I have been sitting on this idea for a while and after conversing about this topic with some friends for a few hours we still couldn’t reach an agreement. One said the SNES era was when they reached their zenith while another thought the Wii and DS were Nintendo’s most outstanding achievement.
I disagreed with both because I believe Nintendo’s golden era has yet to happen, but my friends refused that answer so if I had to choose I would say the days of the Gamecube and GBA would be my choice. I know it wasn’t a particularly successful era mainly due to the PlayStation 2 dominating the marketplace at the time, but I think Nintendo was pushing for software innovation as opposed to now where they strive for hardware innovation and because of this we got games that are infinitely replayable such as Metroid Prime being a first person shooter, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker having a unique art style as well as having more of an open world and of course Eternal Darkness with its unique interaction with the player using a game mechanic known as sanity effects.
The GBA was a really safe bet made by Nintendo, but it had the most exceptional game library of any handheld before and after due to the breadth of genres it covered as well as the depth. But the main reason why the GBA remains my top handheld device is because it was an excellent JRPG machine with Final Fantasy’s IV, V, VI, Golden Sun 1+2 as well as more niche titles like Boktai or Scurge: Hive.
So what would you consider as Nintendo’s golden era or maybe you believe as well that they have yet to reach it? Let me know in the comments.
SNES was their golden era but the system also represents their achilles heel. Since the SNES, and with competition mounting, Nintendo has focused too much effort on trying to remain a monopoly with "innovative" (read, frequently inferior technology, i.e. gamecube disks) rather than competing head on.
NES and then SNES.
In terms of sales it has to be the NES and/or the Wii. I believe they were the 2 most successful systems during their time beating out the competition and selling over 100 million (including Gameboy and DS sales). During the 1980's Nintendo was increasingly getting popular and making a name for themselves in North America. Everyone knew who Super Mario was by the end of that decade! It had been branded permanently into the collective unconscious. 25 years later senior citizens in old age homes were playing bowling with a new innovative controller.
In terms of their "Golden Era" I would have to agree with Colin.
Gamecube is my favorite Nintendo console of all time. Lots of great gaming memories with Gamecube.
NES and SNES hands-down. Anyone remember when Nintendo Power would list out the upcoming games to be released? It was crazy – back then every game was made for Nintendo. Great games came in a flood, not every few months.
Ted has a good point though, their strategies haven't worked over the long term. Remember, the Playstation only exists because Nintendo backed out of an agreement with Sony. What if that never happened? Where would gaming be now if they had stayed together?
Anyway, in those days you constantly had new Mario, Mega Man, Metroid, Castlevania, etc. titles coming your way, and it's just sad it isn't that way anymore. They still make the best games, but gamers are going in a different direction. I'm not as optimistic that their golden years are ahead of them, since they'd be out of business as it is if not for the huge cash buildup from the past.