Nintendo produces wonderful games, but the company has made some questionable decisions over the years. Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down our picks for biggest mistakes Nintendo has ever made.
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00:00Enter the unique world of virtual gameplay with Nintendo Virtual Boy.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we are counting down our picks for the biggest blunders Nintendo
00:10has made throughout its history of producing video games, whether they drew hatred from
00:16fans or led to financial disappointment.
00:19How about a kiss?
00:20For luck.
00:21You've got to be kidding.
00:24Number 10.
00:25The 3DS Launch In 2011, Nintendo gave its own spin on 3D
00:41with its follow-up to the incredibly successful DS.
00:45And while the glasses-free technology was a novelty, it was also an expensive one.
00:51The 3DS launched at way too high a price point, 25,000 yen in Japan and $250 in the US.
01:07Most felt that was too much for a handheld, though it didn't help that the launch lineup
01:12left a lot to be desired.
01:15The 3DS got off to a horrible financial start, causing Nintendo to cut the price by a third
01:21just six months later.
01:23This definitely helped its chances, but it would still take some time before it became
01:28a worthy investment for players.
01:30This isn't something that is unique to Nintendo.
01:53It's a problem with many publishers.
01:55However, for a company that's been around as long as Nintendo has, it's far more evident.
02:01And it's a huge bummer.
02:03With every passing generation, there are still fans who hold out hope for a return of long-dormant
02:08franchises.
02:09Star Fox, once a central pillar of Nintendo, hasn't gotten a new game since 2016.
02:22F-Zero got a Battle Royale spinoff that used SNES assets in 2023, but hasn't had a full
02:29new release since 2004.
02:31Kid Icarus has been gone since 2012, Punch-Out since 2009, and Mother since 2006.
02:39There's still a lot of love behind these names, and it seems disappointment grows within their
02:53fanbases each passing year.
02:55Number 8.
02:57Online functionality.
02:59Allow us to introduce five features included with your membership.
03:05Ever since online aspects were introduced in video games, Nintendo has struggled to keep
03:10up with the times.
03:12Beginning with the DS and the Wii, the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection utilized lengthy friend codes,
03:18which were a hassle.
03:20Then there was a lack of stable connectivity, no way for Nintendo to patch bugs, and no voice
03:26chat.
03:27We would like to play.
03:31Players enjoyed all of these things on Xbox and PlayStation.
03:35Nintendo has obviously followed suit with new consoles, but it has never been on the same
03:40level as its competitors, even releasing a phone app for Switch's online play rather
03:46than traditional voice chat.
03:47While their games are great, this pattern has made them less prominent than they could be
03:52in the online multiplayer space, whether competitively or cooperatively.
03:57More games, more features, more fun.
04:04Nintendo Switch Online.
04:06Number 7.
04:07Attacking Content Creators.
04:09Nintendo's legal team tends to draw a lot of hate from its playerbase, and for good reason.
04:23For a long time, Nintendo has gone after independent creators, often huge Nintendo fans themselves.
04:30Multiple fan-made games, even those that are completely free, have been hit with cease and
04:35desist orders.
04:43YouTube channels that simply post music from their favorite Nintendo IPs have been struck
04:48down with copyright claims.
04:50The most baffling of these pursuits has been against streamers, which you might think of
04:55as free promotion.
04:57But if a streamer showcases a game in a way Nintendo deems inappropriate, like an older, more obscure
05:02title through emulation, they better buckle up.
05:06These types of decisions have wrecked Nintendo's public image for many.
05:17Number 6.
05:19The Live Action Mario Movie.
05:31Nintendo had no creative control over 1993's Super Mario Bros.
05:37Outside of merchandising, it willingly handed the reins over to the filmmakers.
05:41And everyone familiar with the movie knows how monumental a mistake that was.
05:47Multiple people who worked on the film have spoken about how messy the production was, including
05:52stars Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo.
06:02It had little to do with the actual games, instead being a mish-mash of ideas that was
06:07neither for kids or adults.
06:10Critics tore it apart, and it bombed at the box office, failing to make back its budget.
06:16It's still considered one of the worst video game adaptations of all time, and Nintendo
06:21wouldn't let another studio near Mario until Illumination's animated feature in 2023.
06:27Number 5.
06:32Letting Microsoft Buy Rare.
06:43Throughout the 90s and early 2000s, Rare developed some incredible games for Nintendo's platforms.
06:49The Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie series, GoldenEye 007, and Perfect Dark are beloved
06:57to this day.
06:58Yet, Nintendo never made a move to make Rare a first-party developer, until it was too late.
07:08With development costs inflating, Rare needed a buyer to continue functioning.
07:15While Nintendo and Microsoft reportedly entered a bidding war, it was the latter who walked
07:20away victorious after shelling out $375 million.
07:25Nintendo should have tried to bring Rare into the fold long before this, something that co-founder
07:31Tim Stamper has expressed confusion over.
07:34Instead, it lost a trusted team to Microsoft.
07:46Number 4.
07:47Sticking with Cartridges
07:49Nintendo brings you new player's toys titles for $39.95.
07:57Despite the gaming industry moving forward with CDs in the 90s, Nintendo decided to stick
08:02with Cartridges for the N64.
08:04Its reasoning was that Cartridges were harder to pirate, and allowed for faster load times.
08:10But the negatives far outweighed the positives, and that quickly became obvious.
08:15Not only did Cartridges take longer to produce, they were much more expensive, which hurt both
08:21the consumer and the companies producing the games.
08:33They also couldn't hold nearly as much data as a CD.
08:37Since games were growing more complex, it was an easy decision to produce a game for PlayStation,
08:43rather than N64.
08:45Naturally, this led to a decline in third-party support, with some games, like Final Fantasy VII,
08:51even switching platforms.
08:53You can play till it hurts.
08:56Thank you for shopping for Nintendo!
08:58Number 3.
08:59The Wii U's Marketing
09:01From the very beginning, the Wii U was doomed.
09:14It was revealed at E3 2011, but Nintendo focused mostly on the gamepad controller.
09:20This along with its name caused confusion in the general public over whether it was a brand
09:25new console or just an add-on for the Wii.
09:28Nintendo's stock fell 10% following the reveal.
09:32And after release, both the system and its games sold poorly, causing third-party support
09:38to dry up.
09:39When your TV is in use, the gamepad becomes your TV, so you can keep playing anywhere nearby.
09:47Nintendo issued a $50 price cut within a year, which did help a bit, but the Wii U never fully
09:54recovered.
09:55It became one of Nintendo's biggest commercial flops, only selling 13.56 million units.
10:01Well, at least it led to the Switch.
10:04Wii U is all about unique experiences you can't have anywhere else.
10:09Number 2.
10:10The Virtual Boy
10:20Even bigger of a failure than the Wii U is Nintendo's Virtual Boy.
10:25Released in 1995, it was a somewhat portable console that displayed stereoscopic 3D graphics
10:32through an eyepiece.
10:343D gaming back then sounded like the future, but this was a nightmare.
10:38The first three-dimensional stereo immersive 32-bit video game system ever.
10:44Games were only in red and black, the eyepiece was clumsy to use, and the visuals actually
10:49caused health issues like headaches, eye pain, and nausea.
10:54Nintendo also reallocated a lot of resources during development to the N64, which didn't
11:00help ensure the technology was safe or of high quality.
11:04Unsurprisingly, the Virtual Boy sold less than a million units and was discontinued in
11:09a year, with only 22 games ever released.
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11:35Number 1.
11:36Backstabbing Sony
11:37When you decide to get serious, there's only one place to come, the games of Super Nintendo.
11:45In 1988, Nintendo entered a partnership with Sony.
11:48It would have produced a disc-based add-on for the Super NES, as well as a standalone console
11:53from Sony that played both the SNES carts and new disc games.
11:59However, at this point, Nintendo was enjoying its domination on the console market, and seemingly
12:05wanted to put Sony in its place.
12:08It backed out of the deal at the last second, instead taking a different deal with Philips.
12:13Gee, it sure is boring around here.
12:17This led to some infamously terrible Mario and Zelda games on the Philips CD-i, which Nintendo
12:23had no part in.
12:25More importantly, Sony didn't just accept defeat.
12:29It went on to use its disc-based technology in its own console, the PlayStation.
12:34Nintendo's ego created one of its biggest competitors.
12:45What do you think is the biggest mistake Nintendo has ever made?
12:48Share your thoughts in the comments.
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