Nintendo Okie

I grew up during the Super Nintendo era. I owned a Super Nintendo. My best friend owned a Genesis. We never really got into the fight about which system was better. We just thought it was a great way to get to see all the best games during that time. It goes without saying, though, that many people did participate in the battle. “Super Nintendo is the best.” “Sega does what Nintendon’t.” Back then it was completely unthinkable that Mario would appear in a game on a Sega console or Sonic would show up on the Super Nintendo. That trend continued until Sega folded their console business and became primarily a software company.

December of 2001 would mark the first time that Sonic would ever appear on a Nintendo platform. That appearance came with the release of Sonic Advance for the Game Boy Advance. Since then Sonic has appeared multiple times on every Nintendo platform. It wouldn’t be until the release of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic games in 2007 that the two would finally appear in a game together. That truly marked the end of the Mario vs. Sonic debate. The two characters finally met in a game and have done so multiple times now. Two Olympic games releases, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  Did anyone think this would ever happen?

The fight between the two companies has been raging for two decades now. Both companies would take shots at each other. Sega even said they did what Nintendon’t. They marketed themselves as the edgier, more mature gaming platform saying that Nintendo was for kids. Debates have raged in schoolyards for as long about which character was better. I think history has proven which has been more successful. Does that make either character better than another?

Nintendo has made decisions to put the plumber in every game imaginable, yet he continues to gain in popularity with more kids identifying him over icons like Mickey Mouse. Sonic has, in recent history, had mediocre after mediocre game release, bordering on downright painful to play. What caused them to take such divergent paths when it looked like they were destined to battle for all time? Who would have ever thought the two would appear on the same platform, much less have starring roles together in a game? It was unthinkable.

Recent history has brought about an interesting question. Sega has had marginal success with the blue blur in the past. Critics have been panning their games and pined for the glory days of the Genesis vs. Super Nintendo battles. What was it going to take to get the battle going again? Sega is attempting to do that with the release of Sonic 4 on WiiWare later this year and Sonic Colors for Wii and DS. Dimps has been responsible for some of the better titles in the franchise since the days of the GBA and they’re the driving force behind Sonic 4. That gives me some hope for that title.

What I wonder is, and something I think would help Sonic, is giving him to Nintendo to try once to see what they can do with the franchise. They’ve obviously been successful with Mario. They’ve made each of his titles new, while retaining everything that made his titles special in the past. He’s appeared on Nintendo platforms before, but always with Sega driving the boat. I think one of Nintendo’s EAD teams could do wonders for Sonic and return him, at least partially, to his former glory.

What’s the worst that could happen? Nintendo makes a mediocre game from what is becoming a mediocre franchise. Sonic has a big name and still pulls in a lot of people because of it. Just imagine what the combination of the names Sonic and Nintendo could do. I realize that his games are a very different beast from Mario’s, but Sega is running out of chances to bring fans what they want to see. Sure you’re going to have Sonic fans in an uproar because the “enemy” is creating his game. I have no doubts that Nintendo would put their best effort forward and make the best possible game they can.

It seems their friendship is growing more and more and I wouldn’t be surprised to one day see them together in an action or platformer style game. It would be the coup of the century. The question is, which company, if either, would be willing to hand the reigns over to the other for one shot at that game? My bet is that would be Nintendo. They’ve given the reigns to their bigger franchises and characters to other companies before. Wario has been developed by Good Feel. The next Metroid game is being developed by Team Ninja. Zelda has been developed by Capcom. It’s because of that and the the past with Mario & Sonic at the Olympics that I think it would be Nintendo, but my hope is that Sega bites the bullet, realizes they need to do something to bring Sonic off of life support and let Nintendo have a crack at it, just for once. Competition is good. It’s necessary, but sometimes you have to realize that maybe someone else could do it better.