The Best Developers of all Time - page 2

Nintendo

I am a Nintendo fan so I supported Nintendo in good times over bad. Right now Nintendo is having good and bad times. Their once glorious days with the NES and SNES are gone. But Nintendo expanded since then. Yet the truth is that Playstation is much more popular. It just is. Can't really explain it to you. Nintendo still bigger, but not the strongest competitor in making games. When they do come out with high profile, they are usually a very good game. The world is a smaller place. The videogame industry doubled in size since 1998. More developers are making quality titles. Programmers, artists move around more.

Nintendo as a game developer first debuted in 1981. Read a brief history of Consoles. Nintendo's first game was "Donkey Kong" for the Arcade. The fraise "Made in America"  suprises me because Nintendo was American before it moved the headquarters to Japan in 1982.  Donkey Kong became an instant success in North America, Europe and Japan as well as Asia. Nintendo also put out a strong videogame campain in the 80s releasing such games like Metroid, Super Mario Bros, and Legend of Zelda. Legend of Zelda was ground breaking because of it's epic sword fighting qualities. The fact that it wasn't easy added to quality. Nintendo made it high profile. All of them were Multi-Million  sellers. Nintendo also had big time successes with puzzle games Marble Madness and Tetris (Tetris was orginally a trademark of Nintendo) It's freaky how that still could have been true. I have no idea why Nintendo hasn't brought back the popular Marble Madness game.

I think that Nintendo is the 3rd  best developer of all time. In 1997, Nintendo came out with a first person shooter called Goldeneye. Which meant that Nintendo was making mature games for mature audiances. That's all it meant. Goldeneye was a solid title. The same developer made Cocker's Bad Fur Day. A mature platformer. I haven't played Cocker 64 but I've heard it's good. I also heard that Cocker is insane from ign.com. That was before Rare went to Microsoft. Because Nintendo has revenue from Gameboy Advance and Nintendo Gamecube, and 2 profressional sports franchises. Nintendo can release as many games on their console as the largest Videogame developer Electronic Arts. For the Gamecube, the Publisher was the primary support for the console. Which surprised me. They just released a marvel of a game, Metroid Prime. The Sequel is not to far away. There is a difference between Nintendo as a Publisher and Nintendo as a developer. Nintendo has the most experience in creating games on Gamecube. Super Mario Sunshine was alright. But Super Mario 64 was more fun. Mario was a great, in dept platformer that I think would be the greatest game of all time. It was that or Legend of Zelda.  Nintendo didn't disappoint us when they put out Super Smash Bros. The fighting game sequel on Gamecube was really cool and had a lot of good modes. Nintendo has a huge 2nd party support. As large as Playstation or Xbox developer support. If it wasn't the higher 3rd party developers creating high profile games for other systems, Nintendo would of still been a monopoly like in the 80s when people thought Nintendo was cool. If Nintendo created such games like Super Mario Sunshine, Legend of Zelda, Fzero, Super Smash Bros and created a competitive sports division. They would have more or less the same success as Sega had in 2002.

The truth of the matter is my first console was a Nintendo 64. I could have been a Playstation. But it was a Nintendo 64. So naturally I bought Nintendo brand games. One game that I use to play a lot  with was Mario Kart 64. This happened in 1997 when I was 12 years old. I didn't have too many videogames, so Mario Kart became a obsession until 2000. That's more then 2 years! Then I played it in spades. But the classic firing shells at other karts was so fun and so simple that my cousin and I were equal in playing ability. I had 4 racing levels in 4 cups  Plus the battle mode levels. Nintendo did it right. It was a quick 15 minute game. I quickly avolved in the game mastering the skid.

Nintendo also worked with Namco (co-op for money) to bring out Star Fox Aramda (sequel to N64 Star Fox ) and Star Fox Adventures 2. Star Fox 64 was a million seller. The game featured some above average fighting action on the N64. The ability to have a futuristic shooter for the most advanced console of the time made it imensely popular. Both Games look great and should play great. Namco has a lot of experience making flight arcade games. When Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is released execusively for Gamecube, it's going to be published under Nintendo. Squaresoft made this game.

Nintendo's experience in making good RPGs is limited. Nintendo's first attemp was Legend of Zelda for the NES.  Since then, they've put all their RPG know how in that franchise. Paper Mario was a side scolling game and had RPG battle system later for the N64. (posted 05/24/2003)

Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard Entertainment was the name that name Silicon & Synapse had before they changed their name in 1991. Silicon & Synapse was a Sega Genesis developer, C64 developer and NES developer. Blizzard Entertainment created the Warcraft series, and the Diablo series. Warcraft which came out in 1994 was the first big hit and was a game on a large scale. The game wasn't very graphical, but the first Warcraft game was deeper. Since I don't know much about Warcraft except for Warcraft III. I know a lot more about Diablo. Diablo and Starcraft were released the same year. Diablo did much better then Starcraft because it involved hack and slash combat. It was truly the first MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) Diablo was the first RPG that applied realtime hand to hand combat, partying, and item trading. At the time, it was like what Everquest is now. Diablo was a hit and earned game of the year. I to was brought in playing this game 3 years until 2000 when Diablo 2 came out. The Diablo 2 game sold a million copies the first week it was out. Blizzard done something right, and I have a feeling I know what it is. Not every game allows you to trade, level up your character and duel. Duelling is a big part of Diablo 2. Diablo was long and had many enemies. Blizzard, who made it, made an addicting rpg. Diablo 2 was an upgrade. It was bigger, had more stuff and also was awarded RPG Game of the Year in 2000. BattleNet, Blizzards own Online service, is the largest free provider of Internet games anywhere. Diablo 2 where I started playing it when it first came out where I  still play it today. Not as much though. Some gamers say Diablo 2 is boring because all you do is level up a character online and there is no rewards. But that's exactly what I like about it, it's simple, you meet a lot of people and it can be played over a modem. Warcraft III, is the other game that I"ve played online. It involves stradegy. Your surrrounded into Darkness when your opponant is destroying your creation. Lets face it, Warcraft III is confusing. Blizzards latest project World of Warcraft. Is a fully 3D game that meets 2003 standards in the game department. The game plays much like Neverwinter Nights because it's a real time, up close and personal war game. Except World of Warcraft is bigger and improved over Warcraft III. It would be great if it had aspects of hack and slash you see in Diablo 2. If it was both a Survival RPG and a Military Dark Ages combination, I'd be happy! World of Warcraft looks State-of-the-art. If this becomes a party driven game like Diablo 2, I'll be in RPG heaven! This alone says why Blizzard Entertainment is one of the best developers making RPGs! Their also making Starcraft Ghost for next generation consoles. But I doubt this game will be as big as World of Warcraft. (posted June 22, 2003)

Typed and edited on March 24, 2003