IGN Really Hates Nintendo: First Dissing First Party Wii Games, Now Dissing Nintendo’s 2D Platformer

Look, I enjoy IGN time to time. I also get very frustrated with them time to time. As an example of my most recent frustration with them, check out what they had to say in regards to Nintendo and their “platform games”:

The company that is truly bucking the trend is Nintendo. What other company still charges full price for a classic platformer experience? In the last couple of years we’ve had New Super Mario Bros., DKC Returns and Kirby’s Epic Yarn to name a few. These titles are obviously Nintendo’s bread and butter, but it does put the company at odds with the rest of the industry.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Mario, Donkey Kong and Kirby as much as the next guy, but it can’t be denied that these games are selling gameplay that hasn’t necessarily evolved since the NES and SNES eras, at five times the price of new and original games being released on PSN, Steam and XBLA. These titles don’t have the added bonuses of HD graphics, online play, leaderboards, true 5.1 sound and the potential for DLC expansions. So why is Nintendo the platform for platformers? Is the company capitalising on the ‘retro fad’? Is it reaching out to the customers it lost at the end of the SNES era, only to regain in the motion era? One thing’s for sure; Nintendo didn’t have this kind of support for the genre on the Nintendo 64 or Gamecube.

So, Nintendo’s platformers (2D, specifically) have not evolved since the 80s and early 90s. In fact, Nintendo not only hasn’t evolved that genre, they provide experiences for full retail value that are, in fact, not as good and not in the same league as the 5 to 10$ games you can get on WiiWare, PSN, and Xbox Arcade. Essentially, Nintendo is producing inferior products for more money relying on name alone to sell millions of copies while smaller “at home” companies are creating superior experiences. Nintendo has lost it.

At least, that is what IGN is having you believe in this new article of theirs. Of course, they ignore the fact that 5.1 sound, HD graphics, online play, and leadderboards do not a great 2D side scrolling platform make. In fact, they ignore the #1 functionality aspect that Nintendo has been hammering into the industry for several years now: gameplay. If you provide superior game play, ultimately your game will be a success no matter what it looks like, sounds like, or how it tracks your “score”. It just has to have extremely enjoyable gameplay.

Is New Super Mario Bros. Wii, as an example, worth the same full retail value as LittleBigPlanet? IGN argues it isn’t. Of course, if offers absolutely no true alternative to what the game provides. Now this isn’t to discredit the platforming market on these downloadable networks. There are indeed some great gems. I have enjoyed some myself (Limbo comes to mind). But they lack a few things, in general, that Nintendo always gets right.

For starters, lets look at New Super Mario Bros. Wii. For 50$, I get a 2D sidescrolling platform game that has graphics that could “almost” fit into the SNES era. But wait, what do I get in this package for 50$? Oh I don’t know, how about some of the most accessible living room multiplayer I have ever experienced? Yeah, that’s what I got. Oh, and the single player is almost just as fun? Who would of guessed! Wait, what about the length? Oh, New Super Mario Bros. Wii is almost three times as long as Limbo? Who would of thunk it! Last but not least, the game is extremely replayable. It gives you multiple ways to progress, and several different items for your pleasure.

The point here is that while it doesn’t have HD, it doesn’t have some super Artistic methods to make it stand out, and it may lack in true surround sound quality – New Super Mario Bros. Wii does everything right that a purely fun game experience should. So why is it one of the best selling games this generation at a 50$ price tag? Because it’s simply a superior product to the cheaper games.

Of course, that is part inner fan boy coming out. Naturally Mario is one of the biggest names in gaming, so his name is going to sell itself at times. None the less, NSMBW was amazing. Of course, that’s one game, and I could come up with equally great things to say about Donkey Kong Country Returns, or Kirby’s Epic Yarn. Heck, technically Metroid: Other M is side scrolling platform game. Of course, it’s too unique so it wont actually make the complaint list at IGN.

While I agree Nintendo hasn’t injected new IPs into the genre, they definitely haven’t fallen behind. They know what they are doing. The Wii isn’t consdiered a great platforming system because it’s weak in power, it’s because Nintendo has created some of the most memorable Platforming experiences this generation.

I digress, this is really a small notion, and it ties into IGN’s general feeling of Nintendo. Recently in listing the top games for each platform, they had the audacity to say that the Playstation 3 has the most (and best) exclusive content, and then continued to rattle off a massive list of developers and some of their “best games”. Among these titles included 4 games that didn’t top 500,000 in sales, and were considered a relative flop. Even Killzone 3 died off rather quickly after launch.

For Nintendo, they just listed the games and ignored what Nintendo has done on a first party status this generation. For those who aren’t aware, Nintendo essentially owns the entire top 10 in terms of first party game sales this generation. Nintendo essentially sells each generation of it’s console based solely on it’s own software. Seriously, how can you say Sony tops that? Lets look at Nintendo’s studios:

• EAD Group 1 – Mario Kart series, Nintendogs series, Luigi’s Mansion
• EAD Group 2 – Animal Crossing series, Wii-branded games
• EAD Group 3 – The Legend of Zelda series
• EAD Group 4 – Pikmin series, New Super Mario Bros., Big Brain Academy
• EAD Group 5 – Wii Fit, Steel Diver with Vitei
• EAD Tokyo – Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Super Mario Galaxy
• Nintendo SPD – WarioWare series, Friend Collection, Rhythm Heaven series, Metroid: Other M with Team Ninja
• Intelligent Systems – Paper Mario series with Nintendo, Fire Emblem series, Advance Wars series, WarioWare series
• Project Sora – Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kid Icarus Uprising
• HAL Laboratory – Kirby series, Mother series, Super Smash Bros series
• Monolith Soft – Disaster: Day of Crisis, Xenoblade
• Retro Studios – Metroid Prime series, Donkey Kong Country Returns

(Big thanks to IGN member SergioHyrule for the list.)

As you can see, before we even get to a 2nd tier company Nintendo owns/has stock in, in house Nintendo has already made at least 17 games this generation, if not closer to 30 games if we take an actual count. Then you consider that Retro is fully owned by Nintendo, as is HAL Laboratory, and the list grows more. Oh and Pokemon? That’s not even listed yet Nintendo owns the rights to it (they don’t own Game Freak (they are just partial owners), but they do own the publishing rights for the Pokemon copyright).

That’s a pretty massive list of groups and games coming out of Nintendo without any help. Sony and Microsoft are continuously buying out other developers to get exclusive content. It works, and there is nothing wrong with it. However, to outright claim that Sony has the best exclusive content is out there. Especially after two games in the same series this generation (Galaxy 1 and Galaxy 2) also happen to be the highest rated games this generation. Skyward Sword is likely to continue that trend. So this generation Nintendo owns… the best selling games… and the highest rated, and they are all exclusives. Huh, Sony must have superior products.

I love InFamous, and of course I enjoy God of War. Unfortunately, the rest of the world seems to like other stuff, including Nintendo. IGN is just catering to their “biggest crowd”, just like N4G also caters to the Playstation crowd. It’s okay, keep alienating Nintendo fans IGN. Keep being biased at an “unbiased” gaming news site. You’re only making sites like ours gain in popularity as Nintendo fans are running around looking for anyone willing to expose the truth.

I respect your work IGN, and we’re likely as biased as you are with some things, but you need to stop ignoring the blatant truth because it’s the cool thing to do. Nintendo dominated this generation. It has faults. We are all aware of them, but the software was never a problem. At least, not what we got from Nintendo, who gave us more games than ever before.

Source: IGN