Love the Wii or hate it, you have to admit what Nintendo has done this gen is nothing short of amazing. But with every major change, there’s a faction of people that whine about the old ways and how the new way is bad. We see this (almost) every day in the core vs. casual debate. But what about those that still love Nintendo, never mind the shift to casual?
I happen to be one of those gamers, and I personally don’t care what kind of a game I play–I could be playing an epic RPG one minute and a few rounds of Zuma or Wii Sports the next. To me, all that matters is that a game is fun, no matter who it is marketed for–and that, to me, is something Nintendo has always done.
Another reason I still love Nintendo is their lineup of all star characters. Mario, Link, Pikachu, Kirby, Fox–I have made many wonderful memories with all of them. Furthermore, if it weren’t for Mario and the NES, gaming would be dead–something I feel is in danger of being forgotten in the core vs. casual fray.
But most of all are the imaginative worlds these characters populate–the team at Nintendo do a great job making such places as the Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule, and Kanto seem like real places, so that we feel like we have traveled a long way, all without having to leave our living rooms and bedrooms.
Mind you, I am not blindly making the fangirlish claim that Nintendo is great, and Sony and MS are not–I have also had wonderful experiences on Sony consoles too–but I take care to never forget my roots as a gamer–and it all began thanks to Nintendo.
