, Ghosts'n'Goblins etc etc; through to flight sims like F15 Strike Eagle (remember Microprose anyone?), Gunship, Ace, Starglider; Fighting games like Yie Ar KungFu and others......the list went on and on.
The most important aspect was that the C64 (along with it's Spectrum rivals) set the benchmark for many many game types.
Now I had the C64 for a long time. Around GCSE time, my sis' needed a PC and so we got an Elonex (486 I think).
Wow....all of a sudden the games moved forward a few strides.
The game we got with it was the very first Survival Horror game ever invented......Alone IN The Dark (many people attribute this to the first Resi Evil game, but they're wrong).
The importance with this game is that it was all of a sudden 3D. Yes folks, it was like stepping into a whole new gaming world.
Not only this, but flight sims improved MASSIVELY with the better graphics cards (notable ones for me were the X-Wing series...one reason I like Rogue Squadron on the NGC so much, and the BEST game I have EVER played - EF2000 with TACTCOM by DID).
Driving simulators were also available such as F1, Indy 500 etc.
Then another milestone reared it's head...Doom and Doom II. Sheesh, the amount of my life I spent playing those
, along with Quake, Quake II etc etc.
FPS's were one of the reasons that since the C64, I was a PC gamer through and through.
And this is the crux of the problem. Whilst friends were busy with the new fangled home entertatinment systems like the NES, SNES and N64.....I was busy in PC land flying combat flight sims and fragging chainsaw wielding zombies.
In fact, I didn't re-enter console land until the advent of (my bro's) PS1.....notables like G-Police, Gran Turismo and Wipeout spring to mind.
So where are we now? Well, I was STILL using PC's extensively at this point and had missed out on ALL the nintendo goodness on offer up till now.
No mario bros
No metroid
No original F-zero
The exception was the mariokart series which I used to play whenever i visited my cousins in bonnie Scotland. (I've played all of 'em to date
)
Now it comes to 2001 and I have the opportunity to buy a new console.....guess what, the GCN and Xbox aren't out yet, so I opt for a PS2.
Here I come GT3, GTA, Silent Hill, MDK2 etc etc.
After about a year of the PS2, I finally get a Gamecube, after hearing all this teary eyed "muzziness", but my problem was I was still after the PS2-style games.
This means that I chose to play these games almost exclusively:
Rogue Leader / Rebel Strike (Factor 5)
F-Zero GX (Sega)
Soul Calibur II (namco)
Burnout 2 (Aklaim)
Godzilla Unleashed (Atari) etc etc
These NGC "ports" and exclusives were fun, but no better than the equivalent on the PS2 (if there was one).
For instance, Wipeout had : Weapons/more tactics/better music/design from
The Designers Republic/Speed ......the whole package was fantastic
F-zero GX only had the option of either boost or shield...duh...boooorrriinnngggg
Where was the driving simulator a la GT? where was GTA?
In actual fact,
it balanced out and
overall, my experience with the NGC was no better but also no worse than the PS2 (for instance, where was the Rogue series on the PS2?
)
The problem I had (and what would have made the NGC the best thing since sliced bread) was that this is what I
didn't buy:
Super Mario Sunshine (nintendo)
Super Smash Bros melee (nintendo)
Starfox Adventures (nintendo)
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time (nintendo)
Pikmin (nintendo)
Metroid Prime (nintendo)
Notice anything odd?......yep, you got it, I almost NEVER played nintendo home-grown games on the cube (what a dufus
- in actual fact I did get to play smash bros and starfox every now and then as my brother also had a gamecube, but I didn't have these games)
The overall result? Even though I had an NGC, even though I
did play all the mariokarts alone, I otherwise deprived myself of what the NGC offered best of all......titles from a company that KNOW HOW TO MAKE BLOODY GOOD GAMES........doh!
I recently played Mario Bro's on an old GameboySP, I haven't laughed (in joy) so much in ages. Also, I am currently enjoying Zelda TP immensely.
Not only that, but Super Paper Mario looks FANTASTIC.
I NOW understand where all those teary eyed recollections people have are coming from.....what a nob I've been stopping myself from having all these memories :(
This all means that
I humbly apologise to myself and everyone else for depriving myself of
Vitamin N whilst I was growing up.
I
promise never to do it again and will endeavour to use the Wii to it's fullest by buying more N games in the future
Nintendo "Muzziness"
Linear Mode
