Nintendo's 3 Biggest Mistakes - Gaming Historian 

Nintendo was afraid Sony would go after the market. So they kicked them out, leading to them going after the market. Brilliant!

Nintendo's relationship with 3rd party developers was never the same after the N64.

Sony: *"Im gonna make my own system! WITH BLACKJACK AND HOOKERS!"*

No mistake can be bigger than creating your own rival. Great video Norman!

So Nintendo was like, "oh man, let's not let Sony enter the console race by backstabbing them" which in turn, just made them want to enter the console race even more.

SNES-"I am your Father." PS1-"That's not true! That's impossible!"

This show is basically like watching PBS documentaries just far more interesting. The learning is powerful

I think worse than the 64 cartridges was the GameCubes weird mini-discs. It was a strange half-measure.

Please do a full episode on the falling out between Nintendo and Sony, as I'd love to hear a more detailed analysis of the sequence of events there and wtf Nintendo was thinking

"It's fair to wonder what [Gunpei] Yokoi would've come up with next..." Actually, Yokoi made another video game console before he passed. It was called the WonderSwan and it was a pretty good mobile console, though it never made it over to the states.

"You could not live with your own failure. And where did that bring you? Back to me." Sony 1994

As I was watching I was initially thinking "what could be worse than sticking with cartridges" but then you nailed it. Creating your own rival is pretty much the stupidest thing you could do. In fact that kind of combines with the cartridge decision. If Nintendo went with CDs on the N64 then third parties would probably stick with them from the assumption that they would continue to be the market leader. Going with carts essentially sent the third parties to Sony. So not only did their actions create their biggest competitor but they then immediately helped that competitor gain an advantage over them. And this is all around the same time that the Virtual Boy was on the market so there was a span of only a few years where Nintendo had their biggest brainfarts in their entire existence one after another. And this is the same time period where Sega had the whole 32X/Saturn debacle. So Sony entered the market and basically just did things competently while the existing market leaders tripped over themselves to see who could be the bigger idiot. Talk about being at the right place at the right time. If Nintendo and Sega merely didn't screw up at that time would Sony have been able to establish a foot hold? What reason would third parties, and thus gamers themselves, have to switch to a newcomer if Nintendo and Sega were continuing to do as good of a job as they did with the Genesis and SNES?

Oh man, I had no idea the PS1 and N64 sales were that drastic! Awesome video Norm:)

Honestly, I'm amazed you don't have more subs. You're easy to listen to, and the information you give is quite in-depth without being overwhelming. This channel is awesome!

Nintendo's biggest mistake was excluding a CD rom drive. The system was more powerful than ps1, but was never able to prove it because of storage.

Although it may have been the right decision finance-wise, for me personally, Nintendo's biggest mistake was selling Rareware.

The fact that cartridge games couldn't be just port from PS1, made for so many interesting and experimental games on the N64! Maybe not a good business decision, but as a gamer I love it!

I know others have noticed this and may have even mentioned it, but I love how during your narrations and story telling, you can hear subtle instrumentals of certain games and their levels in the background. Case in point with this video, you can hear Dire Dire Docks playing from Mario 64. It's just a nice touch.

I remember cartridges were a big deal at the time. I will say, though, all of my old N64 cartridges still work flawlessly. My PS1 discs on the other hand.... we were too rough with them as kids.

I think calling the current console the Wii U was probably #4.

Truth is we'll never really know if it was a mistake for them to ditch the Sony deal, it certainly wasn't a mistake as far as I'm concerned because it keeps Nintendo original and we all love our PlayStations.

I feel like a few years from now, the name "Wii U" will be touted as one of their biggest mistakes.

Love the video, I think Nintendo's biggest issue was they have always been too overconfident ever since the NES and always figured they could force the market, developers and competitors do do what they wanted.

I like that your videos look polished and take time. Your narration isn't rushed either so many you tubers seem to always be in a hurry.

Yokoi is definitely one of my Hero's, Rest in peace!

For all of Nintendo's failings, it's important to remember that many of those were born of the mindset that essentially saved the video games industry. Most of the tension between Nintendo and third party developers was the result of Nintendo's own policies regarding licensing and limits on software production - policies that prevented the NES from having the derth of shovelware that buried the Atari consoles. This quality-over-quantity approach was good for long-term business, but bad for short-term profits. It is possible that many see these policies as being obsolete, now that the industry has become almost self-sustaining.

Actually gunpei yokoi planned to leave Nintendo before the release of the virtual boy, and that was going to be his final gift. He stayed longer than he wanted to so people didn't think that the virtual boy made him leave.

You reap what you sow Nintendo. Enjoy third place.

Although I do understand the benefits of disc-based software, I've always had a fondness for cartridges. They're far more durable than a disc of any kind, one good scratch and your game is usually ruined beyond repair. On top of that, cartridges were iconic in seeing what you were playing at the time. It's not just nostalgia talking either, being able to see what others were playing was damn good marketing.

The biggest mistake Nintendo ever made was letting go of Rare.They pretty much made most of the good games on the n64 and knew how to develop for Westerners. Getting rid of them during the Gamecube era marked the beginning of whack experimental Japanese centric games I've never been a fan of.

I do have to say one thing about the cartridges used for the N64. Since Nintendo is based more for the younger demographic, imagine how many kids would have scratched the CDs. Think about it. If I was 10 and scratched up Star Fox, I'd be devastated (GameCube games have less surface area)

Nintendo Creator Program may not be their biggest mistake, but it is easily one of their biggest mistakes of the 21st century. It's often said that Nintendo is slow to adapt to the modern age this is a perfect example of why: Rather than allowing channels to operate as they did before, covering their games via Let's Plays, reviews, etc., they're taking a cut of their revenue and only allowing said revenue to be generated on very specific titles under certain conditions. It's an anti-creator friendly program and only benefits Nintendo in the end, no one else.

Boy, it's interesting to think about what might have been, had Nintendo not jilted Sony at the altar with the Play Station. On one hand, I am not sold on the idea that console consumers were really ready to jump to CD-ROM tech just yet; in fact, I have doubts that developers and publishers were really ready for the transition. On the other hand, Sony (as you pointed out) has generally owned Nintendo since the fifth console generation... though Sony had to scramble to salvage the PS3. Hiroshi Yamauchi made an enemy that still haunts his company to this day, well after his death. The cartridge vs. CD-ROM battle really altered the Gen5 landscape and set into motion a rift between Nintendo and its third-party partners that has only widened over time. SquareSoft was definitely a big defection, but lower-priority approaches by Konami (Symphony of the Night versus Castlevania 64? No contest!), Capcom, and even EA (to a somewhat lesser extent) hurt the N64 library overall... and that's not even bringing up the disparity in MSRP. I'd give a Dishonorable Mention to Nintendo's exit strategy with the Wii and how the company abandoned its support of the platform too quickly. There needed to be a better transition between Wii and WiiU, but instead, Wii owners saw very little Wii software for a long stretch before the WiiU arrived. Unfortunately, by November of 2012, Nintendo had completely lost its momentum and that has been a significant factor in the company's struggles with WiiU since.

After keeping up with your series, I figured both the Sony conflict and the Virtual Boy would be two of them. Great video and thanks for all you do!

I look at it this way.....Without competition, the industry cannot flourish.

Here's one Nintendo mistake that almost nobody knows... The NES colour palette. The NES technically had a 64 colours palette, but it only used 54 colours... Yes 11 colours of the palette were black and as far as I know there was absolutely nothing getting in the way of Nintendo to put 10 more colours on the palette, thus giving the system better graphics at no extra cost... Yes, yes, the NES has quite a distinctive colour palette that's easily recognizable by retro gamers and fans, but I'd say it would be better off with the same 6 bit RGB palette as the Master System

I think the cartridge format at the time was ok, but the CD could hold more information. I believe with current flash memory technology the cartridge format would be better than the optical format and due to the small size of an sd card would make for smaller consoles that require less electricity to run because there's no optical drive drawing power. Plus flash memory can be accessed so much faster than optical media can.

Saying no to Sony, saying no to DVD, saying no to the internet. Been sniffing their own farts since the SNES.

I agree with 2 out of the three being Nintendo's biggest mistakes. But the Virtual Boy was a completely minor mistake, compared to the other crap they pulled that would completely piss off gamers. Here's my list of Nintendo's biggest mistakes... 1) Suing Galoob for making the Game Genie for NES. Reason - It just shows Nintendo is anti-consumerism. Plus the lawsuit backfired on them. Sega saw this as an opportunity to make the Game Genie an officially licensed product for the Sega Genesis. Thus giving Sega an edge and making Sega look consumer friendly. 2) Censorship. Reason - Ever wonder why Splatterhouse 1, 2 or 3 never got a port on a SNES? It's simple, it was too graphic & violent for them. Look at the way Mortal Kombat 1 was censored on SNES, while the Sega Genesis version was completely uncensored. This is one mistake Nintendo made, which backfired on them because Mortal Kombat would go on to be the best selling title on the Sega Genesis. Nintendo being strict and pro-censorship is the reason why many third party developers would rather make games for the competition. 3) Anti-Streaming gameplay. Reason - This pisses off gamers. Wanna stream Super Smash Brothers? You can't because of the bullcrap "Nintendo Creator Program". Anyone who had joined this "creator program" or approves of Nintendo doing this, is completely brainwashed and a moron. As far as streaming on Twitch goes, Reggie says "From a consumer standpoint, what's fun about it?", hence why Twitch streaming isn't enabled on the Wii U. It shouldn't be up to him to decide whether the consumer wants to stream gameplay on twitch or not. That should be up to the consumer to decide. 4) Not focusing on online gaming. Reason - Nintendo didn't put much importance into online gaming. This would backfire on them because it would give the original Xbox a lead over the Gamecube. At least Sega knew how important online gaming was early on. But Nintendo? They're so behind the times, it's biting them in the ass. This is why I am so anti-Nintendo, because of all the things they do that pisses me off. Plus when I was a kid, I had my father buy me a Sega Genesis over a Super Nintendo, because I didn't agree with the crap Nintendo was doing & I wanted to give Sega a chance. I'm glad I did because I loved every single console they had released. All the gaming companies had made their mistakes, but they did everything they could to fix their mistakes. For Sega, it was releasing add-ons like Sega CD & 32X. I don't hate them for that though. For Microsoft, it was their DRM policies & other restrictions they had for the Xbox One. But at least Microsoft quickly corrected those mistakes. As for Sony, the only thing I can think of was the addition of Blu-Ray for their PS3, making the console very pricey($599).

My opinion on Nintendo's biggest mistakes: 3. Not releasing the Super Game Boy 2 and Game Boy Light stateside. That would've been fun. 2. Delaying the N64DD repeatedly, resulting in poor sales, no stateside release, and no sequel to Super Mario 64 or Super Mario RPG, among other things. Sure, we eventually got them in the form of other games in later consoles, but it would've been more fun if they had been released as planned. 1. The Virtual Boy. Need I say more?

"I'm sure you have a different opinion about Nintendo's biggest mistakes..." Naw, bro, you *nailed* it, especially with #1.

Sony was probably Nintendo's biggest mistake, but great for gamers. We now have a LOT more variety than we would if it was only Nintendo in the market. Imagine if Nintendo censorship rules still applied today?

It's difficult to say how big of a mistake it was to stop the cooperation with Sony, because we don't know what would have happened otherwise. From what this video says, the deal with Sony would have been very much in favor for Sony, who knows what this would have turned into, in the worst case (for Nintendo) it could have lead for Sony to overtake Nintendo.

Will there be a video about the Nintendo Play Station story?

I guess you can easily make a top 10 capcoms biggest mistakes

Fortunately, it seems an interview with Yokoi from around 1996 shows he had planned to resign from Nintendo for a while, and they allowed him to stay so it wouldn't look like he was let go because of the Virtual Boy. It was mainly a case of bad timing.

I know this is an old video, but Nintendo ditching Sony was smart. Sony had every intention of stabbing Nintendo in the back. They turned a killing blow into a serious wound. Imagine if Sony went rogue and was backwards compatible to the SNES, Nintendo would have been dead. The mistake was working with Sony.

Learning all this stuff about the N64 on this channel is genuinely shocking. From my elementary school age perspective, N64 was both better and more widely owned. I only knew 2 people who owned a Playstation, but virtually EVERYONE I knew had an N64.

I think the rumor that Nintendo 64 was the biggest failure was false

Glad we agree on the biggest mistake nintendo ever made :-)

DVD's and Cds were great at the time. The cartridge will make a huge return with how large memory chips can be.

I think they recovered from the Virtual Boy pretty well with the continued success of the greyscale Game Boy (i.e. Pokémon). I'd put the late / slow / bad online support as #3.

1: stopping the Nintendo/Sony deal 2: letting RareWare go 3: Nintendo’s copywrite deal with RU-vid 4: virtual boy 5: using cartridges then switching to Philips’ mini dvds

Nintendo believed that they would curb piracy by sticking with carts. The irony is that this made the N64 far easier to pirate in those days. Downloading a relatively small N64 rom was far easier to do in the days of dial-up than a full PlayStation ISO. And even today, it's nothing to just buy an SD card reader for your cartridge consoles.

I agree: as much as I liked the N64 as a kid, looking back at it... it really was the beginning of Nintendo's fall. The NES and SNES were absolute monsters in the industry. Never since have they ruled from on high

I know that it hurt Nintendo, but I love how its cartridge based. I think it gives it ascetic value.

No. #1 was not naming the Wii U the “Wii 2.” No one knew it was even a new console!

1. Calling the WiiU the Wii U 2: Virtual Boy 3. Metroid: Other M

My opinion: 3: discontinuing the Game Boy lineup 2: Virtual Boy 1: Losing 3rd party support

IMHO I think Nintendo's constant lag behind their competitor's when it comes to graphics is their biggest, constant mistake.

It is an interesting thought as a 'what if scenario' if Nintendo went with CD technology with the N64 rather then staying with Cartridges. During the SNES era Nintendo had a healthy relationship with Squaresoft, Enix and Capcom. If they went CD they may had been able to hang onto Square and have Final Fantasy VII and all those other great RPG games by them and bring them to the N64 and also hang onto long time partners Enix (who still made games on the N64, but had issues bringing Dragon Quest VII to it do to technical limitations that lead to it going PlayStation after the cancellation of the N64-DD). That and Capcom also still had an ok relationship with Nintendo bringing Megaman Legends and Resident Evil 2 to the N64 around the end of its lifespan which would had been a huge gain for the system if those came out earlier. It may had still not been enough for them to defeat the PlayStation, but it would have kept the sales neck in neck like the SNES vs. Genesis era. Though that is only a fun what if scenario, as we do not know if ahead of their time games like Golden Eye, Zelda Ocarina of Time and many others would have been able to happen without the tighter limitations of cartridges and what we did get was a rather awesome system. Ether way history is history and Nintendo may be in a hole with the Wii U that may had been engineered as early as the N64, but damn does both those systems have great games on them.

Nintendo:Sony I don't want you to do video games Sony:how about I do anyway

At least Nintendo got rid of the Nintendo Creator Program around Pokémon: Let's Go games were out and before Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and returned freedom to RU-vid gamers. :)

The Wii U is a bigger mistake than the N64

+Gaming Historian I think using mini DVDs and not having a DVD player in the GameCube would be number four. The mini DVDs were the main reason why 3rd party developers were shy of the GameCube.

I played a display Virtua Boy in a department store when it came out, and I'll say, the images you show brought me some deja vu. Simply because I got the same headaches and eye strain looking at them that I remembered playing the actual game.

Number 2 was my pick!

Nintendo has the the most indescribable highs and the most painful and baffling lows of any video game company.

I happened to like the Virtual Boy and was sorry it didn't work out. The 3D effect was good and it was an immersive experience, much like modern day VR. The biggest issue was the red, which was supposedly better for the eyes but was aesthetically harsh. If only someone had thought about selling tints as an accessory to change the color. And it wasn't portable or wearable. A few design changes would have made a big difference, but being ahead of your time means being a little behind as well.

It' wasn't until I got into game collecting that I noticed how lacking the N64 library was. The the exception of maybe a dozen or so REALLY great jobs, a lot of them are horrible. The same thing happened with the Gamecube using smaller discs to remove piracy, the motion controls of the Wii, and gamepad of the WiiU. They might be clever, but they're huge risks that offer nothing to help the developers.

As a game collector cartridges are quite nice for me. They are durable, so I dont have to worry about them getting bent or whatnot, and also there are no abysmal load times. Although It limited the games on the console, the ones that were there were damn good.

I have to disagree you on the cartridges man. Yeah, their memory was limited thanks to discs being able to hold more info. But, those cartridges are ten times tougher. Than the discs are. Plus, if you haven't noticed. They are on chips now. Kinda like having mini-cartridges and they are still tougher then discs.

Sigh, if Nintendo would have had cd based games instead of cartridges they would have had a truly "ultra 64" on their hands. Great games with fmv like ff7 and killer instinct the arcade game could have been supported. What a terrible decision. Im still salty about it all these years later. All that horsepower under the hood of the n64 combined with huge memory on cd format would have been a force to be reckoned with at the time. Nintendos sales would have surely matched or maybe even surpassed those of sony. Oh well.

CD games were better for companies, but cartridges were more durable and loaded faster.

I find it ironic though even though both PS1 and N64 games are still playable, it seems that the cartridge would somewhat age gracefully the disc.

You know what their biggest mistake was? Believing a console could sale without advertising it. Nintendo, get off your ass and invest a large chunk of money, into powerful adds, informing people that you have a current gen console! 2015 and there's still people who think the Wii is the only console Nintendo has out(excluding the DS handhelds)

Nintendo 64 was the #1 mistake that destroyed their relationship with their third-party developers and knocked them into also-ran status. A pity, since it had some of the best games ever made...

This is strangely short compared to the other three big console companies' biggest mistake videos. I wonder if this will ever be revisited?

Nintendo created Sony (console) Sony smashed SEGA SEGA were a Nintendo rival Coincidence? I don't think so.

Letting rareware go

I'm really very surprised that Nintendo did what they did to Sony considering the reputation the Japanese have/had for being, above all, *honorable* in their business dealings.

***** - referring to your #1. Do you think, based on your reading, that the major reason that Nintendo dumped Sony was that they didn't want them to enter the game market, or was the major reason that Nintendo didn't want Sony to have control over the CD based games? Based on what we see typically from Nintendo, my first thought would be that Nintendo would be more worried about control of the product, as opposed to Sony entering the market. Based upon what you said was the structure of the plan between Nintendo and Sony, it really seems to me that Nintendo was getting the shorter end of the stick, with Sony getting the better deal. Just think- unless I'm misunderstanding you, if Nintendo decided, for instance, to create a Mario game for the disc system, Sony would have control over the production of it it in some manner. That was never going to happen. Just a side note- I was under the impression that Nintendo scrapped the disc project because they had already started work on the next gen system, the then titled Ultra64. (so in a sense, 2 and 3 on your list are intrinsically connected?) Anyways, good stuff. You should work on a book btw- I'd pick it up, and read it.

Shame, I loved the hell out of the 64. Had such a fun time playing it.

We need an updated video on Nintendo's latest blunders

how about 3 mistakes of Atari, Sony, & Microsoft

How was it a mistake by Nintendo if Sony wanted full control over their CD-based games? I think Nintendo had a right to feel paranoid. But Nintendo should've came to terms with revenue sharing way before they engaged in a partnership with Sony.

Ive always preferred the cartridges. And now, its clear that the cartridges are much better. All my cartridge games still work today, ive recently pulled them all out, tested each one, cuz of quarantine, and not one failed. I cant say the same for my PS, PS2, and DC games.

To be fair, Sony basically wanted to have most of the profit and control and simply coat tail off of the Nintendo name. But Nintendo could have definitely found a less disrespectful way to drop out of the deal.

SNES is still the greatest console I've ever owned.

I beg to differ about the cd vs. cartridge thing w/ the ps1 & N64. First of all I have both systems & yes the ps1 does have a good library of games but the cd's themselves are so easy to scratch not too mention that the lens reader is cheap & I remember my first ps1 broke b/c of this back in the 90's. Never had this type of trouble w/ an N64 of course. Oh & don't get me started on the loading screens w/ the ps1.

Nintendo's second mistake is the biggest asset for collectors from today's perspective. Cartridges are more robust and beautiful, and therefore more collectible than their CD counterparts. What is already clear now is also that CDs and CD drives will eventually no longer be read or be able to read. A cartridge will work forever and ever.

What about them not putting a blast processor into the SNES? That was a huge mistake.

Cartridges was their strength, it produced built in quality control. Designers had to be more confident in their game and often tested them first on the cheaper to produce CD game consoles. As a result, rarely can I ever remember being disappointed in a N64 game like I was on PS1 and PS2.

My guess is that nintendo and sega management was so full of coke back in the days that they both thought the whole video game industry was theirs and that there would be no real competitor at the horizon for decades. The most arrogant management ever imaginable. Looks like there was still a stash of coke untouched at nintendo so they consumed it and came up with the cool "Nintendo Creator Program".

Using cds for n64 could also have gone wrong. PS1 had a lot of piracy going on, but it had already the sales when this was a bigger problem.

Ugh what's the song at 1:30? I can't recognize it but I know I've heard it before -_-

Honorable mention: removing Virtual Console support for earlier platforms like Wii; thus, encouraging customers to use ROMs.

You are VERY fortunate to have that copy of Ape Escape. I lit up when I saw that, it was one of my favorite games on the PlayStation. Hope you've still got it.

I think the cartridge was the better choice because the cpu wasn't that fast to load texture from ram (maybe delayed is a better word) so being able to quickly load texture from cartridge can allow hi texture but majority of the developers use low resolution texture that can fit in the rdp's ram.

Seriously though, the ramifications of being loyal to Sony really bit them last year. Nintendo nearly got wiped out last year because of the PS4 and its excellent business, hardware, and software decisions. Thank God for Smash, right?