The unholy arguement of Nintendo as a "kiddie" company

[zidane747]

Okay, although I hate to, I'm going to start off with a blunt generalization: The foregoing statement that portrays Nintendo as a kiddie company is complete bullsh*t. Yeah, sure, you could say that Mario and Zelda(which is even more enforced by the "celda" look) look and act kiddie, but that is merely an appearance, a fascade, if you will. A kiddie game to me are the Mary Kate & Ashleys', or the Bob the Builders, not Mario or Zelda, or any other Nintendo franchise labeled as "kiddie". I really don't think four year olds are capable of getting all 120 stars, or completing the water dungeon, or reaching the top of the castle with 0 stars. You see, Nintendo is the smart one here; making well-known(to kids and adults)franchises that are geared towards kids, while still retaining the gameplay that made them successes with the older crowd. It's really unfair that because they're the only one who has a purple console, they have to automatically cater to the children. Yes, I know that Nintendo has said that they aim their games mostly at kids, but think about it; no other console is vying for the market that consists of 12 year olds. Easy win for Nintendo(that is, if the games that market towards them succeed). The teen to adult market is a little harder for them, but now with games like the exclusive RE series, Eternal Darkness, and any other games with mature themes that are released, they stand a better chance gaining the gamers weaned on Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider then they had with the N64. Here's a little story for ya:

I was talking to my mom about getting a Gamecube(of course, the $140 price tag was brought up more than a few times ^_^), and she said,"Why would you want a Nintendo system? You're not 6 years old anymore". So I trudged back to my room, looked through my HUGE pile of mags, and found EGM's cover story of RE for Gamecube, and I made her read the whole feature. She stared back at me with wide eyes. "THIS is on a Nintendo system? Wow, I guess they finally grew up" Further barraging her with coverage on Eternal Darkness and Robotech:BC, I finally convinced her. I'll be getting a Gamecube for my graduation present when school ends. My birthday is three months later(September), and Christmas is three months after that. In that timespan, I also plan on getting an Xbox(hi EThugg!). Why? Because I enjoy games, and I'm not about to pay attention to braindead EB employees who scoff me for wanting a "children's toy". Weaksauce, I tell ya.

[Johnny Nighttrain]

fuck Kidtendo and their GayCube.

[zidane747]

Okay, so now I know that you're totally against the GC, if only for the reasons which I stated were idiotic in my previous post. Gotcha. Care to back up that claim,please?

[Brotherman]

Gamecube is a family console. It is designed for families to enjoy together. Nintendo makes games for families to enjoy together. Thus, most of their games are more in the Everyone category. However, because of this focus, some third parties are careful about content that they put on the GC, because of it's very strict demographic.

It works both ways for PS2 and XBox, but the games focus on more older groups only overall and leave the younger people out. There are acceptions to this rule however.

As for me, I'm glad that Nintendo still caters to the young and families. Someone has to do it.

In the end, I don't know why gamers want to make a big deal out of the family stance. It doesn't make the system any less enjoyable. I can enjoy games with cute graphics just like others can enjoy games with gritty ones. I can enjoy less violent games just like others can enjoy more violent games.

It just depends on your taste.

In reality, I think that the main reason that fans don't like their systems to be have this stigma is that they feel it will hurt sales (which it does to an extent). Alas that's the power of mindshare. It has had affects on all of the systems. The question is how willing are we to push through the mindshare, rumors, and fanboyisms, to get to the true values that each of the consoles have to offer.

[zidane747]

Brotherman: Exactly. It's a family console, but the games released can also be enjoyed by adults. To label it as a pure "kiddie" machine is utter nonsense. Like our belated bitter man LucasBarton, many have been tainted by the image of Nintendo as just a developer of games aimed at the 8 year old range. I won't deny that it will be a tough battle for Nintendo to turn around those opinions, but if the reputation helps them succeed in a market that is guarenteed revenues(just look at Pokemon in '98-99), then even if they lose, they win.

[Johnny]

Nintendo's market is much younger than it's competition's, so going on that you could say it's a kiddie system. That's not to say the games suck or anything, but they do target children. If they wanted to target everyone, they would've done so by now and the numbers would speak for themselves. Don't get worked up over it, if you enjoy the games it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, only children do.

[zidane747]

Johnny: First off, great pun. I liked it. Second, what I was saying was that I have no problem with Nintendo gearing some of their games towards children, but I hate it when people automatically assume that "all" of Nintendo's game are for children, and therefore suck. It just irks me to no extent.

[Yoshi]

Originally posted by Johnny
Don't get worked up over it, if you enjoy the games it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, only children do.

Johnny, that line kicked so much ass.

[Stone]

I don't understand why anyone cares whether the games are for children or not? If you enjoy them (and you should), then why in the hell do you care who they're for?

Is southern food just for southerners, beer just for really dedicated beer drinkers, Japanese video games just for Japanese, so on? No, of course not. Summon up some testicular fortitude and play what you want to play. I like the more childish games on N64 and Gamecube more than Nintendo's terrible 'adult' attempts: Mario Party vs. Conker?

[Jim Justice]

I agree with everything said. Mario is the quintacential platformer. Strip his image away and replace it with a theiving raccoon, an Ausie tiger, or scantilly clad half-vampire, and it's still the same game with the same appeal (generally).

I love Nintendo. But they most definatly cater to children. They say so themselves. It doesn't make them a "kiddie" company, and it doesn't make their games "un-cool." But it is a fact. All be it a fact I've choked on from the moment I realized it. But a fact none the less.