Comments on: Read-a-long Bonus Stage! The best Nintendo system for third party games is…

By: Joe Fourhman

Joe Fourhman — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:01:18 +0000

Additionally, Stephen, I retract my snide comment about Boom Blox… although far from a runaway success, it has been selling better than first reported.

I’ll change the jab to Zack & Wiki instead.

By: Joe Fourhman

Joe Fourhman — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:06:17 +0000

Oh and… no comments on the header photo?

By: Stephen Munn

Stephen Munn — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:47:37 +0000

I’d love to see a handheld virtual console that works similarly to the PS3’s ability to download PS1 games and run them on the PSP off the Memory Stick.

By: Mark C.

Mark C. — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:18:35 +0000

“I mean, we really have no way to enjoy those old GB games… so interesting third party fare like Gargoyle’s Quest and Cosmotank have been long forgotten.”

We have two ways of enjoying those old GB games, but neither method utilizes current hardware, just defunct machines–the GBA and the GC’s GB Player. One of the things I fault Nintendo the most for this gen is for not giving us a way to play these old classics on their newest systems, the DS and Wii. They’re releasing old console games through the Virtual Console, though, so I don’t know why they couldn’t do the same for GB games. Surely the issue of screen resolution wouldn’t stop them from doing it….

By: Nat

Nat — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:32:34 +0000

SMB brick graph FTW.

This was a great article. I was shocked to see RE4’s pull on the ‘cube.

By: Joe Fourhman

Joe Fourhman — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:32:27 +0000

“if completely subjective and lacking in any sort of empirical validity”

True, simply a bit of fun. I did think it mildly interesting that Nintendo Power was so unashamedly receptive to third party games. Although I wonder if the relative age and disconnect from the classic Game Boy library dragged down the system’s memory score. I mean, we really have no way to enjoy those old GB games… so interesting third party fare like Gargoyle’s Quest and Cosmotank have been long forgotten.

But seriously, Galaxy over Brawl? No way. Although, for full disclosure, I much preferred Mario Sunshine’s open world GTA-style rather than Galaxy’s linear only-go-forward lead-me-by-the-nose retro approach, so any kind of praise for Galaxy falls flat for me.

By: Stephen Munn

Stephen Munn — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:09:08 +0000

This is a great article, nice work. A couple of “nitpics” of my own though: the Boom Blox sales problem is highly overreported. It released at the end of its month and when that month’s sales figures were reported, it made the game look like it sold badly. It has proven to have legs at retail. Same goes for Okami on Wii. The PS2 version did well in the long term as well, and is apparently still selling today.

Your list of third party SNES games read like some of the best games of my childhood. Ah, those old days. Oh, and “Billy Hatcher and the Failed Franchise Kickoff Game!” LOL!

Also, I think Galaxy is a better game than Brawl as well. It’s the best game on the system to date, I think. Though I’ll admit I’ve played Metroid Prime 3 more.

By: Derp

Derp — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:20:48 +0000

Last I checked, Brawl wasn’t the 2nd highest rated game of all time.

By: Matthew Kellar

Matthew Kellar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 06:54:35 +0000

Heck yeah Galaxy over Brawl!

That aside, this was really interesting even if completely subjective and lacking in any sort of empirical validity. It can be hard to separate the quality of 3rd party support from Nintendo simply kicking ass while excellent 3rd party games go unnoticed in the shadows. Nintendo could also have limited offerings resulting in the list having to be made up primarily of 3rd party games even if they aren’t so impressive (Umbrella Chronicles?! Nights!?)

That would have to be the best graph I’ve ever seen, though.