The NES and the UK - What really happened?

[jdanddiet]

I'd be surprised if you see anything NES related for the next few months.

However the SNES is gonna get some awesome coverage every month until DC's head explodes

[Rogue Trooper]

I'd be surprised if you see anything NES related for the next few months.

However the SNES is gonna get some awesome coverage every month until DC's head explodes

And then it'll start again?.Honestly i've had from RG alone enough poorly written NES coverage to last 10 lifetimes, sick of the bloody thing.It's not driving me to try out NES games, exact opposite.NES related pieces need to be put out to pasture until someone can write a new take on them and make it far more balanced.

How magazine can (going from past issues) devote 6 pages to a cult series like Wizzards And Warriors and still gloss over fact UK review scores were average or use a Nintendo Power quote as a means of a review 'score' rather than an actual UK Press review score, just because said UK review (mean Machines) gave it 68% which i'm sure Nintendo would'nt want people to be reminded of when they are trying to promote the franchise again, again take pride it being impartial, is beyond me.


As for future SNES stuff, i can only pray by now head man at RG has worked out/researched exactly what Mode 7 is...or i honestly fear for future articles.

[Rogue Trooper]

A comment Laird made in RG Issue 118 thread got me thinking back to this thread:

Laird mentioned how the NES article in said issue was meant to be a celebration of the NES history, so it was understandable it was written way it was, now not going to rake over differing views between Laird and myself here, but i'm left wondering just why it was written in a gloss over the flaws type manner, when articles i've seen in other publications which look at the history of a company/publisher are presented in a warts n all manner.

Thinking most 'recently' of a feature EDGE did on history of Rare:the console years.Very well written, presented in a look back at the games, with interviews with people behind them and what stood out most was just how open RARE were in admitting in hindsight where they went wrong:

Things like Wizards And Warriors being '...the game with the worst jump animation, ever!' and Battletoads: 'In hindsight we wish we'd made the 3rd level easier'

They were more than happy to describe how NES games were designed to 'fit' within hardware limitations, how with Battletoads a lot of the level design came about by a desire to really push the hardware, but they were'nt afraid to look at themselves in cold light of day and admit things could have been done better.


So if Rare themselves are clearly very happy to do a warts n all interview, again i'm left wondering just why it's been that past features in publications like RG+Gamestm have had a far more selective approach.Only positive review quotes used etc.

All in all it made for a very interesting article:

DKC came about because Nintendo had seen Aladdin on the MD and wanted a game on SNES that looked better...they wanted Diddy Kong to basically be Donkey Kong, but in a nappy.....

Nintendo after pushing Rare to do Goldeneye, then sent them a letter saying they should cancel the project as game had missed the film release, home release and BBC film at midnight release.....

Grabbed By The Ghoulies was as Rare put it 'very much a game aimed at the Game Cube market and suddenly it was on Xbox, a very different market' (and again here they admit that if they'd spent a bit more time on game, it would have been more in line with what Xbox market wanted'


Kamecowas a painfull process-starts out as G.C project, then Xbox so she went from Elf to Fairy, but no matter how they tried to disguise fact she was a Fairy, you were still pitching a game with a Fairy in it to a market that just wanted to shoot things and they say: 'In hindsight it probably would have been best to scrap everything and start again'.


By being honest with readers, i find articles are a lot better for it, i keep reading as it's presented in a manner where more i read, more i learn about the games, the development process etc etc.

So i feel there's no reason you cannot celebrate something without giving equal balance to what went wrong as well as what went right.


EDGE can be so far up it's own arse at times, but likes of RG+Gamestm could learn a thing or 2 when it comes to covering same old hardware and developers/publishers.

[onthinice]

This is great reading! I never knew, since U.S. magazines would never share more then snipets.

Maybe someone can start post about the - The Snes and the UK - what really happened?

[Rogue Trooper]

This is great reading! I never knew, since U.S. magazines would never share more then snipets.

Maybe someone can start post about the - The Snes and the UK - what really happened?

:-) Much as i'd love to start said thread, after i've opened cans of worms on Nes and UK and Snes Mode 7:what's so special? i fear i'd be called even more names, lol

[Rogue Trooper]

This is great reading! I never knew, since U.S. magazines would never share more then snipets.

I'd be happy to photocopy said article and said it onto you if you'd like a read?

[onthinice]

Sounds great! I think the Nes and UK and Snes Mode 7 are great topics.

[Rogue Trooper]

Sounds great! I think the Nes and UK and Snes Mode 7 are great topics.

Much appreciated.Glad 99.9% of the good people on here can see what the topics were created for:Intelligent debate etc, rather than think i've some hidden anti-Nintendo agenda (yeah fuck Nintendo, the company who's Snes, N64, GBA, GB, GB Micro, G.C, GB Player, Game+Watches i paid for, along with carts for them where it applies :-) ).


I'll happily chat about anyones product i've invested time and money in over the years, but it'll be warts'n' all look, as it often amazes me to see companies walk straight into the very trap that killed off competing hardware, 1 generation later.Never quite seen an industry like it, where same mistakes are made and publications don't want to seem to mention them when looking back at what became of them.

[DreamcastRIP]

Having just read a post in the RG 118 thread this seemed the logical place to post some thoughts in reflection.

Found that Nes Joe+Mac review i brought up in response to Ste Pickfords absurd claim about Nes games being fast and responsive.From gamezones review:

'..firing weapons seems to take him (joe) about a week-you can press the keypad, go out and make a cup of tea, and come back to see the stone-axe or whatever, missing the mark by miles.To some extent you get used to this, but in the end i found it terrifically frustrating.Posting your instructions to Joe would probably take less time.'

But, but , RT, that simply cannot be correct! The NES article in the current RG informs the readership that,

Nintendo had clearly taken note of the many mistakes made by others. The company was notoriously strict about the quality of software on the NES, concoting the now famous 'Seal of Quality' which reassured gamers and their jumpy parents - that the expensive that they were buying weren't going to end up as landfill shortly after purchase.

So are we to trust in the words of Gamezone magazine or that of Retro Gamer magazine because surely they both can't be right?

Oh, wait, what this I see in the same article,

By imposing such draconian limitations of publishers, Nintendo wanted to ensure that NES software was of the highest possible standard (although there were plenty of stinkers on the system)...

So RG is telling its readership that Nintendo were "notoriously strict" about wanting to avoid making the "same mistakes as others" but then inadvertently informs us that Nintendo did in fact make some of those same mistakes that the much vaunted (by Nintendo cheerleaders, at least) Seal Of Quality was intended to eradicate. So, that cheap shot at Atari (the "landfill" comment) was something Nintendo was familiar with too given that RG, accurately in this instance, stated there were plenty of rubbish games on NES too.

Seems a bit of a confused mess to me. On the one hand the article is seemingly so desperate to big up the NES but then, in a half-arsed attempt at providing some balance to the hyperbole, contradicts itself without caring to explain why Nintendo failed in what it set out to achieve. When I say 'failed' I'm of course referring to the quality of the games as opposed to how successful the Seal Of Quality was in the USA as a marketing tool to help sell NES and its games.

While this NES article (yes, another one in this UK publication) that's masquerading as a Famicom article is infinitely superior to the woeful and deservedly much derided 'NES Collector's Guide' from RG issue 101 there are still a catalogue of issues present.

I find it frankly bizarre that, recent Sega Master System and Mega Drive articles penned by notorious Nintendo fanboy Adam Buchanan aside, this particular magazine generally seems to be capable of writing about other brand consoles in a fair and accurate manner but then seems to lose the plot each time it covers the NES. Most peculiar. 

[Rogue Trooper]

well, whilst i've (sadly) far from a complete collection of Gamezones, they did at some point split the magazine into 2 seperate publications, 1 dealing with Sega hardware and software the other Nintendo...so i'd say they gave unbiased reviews.

That issue alone had: 2-Page Dr.franken (GB) preview, 3 page look at the 'Work Boy ' device for the GB, 2 page review of Turtles II Nes (80%), 1 page review of Totally Rad, Nes (83%) etc etc...


Whilst Elite's advert (in same issue as review) for Nes Joe And Mac does indeed bear the 'Original Nintendo Seal Of quality' badge and reviewer gave game score of 82%, the slow speed is made good note of as a warning to buyers, just as it is in the Totally Rad review ('..there are a few moments of dreadful slow-motion action, Jake's animation is wobbly...when he's running he seems to have about 2 frames of animation to his name...who rememembers Mr Ben?), as it was in other Nes reviews in other issues of Game Zone i.e F-15:'...never really gives a sensation of flight or speed'-which i'd consider key for a game based on a jet fighter myself or Mega Man III '....the odd slow motion effect rears it's ugly head' or The Addams Family '...in the end, my main complaint is the speed....the game remains sluggish' and so forth.

Maybe it's as simple as this:

Game Zone had at it's disposal:the Nes, GB,GC, Lynx, MS, MD, PC Engine and SNES, so it was well aware of what other systems were capable of be they 8 or 16 Bit, yet the writer of the Nes articles that have 'graced' the pages of RG had the Nes and the Nes only as a child and thus the poor mite honestly knew no other?.

Do find it odd when a publication takes on work from someone who knew nothing but...the system he or she wrote on.How can it be a broad canvas, a wide view when they have in effect been wearing blinkers?.If your writing for a format specific magazine, i could over look it, but when your putting it in a publication which covers so many formats, strikes me as naive at best and assumes your readership either won't notice or mind, which judging by feedback left on publications own feedback threads, would so often appear to be anything but the case.

[onthinice]

On the bright side, lots of good information has been shared about why the system failed in the UK.

[DreamcastRIP]

On the bright side, lots of good information has been shared about why the system failed in the UK. :1:

[onthinice]

:24:

[DreamcastRIP]

:24:

Palpatine "Good"

 

[onthinice]

:21: