AssMan said:
Beats me. There aren't any games I've played on N64, DC, and PSone that comes close to ICO.
Apparently, there's a fine line between trying to inject Nintendo into everything and trying to erase Nintendo from gaming history. I didn't think that was possible but whatever.
1) Zelda came out in 1986, before Prince of Persia (89) and Out of this World (88)
2) Nintendo has garnered more sales success, critical acclaim, and fan loyalty than any other video game company in history.
3) Nintendo is responsible for revolutionizing the platforming and action/adventure genres in ways that you just
cannot do in one game. Also, the company practically gave birth to the futuristic and kart racing genres, and sparked new interest in the rail shooter. In addition, the company at one time owned the snowboarding and water sports/racing genres.
Now, here are the things to Nintendo's detriment.
1) The company has had the recent habit of oversimplifying things that don't need simplification. Examples include the racing in Kirby Air Ride, the lack of jumping in 3D Zelda games, and the unwillingness to step up to the current generation in presentation. (no voice acting, no realistic characters, no orchestrated music, and no technical bells and whistles in most cases)
2) Nintendo has obviously alienated a great deal of its former fanbase with unwise business decisions. In essence, Nintendo made most gamers say "Wow... Well, you're good, but not that good. I'm buying a Playstation."
3) Nintendo receives too much credit. That also is very obvious. If ICO had gotten the credit it deserved amidst talk of the new consoles, Nintendo and Zelda may never have been brought up. The company has done a lot, but this generation has spawned a remembrance of developers that have done something too. I mean who were working on the PC during the SNES/Genesis and N64/PSX generation (Tim Schafer, Warren Spector, John Carmack, Peter Molyneux) These people were groundbreaking in their own right, so Nintendo gets relegated to its past success and no one thinks of Nintendo as a work in progress, but rather just a stalled and slowly sinking ship.
As for ICO, it apparently is very much its own game, and deserves praise for that. I want to play it myself.