Memento Mori, Mario
I love video games. No, actually, I love video games. The thought of playing them is what pulls me out bed every morning, and more often than not, they’re what’s on my mind as I drift off to sleep. My room’s walls are plastered with posters of my favorite gaming franchises, my iTunes library is filled with nothing but the best gaming has to offer, and I own more amiibo figures then there are members of the European Union. You can call it childish if you’d like, but I doubt I’ll ever be ashamed of my passion for games. I don’t think anybody would argue that I don’t sincerely love video games. Unfortunately, that makes what I’m about to write so much more difficult to admit: video games are leaving me behind. And that’s okay.
Story time. I’ve got this cousin named Adam. Like most four-year-olds, he’s cute as a button, and loves Darth Vader, Spider-Man, and, you guessed it, video games. We had our last family get-together around half a year ago, and it didn’t take him long to notice that the game I was playing was different from what he had. You see, Adam had an iPad loaded with the usual suspects: Angry Birds Star Wars, Temple Run, and so on. I was equipped with my Nintendo 3DS, of course (I can’t imagine leaving home without it). As soon as he caught a glimpse of the glory that is Super Mario 3D Land, he knew that he had to give it a shot. Impressed with his refined taste in gaming, I passed my 3DS over and prepared to savor watching him get his first taste of Nintendo magic.
He couldn’t use the buttons. I tried to explain it. He couldn’t use the buttons, again. I tried to explain it, again. He got bored and went back to his buttons-free iPad. He didn’t ask to try my games again. At the time, I was pretty dejected, but the full implications of this exchange would not dawn on me for some time. The fact of the matter is that the landscape of the gaming industry is one that is perpetually in flux. Success is never guaranteed. What is popular today will not be popular tomorrow. Look no further than the stories of Sega and Nintendo for proof positive of this sentiment.
During the early 90's, Sega and Nintendo were kings of the video gaming world. Locked in a bitter rivalry, they brought out kickass game after kickass game in an attempt to one-up the competition. In an era where Nintendo was thought to be untouchable, Sega managed to put up one hell of a fight. And yet only a decade later, Sega officially left the gaming hardware business following the commercial failure of its Dreamcast system. It’s not even like the Dreamcast’s games were bad, either! In fact, its library is lauded among enthusiasts as one of the finest in history (I dare you to find a game cooler than Jet Set Radio). So, what went wrong? Most accept that it buckled under the pressure of Sony’s PlayStation 2, which was more powerful and had more features (such as DVD playback.) Just as quickly as Sega rose to prominence, so did they fade back into relative obscurity.
Ominously, the tale of Sega has many parallels to this issues Nintendo faces today. After a string of massive successes in its Wii and DS systems, Nintendo’s current flagship machine, the Wii U, has seen dismal sales in the battle against its technologically superior competitors. The Wii U’s performance will assuredly stand as a testament to the idea that Nintendo can no longer rest on their laurels if they wish to stay in the game. While its portable 3DS has fared better than the Wii U, its sales still pale in comparison to its predecessor, the DS. This is to say nothing of the threat mobile gaming (what you’d play on your tablet or your phone) poses to Nintendo’s handheld market (Hint: the mobile gaming market is huuuuuge). Don’t believe Nintendo sees mobile games as a threat? Look no further than the fact that, despite having maintained for years that they would not develop games for phones, Nintendo ultimately did cave to the pressure.
For me, Nintendo has always represented the best gaming has to offer. Their games are, with few exceptions, bright, colorful, and above all else, fun. Their commitment to innovation is apparent for all to see, what with their popularization of motion controls with the Wii and their introduction of not just two-screen gaming with the DS, but touch controls as well. Most importantly, they seemed incorruptible. Whatever trends dictated the development of Sony and Microsoft’s consoles seemed to have little effect on what Nintendo did. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I don’t appreciate these other types of games. Gears of War 2, one of the bloodiest Xbox games available, is one of the most finely crafted games ever created, and I will fight you in real life if you disagree. A new Kingdom Hearts game was recently released for smartphones, and my obsession with it is bordering on unhealthy. But, regardless of my feelings regarding these games or their contemporaries, I’ve always felt like I could rely on Nintendo being Nintendo. To me, they were immortal. This may no longer be the case. Depending on who you ask, Nintendo’s reversal on their mobile game stance could even be seen as an admission of defeat. It at least shows that Nintendo will change if it has to, and with the way things seem to be going for them, that time may be sooner than we think if they want to avoid Sega’s fate.
Memento mori is a Latin saying meaning “Remember death.” This phrase, meant as a reminder of our own morality, may initially seem somewhat morbid, but I believe that it’s also able to inspire a certain amount of optimism. If nothing lasts forever, then it’s all the more important to treasure what we have while we can. I cannot guarantee that the kind of games that I like will continue to be made in the future (Indeed, the once popular F-Zero is but one example of a series seemingly abandoned in the face of limited commercial viability). While I certainly hope that they pump them out for many years to come, I’m no longer content with whining about what I think the video game industry should look like. When so many mobile games are not only easily accessible, but free as well, it is difficult not to see why they’re so successful. And who am I to judge what people should or shouldn’t play? My cousin wasn’t wrong to prefer his iPad to my 3DS, just as I’m not wrong to like Mario more than I do Angry Birds. In the end, people will play what they think is fun. That’s what games are all about.
Video games may be leaving me behind, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Sure, it’s a little sad, but it’ll likely be quite a few years before any significant change occurs, so there’s not much to worry about in the meantime. Even then, the games that I already love aren’t going anywhere. The future of the games that I love today may be in doubt, but I can certainly preserve their past as best as I can. And hey, if there’s one thing I can say for sure, it’s that the video game industry is full of surprises. Who knows? Maybe my fears will ultimately prove unwarranted. Whatever happens, I promise you that I will always love video games. That’s one thing that will never change.
