I had so much fun taking the opposition against Sony with my Xbox article that I thought I’d do the same thing but with Nintendo this time. As I said in my previous piece I grew up with Nintendo right from the very start with the NES and then onto the SNES alongside the Game Boy. It was after that that my brother bought a PlayStation, which then turned the tides if you will. While I may have started out as a Nintendo kid I evolved into a PlayStation guy until after college where I pretty much went console agnostic because I could afford to get everything. Ah, maybe that isn’t the right choice of words. Let’s say I could justify my purchases more.
Anyway, the point is in all that time with the PlayStation I realized there were still some things Nintendo consoles simply did better. Basically, Sony owes a lot to Nintendo in more ways than one way. After all, if Nintendo hadn’t screwed them over with that successor to the SNES we would never have had the PS1. You know what they say. Competition breeds evolution. Do they say that? Ah, I don’t know what the exact quote is, but it is true. Without competition we wouldn’t see companies evolve their technology and or practices. If Nintendo had no competition they would have very little reason to push themselves forward. These thirty memes pretty much illustrate my points exactly almost as if they were made for me.
30 Mascot Dilemma
Ever since the original PlayStation launched in 1995, Sony has had trouble with identity. Not so much who their target audience was. I’m more referring to a mascot that carried through generations akin to how Mario has always been there for Nintendo. For the PS1 it was definitely Crash Bandicoot, but it starts to get a little hazy after that. You could say it was God of War for the PS2 as this image illustrates, or even Jak and Daxter. For the PS3 it was Uncharted and maybe LittleBigPlanet too. These are all great franchises, but somehow they haven’t stuck like Mario has. And for all intents and purposes, Mario is a mascot for video games as a whole. He’s the Mickey Mouse of video games and you just can’t compete with that type of brand recognition.
29 20 Years And Still Great
Nintendo had an amazing year in 2017. Not just because of the Switch and its games either. There was also the phenomenon that was the SNES Classic. I was one of the lucky few that actually got a SNES Classic last year thanks to a timely preorder at Best Buy. A thousand times thank you for not canceling on me Best Buy! Ahem, now here’s some incredible trivia.
According to the sales records it sold over 2 million units when it launched, which beat out the PS4.
Here’s the astounding thing. It released on September 29, which means it only had three days on the market whereas Sony had a whole month. That’s incredible! How does that feel Sony? A console from two decades ago destroying you in three days. That has to hurt.
28 God Bless The Fans
I’m not saying Sony doesn’t have dedicated fans. Far from it. Their choices of girls to draw though is a bit barren compared to the cuties on Nintendo’s roster. These same beauties are also all a part of child-aimed franchises making them more appealing to that “type” of fan. You know, removing innocence and all that. Rule 34 people. PlayStation women, on the other hand, belong to more mature series. The girls of Uncharted for example. Chloe is my girl, but there’s nothing really mysterious about her feminine wiles. It’s pretty much all on the table and to fan art designers; it may be more boring, or perhaps less challenging. Compared to Princess Peach, or Zelda though, well, they’re ripe for the deviant community to terrorize.
27 Ground Controller To Major Tom
Part of me loves that Sony has pretty much just evolved what they started on the PS1. The meme is right. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The DualShock just feels good in my hands. However, the line about Nintendo is true too and that’s probably their greatest strength. They’re not afraid to take risks. Sure manhandling a N64 controller is a pain in the behind not to mention the weird mapping on the GameCube, but they truly innovated and changed the industry with the Wii. It got people afraid of games to finally jump in as motion controllers seemed more intuitive to people. In hindsight, sure, the Wii hasn’t held up particularly well as some of the more complex games were wonky due to motion controls, but there’s no denying the sensation that was the Wii.
26 The Wii U’s Strengths
Yes, the Wii U was a disaster. You know something went wrong when the Switch outsold the Wii U in less than a year and that console was on the market for six years! Oof that’s rough. Sales aside, the system had some excellent games, but they were just too few and far between.
Take Super Smash Bros. for example.
Best in the series yet and I’ve never really been a big fan, but boy did it hook me hard. Sure the lack of story was disappointing, but the music, roster, and stages, were all great. It didn’t revitalize the Wii U, or anything, or really harm the PS4’s sales for that matter. The PS4 is very alluring, but no one can deny the power of Super Smash Bros.
25 Snake In The Grass
Speaking of Super Smash Bros., let’s talk about Sony’s PS3 and PS Vita clone: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. When this was initially announced I was overjoyed. Just imagining all of the first-and-third-party characters that could be in it made my mouth water. On the top of that list was Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid. Sure, he was cool in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but it was high time this native son returned to the PlayStation. Except he didn’t. Instead, PlayStation fans were treated to Raiden, which was also cool, but come on. Solid Snake is the man! I can’t believe Sony couldn’t lock him down when Nintendo could. Shows you how powerful Nintendo really is and we’ll see more of that might later on.
24 Gaming Origins
This is another image that gets cycled around a lot for various memes. It’s a very easy deconstruction. So this one is about Nintendo being the granddaddy of gaming fits in perfectly for this article and it’s true. Without Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony would have never made consoles. Well, at the very least, it would have been highly unlikely.
The video game crash of 1983 made people wary of game consoles post-Atari.
Still, Nintendo took a chance and marketed the NES as a toy at first as sort of a Trojan horse and it worked miraculously well. Plus I already mentioned specifically that Nintendo dropping out of their deal made Sony go out on its own to create the PlayStation. That’s cause and effect people.
23 Crash Ripofficoot
I’m not going to lie. I love Crash Bandicoot. I grew up with PlayStation post-SNES and his games were great. Still, I admit that he’s sort of a rip-off on the idea of Mario. Not that their games are similar. I mean the original Crash Bandicoot, and for that matter the games that followed, are more 2.5D. They’re not the open world exploration platformers of say Super Mario 64. I’m more referring to creating a cute mascot to sell your system to kids. As much as I love the marsupial weirdo he is a play off of that phenomenon. Even its commercials were stabbing right at Mario, which did very little to hurt sales for Nintendo. They were funny though. Crash is fun, but there’s no denying the widespread appeal of Mario.
22 Ease Of Use
On the same level of Crash Bandicoot, LittleBigPlanet sort of became the PS3’s cute mascot and for good reason. The standard Sackboy is adorable plus you can dress him/her up to your liking. While the platforming wasn’t as precise as Mario I still enjoyed the games especially with their co-op functionality. Plus it allowed players to create their own content, which was unheard of at the time, or at the very least to this degree.
That said, it was confusing as heck.
When Super Mario Maker was announced I laughed. I didn’t think their level creation tool would be any easier than LittleBigPlanet’s, but I was wrong. Leave it to Nintendo to perfect something as confusing as level creation. I concede that it’s a lot more fun to jump into and create.
21 On The Coattails Of Success
The Wii was a phenomenon and both Sony and Microsoft tried to piggyback off of their success but waited way too long to do so. The Wii introduced motion controls to the gaming populous in 2006 and Sony followed suit in 2010. Yeah, that meme is wrong on the date, but either way, four years is a long time to copycat the whole motion craze, which was already dead at this point. Then there is the subject of creating Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. clones, which I’ve covered intensely by now. And as to the last one, well, it’s kind of a stretch to call that a copycat. After all, Remote Play existed with the PSP and PS3, which were out before the Wii U. Still, I get the sentiment it’s going for. Overall, yes, Sony owes a lot to Nintendo.
20 Knack Attack
The PS4 was frankly lacking a mascot until Knack came around. Yes, I know the first Knack released as a launch title, but until a sequel was announced it felt like a one and done situation. Nobody seemed to like it so why would anyone expect, or for that matter want a sequel? Despite this, it was a green light for Knack II and it is loads better especially when playing with a buddy in co-op.
Unfortunately, it released the same year as Super Mario Odyssey.
Whoops. How were they supposed to know? Like Horizon Zero Dawn, Super Mario Odyssey unfairly overshadowed Knack II. It’s a good game yes, but come on. Super Mario Odyssey is ten times better. Maybe throw in a funny hat with Knack III, eh?
19 Kart Before The Horse
The same ruling applies to LittleBigPlanet Karting. Sure it’s cute and whimsical, but Mario Kart 8 is also the best the series has seen yet. Plus the controls feel just as loose in LittleBigPlanet Karting as they do in the series proper. Weirdly enough I also found the game kind of dark. Not in tone, but in the actual set design. Now the Wii U, despite its flaws, again, truly had some remarkable games on it. The one thing LittleBigPlanet Karting does better is its creation mode. Now all Nintendo has to do is make a Super Mario Kart Maker for the Switch and they’ll perfect the formula once again. That has to be next right? It’ll be one last stab at the dying LittleBigPlanet franchise.
18 Sell Your Babies
Ah Xzibit. Who could forget your charming “yo dawg” memes? That was pretty much his catch phrase in the long running and now long forgotten MTV show, Pimp My Ride. He kind of became an Internet sensation in meme form so if you Google Xzibit meme you’ll get this image with a lot more nonsense than this.
History lesson aside, what I think this joke is going for is that the PSP was expensive.
It started out at $250. No that’s not a typo. You could essentially buy two DS consoles for that price. Even one would set you up for life. The PSP has a good library, but it pales in comparison to the all mighty Nintendo DS. You heard it from me dawg.
17 I’ll Raise You Zelda
One of the biggest comparisons to come out last year was between Horizon Zero Dawn and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. For starters, they both released within days of each other. They’re also both sprawling open worlds with rampant technology running amok in a post-apocalyptic setting. Both Link and Aloy also have killer bows as main weapons in their arsenal and they have the power to take wild mounts as they please. Need I go on? I feel bad for Horizon Zero Dawn. I was completely hooked until Breath of the Wild came out then I put it aside until about six months later. By then, the charm had just eroded away. It released at the wrong place and at the wrong time.
16 Switching Ideas
Come on. You know it’s inevitable. Look. I’m not calling Sony, or Microsoft a bunch of hacks, but let’s look at the last generation of consoles when they both tried to scam off of Nintendo’s motion control success with the Wii. So who’s to say they’re not going to try that again with the Switch? I’m all for it personally. The more handhelds the better I say, even though it will be a pain on my wallet. Maybe this time Sony will include 3D with it too. They have to catch up with Nintendo eventually right? I love the idea of Microsoft jumping in too. Both dummy setups in this meme are fairly accurate to what could happen. Personally, I think they might try and use the PlayStation Move brand again. Makes sense right?
15 Monsters On The Go
As I said earlier the only reason the PSP was successful in Japan is because it had exclusivity rights to Monster Hunter for quite awhile. Then it moved to the 3DS and it was all over for the poor thing and that subsequently meant the Vita was already pre-doomed. That series, as clunky and convoluted as it is, works best as a handheld. I can see why people were excited to see that Monster Hunter World was coming to consoles though.
The last one was for Wii U and it was just a Wii port.
I get why that announcement was special, but let me pose this question. Wouldn’t it be better on the Switch? It’d be like a best of both worlds situation where you can play it on the go, or at home. Win, win!
14 Final Victory
Final Fantasy going to PlayStation was the biggest blow to the N64. They didn’t have Square Enix, then Square, to fall back on to make them killer RPGs. There’s a handful at best and they’re all bad. That said, again, Sony has to tip their hat at Nintendo for doing them a favor. It’s because of the NES that Final Fantasy started at all. That may be sort of a moot point since the majority of the series has released on PlayStation instead of Nintendo. Of the fifteen major games, only six were originally Nintendo exclusives i.e. 1-6. Still, it’s important to note in the annals of history and something Nintendo can brag about when they’re feeling really, really low. You know, like the era of the Wii U.
13 Late To The Party
Some may call Sony foolish for entering the portable market fifteen years after Nintendo introduced the Game Boy, but competition is healthy. Sure, they could have ignored the challenge since all other competitors to Nintendo’s handhelds failed including the Neo Geo Pocket and the Sega Game Gear. While it didn’t hit big in the West, it was certainly popular in Japan thanks to Monster Hunter. Overall, it’s a lot like the Wii U. It had a strong library, but not as vast as the DS, its direct rival during this period. What can I say? Nintendo just has that magic touch when it comes to handhelds however weird and finicky they may feel initially. Maybe you’ll get it right someday Sony. Nintendo can’t strike lighting forever.
12 The Power Of Pokémon
Since the PSP more or less failed outside of Japan I thought for sure Sony Was going to give up, but low and behold the PS Vita was announced. As a handheld, in terms of power, it looked crazy good. Plus the 3DS was actually a huge flop at first. They were overconfident because of the DS’ success and tried to pull a PSP i.e. they wanted $250 for the thing. There were no killer apps either.
It was such a disaster that Nintendo dropped the price less than a year after launch dramatically to $170.
Thanks to the price reduction and the new Pokémon, the 3DS was able to pull itself off of its feet. Too bad. The PS Vita was so close to dominating the handheld market there for a brief second.
11 A Whole Lot Of Nothing
One of the biggest jokes regarding the PS Vita is that there were no games for it. It, like the PSP and Wii U, had good games but few and far between. It actually holds a lot in common with the Wii U with its Remote Play functionality. Anyway, you can find memes similar to this all over the Internet. It’s not that the system had nothing. It’s just that whenever a game released it was just good, or average. There aren’t a lot of must plays that is to say. In fact to me, and most I imagine, this became the indie machine. Smaller games like Rogue Legacy and Axiom Verge were outstanding on it, but a lack of big-budget titles is probably what diminished interest in the system from the majority of consumers.
