7 of the Biggest Mistakes Nintendo Ever Made in the Gaming Industry

Nintendo has created some of the best video games and consoles in gaming history. Consoles like the NES, Game Boy, DS, Switch, and Wii, combined with the big N’s best game franchises, made Nintendo the giant of the gaming industry it is today. Yet, even the big N is fallible and has made its fair share of mistakes in the past. These were some of the biggest mistakes Nintendo has made in the gaming industry.

Wii U Marketing

The Wii U turned out to be one of the biggest flops in Nintendo’s gaming industry history. One of the big reasons for that was the confused Wii U marketing. Its Wii U name made the console sound more like an upgrade, rather than a sequel, to the original Wii. Wii U advertising focused heavily on the console’s GamePad controller and did not clearly explain that it was a new standalone system. Its marketing campaign also showed people utilizing the standard Wii remotes with the console, which added to the confusion. In short, Nintendo failed to mark a clear differentiation for the Wii U beyond its GamePad.

That weak and confused marketing campaign, combined with a limited launch game lineup and somewhat underpowered hardware, took a heavy toll on the Wii U. The Wii U shifted 13.56 million units, making it one of the lowest-selling Nintendo consoles in history. The disaster of the Wii U was the main reason Nintendo had an operational loss of $456 million for the fiscal year ending March 2014. That was a troubling time for Nintendo, but the Switch was the salvation for the big N in the gaming industry.

No DVD Drive for the GameCube

The GameCube was a Nintendo console that the PlayStation 2 hammered. One of the biggest mistakes Nintendo made was not adding a DVD drive to the GameCube. The GameCube had smaller proprietary discs that could not play movies or music like the PlayStation 2’s standard DVDs and audio CDs. Consequently, many players adopted the PlayStation 2 and Xbox due to their superior multimedia capabilities and third-party game support. The GameCube was a toy for the kids, while the PlayStation 2 had a much broader appeal.

Sticking With Cartridges for the N64

CDs were the new big thing for the gaming industry in the mid-1990s. So, Nintendo, quite wrongly, decided to stick with cartridges for its 64-bit N64 game console. Cartridge games were more expensive for both developers and consumers than CDs. Consequently, many third-party developers snubbed the N64 in favor of the PlayStation, which offered players a wider variety of games and better value as a result.

The Virtual Boy

The Virtual Boy, launched in 1995, was the biggest console flop in Nintendo’s history. That was a VR headset with a tabletop stand with an unappealing red-and-black graphical style. It quickly became apparent that Nintendo had made a considerable gaffe with the Virtual Boy, and the big N pulled the plug on it within a year of launch. Only 22 games were ever released for the Virtual Boy, all of which were from Nintendo. A complete lack of third-party support was evidently a big issue for the Virtual Boy, which shifted about 770,000 units.

Partnering with Philips (Instead of Sony)

Nintendo’s partnership with Philips during the early 1990s was among the more fruitless in gaming history. One part of that deal was the licensing of its Mario and Zelda characters for the ill-fated CD-i. The Philips CD-i was a flop, and the four Zelda and Mario games launched for it, which Nintendo did not develop, were garbage with strange cutscenes, awkward controls, and crappy gameplay. Philips was also supposed to release a CD add-on for the SNES as part of the partnership, but Nintendo scrapped that plan.

The ill-fated Philips partnership was also the result of a Nintendo Sony collaboraton fallout, perhaps one of the most defining moments in the gaming industry. A Nintendo PlayStation was a tangible prototype of a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES that was never launched as the big N backed out of the partnership to embrace Philips. It was a betrayal that convinced Sony it had to enter the gaming industry alone, and the PlayStation console released in the mid-1990s was the nemesis of the N64.

The 64DD

The 64DD was a disk drive accessory designed to give the N64 internet connectivity, rewritable data storage, and creative tools. However, Nintendo delayed it many times, and it was only ever released in Japan, rather late. Its ‘pioneering’ 64MB disks were somewhat obsolete and less appealing than CD-ROMs when the 64DD eventually became available. Consequently, there was little developer support for the 64DD, with only ten disks ever released for it. Although the 64DD showed some innovation, it was among the more notable console accessory flops of the 1990s.

Making the Power Glove a NES Accessory

Nintendo didn’t make the Power Glove designed by Abrams/Gentile Entertainment, but made it an officially licensed accessory for its NES console. However, the Power Glove did absolutely nothing to enhance the appeal of the NES and actually tarnished the console in some respects. The Power Glove accessory supposedly enabled arm control for games. However, the Power Glove had imprecise and very awkward controls that made it harder to play games. It was an over-priced controller gimmick that didn’t work very well at all.

So, let us not forget those Nintendo gaffes in the gaming industry. The Wii U, GameCube, Virtual Boy, 64DD, CD-i Mario and Zelda games, and Power Glove were all floppy products. Even the revolutionary N64 console fell short of Nintendo’s expectations as the Sony PlayStation became increasingly dominant. They were the products of the biggest mistakes Nintendo ever made.