N-Sider and IGN Cube just put a really interesting article on Retro Studios
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Die Squirrel Die
Member
Timbuktu said:
Perhaps the problem was trying to go from nothing to everything all at once. Retro is probably now in a position to have 2 games on the go at the one time, but they probably shouldn't push for more than that, too quickly.
Hopefully DKJB (as fun as it looks) isn't an indication of the direction the Tokyo studios going (what's it's official name btw?). There's already enough teams doing Nintendo-style games already, setting up a new studio and getting them into the same furrow as EAD, Hal, IS and Camelot is just a waste imo. At the moment every new studio that Nintendo sets up should be about diversifying their lineup. And they should be looking to expand their internal development. If the RE4 thing showed anything is that you can't look towards 3rd parties for loyalty, they've got their own set of priorities.
That's interesting about the Tokyo studio. They created something really unique and new (allegedly) with DKJB, and I too am curious to see where they go from here. That said, I'm not sure why you grouped some of those teams together like that. EAD and HAL, I guess I see their similarities. But IS? They are pretty distinct, as far as Nintendo teams go, imho. Here's hoping that the Tokyo team also continues to diversify.
StrikerObi
Member
Teddman said:
Mario is fighting Bowser
Mario is golfing
Mario is driving a go-kart
Mario is playing tennis
Mario is slaughtering space pirates
soundwave05
Member
I think it's probably pointless to diversify now.
Sony and Microsoft are going to battle for every last "older" consumer, Nintendo probably is better off working on wacky/off-beat titles and hoping one of them hits pay dirt.
Almost everything went wrong though. Conker bombed, the Bond license was taken away, Perfect Dark did OK, Retro fell apart and had to become the "Metroid studio", Rare was sold off so now Bond AND Joanna are gone, Eternal Darkness bombed, Resident Evil couldn't boost GCN sales, Capcom bailed on their exclusivity deal.
Man, there's some been some tough bounces. Nintendo certainly has had absolutely no luck with older consumers.
I mean what a disaster Retro became by 2001 (Spanenberg out partying while Retro and Nintendo don't know WTF is going on :lol), its nice that they were able to salvage something, but man oh man, what a nightmare.
Sony and Microsoft are going to battle for every last "older" consumer, Nintendo probably is better off working on wacky/off-beat titles and hoping one of them hits pay dirt.
Almost everything went wrong though. Conker bombed, the Bond license was taken away, Perfect Dark did OK, Retro fell apart and had to become the "Metroid studio", Rare was sold off so now Bond AND Joanna are gone, Eternal Darkness bombed, Resident Evil couldn't boost GCN sales, Capcom bailed on their exclusivity deal.
Man, there's some been some tough bounces. Nintendo certainly has had absolutely no luck with older consumers.
I mean what a disaster Retro became by 2001 (Spanenberg out partying while Retro and Nintendo don't know WTF is going on :lol), its nice that they were able to salvage something, but man oh man, what a nightmare.
Die Squirrel Die
Member
Mejilan said:
I think PM crosses over quite neatly with EAD/Hal stuff. While I do think IS are the most distinct of Nintendo Japanese studios, there really as distinct as I think Nintendo could do with at the moment.
Personally I think for Revolution, Nintendo's mandate should be that every team, and I mean every team, must be working on one 'mature' title, at least. I think it's slightly too easy for Nintendo to fall into their safe zone, because the Nintendo faithful will ensure healthy sales. However that doesn't attract new users/stem the flow of users away from Nintendo systems.
I'm not saying that they should wholesale change direction, I want my PaperMarioRevolution for one, but diversification should become their new mantra.
I disagree wholeheartedly. Focusing on wacky and off-beat titles has only further helped Nintendo slide into a more niche position. The thing is the 'older' consumer is no longer the niche, it's the norm, it's the younger consumer that is becoming/has become the specialised group. Nintendo misperception has been that by aiming their titles at the 'family friendly' (read: kiddie) market they've been aiming at the broadest market. It's not the case. To aim for the broadest, most generalised market, you have to aim for the older game. Not necessarily gore and sex, just not bright primary colour and bug-eyes.
The danger of saying, we're doing fine, lets just carry on in our own little furrow, is that if that furrow is attacked your less prepared to adapt and survive it. If Sony and/or MS secure the older market, then they may well start to use that as leverage into the younger market (it's arguable that Sony already have a larger young market than they're given credit for). It's better for Nintendo to match Sony and MS for expansionist ambition, at least, as much as they can, than to give up, retreat into a niche, that may appear deceptively safe.
Plus there were cancelled games like Too Human / MGS: TTS bombed / GBA connectivity ended up doing more harm than good / online gaming caught on in a big way, etc etc...
Nintendo played all the wrong cards this gen, really... They made a lot of AAA games, but they definitely are not moving in the same direction as the rest of the industry.
Nintendo played all the wrong cards this gen, really... They made a lot of AAA games, but they definitely are not moving in the same direction as the rest of the industry.
soundwave05
Member
Well I think their intentions were good, they just got f-cked.
I can imagine even now the suits up at NCL can't figure out how it all went so wrong.
They probably figured with Retro and the Capcom deal AND Rare + Silicon Knights that they should have made some headway with older consumers with the GameCube, when somehow the GCN actually probably has less sway with older players than the N64 did.
As for the design of the GameCube, I think NCL was just flat-out out of touch. I mean purple mean signify royalty in Japan, but uh, oh man :lol
Nintendo is kind of like Michael Jackson -- huge in the 80s, still big in the early 90s, then a horrible rash of PR incidents that all seem to backfire.
I can imagine even now the suits up at NCL can't figure out how it all went so wrong.
They probably figured with Retro and the Capcom deal AND Rare + Silicon Knights that they should have made some headway with older consumers with the GameCube, when somehow the GCN actually probably has less sway with older players than the N64 did.
As for the design of the GameCube, I think NCL was just flat-out out of touch. I mean purple mean signify royalty in Japan, but uh, oh man :lol
Nintendo is kind of like Michael Jackson -- huge in the 80s, still big in the early 90s, then a horrible rash of PR incidents that all seem to backfire.
Die Squirrel Die said:
Agreed. I too think that IS is about as diverse as Nintendo is likely to get. I'm actually content with that. Though, technically, Retro now is Nintendo as well, so that's one thing to keep in mind. As for Paper Mario, I think it was "dark" and clever/witty/intelligent (in its writing) to a degree you don't usually see coming out of the EAD/Hal studios. Or, that just could be a sign of NoA having become a much more competent Japanese - English localization studio. Tough call.
It would certainly be interesting to see that happen. And the Revo would be a good opportunity to attempt it, but I don't see it happening. In many ways, they invested in the "mature" angle quite a bit with the GCN. More than I would have thought, coming out of the N64 years. And in just about every respect, it either didn't work out at all, or if it did work out, didn't really pay off. Pity. I can't help but smile and shake my head when I recall an IGN64 article from a couple of years ago, prior to one of the last Spaceworlds, I think, talking about their vision of how a "Mature" Mario was going to play out, the kind of Mature Mario title they wanted to see at the show. Lol.
I'd certainly like to see them put more of an effort into it next time, if they do attempt it. They kept their core teams working on the games we'd all expect, and I think most of us like or love, and tried to create a new "frontier" (for Nintendo, if no one else) by relying on untried or underpowered or mismanaged "2nd parties" and the (too) occasional 3rd party exclusive. In most cases, it was either too little, or too late, or a bit of both. And as someone mentioned, they pretty much blew their chance and now MS has established itself.
soundwave05
Member
Yeah, I think NCL has to be credited with at least salvaging the operation and still getting two great games out of the developer when really the situation was so messed up the whole building should've been torn down.
Yamauchi probably wanted Spanenberg's head but was dissuaded by Howard Lincoln.
Yamauchi probably wanted Spanenberg's head but was dissuaded by Howard Lincoln.
I just don't understand WHY Nintendo bought them out. Seems like things were just a total wreck with Retro for the longest time. Not that I regret it, seeing what they came to develop after their troubles were cleared away. I guess I just don't understand what Nintendo saw in them to invest so much and then, when things weren't working out, buy them out instead of cutting their losses and cutting them loose. Retro, with apparently LESS actual success and results, managed to do what Rare and SK failed to do. It's an interesting thought, though I recognize that the situations for the three "2nd parties" were completely different.
soundwave05
Member
I think they bought out Retro because for starters the building they worked in was still worth a lot (theater, motion capture studio) and they HAD to get something back out of their investment.
And there was still clearly some strong employee talent remaining there.
They weren't going to just sit back and flush all that money down the toliet.
Nintendo got f-cked by Rare, Retro, and Silicon Knights this generation. They all missed release dates (some in spectacular fashion) and none of them could yield a hit for Nintendo until of course Nintendo took charge of Retro.
I think Nintendo was counting on those three companies, in addition to Capcom, in coming through for them and they got screwed. Maybe the lesson is that old saying, "if you want something done -- do it yourself."
And there was still clearly some strong employee talent remaining there.
They weren't going to just sit back and flush all that money down the toliet.
Nintendo got f-cked by Rare, Retro, and Silicon Knights this generation. They all missed release dates (some in spectacular fashion) and none of them could yield a hit for Nintendo until of course Nintendo took charge of Retro.
I think Nintendo was counting on those three companies, in addition to Capcom, in coming through for them and they got screwed. Maybe the lesson is that old saying, "if you want something done -- do it yourself."
soundwave05 said:
I agree. Nintendo certainly made some mistakes of their own, but I would argue that those miscalculations like the exterior design of the GC are minor when compared to stuff related to Retro, RARE, SK, and Capcom. I still horrified by the rumors going around about Rare's coporate troubles. The story about the GC version of PD really coming along well until some folks from the Stamper clan got pissy about having their way kind of puts things in perspective in regards to what NCL actually had control over. They needed some real partners going into this generation, but almost every relationship the made fell on its face.
Mike Works
Member
Creativity means jack shit when you can't grasp initial ideals such as "proper game design".Society said:
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
soundwave05 said:
No it didn't. People keep insisting on this, but it didn't. Every game from Rare on the N64 had ridiculous expectations attached to it, initially because of the DKC, but even more so after Goldeneye's success. Banjo managed it, others didn't. JFG sold over 600,000 copies in the US alone (I don't have exact figures anymore, I certainly don't have worldwide, you could add an absolute minimum of 100,000 though) and yet anyone who wants a sequel and writes to Rare's site is told that not enough people bought it to justify one. 600,000 people isn't enough! There's a lot of companies out there where that would be their best selling game, or one of the top ones anyway. As for Conker, it sold somewhere around 450,000 copies. For a mature rated game on what was generally perceived as a kiddie system, and was definitely a system on its last legs, I think that's just about what they should have expected. But it was Rare, so they didn't.
As for the Tokyo studio, it is still an EAD studio. This isn't like HAL or IS, this is actually part of EAD, just at a different location. And, while I'm not sure if they hired a lot of new people or just moved a portion of the current EAD staff, it's certainly headed by formerly Kyoto based EAD people. So I wouldn't expect anything that different in terms of style to come out of them anytime soon.
I could be wrong though, after all they were working with the DK license, it's not like they had much choice in where they went with it.
Die Squirrel Die
Member
Mejilan said:
The difference with the Revolution 'mature angle' is that it would be internally lead. As has been pointed out, Nintendo have had a string of bad luck regarding the various 2nd and 3rd parties they set up to try diversify the GC. By making it internally lead they'd be working through established teams and have better control over the projects.
Also I think you've hit something with the 'games we all expect' comment. Perhaps, (and I know I'll take flak for this, but oh well) Nintendo should take a leaf out of Sega's book and not just file out next-gen versions of all the usual suspects. As much joy as Pikmin has brought me, I can't help but feel that it shouldn't be top of Nintendo's priorities for Revolution development. I don't think they could get away without Mario or Zelda (or Metroid now either), but they should perhaps take a look at their lineup and give serious consideration over whether they should update current series vs. creating new series. And when they decide to create a new series they should be braver about letting it stand on its own two feet rather than spinning it off from existing propreties.
soundwave05
Member
Nintendo shipped like 500,000 copies of Conker, but the actual sell through was horrid. There is an article on IGN64 about it, they sold through like 50,000 in one month.
Most copies were discounted at a huge rate after that.
That's really bad luck though IMO. If Conker had come out in say 1998, it would have sold a million copies on the N64, I mean Turok 2 was selling 2 million copies at that time and South Park 64 sold like over a half-mill (sold through).
Even half-assed stuff like Mission: Impossible was selling huge on the N64. There definitely was a market for "mature" themed software on the N64 thanks to it being really the only alternative to the Playstation and the success of GoldenEye (N64 was THE machine for FPS titles).
After 1998 though the N64 really, really fizzled quickly. I think too many people became fed up with the release schedule and that Pikachu N64 probably didn't help either.
Most copies were discounted at a huge rate after that.
That's really bad luck though IMO. If Conker had come out in say 1998, it would have sold a million copies on the N64, I mean Turok 2 was selling 2 million copies at that time and South Park 64 sold like over a half-mill (sold through).
Even half-assed stuff like Mission: Impossible was selling huge on the N64. There definitely was a market for "mature" themed software on the N64 thanks to it being really the only alternative to the Playstation and the success of GoldenEye (N64 was THE machine for FPS titles).
After 1998 though the N64 really, really fizzled quickly. I think too many people became fed up with the release schedule and that Pikachu N64 probably didn't help either.
Shikamaru Ninja
任天å ã® å¿è
What the hell is so "distinct" about IS? They've been making the same games for the last 20 years. I mean sure there is more international attention with Advance Wars and Fire Emblem finally making it over.
R&D1 has probably the most creative diverse group of people working at Nintendo. Wario Land 4, Wario Ware, Metroid Fusion, Nintendo Puzzle Collection, Pictochat. Just hit after hit.
R&D1 has probably the most creative diverse group of people working at Nintendo. Wario Land 4, Wario Ware, Metroid Fusion, Nintendo Puzzle Collection, Pictochat. Just hit after hit.
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
Conker's price cut must have worked wonders then to get those sales after that start. Still, unless the price cut was really massive, those numbers are still impressive in the end.
This topic has moved so far away from the original in so many different ways, it's pretty funny.
This topic has moved so far away from the original in so many different ways, it's pretty funny.
Shikamaru Ninja
任天å ã® å¿è
I don't know if they ever will. One thing interesting about the DS, is that EAD seems to be the forefront on software development. For the first time even !!!! I really want Sakamoto (Metroid creator) and Matsuoki (Warioland, Warioware creator) to do high budget Cube/Revolution stuff.
Iwata. Listen to me !!
Iwata. Listen to me !!
soundwave05
Member
Well retailers were stuck with the huge shipment, so yeah you could get Conker for like $15 at some places. They had to be cleared out, and Nintendo probably got some shit from retailers about the whole fiasco.
Conker was just a victim of bad timing though. Great game, hilliarious concept, could've sold a ton in 1998.
By 2000/2001, too many people who would have bought Conker had their N64's shoved in their closet or had traded their system for a Playstation and were waiting for the PS2.
Conker was just a victim of bad timing though. Great game, hilliarious concept, could've sold a ton in 1998.
By 2000/2001, too many people who would have bought Conker had their N64's shoved in their closet or had traded their system for a Playstation and were waiting for the PS2.
Die Squirrel Die
Member
I don't know why Conker keeps getting brought up as an example of Nintendo being unable to sell mature games. The whole point of the game was that it wasn't meant to look like it was a mature game, I mean the plotline, squirrels have to defend themselves against teddies. It would be a hardsell for any company, let alone that had Nintendo's reputation. Pinning all arguments on a game that was meant to be subversive seems a little odd to me.
And yes I don't have much confidence in the Xbox remake doing all that well.
And yes I don't have much confidence in the Xbox remake doing all that well.
soundwave05
Member
Well Starcraft 64 and Command & Conquer 64, which Nintendo also brought to the N64 with publishing agreements, also bombed.
Perfect Dark I thought sold well, but NCL may have felt like it wasn't enough compared to GoldenEye, I dunno.
Riqa ended up getting canned, Eternal Darkness was moved to the GCN where it tanked also.
Sin & Punishment, which was made for the Western market primarily bombed in Japan and was never even given a chance here.
So yeah, I can see why NCL was probably like "OK, we're going back to the cute and cuddly characters", even though I do wish they had a bit more patience. I also felt like some at NCL, including Mr. Miyamoto, were not "thrilled" with the changes to Conker, I remember Miyamoto being diplomatic about it but saying that he'd "never" make a game like that. There seemed also to be some uneasiness as to how the game was marketed and how it may negatively impact Nintendo's wholesome image (lol they had a open bar at E3 for Conker that was serving free beer for instance).
Perfect Dark I thought sold well, but NCL may have felt like it wasn't enough compared to GoldenEye, I dunno.
Riqa ended up getting canned, Eternal Darkness was moved to the GCN where it tanked also.
Sin & Punishment, which was made for the Western market primarily bombed in Japan and was never even given a chance here.
So yeah, I can see why NCL was probably like "OK, we're going back to the cute and cuddly characters", even though I do wish they had a bit more patience. I also felt like some at NCL, including Mr. Miyamoto, were not "thrilled" with the changes to Conker, I remember Miyamoto being diplomatic about it but saying that he'd "never" make a game like that. There seemed also to be some uneasiness as to how the game was marketed and how it may negatively impact Nintendo's wholesome image (lol they had a open bar at E3 for Conker that was serving free beer for instance).
imastalker co.
Banned
if i remember correctly, the team consist of a good amount of people from Capcom, Sega, namco, and Square.Mama Smurf said:
Die Squirrel Die
Member
soundwave05 said:
Have any RTSs on a console done well though? In general, last gen PC games didn't do well with the console crowd. And PD didn't have the Bond license, which seems to account for something given the piles of crap EA have sold of its name.
And I often wondered about NCL's reaction to Conker. As I said it's a hard sell, particularly if you have Nintendo's reputation. Who's going to believe that a Nintendo/Rare game featuring a cute squirrel is actually exceedingly mature? Maybe if you had Rockstar's track record people would be more inclined to believe you.
Now I really must get to bed, 'cause it's 6am, and I'm starting to feel lightheaded.
soundwave05
Member
Nintendo Tokyo will probably just do Nintendo-character based games.
I mean didn't Genius Sonority have staff from Square-Enix and other big RPG makers? And now they're basically doing nothing but Pokemon-based games.
I mean didn't Genius Sonority have staff from Square-Enix and other big RPG makers? And now they're basically doing nothing but Pokemon-based games.
soundwave05
Member
Die Squirrel Die said:
I'm not arguing with that, I'm just saying from the "distant" NCL perspective it must have seemed like "we're trying, but it seems like this isn't working".
I would love to know what the higher ups at NCL feel about Halo 2's success in the North American market.
James Bond was like the perfect "ice breaker" for Nintendo though, his character just totally negated that "kiddie" image like it was nothing. And Bond is still relatively family friendly enough that parents really wouldn't have a problem with their kids playing it. I still don't quite understand it, but GoldenEye was almost single handedly able to make people look at Nintendo in a different light and people started to associate James Bond with Nintendo like they would Super Mario.
The problem is I think EON/MGM got greedy and figured "why limit Bond only to Nintendo? We'll give it to EA and then they'll sell just more copies on all platforms" ... and that plan sucked for everyone involved.
soundwave05 said:
I think that's understandable, though. It's one thing to support games that are clearly mature like ED, but it's another thing with something like Conker. With a visual design being almost indistguishable from other Nintendo and Rare "family safe" products, Conker was project destined for nothing more than maybe a moderate success on a Nintendo system. I think Conker has chance to really find a home this time since MS isn't bogged down with the image baggage that Nintendo is saddle with, especially if the Live play is done real well.
soundwave05
Member
I think Conker would've been a huge hit had it just come out 2 years earlier (yeah I know that's a big asterisk to put besides a game).
Back then though people were so starved for good N64 software and especailly "cool" N64 software they bought *anything*. Mission: Impossible put up stunning numbers, Turok 2 sold millions even though it was anchored by bugs, gasp! even sports titles like NFL Quarterback Club and NBA Courtside sold big numbers.
Back then though people were so starved for good N64 software and especailly "cool" N64 software they bought *anything*. Mission: Impossible put up stunning numbers, Turok 2 sold millions even though it was anchored by bugs, gasp! even sports titles like NFL Quarterback Club and NBA Courtside sold big numbers.
soundwave05
Member
I think it was Bond. Even after MK2, with the N64's launch people still associated Nintendo with being more of the "kids company" even in comparision to Sega.
GoldenEye threw this huge wrench into that theory though.
It's like seeing the kid at school who you assume is a geek all along show up at prom with the most drop-dead gorgeous girl.
I know some of my friends were almost pissed off because they "had" to have GoldenEye even if it meant buying an N64.
GoldenEye threw this huge wrench into that theory though.
It's like seeing the kid at school who you assume is a geek all along show up at prom with the most drop-dead gorgeous girl.
I know some of my friends were almost pissed off because they "had" to have GoldenEye even if it meant buying an N64.
Lots of fun speculation here. Interesting stuff. What is interesting is that if you look, you can definitely see how Nintendo tried.
Hell, the way they got Capcom support and pretty much seduced Namco (particularly given the bad blood between the Nintendo and Namco presidents) back into good graces says a lot, I think.
Hell, the way they got Capcom support and pretty much seduced Namco (particularly given the bad blood between the Nintendo and Namco presidents) back into good graces says a lot, I think.
soundwave05
Member
They tried, they just got screwed by some bad luck, some bad hardware casing design (of all things :lol), and bad timing.
The funny thing about Bond is I think actually the video game did more to introduce today's generation of teens to the Bond license than the movie GoldenEye itself did. I mean, I noticed a lot of my friends would start watching those Bond marathons on TBS after playing the game.
The funny thing about Bond is I think actually the video game did more to introduce today's generation of teens to the Bond license than the movie GoldenEye itself did. I mean, I noticed a lot of my friends would start watching those Bond marathons on TBS after playing the game.
soundwave05
Member
SOTE helped yeah, but I think GoldenEye had this weird effect, even on the most jaded "Nintendo is gay!!" critics, like "OK, alright, f-ck, this game is cool, I admit it".
That was really great :lol
People really started to look at Bond almost like a spokeperson for the Nintendo 64, right up there with Mario and Link.
That was really great :lol
People really started to look at Bond almost like a spokeperson for the Nintendo 64, right up there with Mario and Link.
Shikamaru Ninja
任天å ã® å¿è
What different light? I mean on the N64, Nintendo was pretty much a Teen company. Super Mario 64, F-Zero X, Star Fox 64, Wave Race 64, 1080* Snowboarding, Ocarina of Time.... It was more or less in the late 90s when the whole Pokemon craze started taking over, and Nintendo started abandoning internal output, that the early SNES kiddie stigma came back to haunt them.
On the GameCube, Nintendo has been ridiculous. Kiddiest company ever to be honest. Well until '05.
you have no idea how much damage "celda" did to Gamecube... everyone was expecting something similiar to the spaceworld demo, then all of a sudden ...............
If next generation Nintendo's dedication to bring back 3rd party is as aggressive as they are during the later part of GC, Revolution will be in good shape.
If next generation Nintendo's dedication to bring back 3rd party is as aggressive as they are during the later part of GC, Revolution will be in good shape.
soundwave05
Member
Yeah Nintendo had considerable success with teens on the N64, but GoldenEye was definitely the pinnacle. For many GoldenEye overshadowed not only Mario and Zelda, but even a lot of top tier Playstation stuff.
You could kinda pin Nintendo as the "kids company", but here they were with THE must-have title for older players. It just totally screwed with that perception. A lot of people just couldn't believe it; they wondered when the Playstation version was coming out.
I mean I think GoldenEye the video game was huge, and really MGM/EON owes Rare/Nintendo a lot in re-popularizing James Bond with teenagers and college aged kids.
It was a mutually beneficial partnership, too bad it only lasted for one game. F-cking EA.
You could kinda pin Nintendo as the "kids company", but here they were with THE must-have title for older players. It just totally screwed with that perception. A lot of people just couldn't believe it; they wondered when the Playstation version was coming out.
I mean I think GoldenEye the video game was huge, and really MGM/EON owes Rare/Nintendo a lot in re-popularizing James Bond with teenagers and college aged kids.
It was a mutually beneficial partnership, too bad it only lasted for one game. F-cking EA.
Agent Icebeezy
Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
soundwave05 said:
That was true, so true
soundwave05
Member
The other thing about Goldeneye that was so remarkable is Nintendo barely advertised the game.
Hell they barely even stocked the game.
They thought it would just be some average title, I think everyone did. And then it became this phenomenon, I remember during Christmas 1997 there were huge shortages of the game, everyone wanted it (not Diddy Kong Racing which Nintendo put the bulk of their marketing efforts behind).
The game became a multi-million seller on word of mouth alone. College kids, teenagers, etc. would call their friends over and say "hey, you gotta check this out".
Yamauchi should've done whatever it took to keep that Bond license with Rare. Send some Japanese whores over to EON/MGM etc. whatever. That was just a dynamite combo, sometimes when you hit gold like that, its best not to screw with it at all, just let it be and watch it blossom.
Hell they barely even stocked the game.
They thought it would just be some average title, I think everyone did. And then it became this phenomenon, I remember during Christmas 1997 there were huge shortages of the game, everyone wanted it (not Diddy Kong Racing which Nintendo put the bulk of their marketing efforts behind).
The game became a multi-million seller on word of mouth alone. College kids, teenagers, etc. would call their friends over and say "hey, you gotta check this out".
Yamauchi should've done whatever it took to keep that Bond license with Rare. Send some Japanese whores over to EON/MGM etc. whatever. That was just a dynamite combo, sometimes when you hit gold like that, its best not to screw with it at all, just let it be and watch it blossom.