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Editorials 
Gotta Buy Em All: Part One
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Don’t get me wrong; I love Nintendo as much as anybody. But I don’t think I’m alone in what I’m about to say.
Videogames are a business. Granted, it’s a very cool business, one that caters heavily to the consumer, as much as any other out there. It’s natural to assume that videogame companies are out only to make gamers happy, sometimes at the expense of their own personal good. This was especially true long ago, when it was only Nintendo and Sega battling. That reputation got tarnished with the launch of the Playstation, and got worse with the demise of the Saturn. Now, with Sony leading the pack, Microsoft getting ready to push it’s console out the door, and Sega once again abandoning a console, more and more people are thinking that videogame makers don’t care as much anymore. However, most people are certain that Nintendo is still in it purely to make us happy.
C’mon, kids, let’s wake up. Nintendo is in it for the money just as much as Sony and Microsoft, if not a whole lot more.
Not that this is a bad thing. On the contrary, I’m quite happy about it. After all, Nintendo’s strategy is simple: Make obscene amounts of money. What’s the easiest way to do that? Put out an unbelievable product. Nintendo does this consistently, and when you look at last year’s top software publishers, Nintendo was at the top, almost doubling second place. They brought in almost a billion dollars, just from games. Let’s not even think about how many GBC’s they sold last year, as well. Hell, Pokémon games make up over 10% of the software sold. But still, some days I can’t help but feel cheated. What are some of my biggest beefs?
Let’s start in the world of portables. Gameboy, to be precise. I remember when they started the “Play it Loud” campaign, Gameboy’s, identical to the original, but with a color casing. There was black, red, green, yellow, and clear. It was really innovative, and they sold extremely well. Then, not long after, Nintendo releases the Gameboy Pocket. These were identical to the original, with a gray case, but a slightly better screen, and smaller. This left me a little bitter, since the colored first generation Gameboy’s were introduced so recently. Regardless, the Pocket series sold very well. Shortly after, Gameboy Pocket started showing up on store shelves… in various colors! The consumer was presented multiple times with a product that was slightly better than the one before it, and as soon as they bought it, it was quickly beaten out by another model. Every time this happened, people were angry, but forgot all about it as soon as the next Gameboy came out. The best upgrade was yet to come, as it took a few years for it to come out, but when it did, Gameboy Color was all the rage. Just think, it could play all the original games in four colors, and new ones in 56! It was amazing! It came in only one color at launch (the now trademark Nintendo purple), and was followed quickly by several others, so I can’t complain there.
Unfortunately, that was then. No one had any clue what Nintendo was planning, and just like before, people flocked to the moderately upgraded Gameboy. It’s been a few years though, and what’s come out for the GBC since then? Other than Link DX and Mario DX, there’s been very little GBC-specific software. And since the Gameboy Advance is almost to market, what was the point of the GBC? Had the Gameboy gone too long without one of its makeovers? Had Nintendo truly feared SNK and the NeoGeo Pocket? Or had they seen it as a nice way to make a good chunk of money after the N64 was unable to pull itself out of the quicksand?
One of the things I don’t find indicative of Nintendo’s lust for money, that many other people do, is the Pokémon series. Pokémon Red and Blue were great, and one of the reasons for that was because they linked together, and you did have to link them to enjoy the game completely. This was a huge addition to gameplay, and has been copied in multiple GB games since this time. Pokémon Yellow was a small slap in the face, but it was different enough that it didn’t really matter, and it was released an entire year after Red and Blue. Pokémon Gold and Silver are two (or one, depending on how you look at it) of the best games available on the Gameboy, and once again, the fact that they link makes them much better than if it was one version. However, Pokémon Crystal has just been confirmed to be heading to the US this fall, which is a move that is entirely based on money. The main improvement Crystal offers over Gold and Silver is that you can use the mobile phone adapter with it to battle friends, if you know their cell phone number.
What mobile adapter? Exactly. There isn’t one in the US. With the Gameboy Advance coming in a few months, I don’t have too much hope that Nintendo is going to give us many more peripherals for the Gameboy Color, especially ones that are as game-specific as the mobile adapter would be. Speaking of which, the Gameboy Advance is coming out in Japan this month. I’m one of the lucky ones to have an import copy preordered, along with F-Zero Advance, and Mario Kart Advance. I’m excited at the prospect of getting a Gameboy Advance (even though I bought my first Nintendo portable, a Lime Gameboy Color, only a year before). What I’m not excited about are the colors, including purple, white, and clear blue. There is not one appealing color in that lineup. I’m choosing the white model, as it seems the least ugly.
Yes, I know color really shouldn’t matter… but it does. I’m going to buy the system, no matter what color it is, and so are you. But who else is? It wouldn’t be such a big deal, if they didn’t show off those awesome models at Spaceworld. I was set to buy a silver one with orange buttons. Hell, it looked so cool, I was prepared to wait until they got more in stock if they sold out. The thing that worries me is that these colors WILL be out before long. Once Nintendo sells to all the people desperate for the system at launch, who don’t care about system color, they’ll unload their inventory, and start selling better looking ones to people on the fence. Oh, well. I guess I’ll have to settle for playing great games on a crappy looking handheld.
Tune in next time for part 2, where we look at Nintendo’s lust for money in the console market…
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| "I’m going to buy the system, and so are you. But who else is? " |
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