The release of shoddily made titles such as E.T. for the Atari 2600 and the glut of unlicensed garbage heralded the Western gaming crash of 1983. Fortunately, Nintendo showed that gaming wasn't just some passing fad and could still be financially viable. Since then, they have endured in both the software and hardware business, outlasting the likes of Atari, Sega, and Hudson.
Still, no company is infallible, and Nintendo has had its fair share of blunders. While responsible for some amazing titles and innovative consoles, the company has made some mistakes when it comes to certain deals with different companies, managing their hardware, and keeping up with the changing trends in the industry.
10 Miyamoto Still Regrets The First Mario Movie
Super Mario Bros.: The Movie was originally conceived as a Wizard of Oz-esque fantasy adventure. However, when Max Headroom creators Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel became attached as directors, many changes were made to the script, tone, and direction. The film was released in 1993 to poor reviews and became a box office bomb. Bob Hoskins decried the directors and called the film the worst he ever did. Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto claimed that it failed to be an entertaining movie in its own right. It wasn't until 2019 that Nintendo released another live-action film in Detective Pikachu.
9 The Nintendo Creator Program Showed How Out Of Touch The Company Can Be
Transformative media is something that many companies struggle to understand, but very few of them have been as stubborn or out of touch as Nintendo. Through their YouTube Creators program, creators wanting to feature Nintendo products could choose from receiving 60 percent of each Nintendo video's ad revenue or 70 percent of the ad revenue for their entire channel.
Only a select few games could be made into Let's Plays, prohibiting any videos on any games they don't permit. This was lambasted by figures such as Jim Stephanie Sterling, who called the program a means to stifle criticism while raking in the profits of Let's Players.
8 Forced Scarcity Made Super Mario Bros.' Anniversary A Joke
The NES Classic, The SNES Classic, and Super Mario 3D All-Stars were all made artificially scarce to the ire of fans and casual consumers alike. These re-releases of classic titles were an opportunity for many gamers to check out pieces of history that they had never played before. 3D All-Stars featured games that were not available on modern hardware, making it a serviceable celebration of the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. However, the title was to be scrubbed from digital and retail stores on March 31st, leading to everyone joking about Nintendo killing Mario instead of celebrating the brand.
7 Nintendo's Server System Was Two Decades Old
For the longest time, Nintendo regarded online gaming with skepticism and trepidation. While competing systems such as the Xbox and PlayStation 2 had a plethora of titles that could be enjoyed with friends across the globe, the GameCube only had eight. From then on, online gaming was something that Nintendo would always struggle with. Connectivity issues plagued systems such as the DS, Wii, Wii U, and even the Nintendo Switch. It wasn't until February 2021 that Nintendo finally updated their decades-old NEX server system. It's telling that the Splatoon 2 version of NEX had a function to check if it was running on Windows 98.
6 Nintendo's Deal With Philips Led To Abysmal Titles Starring Their Characters
Nintendo worked with Sony on a CD-based add-on to the Super Nintendo, but was dissatisfied with the software licensing agreement. They approached Phillips in hopes of negotiating a better deal. While the deal for the add-on fell through, Phillips managed to get the rights to use Nintendo's characters for use on games made for the CD-I.
The results are widely regarded as the worst titles to bear the Mario or Zelda name. Lousy controls, terrible design, and shoddily made cutscenes plague every one of these games. As embarrassing as these titles are, they pale in comparison to the consequences of Nintendo's botched deal with Sony.
5 The Wii U Is Nintendo's Saturn
While the Wii found major financial success with the casual audience, its emphasis on hardware gimmicks and lack of HD support alienated hardcore fans along with third-party developers. These problems would be exacerbated with its successor, the Wii U. While Nintendo managed to make some good games that utilized the motion controls of the Wii, they were less successful with the Wii U's gamepad. The name also didn't help, as it made casual consumers think that it was an add-on rather than a brand new console. In many ways, the Switch is the fulfillment of the promises made by the Wii U.
4 The Virtual Boy Is Nintendo's Biggest Laughing Stock
Conceived by American engineer Allen Becker, the Private Eye was a head-tracking device that allowed users to perceive stereoscopic images. Becker dipped his toes in the gaming industry after failing to find any practical use for the device in the medical, industrial, or military fields. After being rejected by Sega, Becker managed to get the attention of Nintendo.
Metroid and Gameboy creator Gunpei Yokoi was intrigued with the technology and led the R&D team on the Virtual Boy. However, the artistic vision had to make some concessions with practicality, leading the device to become a heavy, monochromatic mess that was hard to develop games for.
3 Nintendo's Third-Party Support Is Only Now Starting To Improve
While Nintendo's first-party titles are some of the greatest games of all time, their lack of third-party support is a problem they've only just started to address. Their strict censorship policies ruined SNES ports of games such as Mortal Kombat and Lethal Enforcers, the cartridge-based N64 led long time partners such as Square and Capcom to flee to the PlayStation, and the hardware gimmicks and graphical limitations of the Wii U scared off publishers and developers alike. While Panic Button has made impressive ports of games such as Wolfenstein and Doom Eternal for the Switch, they still pale in comparison to competing platforms.
2 Nintendo Created Their Greatest Rival
In their efforts to make a CD-based add-on for the Super Nintendo, Nintendo reached out to the famous Japanese technology conglomerate- Sony. The company designed and built the Super NES CD-ROM to be compatible with SNES titles and CD games made specifically for the add-on. However, disputes between the two parties led Nintendo of America President Howard Lincoln to negotiate a deal with Phillips instead. When it became clear that the partnership was going south, Sony changed their hardware to be a stand-alone console, renamed it the PlayStation, and became one of Nintendo's biggest rivals to this day.
1 Nintendo Has Yet To Localize Mother 3
Despite massive popular demand, Nintendo has refused to localize Mother 3 in Western territories. It's speculated that EarthBound's disastrous North American sales performance is why Nintendo has refused to re-release its sequel in English-speaking territories. However, both EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings topped Wii U Virtual Console sales charts, demonstrating that this franchise has a viable Western market.
Additionally, Kingdom Hearts II translator Clyde "Tomato" Mandelin has made an unofficial English version of the game, so most of the heavy lifting has already been done. In a world that's grown so divisive, a game centered around the virtues of giving kindness to those who may not deserve it might be just what gamers need.