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