Since the 1980’s, many different video game companies have risen, fallen, or have just failed to take off. Nintendo is an interesting case since it outlived its original competitors and has remained a major gaming symbol to this day. The big sales started with the release of the NES, which was basically a gimmick on having arcade games at your house on your own tv. They started to improve their technology and eventually got to creating far greater things on their own than what was already being made. Then they introduced 3d graphics which kept them going into the later years of gaming and helped them to create a good template for games they made in the future. Then the Gamecube came out, sadly being outshined by other consoles at the time, most notably the PlayStation 2.
Nintendo’s sales were on a steady decline and for a while, it was possible that it was going to die out, but then its “revolutionary” new console came out. It had motion controls and sold more than any of its other consoles. Many thought this would be the newest and biggest thing to come to video games, and that people will be using this more and more. The Wii sacrificed overall game quality in order to give a more active and engaging experience by making you move around (for the most part) in order to play. This got them an unbelievable amount of sales, but now it would fail miserably.
Since not many people still care about motion controls these days, unless it’s in VR, it was just a successful gimmick and not a game-changing difference like what they had previously been doing. More of their older games are more relevant now than anything you could find that comes from the Wii, even if it’s not using motion controls. Mario 64 is still popular and eventually lead to the newest game Mario Odyssey, which is showing to be a huge success. Super Smash Bros. Melee has a large community, with entire events like Smash Summit being hosted just for that game. Zelda is just about as popular as Mario games are, which just shows that Nintendo knows how to keep and increase their fan base.
Nintendo’s focus on their game quality has kept them going when something doesn’t work out for them. Even though their consoles are seen as the worst of the current generation, they have been able to produce games that are still good despite the lack of impressive visuals. A lot of their older (and newer with the Switch) games have stayed relevant and loved through the years, showing that it’s the real work they put into making good games that stick.
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