Wii-U thoughts so far

[isiolia]

Well I did say "or not to the same extent at least" and I do stand by that. Not hard to find plenty of stories of N64 being a college staple, etc, and I do have fond memories of older cousins and older siblings of friends who were in their teens or older enjoying the system.

I remember it being in a lot of dorms/apartments, generally on the virtue of local multiplayer - Mario Kart, Smash, Goldeneye, etc. Four controller ports n' all.

Partly, I'd wonder about the general pricing model and sales trends it had due to the cartridge format. The resulting library was relatively small, relatively expensive, and generally lacking in at least some of the genres that were particularly popular with teens/adults at the time, like RPGs.

Great if you want a system for a kid that you're just going to buy a game for every few months. Don't need to worry about them scratching discs or anything to boot.

[TSTR]

Just don't get them Mario Party or you'll be buying controllers every other week/taking them to the hospital for hand injuries.

[Reprise]

Turok, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, WWF No Mercy, Fighters Destiny etc actually made me think the N64 was pretty hardcore and "cool".

I think the console's image had been defined before these games came out - the system had already a year of titles and an additional year or so of advertising with an emphasis on "kids games" before any of those titles you named were out. Two of those games came out ~four years into the system's life, which supports the suggestion that more "mature" games were being bought on the N64 primarily by those who first had the console as a kid and were now getting a bit older.

Then the Gamecube was announced and Capcom came out and said the Resident Evil franchise would be exclusive to GameCube, starting with a remake of the first one and later the ling anticipated Zero.

Like with some of your examples above though, RE4 didn't come out until ~4 years into the system's life and was likely picked up by a substantial audience who had the GCN as a kid and were starting to get a bit older. Bayonetta 2 will likely suffer the same problem on the Wii U - these games are coming out only AFTER the system's place as "the one for kids" is already firmly rooted in the public psyche, and for good reasons.

I wasn't talking about RE 4, but the remake, which I believe came out soon after the console's launch. I also meant that I thought the mere announcement of those games would change perception, rather than the games actually being out straight away.

Also, it may differ from country to country, but I also remember the N64 being popular with high school kids and college students here in the UK. Loads of people at my high school had a N64 and lots of my friends' older brothers did too who were in university.

But meh, I'm not really debating that Nintendo have had a childish image and people have had that perception. Just that it seems strange to me, because I never personally had that perception, at least until I used internet gaming aites far more.

[dsheinem]

Well I did say "or not to the same extent at least" and I do stand by that. Not hard to find plenty of stories of N64 being a college staple, etc, and I do have fond memories of older cousins and older siblings of friends who were in their teens or older enjoying the system.

I remember it being in a lot of dorms/apartments, generally on the virtue of local multiplayer - Mario Kart, Smash, Goldeneye, etc. .

What years, though?

[Reprise]

Gamers, as a broad sweeping generalisation, also seem to have this weird complex about whether games consoles and the software are too "kiddie". It's weird in my opinion. I wouldn't personally call Nintendo games "kiddie" games. Sure, most are accessible for people of various games and aren't about shooting, but they still present plenty of challenge and fun for adults.

TV/film fans: "Man, I love Doctor Who. What a great show!", "Oh I cannot wait for the new Harry Potter film. It looks awesome.", "The new Toy Story film looks like the best yet.", "That new Marvel superhero film looks great."

Gamers: "Eww, Mario? That's for kids! I'm not buying a Wii U, because it won't have Destiny."

[mjmjr25]

N64 came out late in 96' and I got it for Christmas. I got 3 games that year as well, Blast Corps, Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Killer Instinct Gold - which means all 3 were released within the first 90 days of the console. I thought it was definitely a mature system at the time.

[dsheinem]

N64 came out late in 96' and I got it for Christmas. I got 3 games that year as well, Blast Corps, Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Killer Instinct Gold - which means all 3 were released within the first 90 days of the console. I thought it was definitely a mature system at the time.

My point wasn't that "mature" games weren't there all along but that they weren't emphasized by Nintendo in advertising and weren't huge sellers relative to the "everyone" stuff, so it didn't have that "vibe" to it in the general public psyche. Moreover, the vast majority of the BIG "mature" titles that people seem to remember from the console didn't come along until much later on and in some cases (Conker) seemed a bit forced...

[ZeroAX]

Also, it may differ from country to country, but I also remember the N64 being popular with high school kids and college students here in the UK. Loads of people at my high school had a N64 and lots of my friends' older brothers did too who were in university.

But meh, I'm not really debating that Nintendo have had a childish image and people have had that perception. Just that it seems strange to me, because I never personally had that perception, at least until I used internet gaming aites far more.

Yeah I wanted to ask you about it (and well...where you are from) because I get a feeling this "Nintendo is kiddy" thing is mostly a NA thing that started with the Mega Drive/Genesis marketing over there.

In mainland Europe Nintendo's biggest problem is that it doesn't have a lot of the main games people buy consoles for (namely FIFA ). I've never actually heard anyone say "I'm not buying a Nintendo cause it's childish"

[isiolia]

Well I did say "or not to the same extent at least" and I do stand by that. Not hard to find plenty of stories of N64 being a college staple, etc, and I do have fond memories of older cousins and older siblings of friends who were in their teens or older enjoying the system.

I remember it being in a lot of dorms/apartments, generally on the virtue of local multiplayer - Mario Kart, Smash, Goldeneye, etc. .

What years, though?

I started in '98, and recall it still being fairly popular for that type of use through 2001, when the XBox and Halo started taking over.

Personally, I didn't have my consoles for a couple years in the dorms, and even after that favored network/online PC FPS multiplayer. I think the only N64 games I've owned that fall under that umbrella are Mario Kart and Perfect Dark, but my apartment put a lot more time into DC and PS2 fighters anyway Still, friends brought the Bond games over and such, and the N64 was part of what we played.

There were very few single player games played on it though, as opposed to the PS2 (especially).

[Sload Soap]

Have to agree with Dsh here. It's not enough that the N64 just had some violent or mature themed games, it's how the console on the whole was advertised and most importantly, who to.

If you look at this video of N64 TV adverts from the time you can see there is definitely a focus on targeting boys/young men between 5-18. Now in credit to Nintendo their adverts feature a lot of gameplay footage even if the ads themselves are painfully early 90's.

Sony meanwhile with this series of Japanese ads show much less footage of gameplay focusing instead on selling the idea of a brand. You'll also note how the "protagonists" of these ads are made up of people of all ages and genders. They feel more like quirky car or insurance adverts to me. Or this collectionwhere a Spyro the Dragon game is advertised by referencing the Blair Witch Project. And let's not forget this Chris Cunningham directed monstrosity. I can't imagine Nintendo ever signing off on anything like that.

I think this a general trend that followed through until the Gamecube. The Wii broke it somewhat by advertising the console's universal appeal but again, at least in this country, the reputation was built for the Wii being a repository for Shovelware as the most common TV adverts were for Just Dance or Zumba games featuring minor celebrities.