THE MAKING OF A NINTENDO FAN

As Ice Cream Upload’s resident Nintendo fanboy, there was only ever going to be one thing I’d write my first blog post about upon the launch of our shiny new ICU website. Let me take you on a journey through time… back to before I was even a Nintendo fan at all… plays ocarina of time

–World goes all blurry and spinney–

Let me start with a confession: I wasn’t always team Nintendo. The first home console I ever got was a SEGA Megadrive, and it was amazing. I adored Sonic the Hedgehog. I had all the games, watched all the cartoons, learned to draw all the character and had the incredible video game music on repeat in my head. So when the next generation of consoles were announced, it was a no-brainer which I’d choose – the Sega Saturn! Remember that one? Of course you don’t, it flopped hard. Thankfully, moments before submitting the official Christmas present request to Santa, I heard some rumours that shook me to the core: the fact that, from early reports, the Saturn was actually going to be… a bit shit.

I panicked. I didn’t want to invest my hard-earned Santa tokens on a console that would be struggling like a flipped cockroach after two years, even for Sonic. That ‘Nintendo’ company though… they seemed to have some solid foundations, even if a podgy Italian plumber didn’t immediately emanate the coolness of a rocket-fuelled blue hedgehog with an attitude problem. So I dodged the Saturn-shaped bullet and went for the Nintendo 64.

Of course, as we all now know, the Nintendo 64 ended up with a vast array of absolute classics, from Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, to GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. So I grew up playing some of the best games that were ever ma- oh wait no, I remember now: I was the worst Nintendo 64 owner in history and didn’t get any of them. I got Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Star Wars: Racer, because Star Wars was life. I owned a Nintendo console, but I was not yet worthy of it. Much to learn, I still had.

I did improve as time went on, picking up Mario Kart 64, Pokémon Stadium and Super Smash Bros. It’s important to add here that of course, like basically everyone, I owned a Game Boy too, and Pokémon Red was crack cocaine for my 13-year-old brain. I went on to get pretty much all the other handheld systems too, from the Game Boy Advance through to the headache-inducing Nintendo 3DS.

It was with the Gamecube, however, that I really sharpened my Nintendo fanboy skills in the home console scene. Thanks to my Official Nintendo Magazine subscription, I was learning what games I ‘should’ be getting. I got The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker, which finally introduced me to the incredible LoZ series. I also picked up Super Mario Sunshine, Super Smash Bros Melee, Metroid Prime and Pikmin. I even managed to reacquaint myself with Sonic thanks to Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

I would continue to get every Nintendo console from that point on, alongside an Xbox 360 and PS4 (a fully-fledged gamer cannot live off Nintendo alone). So I of course got the Nintendo Wii, the mega-seller that conjured up a whole new way to play games whilst simultaneously making you look like a flailing lunatic. For me, it was a travesty that the Wii wasn’t a HD console as, in my opinion, that extra boost would’ve made it one of Nintendo’s best console offerings. As it was, the difference in visual fidelity compared to its Microsoft and PlayStation counterparts was just too significant to ignore. Super Mario Galaxy though… what a game.

HD was eventually introduced courtesy of the Wii U… and yes, I was one of the few people on the face of the planet to get one. The console alienated a lot of Nintendo fans, as well as the ‘casual gamer’ audience the Wii built before it, due to confusion on exactly what the console was pitching to be. Truth be told, I don’t think it’s an amazing console in of itself, although it did open the door to some great games (many of which have been re-released for the Switch now). It was, however, a stepping-stone for the Switch, and signalled Nintendo’s desire to add a ‘portable’ dimension to home gaming.

And so we arrive at the Switch, which I honestly feel is one of Nintendo’s very best systems. In its relatively short lifespan, the Switch – like many Nintendo consoles before it – has innovated and changed the gaming landscape. It has challenged how we categorise games, blurring the line between ‘portable’ and ‘home console’ gaming. And crucially, it has racked up some big-figure sales for Nintendo, with 34.74 million Switches sold as of April 2019. Whilst the Wii U had the core fanbase concerned about Nintendo’s future, the Switch has reassured us that the company has plenty of life left yet… with the upcoming Nintendo Switch Lite making that clear.

Why has the Nintendo Switch done so well? I think a bit of solid pre-release marketing was a good start; Nintendo were clear on what the Switch had to offer, something they failed to do with its predecessor. I feel that the Switch also just nailed what it set out to do – it offers a great portable experience whilst allowing users to easily switch to the big screen when they are home. And crucially, it has an impressive range of games for a console that has only been out around two years or so. At time of writing, the console has over 190 titles rated 80+ on Metacritic, with games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being just a few stand-outs.

What will the future hold for Nintendo? Following the Switch, will they make another home console (in the traditional sense) again? Will they venture into the world of cloud gaming, like Google’s Stadia? Only time will tell… but it’s a safe bet that I’ll be there to buy their offering come launch day.