This Week in Nintendo History: September 13th to September 19th

Let’s settle down for another history lesson. Each week we’re going back in time to discuss the events that are most relevant in Nintendo’s history. Most of the time we’ll be discussing game announcements, but many times there will be more to discuss. This week we’ve got the birth of an artist, the release of two systems and a large amount of game releases. Let’s jump right in and see what this week holds for us.

The plumber we all know and love as Mario has been around since his first appearance in Donkey Kong. That game would put him in the minds of many gamers, but it wasn’t until Super Mario Bros. was released for the Famicom Disk System on September 13th, 1985 that he would truly be considered a star. This is the game that many credit as bringing the video game industry out of the decline it had been in since the early 80’s. It would also be the real start to hundreds of titles that would feature the famous mustachioed plumber. Super Mario Bros. is known for its solid platforming and timeless replay ability. It’s also as well known for its famous glitches, such as the Minus World glitch and the Infinite Extra Lives exploit. If you haven’t played this game and you own a Nintendo System, you don’t know what you’re missing. There are few Top 100 lists that don’t have this game near the top, if not at the number one spot.

September 14th, 2001 saw the release of the Nintendo GameCube in Japan. This system would be sometimes affectionately known as the Purple Lunchbox due to the handle on the back of the system. It was also known for its proprietary 8cm DVD discs that were created to help stop piracy of Nintendo software. The Gamecube would go on to fall behind both the Sony Playstation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox in sales during that console generation. The Gamecube was the first Nintendo system to not have a Mario title available at launch, instead giving Luigi the starring role in Luigi’s Mansion.

Virtual Console day, September 15th, 2008, this week brought us only one retro title that week, but it was a good one. Mega Man 2, originally for the Nintendo Entertainment System was released. The WiiWare service saw the release of the second episode of Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People; Strongbadia the Free.

September 15th, 1936 was the birthday of Yoichi Kotabe, an artist for Nintendo in Japan. The first game he contributed art to was Doki Doki Panic, which would become known as Super Mario Bros. 2 in America. He also helped to refine the look of Pikachu. Mr. Kotabe is a supervising artist for the Super Mario series and has been an official illustrator since the original Super Mario Bros.
He also worked on illustration for Nintendo's Game Boy title, Mole Mania.

Fast forward a bit to September 15th, 2002. Fans everywhere were introduced to the world of Animal Crossing when it released for the Nintendo Gamecube in America. In the game players would take on the role of a human in the town you helped create. Hijinks would ensue as you helped out the animals in your town. You also had to make sure you didn’t stay away from the game for long. If you did, upon your return, your town would be overrun with weeds. The game has gone onto to be featured on the DS and the Wii.

Star Wars fans got another piece of the story on September 16th, 2008. On that day Star Wars: the Force Unleashed hit stores for the Wii. The game featured motion controls lightsaber action as well as motion based force powers. The Force Unleashed bridged the gap between episodes III and IV and told the story of how the rebellion got its start. You played as a man named Starkiller, who was Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. He was tasked with hunting down and killing a number of Jedi, but was told to kill everyone on both sides as he was not to be discovered. The game also featured cameo’s from a couple of your favorite Star Wars heroes.

Press conferences are used by companies to make big announcements and Nintendo is no exception. During a press conference on September 16th, 2006 the Wii’s user interface would be unveiled. The Wii Channel Menu was shown to the world on that day. It features 48 slots over four pages of menu options that with the exception of the disc channel can be customized to the user’s liking. There have been a number of different channels released such as the Weather and News Channels, as well as the Nintendo channel which gives you info on upcoming games. You can use the Wii Shop Channel to buy Virtual Console or WiiWare games. Those games can then become a channel of their own on the menu. Through a number of different upgrades there has been a clock added to the menu as well as the use of an SD card for even more space. It’s a very user friendly experience and one of the better interfaces this generation.

The Game Boy Advance saw the release of another new game in the Castlevania franchise. On September 16th, 2002 Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance hit store shelves. Set in 1748, the game focuses on Juste Belmont, grandson of Simon Belmont, and his quest to rescue a kidnapped childhood friend. This game was the second game in the series to see release on the GBA. HoD was well received by critics getting an average Metacritic score of 87. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance was re-released in North America in January 2006, along with Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, as part of Castlevania Double Pack. Both games are contained on a single GBA Game Pak.

Virtual Console day once again. This time it’s September 17th, 2007. One this day we saw the release of Yoshi’s Story for the Nintendo 64, Super Thunder Blade for the Sega Genesis, and World Class Baseball for the Turbo-Grafix 16.

It was a day of sadness for members of Nintendo’s NSider. On that same day the NSider forums were closed. It was rumored to be a temporary closing, but the forums have never been reopened.

Last week we covered the release of the Game Boy Micro in Japan. America got their chance to get their hands on the system this week as it was released on September 19th, 2005 here in America.

There were two game releases on that same day for different systems. The GBA saw the release of DK: King of Swing on September 19th, 2005. This game saw players swinging around on pegs collecting various objects in the world. It was well received critically, but has been met by players with mixed reviews, mainly over the art style. Many gamers felt the cartoonish look didn’t fit well after the more realistic 3-D graphics of the Donkey Kong Country series. It was also felt to be too short and very repetitive.

Also on that day the GameCube saw the release of Battalion Wars in America. This is a continuation of the Wars series that features the Advance Wars games on the handheld systems. Battalion Wars is a real time tactics, third person shooter style game where you have control over a number of different units like infantry, tanks and aircraft. This game has seen one sequel on the Wii. This game is a spin off of the Advance Wars series and differs in that it features real time game play elements rather than the turn based style of the handheld series.

One more week down in the history books. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of the article. As always, if there is anything coming up that you know about and would like to see featured in the article let us know and we’ll include it when the time comes.