We all know Nintendo has been around for a very long time and has introduced the industry to many innovations. Nintendo is a company that is not afraid to take risks or go outside the norm, sometimes with great commercial success other times met with failure. It’s a company that gets praised just as often as it gets criticized. With all the Tribalism within the industry it can be easy to forget just how important and integral Nintendo’s dedication to innovating the industry has been. I’d like to explore and highlight some of these innovations and perhaps put in perspective the impact Nintendo has had on gaming and separate the true innovations from the mere “gimmicks”! Off the top I’ll attempt and list as many as I can!
Let’s chop it up!
The D pad
In game saves (if I recall NES Metroid was one of the first games to offer it)
In game cheat codes (this could be more on Konamis end but we all know up,up, down, down , left,right, left, right , B,A,B,A Start!) might not have been Nintendo’s innovation but they did commercialize it on the NES!
Nintendo Seal of Approval (This was used to confirm the quality of their brand, if u saw this same on the box…you knew you were getting a “quality” title)
Shoulder buttons! SNES Gamepad was the 1st to have what is now standard on gaming controllers.
RUMBLE feature! N64 introduced yet another industry standard.
VR Gaming -Virtual Boy was a flop!…but Nintendo was light years ahead of the industry on this!
Twin Stick Controllers-correct me if I’m wrong but I believe the N64 controller was the first to have a “thumbs stick” and Camera stick “C Stick”. This is essentially the basis for modern 3D gaming!
Wireless controllers-Again way ahead of its time with Gamecubes Wavebird controller
Miiverse!-This is highly underrated IMO, it was essentially gamings first dedicated social platform..I still have friends on list from the days of Miiverse!
Miis! Avatars in gaming was commercialized with the Wii…again another industry mainstay
Motion Controls-Wiimote!
Portable gaming systems-From Gameboy to 3DS they created a revolutionized hand held gaming
CD Disc format in gaming…they may not have been the 1st but there’s no PlayStation without Nintendos initial attempt to introduce this medium
Cameras in gaming consoles-Gameboy Camera!
Light Gun gaming-Again they weren’t the inventors but games such as Duck Hunt commercialized the genre like none before it!
R.O.B. - This was like gaming AI being applied in the 80s!
FX Chip!-offered 3D polygons like never before , it opened up the realm for 3D gaming
PowerGlove-Could be considered part of motion controls, was just too cool back in its day!
Dual Screen and Asynchronous gameplay-DS. Nuff said. And Wii U tried but never really did take on the asynchronous feature it was intended for
3D Gaming-3DS , perhaps more of a gimmick than a true gameplay feature. Still a mind blowing feature at the time!
Augmented Reality (AR)gaming-Another underused feature of the 3DS
Hybrid Console-Switch
StreetPass-Another great feature of the 3DS
Touch Controls-Another industry standard popularized by Nintendo DS.
Gaming Amusement Parks!
Nintendo Labo- Yes they somehow introduced cardboard to gaming, and for the most part it worked!
Detachable controllers!-Joy Cons..love em or hate em!
Joy Con Drift!-Looking right at you Nintendo…for like 5 Years now lol
….these are just some of the innovations Nintendo has introduced, it’s quite staggering just how dedicated the company is to creating new experiences. Please feel free to continue adding to the list…or correct me if I’ve missed anything else ! The key is to celebrate these creations as they shaped the industry we’ve all come to love!
It isn't an innovation, but as an aside I would commend Nintendo for bringing three lackluster platforms (N64, GC, and Wii U, all sub-20m sellers) to market and still have enough cash left over to launch several more lackluster platforms without breaking a sweat. No doubt the lean console years were propped up by the handheld division (GBC, GBA, 3DS), so perhaps Nintendo's business practices is what's the innovation?
Just a tangent.
Nintendo's continued success always make me feel bad for Sega fans.
Sega can't rub two nickels together and yet Sega diehards insist Dreamcast 2 will happen...someday.
Switch Physical Collection - 1,322 games (as of November 7th, 2024)
Favorite Quote: "Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age the child is grown, and puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies." -Edna St. Vincent Millay
@Anti-Matter So? You having something does not mean that it is fun or revolutionary
I just stated that LABO was a one time thing. A simple marketing trick to win some meaningless awards
The other things mentioned by the OP were the real deals like disc based development, shoulder buttons, revolutionary modern handhelds, the awesome glassless 3D effect of the 3DS. Not some space wasting cardboard junk
@Zuljaras
I still keep my LABO cardboard toys after several hours assembling them. I put my determination to assemble all the parts before I play the games.
I have some fun with Piano, Fishing, Paper Sumo, Doll house, Motorbike from LABO 01.
LABO 03 have three different type of vehicles (Land, Air, Water) to explore.
This gimmick is pretty good for me.
The hardest thing was maintenance as I found the rubber rings was melted if I didn't use it for long time. I'm sure I can fix it by replacing them with new rubber rings.
Lol, just do what I do with Labo, @Zuljaras .... Not buy any of it!
Actually I have so much LABO in my house. Even my orders come all wrapped in LABO. In that regard LABO is great LABO is everywhere It is good for everything except gaming
@Rainz
I forgot the name but the feature for Switch that you can merge two screens of Switch for playing mini game for Super Mario Party.
Also, Tate Mode gameplay by playing the game with vertical screen.
@BruceCM No no, stuff comes with LABO not the other way around I meant that my orders come in cardboard boxes (I can't believe you did not get my stupid joke!)
Indeed, Nintendo business practices have been both wildly successful and restrictive at the same time. We all know how fiercely they protect their brand and IPs which doesn’t always translate well in the social Media age we live in. Thing is…ppl forget , this company is well over 100 years old. You don’t make it that long with a weak business model, let alone in the gaming industry which is fairly high risk. I’d say Nintendo has innovative ways to pull on profits but it’s not always to the benefit of the gamer
Yeah I think that would fall under that asynchronous gameplay category and Tate mode is another great feature…only possible on a console as versatile as the Switch! Good points!
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Topic: Nintendo Innovations- Can you list them all?
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