My opinion on Nintendo consoles + RIP Chris Taylor

This topic is again dedicated to Chris Taylor who was famous for getting early access to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Only this time he passed away recently but Nintendo was generous and kind hearted to grant him access to SSB5. Now I won’t be making any simple summaries on each of the Nintendo consoles as I’ve already covered that from this previous topic:-

https://apg-clan.org/showthread.php/...tendo-Consoles

And for the sake of his memory, I won’t be adding too many negative comments or too many Cons than pros, and that will include some products that were a flop or Japan only hardware – like the Virtual Boy and e-Reader. But I am going to explain some of the specific features and accessories for the Nintendo consoles where some of you may not already know. Before we begin on explaining, our previous topic didn’t cover on handheld Nintendo consoles like Game Boys or DS and maybe Game & Watch.


First up is Game & Watch:-
Game & Watch was created by Gunpei Yokoi from Nintendo in 1980. It was a small primative handheld console with a non-backlit LCD screen. Some Game & Watches consists of a dual screen as well as two game modes like “Game Mode A” and “Game Mode B”, as well as a personal watch and alarm system. Unlike like Game Boys and DS, it doesn’t come with a slot for loading ROM carts or cards as all Game & Watch devices are pre-installed with games built in.


Game Boy:-
The Game Boy created by Gunpei Yokoi from Nintendo in 1989, is like an awesome miniature NES console. It is powered with 4 AA batteries, with an 8-Bit Sharp CPU clocked at 4.19MHz that contains like a hybrid of both the Intel 8080 and Z80 processor instructions. What is more remarkable is that CPU has nearly twice the speed and power than the Atari 2600, Commodore 64 and even the NES for a tiny handheld device since the late 1980s! Despite its small RAM and GFX power in a greyish green monochrome display, and is more bulky than the Game & Watch, The Game Boy production lifespan lasted for nearly 14 years unlike other ordinary consoles that last around 4-7 years per generation. In fact it had managed to compete against the Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx, that had colour with a backlit display and the Sega TV Tuner for Analogue Signal TV, but failed to compete.


Game Boy Color:-
Most Game Boy fans did complain on the lack of colour and the eye straining pain. But this issue was resolved when Nintendo finally released the Game Boy Color in 1998. Unlike the original Game Boy features, the Game Boy Color finally had the LCD Colour display with upto 32K colour palate, and with an 8-Bit 8MHz CPU that is twice the speed of the original. Plus the 2P port is smaller than the original, and includes a IR transmitter for interacting between two identical Game Boy Color consoles. The great thing is that the Game Boy Color is backwards compatible with the original Game Boy carts. Since the release of Pokemon Red & Blue in the Western markets near 1998, the sales of the Game Boy line had accelerated that trend until 2003. Although the Game Boy Color was released too late as it was eventually replaced by the Game Boy Advance in 2001 – 3 years after the release of the Game Boy Color. But that was maybe because the original creator Gunpei Yokoi left Nintendo in 1996 and died in 1997.


Game Boy Advance:-
The GBA is like the final generation for the Game Boy line. It is still backwards compatible from the original and Game Boy Color cartridges, except for the Game Boy Advance Micro. It was powered with a ARM 16MHz processor and Z80 8MHz co-processor for backwards compatiblity. Not only that the GBA got a better GFX power, but got a wider LCD display at 240×160. And the best part is like the miniature version of the SNES but has got 4-5 times the speed and the Super Mario remakes like Super Mario Advanced with the enhanced features and smoother FPS for Super Mario Bros 2, 3 Yoshi’s Island and Super Mario World. Both the Super Mario Advanced series and Pokemon 3rd Generation games for the GBA was a commercial success. And it can link upto 4 players with the same GBA, as well can link up with the GameCube.


DS and DSi:-
The Nintendo DS was a revolutionary new handheld generation. It had the similar physical form of the Game & Watch Donkey Kong, because of the two screens used. It contains a wider pixel display at 7% with a dual ARM CPU at 67MHz and 33MHz. The bottom display is a touchscreen and the DS is provided with a Stylus, which work kinda like a LightPen. Unlike the GBA it cannot play older Game Boy cartridges for neither the DS and the DSi, except for the original DS that can only work on GBA carts but not in 2P mode nor any link-up purposes. The DSi is like the enhanced version of the DS with a camera, along with the GBA slot removed in favour for the SD Card slot and better internet access. It can connect to DSiWare shop to download and buy games and apps. The Super Mario 64 DS remake is like the emulation of the N64’s top selling game Super Mario 64, but with the enhanced polygon count, textures, game features as well introducing Luigi, Wario and Yoshi as playable characters. But neither the DS nor 3DS Virtual Console cannot play nor emulate N64 games like the Wii Virtual Console.


3DS and New 3DS:-
The 3DS is currently like a cool handheld device despite not having 3G or 4G SIM trays. The top screen is an Autostereoscopic display that doesn’t require any 3D glasses but isn’t recommended for younger players due to the seizures caused by 3D vision. The 3DS contains 268MHz Dual-Core ARM11 MPCore, single-core ARM9 CPU and is backwards compatible with the original DS cards. It supports on using eShop, DSiWare, and watching 3D videos from YouTube. The New 3DS however is slightly faster than the original 3DS can allow Amiibo support and SNES Virtual Console. Also the 2DS is the child-friendly version for the 3DS as the 3D display is removed for Health and Safety reasons.


“But wait a minute! Isn’t this topic about my opinion Nintendo consoles?” Well you are correct but I thought it be better to explain on the handheld consoles first as that wasn’t covered from the Evolution Of Nintendo Consoles. “What do you think of the Game Boys?” Well they are like the early version of Mobile Phones but built only for gaming and no calling. I really like those Game Boys as well playing 2 players with a friend and trading Pokemon! Only they should of at least had the Wireless Communication sooner, like when Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen included support for that. And as I mentioned on the Game Boy Color that they were released too late as Mobile Phones like Nokia started to dominate the Handheld Device industry – which they did. I'd wished that the Game Boy Color was released in 1995-1996 as I had hoped for having colour and maybe a backlit display but that took ages for it to come out. And it was too sudden for me to move onto the Game Boy Advance as it kinda turned up outta blue. So the Original Game Boy, Color and the GBA should of got released with a gap of 4-6 years in between. The GBA original console was great but the GBA SP appears more better with the Clamshell form and backlit display. As for the DS, I really like it as well got inspired by the Dual Screens. But in Britain we didn’t get the DS until March 2005 instead of near Xmas 2004. Although I think the DS could have had a least more power as well added support for the older Game Boy games. And as for the DS lite and Game Boy Advanced Micro, well I don’t think those should have been released as Nintendo had a bit of a struggle when competing against the PS2 and Xbox near 2003. Besides they would of saved a bit of effort and investment on the DS and Wii (Codenamed Revolution) project. For the current 3DS line, well I hope they have a promising successor like maybe the “4G DS” which is like the 3DS next gen but with Mobile Network support, eShop as well keep the two screens. The 3D vision however, I’m not too sure if they will keep that or replace it with some kind of HoloVision or that, because it was bad enough a former Sony employee sued the 3DS product for using the 3D technology. But honestly those selfish capitalist companies, notorious patent trolls as well as those PC criminal outage hackers should not had to spoil things as well as made things damn awkward.


Also going back to the main Nintendo consoles, I think the NES is very iconic, despite its box-shaped design, but that it was like in the 1980s. I never owned a Nintendo console until 2003 as I had to choose between the Amiga, followed by PC Windows 95 due to our limited budget, as the Nintendo NES, SNES and N64 cartridges were too expensive and I got a loan of a Sega Mega Drive as well as rented some Mega Drive games from Ritz Videos near 1993. The Game Boy Camera and Printer is quite cool despite that its in monochrome, but the Camera came back when the DSi and Wii U GamePad arrived. The NES Zapper, I personally like it and find it iconic like it is used as a Space Ray Gun. Also the one thing I should point out is the Game Boy Player, not also this addon is clever and amazing, that I used it for playing 4P Mario Bros when I used Super Mario Advanced, but on a Big Screen TV for my friends to get a great visual.


I did explain to some of my fans on why you got a Wii or GameCube if you got games for the PC? Well reasonably... I only use the GameCube/Wii or the Switch for most games you DON’T get on the PC like Mario and Pokemon. And as Nintendo is no longer allowing piracy on having ROMs illegally shared from like EmuParadise, then it is not worth the risk on downloading those ROMs as I had been collecting those older Nintendo games for 18 years as well as buying the Virtual Console replacement. I will be sharing some of my pictures of my Nintendo game collection soon, despite that some of them are digital copies from eShop and in my attic.


As you already know from my previous topic, on the “Improvements that should of been made” well that my personal opinion as Nintendo would of done better if Satoru Iwata as well as a few of the key Nintendo employees didn’t had to die, not to forget Anascape denying Nintendo to sell the their controllers for the GameCube, Wii and Wii U. And well...as for the SNES-CD that was the project done by Nintendo or Sony...well I don’t know if those companies should of got along, even that the Philips CDi didn’t compete well – as Nintendo sided with Philips and caused a bit of tension on Sony. Should the PlayStation project been a better console with Nintendo’s technology? Well I cannot give you a definite answer...some say “Who cares? The PS rules!” Well I admit it does seem to be the best selling console so far like the PS2, despite the lower FPS rate and that. But since Nintendo appears to avoid any game licensing that is too explicit like Manhunt, Grand Theft Auto 3, as well making their games more casual and child friendly; along making their console use less power but focused on better Quality Assurances. I'm guessing Nintendo doesn't want too much trouble, as their SNES game Mortal Kombat made gamer's parents worried and encouraged their kids not to buy the SNES with those games; and had to deny GTA and Manhunt games due to excessive violence. Same thing applies on removing those analog triggers as Nintendo may not had enough luck and promising lawyers on being targeted by Anascape.


Well that is all from me! And Chris Taylor, god rest his soul...