Nintendo is for kids...

[Deleted member 8752]

There are experiences for all ages on all platforms. This is dumb. There's

I've kept an eye on the Switch and its library, and I have very little interest in those games. It doesn't help that the two Nintendo franchises I'm most interested in (Metroid and Punch-Out) don't get much love. Instead, it's another Mario platformer using the same art style as the last several, or Mario Kart 15 and Mario Party 23. Nintendo games are a brand of comfort food I'm not all that captivated by.

I don't think there's anything wrong with saying Nintendo is "kiddie", because they quite obviously make games for younger audiences. Nothing wrong with enjoying those games, of course.

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To each their own. But I think Nintendo is much broader than what you're describing. You look at something like Breath of the Wild, and it's really different than every other Zelda game that came before it.

I feel the same way about Mario Odyssey too, actually. It shares a DNA with previous games in the series, yes, but it's a lot more bizarre and unique in its own way.

Mario Party, Smash, or Mario Kart? Sure I can understand this. But it's like other serialized franchises - most racing and fighting games get new installments that only shake up some key gameplay elements, offer new stages, graphics, and characters, then ship out a mostly iterative product.

But I wouldn't say that applies to many of their single player games. A lot of those franchises continue to reinvent themselves more so than single player franchises from other studios.

 

[SDBurton]

Now that I'm reading and analyzing it, I think this is the worst thread I have ever made (and I have made some pretty bad ones before).

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I am curious as to why you make so many threads. No offense. lol

 

[Rosebud]

My take is that real fanbase of PS4 or Xbox are not adults, but actually teenages and young adults who see kiddie things as bad. Nintendo's real market is actually the adult market.

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40% of Switch owners in U.S. also own a PS4 or Xbox One

As a handheld, the Nintendo Switch is additive and complements the current console landscape.

www.tweaktown.com

 

[shadowman16]

I just play games I like. Don't care what console it is or what series. I have a ps4 and switch, have had most nintendo consoles, had a ps2 and ps3. Had an xbox.

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Bingo. Nintendo make fun games. I play Nintendo games because of that.

But back to the original topic post - I never quite understood why someone would view a developere (in this case Nintendo) solely as a kiddie dev. Sure they make games that are on the whole more family friendly than some other devs, but that doesn't really make me think they are kiddie per se. But it seems like this weird thing crops up each gen or so - I remember it back in the day on the Snes where the MD was viewed as a more edgy console (must have been the ad campaigns...), I remember that popping up again on the Gamecube for sure (I remember the Gamecube getting flack for the console design).

Weirdly I don't quite remember it for the N64 as much though... maybe it was how some of those early 3D games were viewed as ground breaking... or maybe we were just all playing multiplayer Golden Eye!

 

[Gibordep]

The only thing I know is that Nintendo is not for me. Never had one, never had the need to have one.
From this thread I'm a Young Adult of 40+ years. I am not feeling offended.

 

[Ehoavash]

It's the opposite for me ....I started out as a PlayStation gamer. First console ps1,

Played nintendo games at friends house like Smash, liked them a lot so I bought a GameCube but fuck Nintendo games were so expensive ( always full price even after years of release ) that my parents avoided buying them for a good while. Same with my friends too, they got the Wii but Nintendo's first party games always were pricy so they avoided buying them, + a lot of them jumped ship to Xbox 360/ PS3 cause of that + Online was becoming huge by then (2008) and cod exploded in popularity due to online and voice chat etc that a lot of my friends stopped playing nintendo games or their Wii all together until probably the switch where they finally can afford to buy their own game systems etc ..but once again switch first party games being full price keeps them away from getting the full nintendo experience

 

[RPTGB]

All video"games" and consoles are toys.

 

[totofogo]

This isn't speculative, it's literally their reality with the Switch.... the sales demographics speak for themselves, as does their advertising and re-focused output of games. Theres no question or debate here lol, just a clickbait title.

 

[Scruffy8642]

OP pretty much describes me. Take a break in teenage years to get into edgier, cooler stuff, after years of that you want to go back to your childhood series and notice how much fun they still are, get into more Nintendo games and realise that they're just damn fun regardless of your age, complain about wanting a direct since January ect...

 

[Axon]

Im getting mixed messages from the poll. Does "I think you are right" mean "Nintendo is for kids" as a statement is correct or does it mean your assessment in the actual thread is correct?

 

[MadMod]

First proper Zelda was BOTW, zero nostalgia and I'm not a kid haha.

 

[FacelessSamurai]

I'm making this thread to see if you have similar experiences. This is based on personal evidence. Your mileage may vary.

1. Nintendo games are ideal for kids, yes. Specially as their first games. Let's say... kids starting to game at 5 or 6 years.
2. Those kids grow up, and when they reach ages between 10 or 12 years, they start to dislike "kiddie" things, specially because their friends from school make fun of those kiddie things too. They start playing M rated games because they are "mature" now.
3. Kids turn 30 or so, and now they return to Nintendo.

My take is that real fanbase of PS4 or Xbox are not adults, but actually teenages and young adults who see kiddie things as bad. Nintendo's real market is actually the adult market.

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I used to play Nintendo u TIL the GameCube era. I bought a switch, sold it, and bought it again for my kids. Honestly I still play a lot of Nintendo games on my Super NT for example and just finished playing through Yoshi's Island. I bought Yoshi's Crafyed World for my daughter on the switch and honestly, it doesn't have the charm and challenge of the original one.

To me it's kiddy in the sense that Nintendo has adapted a lot of their games and made them less challenging than it used to be. So to me it's not kiddy because of visuals because I till play all of their "kiddy" looking retro titles. I still enjoy Mario Kart 8 though, but for me, the Switch is for the kids.

 

[GemmolSwitchPS4]

I mean... I think you guys are misunderstanding. I'm not saying that Nintendo is for kids.

The thread title was suppose to be sarcastic. I'm a Nintendo fan mostly. I think I ruined the thread by the title.

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people will misunderstand and since you make it seem like only kids play ps4 and Xbox

you will just have a lot of disappointment

 

[Aurc]

To each their own. But I think Nintendo is much broader than what you're describing. You look at something like Breath of the Wild, and it's really different than every other Zelda game that came before it.

I feel the same way about Mario Odyssey too, actually. It shares a DNA with previous games in the series, yes, but it's a lot more bizarre and unique in its own way.

Mario Party, Smash, or Mario Kart? Sure I can understand this. But it's like other serialized franchises - most racing and fighting games get new installments that only shake up some key gameplay elements, offer new stages, graphics, and characters, then ship out a mostly iterative product.

But I wouldn't say that applies to many of their single player games. A lot of those franchises continue to reinvent themselves more so than single player franchises from other studios.

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These are some good points. BOTW indeed looks totally different from the other Zelda games. It's one of the games I'm most eager to try on the Switch... and yeah, well-said on the racing and fighting games as well.

 

[pswii60]

Nintendo is "family entertainment", like Pixar. Yes aimed at kids primarily, but like Toy Story etc, also offers plenty for adults to enjoy too. That said, I'm 38 and my friends and colleagues etc in a similar age bracket plays PlayStation/Xbox/PC, not Switch. But my wife loves the Switch, mostly just platformers though.

 

[Mr. Gold]

This a problem of definition. If you mean kids as in 8-15 then Nintendo is not for kids. The majority of kids are playing Sony/Xbox as they are more hardcore games (shooters). If you mean does Nintendo have more family friendly content that focuses on adventures than yeah, Nintendo is for that group.

 

[Deleted member 8674]

I play Nintendo games to be a kid again. I also think that's why their online is convoluted and I start to appreciate that now and why it's done this way.

Kids play adult games because they're called kids when they actually play kids games. Ironic isn't.

 

[Deleted member 40179]

I agree completely. When you get old you don't need hard or mature games, life is hard enough. I don't want games to reflect my reality.

 

[MatrixMan.exe]

It's called nostalgia, OP.

 

[Acquiesc3]

You lost me with that last bit OP. I assure you a majority of Ps4/Xbox one player base aren't teenagers/young adults.

 

[F34R]

Meh.. I'm 40+ and I own more Nintendo games, threefold over my other consoles.

 

[FernandoRocker]

Meh.. I'm 40+ and I own more Nintendo games, threefold over my other consoles.

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And that's precisely what the OP says.

But everyone is just reading the titles. Yes, I ruined the title.

 

[The Albatross]

I appreciate a remix of this theme and different take, but I think the premise is flawed

The average videogame player in the US is 35 years old. Your take that Xbox and Playstation gamers are teens rebelling against their bias of Nintendo being a videogame platform for kids, so they choose Xbox or Playstation as an act of childhood rebellion, is statistically unlikely.

There are a lot of adults who play Nintendo games, like there are also a lot of adults who play Playstation and Xbox games. When I was a teenager, I had a perception that Nintendo platforms were more kid-oriented than Xbox or Playstation platforms. This idea mostly formed for me around the release of the GameCube, Playstation 2, and Xbox. For me, a ~16-17 year old when these consoles came out, I saw the PS2 as a cutting edge technological device, sleek, black, built in DVD player, with a library of games feature Grand Theft Auto III and Metal Gear Solid 2, while I associated GameCube with Luigi's Mansion, and a design that looked reminiscent of a Bop-It or a children's toy. As a teenager, image was important to me, and I wanted to associate myself as some into into cool technology, so having a PS2 built into that image (I was never really into Xbox originally, even as a 17-18 year old, it felt try-hard to me, but I changed my tune with Xbox 360), while I never slammed the GameCube or anything, but at the time image of the console was reinforced by a lackluster library of games that appealed to me (I was also really into sports games at the time, I still am, and most 3rd party sports games were primarily developed for PS2, had good ports to Xbox, and had their worse ports on GameCube largely because of a the non-standard controller design).

Today, I own every console. I play Xbox One X the most, followed by Switch, then PS4 (which I usually use for exclusives). I like them all for different reasons.

 

[RROCKMAN]

Not with Bayo or Jack around lol

Edit reread the op and the answer is yes and no


The they know when to aim for nostalgia and when to aim at your kids eyes, which is an very effective combo alone, but they also do more than that.

 

[Jave]

For the record I did read the OP. I just feel it's kinda ridiculous this discussion even exists in this day and age. We're long past the time of people caring what others choose to play.

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

Nintendo has cornered the Smash and chill market imo.

 

[Deleted member 49535]

From my own experience, the adults I know that play on Nintendo consoles have always played on them. So no.

 

[F34R]

And that's precisely what the OP says.

But everyone is just reading the titles. Yes, I ruined the title.

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I read the complete OP, and in my world, you're wrong. ;)

 

[Deleted member 8674]

Yeah, and for people like me in my 30's, it was just a conversation that was beaten to death in the N64-GCN era.

Your age analysis reminds me of:

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For Pokémon replace the kid pic with this

Because the writing is below kids.

 

[His Majesty]

You should take a look at some of the Switch dashboards in the other Nintendo thread and re-evaluate your opinion, OP.

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Is this a thread from 2001? Seems like such a dated conversation....

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Metal Gear Solid will NEVER come to the Xbox!

 

[SasaBassa]

It's It's pixar, it's for everyone.

Also Cars is drek. Gotta bash it whenever I post generally about the studio.

The rest of their stuff is legendary though. Mostly.

 

[Rzarekta]

What you're describing is called nostalgia.

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Lol exactly

 

[Derktron]

lol just lol and nothing more will be said by me.

 

[Linde]

Nintendo is for fun

 

[Deleted member 8674]

Metal Gear Solid will NEVER come to the Xbox!

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Also Final Fantasy.

 

[Dylan]

I mean, most games are for kids. Even the violent ones (teenagers).

Teenaged boys drive the entertainment economy, unfortunately. That's why we had to live through entire generations with nothing but dude-bro space marine cadet gun-shooty blood ass dick games.

Luckily with the rise of the indie developer we are getting more diverse games for more audiences than ever.

 

[Everywhere]

Nintendo is for everybody, which is why their games sell so much and for such a long time.

There you go. Their secret.

 

[jotun?]

I think this is the worst thread I have ever made (and I have

 

[Mudo]

Don't know about everyone else, but I had an NES and Zelda 1 is the game that made me fall in love with gaming. But I never grew out if Nintendo.
They have been great , and I own all of their consoles. Over time, I just added Sony/Microsoft to my collection and game on everything so I don't miss out.

Nintendo is for people who want to feel like kids again. It's for adults who grew up with them. <3

 

[Derktron]

Nintendo is for fun

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[Derktron]

I think this is the worst thread I have ever made (and I have

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Made by either an Xbox or Sony fanboy.

 

[Birdseeding]

CS Lewis said something along these lines back in the 40s:

"Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

 

[Fularu]

I don't even know what a kiddie game is

Coocking Mama maybe? Or some Dora/Diego game?

 

[Tigress]

I think you are probably right about the cycle of nintendo buyers but that doesn't mean the older demographic doesn't also enjoy Sony and ms platforms. Hell, met quite a few older gamers playing fallout 76 (that game seems to attract older gamers) and the few decent gta players I've met were older.

 

[Weltall Zero]

I'm making this thread to see if you have similar experiences. This is based on personal evidence. Your mileage may vary.

1. Nintendo games are ideal for kids, yes. Specially as their first games. Let's say... kids starting to game at 5 or 6 years.
2. Those kids grow up, and when they reach ages between 10 or 12 years, they start to dislike "kiddie" things, specially because their friends from school make fun of those kiddie things too. They start playing M rated games because they are "mature" now.
3. Kids turn 30 or so, and now they return to Nintendo.

My take is that real fanbase of PS4 or Xbox are not adults, but actually teenages and young adults who see kiddie things as bad. Nintendo's real market is actually the adult market.

Click to shrink...

You are spot on. It's known to happen to all entertainment that's good for the whole family; e.g. Disney / Pixar movies (the good ones at least), or shows like Phineas and Ferb / Steven Universe also go through this "reverse bell curve". The key here is that this kind of media, when made well, has something for everyone; kids often enjoy it for a different (if still partially overlapping) set of reasons that adults do.

Also the list is probably missing stage 4. which is "they have kids of their own and fall in love with Nintendo / Disney / Pixar as things they can genuinely enjoy with their kids".

 

[BlackPizzaCrocodile]

I mean anyone can play Nintendo games but their made with kids in mind primarily I think.

 

[Calamari41]

My 4 year old enjoys Nintendo games as much as I do now (age 34), and did at 12, and did at 23. In fact he probably has more fun just running around and changing outfits in Mario Odyssey than I had playing through the campaign. They're timeless and bring no-strings-attached joy. I get that many people simply don't enjoy the mechanics of specific games or whatever, not all games are for everybody, but anybody who rejects Nintendo games just because they're "kiddy" has personal issues unrelated to the validity or lack thereof of Nintendo games.

 

[sredgrin]

Everyone knows teenagers love sad dad games with slow starts.

There isn't a segmented split anymore (if there ever was).

 

[QisTopTier]

And that's precisely what the OP says.

But everyone is just reading the titles. Yes, I ruined the title.

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People act on a first impressions most of the time, stop trying to make clickbait ass titles and title things that gets your point or the discussion subject across if you want to share one. It's the same way anywhere on the internet.