What is it that makes Nintendo the most popular gaming company around? Yes, I know I host a podcast about The Big N, so I may seem biased, but this is the truth. The Big N has dominated the gaming world many times over, including right now with the Switch 2, and even when they were “down and out,” they found ways to bounce back by continuing to follow their personal mantras and goals. While the company may not have started out as a gaming company, when they made that transition, legendary President Hiroshi Yamauchi ensured that quality was at the forefront of what they made, especially during the NES era.
If you don’t believe me, you can listen to Bruce Lowry, who was a key part of the NES launch and helped make SEGA of America later on. In an interview with Time Extension, he pointed to a story where Yamauchi’s tendencies were on display:
“When we first allowed third parties to do games for the system, I remember a friend of mine, Trip Hawkins (the founder of EA) said, ‘Boy, they’re really tough with what they’re doing over there.’ I said, ‘Well, yeah, the quality of the game has to meet a certain standard.’ Basically, whenever you submitted your game to Nintendo, they not only analyzed it for bugs, but also for its play value and what was shown in it. Yamauchi had always said from day one, ‘Our games will always be games that people of all ages can play. There won’t be violence. There won’t be shooting and killing. There won’t be all this kind of stuff. He was adamant about that.'”
Now, obviously, Nintendo didn’t strictly follow those rules over time, and even Lowry noted that quality occasionally “slipped through the cracks.” However, the “Seal of Approval” that early NES and SNES games had showed gamers, and the parents who bought the game, that this would be worth their time.
Fast forward to now, and you can see that same vision in quality across The Big N’s titles with the Switch and now the Switch 2. They even delayed their newest consoles’ launch to further ensure quality. Other developers and console makers aren’t exactly doing the same, and their sales are reflecting that lack of quality focus.
Source: Time Extension
