The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
How has it influenced design and culture?
Iconic Characters and Franchises
Mario & Super Mario Brothers
The Legend of Zelda
Mario has been featured in 200 games of various genres. At least 31 different Mario games have sold more than a million copies each since 1995.
Nintendo’s Legacy, Impact and Influence
Other notable franchises
18 released expansions and has influenced the culture of two generations.
Impact on society and gaming
Interaction and demographics
- Video games have become a part of society and culture.
- Online gaming has connected the global population is ways that were never thought possible.
- Nintendo shifted the perception of video games
- No longer confined to an individual solitary experience.
- Introduced the hand held touch screen long before mobile phones.
The NES's popularity
- "Final Fantasy" with 14 expansions
- "Tetris" which since has spawned many of the popular puzzle games played on social media.
- "SimCity" which has an astonishing 35 expansions and variations, as well as spawning 18 versions of "The Sims"
- Spawned various cartoons
- Two movies
- Countless clothing apparel lines
- Cooking supplies
- And even a Mario shower head
Nintendo's Influence
- The NES is one of the most influential video game systems ever produced.
- Nintendo holds 125 Guinness World Records.
- Nearly every major game system after the NES has copied and adapted their designs.
- NES imagery, especially its controller, is some of the most recognizable symbols of the 1980s
Lineage - Before and After the NES
1st Generation platforms (1947-1977)
2nd Generation platforms (1977-1983)
- Until the creation of the “Fairchild Channel F,” platforms were created for only 1 game. Which became a deterrant for mass consumption.
- The birth of digital gaming
3rd Generation consoles 8-bit (1983-1995)
- Began with the introduction of the NES and included five other systems
7th Generation (2005-present)
8th Gen. was just Introduced
7th Gen. Introduced four consoles such as:
6th Generation 128-bit (1998-2012)
5th Gen 32-bit and 64-bit (1993-2006)
4th Generation 16-bit (1987-1996)
6th Gen. Introduced four consoles such as:
5th Gen. Introduced fourteen consoles such as:
Marketing the Style of Innovation
Changing the perception of video games
- Nintendo's marketing aimed to regain consumer and retailer confidence.
- Nintendo of America marketed the NES console primarily to children
- Gimmick to portray the NES as novel and different from previous game consoles
Controller design
- The NES's color scheme was two different shades of gray, with black trim.
- The design styling was deliberately different from that of other game consoles.
- The Japanese Famicom version featured 2-hardwired controllers, each having a different layout.
- Nintendo evolved the NES controller for the American market.
NES
Packaging
- 'Seal of Quality'
- Artwork with a very close representation of the actual graphics
- The label was gray for standard games
- The “Carts” were a standard shade of gray plastic
Historical reference - what else was happening at the time?
1980 Ronald Reagan is elected President
1980 Mount St. Helens erupts
1981 Iranian hostage crisis ends
1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II
1981 first woman appointed to Supreme Court
1981 AIDS is identified
1985 hole in ozone layer discovered
1985 Titanic wreck found
1986 challenger space shuttle explodes
1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident
1987 “Black Monday” stock market crash
1987 The Berlin Wall comes down
1987 DNA first used to convict criminals
1988 Pan Am flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill
1989 students massacred in China’s Tiananmen Square