This Week in Nintendo History: May 23rd to May 29th
We’re back, once again, on a Monday morning to talk about history. Specifically, Nintendo’s history and the events that have shaped the company the way it is. We’ll deal mostly with game releases, but every once in a while a major event outside of this will pop up and we have to discuss it. I’m working on a huge project that should make this article even better in the future. I’m not completely ready to discuss it publicly yet, but it should be something that will help make this article more complete in the future. Let’s find out, right now, what happened in history during the upcoming week.
E3 2004 game video game fans everywhere a taste of what was to come with Nintendo. It was during the conference that a man, named Reggie Fils-Aime shocked the world with his now famous quote about makin’ games, takin’ names and other stuff. On May 25th, 2006 he was names Nintendo of America’s President and Chief Operating Officer. This was a unique time in Nintendo’s history because it was the first time that an American would hold the office for the company. Before his time with Nintendo he worked for companies like Proctor & Gamble, Pizza Hut, Guinness, Panda Management Co., and VH1. His previous title with Nintendo, before becoming their President, was Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He has three children from a previous marriage and is known by gamers as the Reggienator.
May 25th, 2006 was also the day that Brain Age: Train your Brain in Minutes a Day! for the Nintendo DS was released to North American retail. This is a game designed to be played in small bits for a number of days in a row to help build skills in memory, comprehension, math and more. It’s played by holding the DS sideways, in book form, and using the stylus to write on the screen, match objects, solve math equations and Sudoku puzzles. There were four different modes of play to choose from. Brain Check, the main mode of the game, gave you three puzzles to complete. Once you finished these puzzles you were given a brain “age” where the game told you how old your brain was. The lower the number the better, with the best possible score being 20, this being the assumption of Dr. Kawashima that the brain quits developing at the age of 20. The other three modes of play were Training, Puzzles and Free Play. The most popular feature of the game were the 100 Sudoku puzzles that were included with the system and many people consider this, still, to be the best release of the popular puzzle on the DS to date. While the game has been marketed as a way to keep your brain healthy there have been a number of claims disputing this effectiveness. The game has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide.
May 25th, 2009 was Virtual Console Day in North America. On that date Clay Fighter, originally for the Sega Genesis was released. There were also two retro remakes released for WiiWare. These new games released were Adventure Island: The Beginning and Bubble Bobble Plus!
May 26th, 2009 was, once again, Virtual Console Day in North America. There were two games released for the classic game service; City Connection for the NES, and Metal Slug for the Neo Geo. The WiiWare releases for that day were Dr. Mario Online Rx and Family Table Tennis.
The Munchables was released by Namco Bandai on May 26th, 2009 for the Wii. This game was described by some as a Katamari meets Pac-man style game. The world of the Munchables was invaded by a group called the Tabemon Space Pirates who resembled various fruits and vegetables. The player could choose two characters with insatiable appetites to help defeat the invaders by eating everything in sight. You began each level of the game as a very small character that could eat small Tabemon. As you ate more you began to grow bigger until you were eventually big enough to challenge the leader of the group on every level. The game used a very cartoonish art style where everything in the game resembled items found in a child’s craft box; cardboard platforms and tape holding everything together.
Death Jr. II: Root of Evil was originally released on the Playstation Portable in 2006. Two years later the game was ported to the Wii on May 27th, 2008. This game follows the titular Death Jr., the son of the Grim Reaper, as he tries to save the world from a creature known as Furi after she is accidentally released from a cocoon by the young reaper. He is accompanied by a number of friends during this adventure; Pandora, his cute school friend, Smith and Weston, two creatures who are joined together and share one brain and many more. The game received fairly mixed reviews on all platforms.
Game & Watch games have been featured in this article many times and on May 28th, 1986 Nintendo released Oil Panic for the handheld line of games. This was the first Game & Watch dual screen game to use white plastic for the casing. In the game you played a gas station attendant who had to catch drops of oil falling from a leaking pipe and put them into a large oil drum. You could hold up to three drops of oil at a time. Missing a drop of oil caused you to lose one of your four lives. This game was unique in that respect as most Game & Watch games gave players three lives to start with. The game has been featured in a number of compilations; the first Game & Watch Gallery for the Gameboy, Game & Watch Collection for the Nintendo DS, and as a mini-game in WarioWare: Touched.
May 28th, 2007 was Virtual Console Day, once again. This time Act Raiser for the Super Nintendo, Kid Chameleon for the Sega Genesis and J.J. & Jeff for the Turbo-Grafix 16 were released.
Our last release of the week is Mario Party 8 for the Wii, which was released on May 29th, 2007. This latest release in the franchise, was the first, and so far only, release for Nintendo’s current generation console. This game took place at what appears to be a carnival filled with various tents that house the different modes of play. As with every release previous the main mode was the Party mode where you and up to three friends would take turns moving around a game board. After each player had finished moving they would be split up or paired up to make teams and compete in mini-games. The winners would be awarded with coins that could be used to purchase power-ups or stars, which were the main focus of the game. At the end of a set number of turns the player with the most stars would be declared the winner. This release featured six new game boards and 80 mini-games. There were 14 different playable characters to choose from as well. This was the first game on the Wii and as such took advantage of the Wii Remote in a number of different ways. It was also the first time you could use your Mii, but this was only in a special mode outside of the main party. Despite having the game recalled in the United Kingdom due to production issues Mario Party 8 has sold more than 7 million copies worldwide.
There you have it folks. Those are the events that make up the current week in Nintendo’s history. If you know of anything I missed, or of anything coming up in the future let me know and we’ll include it in a future article. Before we go, though, we have to mention the games that were released in other territories around the world.
May 23rd
2003 – WarioWare (GBA, Europe)
2008 – Battle of the Bands (Wii, Europe)
May 24th
2002 – Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN, Europe)
May 25th
2007 – Mario Strikers Charged (Wii, Europe)
Final Fantasy: Chocobo Tales (Wii, Europe)
Bionicle Heroes (Wii, Europe)
May 27th
1986 – Dragon Quest (FAM, Japan)
May 28th
2008 – Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party (Wii, Europe)
May 29th
2008 – Active Life: Outdoor Challenge (Wii, Japan)
The Great Friend Code Exchange
