Finest Hour: Nintendo

[YellerDog]

Why is that a "...?"

[Dyne]

...?

I'm also wondering where this "many games" comes from. It makes me think the PS1 had an abundance of great 2-d games, which it didn't iirc.

[Rem]

The snes, and it isn't close.

...?

...?

[A Robot Bit Me]

I can maybe name five "great" 2D games for Playstation, and that's being very generous with Hermie Hopperhead and Gunners' Heaven.

[Changeling]

Yoshi's Island is my favorite game of all time. Also,

TETRIS ATTACK!!! at #3.

GBA or NES for number 2 is a harder choice. NES had a a string of good titles, but GBA had Wario Ware, which is #5 on my all-time favorite list.

Tetris Attack was soooooo fucking sweet ! Don't ever go back to it if you've ever experienced the nirvana that is Poker Smash though.

[Uriel]

It is to an extent. The N64 was a system designed around 3D gaming exclusively to the neglect of being very well suited to 2D (yes it could fudge 2D with polygons, but it wasn't real friendly to it). Many of the the best games on saturn and PlayStation were 2D, but on N64, there were really only like 3. Maybe a couple more if you count 2.5D stuff.

People love to blame the death of 2D on console manufacturers. While they did come out of the gate focusing on 3D in their marketing (which, 3D being the huge new draw of the gen's technology, was the sensible thing to due), the fact is that the mass market wanted more 3D once they got a taste of it and largely ignored what 2D offerings there were. Could the manufacturers have decided, for no good reason, to cram a bunch of 2D down the market's throat? Sure, but that would be an irresponsible business decision. Now those companies, Sony and Nintendo in particular, did try to dissuade companies from releasing 2D games in many cases. While that sucks for those of us that love 2D, it was arguably the right path for the console's image from a businessman's standpoint and what 2D games did get released usually proved on the sales charts that the mass market didn't care. Sometimes they got a bit too prejudicial in quashing 2D products, but I'd say that consumers by and large were always going to turn their back on 2D, they just had to wait for the tech to catch up.

You cite the quality of 2D games on the Playstation and Saturn when condemning Nintendo's shunning of 2D, but do quality comparisons really have any place in analyzing that decision (mind you, 2D Playstation games dominate my all-time favorites list)? Edge last month had a great article explaining how Nintendo in particular will completely turn its back on something in pursuit of what's profitable.

[Low]

I can maybe name five "great" 2D games for Playstation, and that's being very generous with Hermie Hopperhead and Gunners' Heaven.

Not a big PSone fan but what's the criteria here?

In the Hunt, Raiden, R-Types, Gradius Gaiden, SOTN, Skullmonkeys, DoDonpachi, Zanac X Zanac, Lomax, and The Abe series are a few great titles I can think of.

[Uriel]

Point Blank (if that counts), Tomba 1 & 2, Heart of Darkness, Valkyrie Profile, Norse by Norsewest, Silhouette Fucking Mirage, Strider 2, Mega Man 8....

If we just mean 2D graphics, and not necessarily a 2D perspective (like Tactics Ogre and Alundra), the list is huge.

[Rem]

The playstation has no 2-d games myth is really just that.

[YellerDog]

I enjoyed the hell out of Discworld, myself. Good ol' Playstation Mouse.

Anyway, the market got stupid for years and years, and now it's got some kind of equilibrium to it. Good 2D games are happening regularly. This is good.