{"id":2483,"date":"2017-10-15T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-15T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/10\/editorial_nintendos_surprising_fanbase_is_a_major_strength_which_bodes_well_for_switch"},"modified":"2017-10-15T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-15T17:00:00","slug":"editorial-nintendos-surprising-fanbase-is-a-major-strength-which-bodes-well-for-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2017\/10\/15\/editorial-nintendos-surprising-fanbase-is-a-major-strength-which-bodes-well-for-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: Nintendo&#8217;s Surprising Fanbase is a Major Strength, Which Bodes Well for Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/10\/editorial_nintendos_strength_is_its_surprising_fanbase_which_bodes_well_for_switch\/attachment\/0\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/10\/editorial_nintendos_strength_is_its_surprising_fanbase_which_bodes_well_for_switch\/attachment\/0\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Mario fans.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>As a &#8217;90s kid I was only really aware of two main groups of gamers &#8211; kids and teenagers. It was a pre-internet age, so the points of reference were limited, but I doubt I was that far off. &#8216;Gaming&#8217; had been a thing in the &#8217;70s and &#8217;80s, of course, but a rapid expansion of the industry &#8211; after Atari somewhat went off a cliff &#8211; was arguably driven by Nintendo and SEGA in the 8- and 16-bit eras, and a generation of people then grew up with the hobby. I think that&#8217;s why attending any game expo often highlights a lot of 30- and 40-somethings wandering around the hall. For some of us, games have always been a passion from the day we were old enough to hold a pad.<\/p>\n<p>My <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/09\/editorial_the_snes_classic_mini_star_fox_and_downsides_to_being_a_mega_drive_kid\">personal gaming history<\/a> has its own quirks that took in the ZX Spectrum and eventually a time when LucasArts was\u00a0<em>the<\/em> name in PC game publishing. Yet through all those times most people I knew that played games were a similar age, give or take a half decade either way. I remember times my parents would join in for family games of\u00a0<strong>PGA Tour Golf &#8217;94\u00a0<\/strong>(!) or\u00a0<strong>Micro Machines<\/strong>, but they always seemed like &#8216;guest&#8217; gamers to my elitist young mind. That said, I once walked in on my mum &#8216;beating&#8217;\u00a0<strong>Columns II<\/strong> and getting to level 99, so that was an early sign of her gaming prowess.<\/p>\n<p>As I&#8217;ve gotten older, and as I&#8217;ve gradually invested a lot of my gaming and now professional life in the fortunes of Nintendo, I&#8217;ve seen first-hand how the company has broadened its fanbase and, as a result, given itself a solid chance of success with each passing year. With the DSi, for example, my mum got one at the same time as me and fell for its charms in a whole different way. I&#8217;d play <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/ds\/new_super_mario_bros\">New Super Mario Bros.<\/a><\/strong> while she&#8217;d play something like Nintendogs, and then my dad got one and played random stuff like Sudoku apps. I felt like my home at the time was a microcosm of Satoru Iwata&#8217;s &#8216;blue ocean&#8217;, gaming for everyone. I&#8217;d ultimately be the only one playing the Wii 99% of the time, but like any good family we had\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/wii\/wii_sports\"><strong>Wii Sports<\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>routines. My mum would join in bowling, and my dad and I would have oddly competitive (and fun) games of golf.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/10\/editorial_nintendos_strength_is_its_surprising_fanbase_which_bodes_well_for_switch\/attachment\/1\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/10\/editorial_nintendos_strength_is_its_surprising_fanbase_which_bodes_well_for_switch\/attachment\/1\/original.jpg\" alt=\"A game that pretty much anyone can enjoy\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>A game that pretty much anyone can enjoy<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The 3DS has continued the trend of the DSi, this time with my mum and brother on board. My brother and I have largely matching tastes, to be honest, yet when it comes to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/3ds\/animal_crossing_new_leaf\"><strong>Animal Crossing: New Leaf<\/strong><\/a>, anything\u00a0<strong>Harvest Moon \/ Story of Seasons<\/strong> or indeed a surprising range of RPGs (including Dragon Quest) my mum is the expert. I witnessed this first hand in recent years, seeing her gaming horizons expand in utterly surprising ways &#8211; with Nintendo&#8217;s system being the gateway.<\/p>\n<p>The Switch, I have to say, has taken it all to another level. Everyone in my immediate family has one, all four of us, and it&#8217;s not just because of my day job. Between us we have four Switch systems spread across three homes, and whenever we visit each other we always bring them with us; it&#8217;s a lovely ritual where we always have a bag over our shoulder, protecting the valuable little gaming systems. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/08\/editorial_is_this_a_golden_era_of_gaming_absolutely\">I&#8217;ve written about this before<\/a>, the way we share our Switch experiences across varied games. What&#8217;s amazing is how different we all are as gamers, yet even early on we all have our routines. My mum is a Breath of the Wild master dipping into\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/stardew_valley\">Stardew Valley<\/a><\/strong>, my brother couldn&#8217;t resist\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/golf_story\">Golf Story<\/a><\/strong>, and my dad is regularly buying games I previously never knew would interest him, like\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/oxenfree\">Oxenfree<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>A key component to all this is the portability, of course, that hybrid nature that allows for taking it anywhere but also jumping into TV play. Like a lot of Nintendo&#8217;s most successful hooks it&#8217;s deceptively simple, but executed with enough confidence that the simplicity doesn&#8217;t matter. The form and the technology appeals, too, in ways that have surprised plenty of people; I remember after the January event worrying about the price &#8211; my dad said the price was a non-issue and, it seems, he was right. Plenty of consumers, at least early on, seem to see value in what it offers &#8211; that does matter, as a Nintendo system without a winning concept can fail, as we unfortunately saw with Wii U.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/10\/editorial_nintendos_strength_is_its_surprising_fanbase_which_bodes_well_for_switch\/attachment\/2\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/10\/editorial_nintendos_strength_is_its_surprising_fanbase_which_bodes_well_for_switch\/attachment\/2\/original.jpg\" alt=\"SNES mini.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>My family is only a small example of how broad the Nintendo fanbase can be, and the sheer nostalgia value and familiarity of the brand means that when the company finds the right &#8216;hook&#8217; with hardware it can achieve amazing things. What prompted this article was a trip to the post office &#8211; when sending a parcel the topic of the SNES Mini came up with the lady serving me, who was probably in her 50s. &#8220;I really want one of them, apparently there&#8217;s more coming in time for Christmas. My favourite Nintendo console is the 64 though, I love that&#8221;. Righto, I thought, how marvellous and random. &#8220;The new Mario is out soon too, can&#8217;t wait to get that for my Switch&#8221;, she said. &#8220;Me neither&#8221;, I replied, sharing a smile.<\/p>\n<p>It was an unexpected but a lovely moment. Two people that on the surface have zero in common, nattering away about Nintendo consoles; literally a generation apart, but we both love Mario and can&#8217;t wait for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/super_mario_odyssey\"><strong>Super Mario Odyssey<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I walked away feeling like I&#8217;d experienced a very &#8216;Nintendo&#8217; moment, and felt all the better for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a &#8217;90s kid I was only really aware of two main groups of gamers &#8211; kids and teenagers. It was a pre-internet age, so the points of reference were limited, but I doubt I was that far off. &#8216;Gaming&#8217; had been a thing in the &#8217;70s and &#8217;80s, of course, but a rapid expansion [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}