This Week in Nintendo History: September 20th to September 26th

Welcome, once again, to This Week In Nintendo History. You’re weekly look back at the events that make up the past of one of the greatest video game companies in the world. This week is a little lighter on content so we’ll get right into it.

September 20th, 2004 saw the release of F-Zero GP Legend for the Game Boy Advance in America. This was one of the few games that did not take place in the 26th Century like many of the games before it, and after it. It was instead centered on the 22nd Century. F-Zero GP Legend was based off of an anime series that premiered during 4 Kids TV on the WB. It featured 30 playable characters, 8 of which were playable during the story mode of the game.

Our next game release is one we talked about last week in our Retro Redux. On September 21st, 1990 Duck Tales hit store shelves in Japan for the Famicom Disk System. In the game you played as Scrooge McDuck and the goal was simple; try to get as much cash as possible. The game has been praised by critics and fans alike as one of the better games on the platform and has become a prized possession in many gamer’s collections.

September 22nd, 2008 was download day for North America. The Virtual Console saw the release of Super Dodge Ball for the NES, Vectorman for the Sega Genesis and Plattchen: Twist ‘n’ Paint for WiiWare.

Also on the day WiiWare saw the release of Mega Man 9. This was the heralded return for the classic franchise and the first entry in the series for over 10 years. It saw the addition of 8 new robot masters, including the first ever female robot master in Splash Woman. The framework for the game was based off of Mega Man 2 and as such you didn’t have abilities such as the charge shot or the ability to slide. These things could be purchased through DLC and used if you played through the game as Proto Man. There were also 50 challenges you could attempt to complete as well as online leaderboards for time trials and harder difficulty modes that could be unlocked.

We now come to what is probably the most important event in the history of Nintendo because without this event none of this would even be possible, but on September 23rd 1889 the company we have known and loved for many years was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi. Nintendo began life on that day in 1889 in Kyoto, Japan as a manufacturer of Hanafuda playing cards. The word Nintendo when translated to English supposedly means, “Leave luck to heaven”. They attempted many different things, mostly with little success, after their success with those playing cards. But it was until the 1980’s that they would find what is probably their greatest success through the video game industry.

Their hardware lines in the world of video games include the Color TV game series, Game & Watch, NES, SNES, the Game Boy line, Virtual Boy, N64, Gamecube, DS, and Wii. They’ve created many successful franchises such as Mario, Metroid, Zelda and the Pokemon franchise. They’ve had many ups and downs throughout their history, but currently they reside atop the sales charts based on the success of both the Wii and DS.

Did you know that the Seattle Mariners baseball team is owned by Nintendo and that the DS can be used in their stadium during games to obtain info on the team and even order food from the concessions?

It’s download day once again. This time we’re going back to September 24th, 2007. On that day the Virtual Console received Kirby’s Avalanche for the NES, and Streets of Rage 3 for the Sega Genesis.

Yoshi’s Island would appear on a Nintendo handheld for the first time ever on September 24th, 2002 when Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 appeared on the Game Boy Advance. This was a remake of the SNES original and featured a few minor differences that didn’t affect the game play. In addition to this remake it also featured a remake of the original Mario Bros.

Wii owners were able to put on their dancing shoes on September 25th, 2007. That was the day that Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party was released for Wii. This game was the latest in the Dance Dance Revolution franchise and featured the same game play many had come to expect. In addition to the dance mat, players were also able to use the Wii Remote’s to get their hands in on the action for the first time. The game included 50 songs spanning four decades of music like “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” and “Rhythm is a Dancer”. DDR: Hottest Party also included a number of different game modes with support for up to four players. Many people hailed the new hand controls as a welcome addition to the franchise.

Baten Kaitos Origins was released for the GameCube in America on September 25th, 2006. This was the second game in the Baiten Kaitos franchise and was a prequel to Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. Rather than the traditional RPG sword and shield style combat, Baten Kaitos: Origins relied on a card system for combat. Origins takes place 20 years prior to the events of the first game and revolves around the main character Sagi whoworks for the Alfard Empire in an elite unit, the Dark Service. He is framed for the assassination of the Emperor Olgi, an act he never actually carried out and must spend the remainder of the game attempting to clear his name. Baten Kaitos: Origins was released late in the life cycle of the Game Cube and was put onto two Game Cube optical discs.

Our last entry of the week is one that many will consider one of the most important developments in the history of gaming as a whole, not just in Nintendo’s history. That would be the jump from 2-D gaming into the world of 3-D for home consoles. On September 26th, 1996, and three days before the system you could play it on, Mario made the jump to the third dimension when Super Mario 64 was released for the Nintendo 64. This was the first game in the Mario franchise to feature true 3-D gaming and would be heralded by many as the start of modern gaming as we now know it. The advent of the analog stick allowed Mario to explore new dimensions previously unavailable to game characters. Exploration was made the main focus of the game and was taken of the combat with goombas and Koopa Troopas, though this was still a concern of the Italian plumber.

Mario is invited to Peach’s castle for cake, but upon his arrival he discovers that Bowser has, yet again, captured the Princess and set loose his minions on the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario must travel through the various paintings on the wall and areas around the castle to recover a number of stars. Regaining more of these stars opens up more of the world to the plumber where eventually he will be able to confront Bowser and rescue Princess Peach.

Super Mario 64 has been remade a number of times for the DS and is also available through Wii’s Virtual Console. It has been, and will probably forever be, high on the list of many gamers most favorite titles in the portly plumbers adventures.

So, there you have it. One more week down and we had a couple of very important events. There weren’t a large number of things that happened, but without a couple of them, the gaming industry might be very different today. Do you know of anything coming up that you’d like to see included in this article. Let us know and it just might show up in the future.