gaming Nintendo's worst mistakes.

[CastletonSnob 3,025]

Nintendo is a very successful business, and gaming wouldn't be the same without them. Unfortunately, they've had their share of missteps.

What do you consider the worst decisions Nintendo have ever made? My pick would be sticking with cartridges for the N64, causing them to lose third party support.

[Magic Note 2,738]

I know I'll get a lot of flack for this but the Wii and Wii U were among some of Nintendo's biggest mistakes. The Wii, despite it being a commercial success, had one of the most unwieldly controllers in the Wiimote/Nunchuk. Then there was the huge flop that was The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which also happened to be on the Wii. (Part of that was because of the waggle that is Wii Motion Plus) Despite it again, being commercially successful, it remains one of the most controversial games they made. Even the HD version that was released a decade later wasn't enough to vindicate the game.

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

15 hours ago, Magic Note said:

I know I'll get a lot of flack for this but the Wii and Wii U were among some of Nintendo's biggest mistakes. The Wii, despite it being a commercial success, had one of the most unwieldly controllers in the Wiimote/Nunchuk. Then there was the huge flop that was The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which also happened to be on the Wii. (Part of that was because of the waggle that is Wii Motion Plus) Despite it again, being commercially successful, it remains one of the most controversial games they made. Even the HD version that was released a decade later wasn't enough to vindicate the game.

I’ve subscribed to a channel because I’ve stumbled upon a video explaining why the WII was Nintendo’s greatest success, which almost ruined it. In short: WII was commercially successful because it brought many casual buyers, but they weren’t permanent customers. Leading to a decline in the middle of it’s life cycle, which continued with WIIU, which aggravated the problem. Thank god Switch mad Nintendo great again 

 

PD: I’m not posting the video in question because it’s in Spanish 

Edited March 22, 2022 by Steve Piranha
Grammar DERP, and a disclaimer

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

I think one of the worst mistakes that Nintendo made was charging for online. Xbox was the leader of paying for online services, then Playstation joined in when the PS4 came out, and then I guess Nintendo caved in and decided to follow suit...

[PoisonClaw 8,153]

I think Nintendo's biggest mistake is their policy on digital preservation of old games, by which I mean they appear to be firmly against it with stuff like the recent shutting down of the WiiU and 3DS eShops. Which is strange cause they also hate second hand markets AND emulation of any kind, which  are literally the only way you can play some games any more these days.

[Misty Shadow 7,086]

The Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons. I do not like Joy-Cons. $80 for these glitchy controllers that always screw up at the worst times... 

Well, that, the Nintendo Share program, and charging people for N64 games online. The Joy-Con stuff is what always affected me most though. 

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

The Virtual Boy.

This system alone is considered Nintendo's greatest failure.

[Megas 27,069]

Nintendo Playstation/CD-i Partnership. Ended up creating one of Nintendo's biggest competition in Sony after killing their contract with them in favor of Phillips, while their partnership with Phillips crashed and burned horribly and turned some of their biggest franchises into a complete joke and a big reason why Nintendo is so protective of their IP

Edited March 22, 2022 by Megas

[Props Valroa 26,050]

The Wii U was one of the largest mistakes, as well as the way Nintendo functions and operates.

[CastletonSnob 3,025]

The reason I say sticking with cartridges is the worst mistake Nintendo made and not breaking the SNES CD add-on deal with Sony is because if Nintendo had chosen to use CDs for the N64, they likely would have kept more third parties and beaten the Playstation, or at least not have lost as badly.

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

12 hours ago, Megas said:

Nintendo Playstation/CD-i Partnership. Ended up creating one of Nintendo's biggest competition in Sony after killing their contract with them in favor of Phillips, while their partnership with Phillips crashed and burned horribly and turned some of their biggest franchises into a complete joke and a big reason why Nintendo is so protective of their IP

Despite being a mistake from Nintendo’s end, I think it was best case scenario for the industry. Can you imagine if Nintendo was the sole company making consoles? It’ll be worse than EA and Activision 

[Megas 27,069]

44 minutes ago, CastletonSnob said:

The reason I say sticking with cartridges is the worst mistake Nintendo made and not breaking the SNES CD add-on deal with Sony is because if Nintendo had chosen to use CDs for the N64, they likely would have kept more third parties and beaten the Playstation, or at least not have lost as badly.

N64 in general was deliberately made to be difficult to develop for, which didn’t help much either 

37 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

Despite being a mistake from Nintendo’s end, I think it was best case scenario for the industry. Can you imagine if Nintendo was the sole company making consoles? It’ll be worse than EA and Activision 

this kinda implies that Sega and MS wouldn’t have been around, se we may never know 

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

49 minutes ago, Megas said:

N64 in general was deliberately made to be difficult to develop for, which didn’t help much either 

this kinda implies that Sega and MS wouldn’t have been around, se we may never know 

That’s the case with Sega. Microsoft on the other hand, this could be ignorance of mine, but I don’t think Microsoft would have gotten into the home console market as readily without both Nintendo and Sony around, showing them there’s a market in there

[Megas 27,069]

20 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

That’s the case with Sega. Microsoft on the other hand, this could be ignorance of mine, but I don’t think Microsoft would have gotten into the home console market as readily without both Nintendo and Sony around, showing them there’s a market in there

I mean, this is already a hypothetical scenario so anything could have happened. Also keep in mind that 1) MS got in because of Sony’s success and 2) Xbox was originally planned as the next Dreamcast(even more evident when you consider that its considered a spiritual successor and that it was originally supposed to be BC with the Dreamcast)

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

Turning the internet into a subscription service. If it was access to premium games, then I could see that, but to have the entire online function cost so much per year? It's just silly since the Wii and 3DS had free internet.

[CastletonSnob 3,025]

The second reason I say that sticking with cartridges was Nintendo's worst mistake is because Final Fantasy VII was originally going to be on the N64, but because of Nintendo's decision to stick with cartridges, Square jumped ship to Sony, where FFVII became a killer app for the PS1.

 

Third parties would have had no reason to take a chance with a newcomer in Sony if the N64 used CDs, because Nintendo was still the market leader at the time.

If the N64 used CDs and Nintendo kept all the third parties, the Playstation might very well have just been another also-ran in the console market.

Edited March 23, 2022 by CastletonSnob

[Cash In 21,525]

Honestly, there are a lot to pick from. The worst one recently is probably the online. I don't have a problem paying for it, but the thing is, I expect the quality of the service to be far better. I also hate how they've been slowly releasing most of the exact same NES, SNES and N64 games again. I'm happy they're getting released, but it shouldn't have taken 4-5 years to get N64 games on the Switch. Doesn't help the expansion pack is so expensive either.

[Splashee 28,537]

Their biggest mistakes are when they share trade secrets with other companies. It ends up with Sony PlayStation(TM) or worse.

[ZiggWheelsManning 7,373]

On 2022-03-21 at 11:22 PM, Ganondorf8 said:

The Virtual Boy.

This system alone is considered Nintendo's greatest failure.

Your eyes put into that thing, as Chevelle said, seeing red again  

[Magic Note 2,738]

I don't buy for a second that FF7 was a "killer app" for the PS1 - the game felt like it was massively overrated and I actually see the game as a flop (hot take, I know). Let's see: abysmal localization, confusing as hell story, unlikable protagonist who just whines most of the game (Cloud), a racist stereotype (Barret), a villain with a personality of wet cardboard paper (Sephiroth), and unskippable sleep-inducing minigames that are shoved in your face that have nothing to do with the game. Not to mention it was way too linear and unforgiving difficulty-wise. Easiest Final Fantasy game, my hoof.

With that mini-rant out of the way, another bad mistake that Nintendo made was suing Galoob, the creators of Game Genie, for copyright infringement. The lawsuit led to a $15 million ($30,333,143.26 if inflated to modern-day money) loss for Nintendo. They tried to appeal the lawsuit being lost, but it was unsuccessful. 

[Megas 27,069]

17 hours ago, Magic Note said:

 

I don't buy for a second that FF7 was a "killer app" for the PS1 - the game felt like it was massively overrated and I actually see the game as a flop (hot take, I know)

 

Game sold 13 million copies , received critical acclaim and still remains one of Square’s most successful games, helped put PlayStation on the map and the FF franchise take off in the west. I’m sort the game didn’t specifically cater to you but at this isn’t even a hot take, you’re just lying to yourself 

[Magic Note 2,738]

I just think what stems from my frustration is my inability to finish the game due to lack of interest and when that happens, it's time to cheat.

Edited March 29, 2022 by Magic Note
Reworded to make my post less rude

[Celli 4,332]

On 2022-03-28 at 9:22 PM, Megas said:

Game sold 13 million copies , received critical acclaim and still remains one of Square’s most successful games, helped put PlayStation on the map and the FF franchise take off in the west. I’m sort the game didn’t specifically cater to you but at this isn’t even a hot take, you’re just lying to yourself 

Yeah, that's not even a hot take, that's objectively wrong.

On 2022-03-28 at 9:44 PM, Magic Note said:

I just think what stems from my frustration is my inability to finish the game due to lack of interest and when that happens, it's time to cheat.

Okay but you don't need to make up stuff that's literally false about the game. You don't like it, cool.

As for the topic, the virtual boy was without a doubt Nintendo's worst mistake. So bad they refuse to acknowledge it exists.

[Magic Note 2,738]

You know what, I'm wrong. I admit defeat and will give the game a fair chance.

Here's a couple more mistakes Nintendo made: The Nintendo's Creator Program. Now, you're thinking "what was the Nintendo Creator's Program?" In 2014, Nintendo basically had carte blanche on what videos that had Nintendo content in it to be taken down for allegedly copyright infringement.  To "remedy" (as in make it even worse), they decided to make the Nintendo Creator's Program, which allowed people to upload videos for it without taking down the videos. Content creators would still get monetized for joining the program. What was the catch, you ask? A quarter of the revenue went to Nintendo, the creator got most of the revenue, while the rest of it went to YouTube. It was that controversial that Nintendo regretted creating the program and had it shut down in 2018, realizing it was a huge mistake.

This segues into another mistake they made: their own overprotectiveness of their IPs. While it is good they're trying to protect their IPs, they do it in a zealous way to the point where it has strained trust with their own fans. See the AM2R takedown in 2016 after Federation Force came out for example, which eventualy led to two excellent entries in the Metroid series (Samus Returns and Dread). So not everything in that example turned out to be bad.

[Splashee 28,537]

Getting Chris Pratt as voice for Mario. What's wrong with Charles Martinet?