Why Do Nintendo Games Look Like That?

[@GMTK]

A little tangential, but one thing that has lead to Nintendo's unique aesthetic is that the developer often comes up with interesting new game mechanics first, and then finds art styles, characters, and music that fit - leading to weird mixes like squids and graffiti culture, which naturally come from the ink-based gameplay of Splatoon. Many other companies work the other way around, coming up with stories, settings, and characters - and then finding mechanics that might fit.

[@yellowsquashbanana]

Though I think I heard that Yoshi's Woolly World actually started from the aesthetic and they worked back from there. BTW love your videos.

[@Alex-wg4gy]

Dude I love your content! Can't way to see your next video.

[@imjrbechard]

They already had Yoshi's Island and Kirby's Epic Yarn to work off of

[@tylerwheeling3060]

Mark Brown crap, I was just gonna make this comment too, but understanding game mechanics is your speciality. I would just like to add that I believe game mechanics truly age a game more than visuals alone. Nintendo games age well because of how streamed lined their experiences hold up. Each iteration of each Nintendo game never fully scrapped the last game's mechanics, yet updated them enough for them to feel fresh. Couple that with the fact that many of their older and current games (Zelda games aside) targeted 60 fps, and I think that helps allow their games to feel more responsive and unique in an era where many console games struggle to reach 30 fps. If you take the example of the Doom franchise and see how far the 3rd entry deviated mechanically from the of the series, you begin to understand why it was panned by many. Doom 2016 followed the originals' mechanics of fast gun play and constant movement and was praised greatly for going so. It remains to be seen if Doom 2016 really ends up being as timeless as the first game, but if it does, it will be because how amazingly smooth the gameplay is.

[@SFinerFACE]

Very cool to see you here, Mark!! And a great comment to boot! Haha

[@kirbymaster5]

The Super Smash Bros. Series is a testament to the cohesion of the Nintendo canon. Characters from all of Nintendo's IPs share a screen and nobody looks out of place. Compare that to Sony's attempt at Smash Bros. (Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale) where many noted the perplexing visage of Nathan Drake juxtaposed with Sackboy.

[@voltaicdrake5968]

I think that's a really great point. You can put pretty much any Nintendo character next to another one and they don't feel out of place. Even with Bayonetta in Smash, of all characters.

[@Yntec]

That's because we're not used to style mixing. I really loved movies that featured humans interacting with cartoons, like Roger Rabbit or Mary Poppins, but they're rare. Nowadays, even, if two different animes crossed over the difference between the styles could produce a weird result. I hope one day we get different styles within the same work in a way that creates some new genre in which you can mix aesthetics without making the audience perplexed. I'm really tired that, withing a given setting or style, most woman look very similar to one another (say, Peach, Daisy, Rosaline), and to look for different ones you need a change of work. In those cases, cohesion is the enemy of variety of styles within the work.

[@Holm55]

Jacob Walker Keep in mind though, Bayonetta's design is already over the top, which in ny opinion is why it is great. She sticks out from the environment in her games. Compare her to the other more realistic looking characters in Smash Bros., and you will find similiarities.

[@inarjollyhound]

There's a few issues involving size, obvious ones being with Olimar not being a couple inches tall, and the whole Ridley Fiasco. But beyond that, yeah they all seem to fit together very nicely.

[@CSDragon]

There are some outliers though. Brawl's Twilight Princess Link ended up looking insanely out of place due to his art style

[@covanentsbane]

I think that one thing especially noticeable about the Nintendo aesthetic that you didn't bring up is the palette. Part of the move to realism and, to use your word, spectacle, was a move away from bright colors; they tend to make things feel less realistic due to their bright and fun nature. But bright and fun is one of Nintendo's major goals in all of their games, and so they've continued to push for these bright colors; while not every single Nintendo game uses the same palette of colours, there's a similar range and overall brightness to the colors that helps them feel the same; Mario is always a bright red with blue overalls, the only change is how varied the shaders on that red are. That also translates better with low fidelity graphics and ages much better; they all feel just a little cartoony which helps them stay firmly on the style side of uncanny valley.

[@noxabellus]

Oh man I wish I had seen this comment before I posted mine I would've just replied to this one. You're spot on. Their whole design aesthetic is sort of a more "free" / "loose" interpretation, allowing you to fill in details yourself

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Willo Wisp Nintendo red is by definition the brightest color in the visible spectrum and evokes emotional fire and activity and life. Nintendo games all look like a marginal increase in fidelity but look at overwatch, Splatoon and ARMS. real life is full of color, and Nintendo strives for a way to bring the color of life and fun to the forefront. Nintendo's old guard Are mechanically varied but pikmin, Pokemon and chibi robo all are different and thus subvert the idea of the old guard. splatoon, Arms and what else is new is the new guard, and they are very different but are beautiful in HD.

[@SamuraiMotoko]

Willo Wisp thanks to that is federation force such a drastic change in style

[@sprotte6665]

+

[@Bedwyr7]

This fits with Mike's point about the limitations of the technology forcing good art direction vs. a hyper focus verisimilitude. Mark Brown made a great point about the mechanical core of a Nintendo game leading the rest of the game's design, but I would add your point to his. Nintendo must have good art direction because the technological limits mean that even the best mechanical design would fall apart if the art direction were merely serviceable. So Mark is right that form follows function, so-to-speak, but the form has to be brilliant and immediate. Thus we get choices that lead to the bright colors of Mario games or the acrylic subtleties of Breath of the Wild.

[@jsk8et]

I feel like Nintendo is about PLAYING a GAME. Other systems seem to be more about SIMULATING an EXPERIENCE. The Nintendo visual aesthetic is a sort of a PRIMER or even a form of CONDITIONING toward having FUN. I think that is also present in long-running FRANCHISES with relatively consistent control schemes and gameplay drivers (such as platforming, pipes, even the story we play out in the game). Each game may be its own universe (chronology, continuity, and canon are a bit nebulous tbh), but we get a consistent set of CUES that tell us "THIS IS FUN!"

[@Discoh]

Quick nitpick: What's with all the capitalization? I do agree with your points, by the way. Just felt the need to nitpick.

[@jsk8et]

I agree the capitalization is odd 😀. Those are the words I might have italicized if I could have.

[@reev9759]

jsk8et Keyword "might" have. Italics or caps, just let what you're saying flow. Be frugal and deliberate with the words you emphasize.

[@part-timepartytime9621]

jsk8et hey m8, you actually can use _italics_ and *bold* in youtube comments. Underscores for italics, like this: _ example _ (without the spaces) Asterisks for bold, like this: * example * (again, without spaces)

[@jsk8et]

I had no idea! Does it work for mobile as well?

[@KirklandHicks]

There's an alternate universe where the Super Mario Movie was a huge hit and from that point forward all Mario and Nintendo games became super realistic and the cartoon graphics were replaced with motion capture Bob Hoskins

[@DontKnowDontCare6.9]

No such thing. Alternate universes are part of a scam theory sold to the masses in pursuit of escapism.

[@billykrueger275]

Nintendo is more interested in gameplay itself, as opposed to visuals or story. Mario's story is just "save the princess" over and over again, but what makes Mario last is the fact that it's FUN to press the buttons and move Mario around. There's a story about Splatoon's production, where the developers first used no color and dots as avatars to see if the mechanics of the game were fun, and then decided the aesthetics after words. That's why the games hold up. The best part about them are the play, and not the visuals or story.

[@clickycal]

I mean, there are tons of non-nintendo games that focus on gameplay too, or both gameplay and story. Horizon just came out and is super fun, but also has characters and story.

[@organizedopinions8068]

yuoke the game you're thinking of is persona I'm sorry but in my opinion horizon just felt like a fall out third person rpg only in name kind of game. It's story is forgettable and I can't even remember the main characters name. It's a dime a dozen type of game.

[@OTPulse]

yuoke : Eehh, HZD was a good game. But after 27 hours of play time I got bored of its limiting lacklustre gameplay. Was just something about it that made it really awesome game for first 10 or so hours then it's like it ran out of ideas & steam so I lost interest.

[@theakiwar9118]

Daniel Feliciano I like Horizon, but damn it gets boring after 30 hours and I mean really boring. I have for example over 160 hours in Zelda BotW and still find new shit to play around. Zelda is like a sandbox (like the ones we had in our backyard) only for grown ups/ teenagers. I just recently found out that elementar weapons can protect you from Klima change. That is fricking amazing.

[@AlejandroMartinez-ye1tw]

Billy Krueger i differ with you in that point. having the same story with the same gameplay just makes the game feel the same.

[@metalgearman242]

I prefer cartoony/stylized art styles in my games. "Good graphics" always shows off imperfections and limitations of the media, unnatural facial expressions always take me out of the reality

[@jomon21]

Agree, thats one of the reasons I like borderlands and the 2006 prince of persia, they look more like art and less like simulated reality

[@Democlis]

As he said "realistic games" age FAST, like 5 years tops until the game become unplayable because it "looks so bad", although when it came out it was "awesome how nice and realistic is looked like. But Nintendo games never get so hard to look at that they get unplayable since they are consistently stylized, the style might get old but like with art just because it's a style no longer used it doesnt mean it looks bad.

[@SamuraiMotoko]

Democlis "unplayable", funny to thing there is such a thing. maybe some PS1 games are so blurry for this, but unplayable?

[@metalgearman242]

I mean, we live in a world where some people find watching a movie in standard definition "unwatchable"

[@SamuraiMotoko]

and that will be the same people that will say black and white movies are unwatchable. they are not the best example to follow

[@noxabellus]

Wow, so ... you went in a totally different direction than I expected, but it was a good one. Very solid observations I think. The direction I thought you would take, is to talk about the way Nintendo's graphics, and low poly graphics in general, give a kind of freedom of imagination back to the player, which allows them to craft a deeper cohesion of setting fitted to their own aesthetic preference. For a clear example of what I'm talking about, you can look at clothing in Zelda. AAAPCMASTERACE style games would have an intricately detailed woven cloth texture, and the specific look and feel of the cloth would be apparent. In Zelda, it's just a color. You are able to project your own ideas of what quality it is, how soft it should be, etc. The same is true, to varying degrees, of facial/body structures and weapon detailing. It even applies to the general setting of the world. Nintendo carries that sort of semi-abstract quality through to their world building, story telling, and character design. Basically, I'm saying the semi-abstract/"simplistic", even the "overtly gamelike" nature of their games is a full on design philosophy, geared towards a more personal or familial-feeling experience. That all of their games feel more coherent is just a side effect of the fact not many companies use that design philosophy. Anyways, maybe I just thought you were going to go there because that's a major influence of the design philosophy I have been building up personally. The aesthetic design of a game goes all the way to the back-end code for me. My current project uses low poly graphics, and is deeply moddable. You might not realize it as a player, but both of those aspects are elements included in the design doc under "Player Agency."

[@820krx7]

I also expected this. I thought he was was going to talk about novels allowing us the freedom to imagine the world vs a movie strictly defining it, etc. Nintendo's less defined visuals, as you point out, allow us to fill in the gaps, something our brains are super adept at, and as a bonus, we fill them in the way we *want* to see them. BotW, for instance, looks and reminds so many of Zelda 1 because when we were playing that game as kids, we had the manual art as the reference from which we projected what the world looked like. I didn't see 8 bit worlds when I was a kid, I saw the art from the manuals all around me (except maybe for when I was playing FFVI... that art, while gorgeous in its own way, in no way worked as a sample texture for my brain gpu to map onto the game). Also, for over 100 years, Nintendo has been a toy company. a company focused on "play," which for children is a trip to a world of imagination, and an experience created in our minds. Just like that, the extra imaginative work we put into a Nintendo game cause us to create in our minds, and that stays with us as a deeper experience than the passive experience of seeing all art assets presented in 4k. I love my 4k games on PC, but few PC games have stuck with me the way Nintendo games consistently, for the length of my 3 decades gaming, have.

[@pal98popsi]

I've commonly heard the complaint from a few of my friends that I've played games with for years that the newer Nintendo games, (specifically the Pokemon series) don't do anything different. Many of the new games do actually change the way the core mechanics work in a meaningful way but it is often perceived as just another gimmick, simply because of the way the games feel so alike. The aesthetic of Nintendo games seems to be a double edged sword in a way, because by re-using so much of the style from previous titles it makes it seem like they haven't really done anything to the games at all. Having said that, a lot of people I know have replayed the same Nintendo game over and over again, often enjoying the nostalgic feel of playing a game that they had very early on in their childhood- something I'm prone to doing as well. I think the Nintendo brand and aesthetic allows them to flesh out the core game under the hood to the point that you can and are willing to play the same game over and over until the contacts on your physical cartridge wear out (I've ruined more than one Pokemon cartridge this way). Over all it leads to an experience that you want to come back to- and eventually pick up the new instalments. I also briefly wanted to touch on the feeling of reward that this gives you: much in the same way that someone with many hours put into the dark souls series can pick up one of the new games and immediately recognise what is important, I feel that Nintendo having such a cohesive image allows you to do this. Mario games always reward stomping on the head of monsters except when their are spikes, Pokemon are always caught easier in balls designed to work certain ways for example. There is a certain sense of mastery and satisfaction that is provided when a Nintendo mechanic "Just works"- the same way it always has. It's immensely rewarding and I think that is a core part of how Nintendo aims to stylise there games; through using these shared patterns they can reward players for using their intuition to punch a cracked wall in Zelda or hit an item box in a weird spot on the track in Mario cart. Great episode as always :)

[@Drstrange3000]

Paul Caygill I feel like Pokemon really does lack differences compared to Zelda and Mario. Both those series offer new gameplay, tone, and even different genres. Pokemon mainline games are too similar besides Sun and Moon, and even that feels very similar apart from the story and trial captains. Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon are nice changes with still keeping the overall Pokemon signature.

[@andrewroskuski18]

It's important to note that, until the Wii, Nintendo's home consoles (the handhelds were "lateral thinking with withered technology" from the beginning) were generally in the same ballpark as their contemporaries. The Wii was a change in strategy that was partially a response to the absurdly massive amounts of money Sony and Microsoft were sinking into Xbox 360 and PS3 at the time. In hindsight, Nintendo made a wise move there because they were making money hand over fist while their competitors hemorrhaged it (PS3 in particular managed to wipe out pretty much every bit of profit Sony ever made on the PlayStation brand). So, it isn't that Nintendo's games were always stylized because they were built on older technology, but instead that they overly negatively impacted when the Wii came along and wasn't a huge leap because they were already stylized. Also as a related note, the Switch is actually pretty cutting edge for what it is. It's just limited by the fact that it needs to be able to run off a battery.

[@andrewroskuski18]

Even the GameCube was still very competitive from a power perspective. For most practical purposes it was just slightly below the original Xbox in terms of power. There was a perception that the GameCube was much weaker than it's competitors due it's mini-discs (which weren't actually a significant problem in practice) and some misleading specs that Sony and Microsoft released (they focused on theoretical maxes while Nintendo focused on more realistic workloads), but in practice both the PS2 and Dreamcast were substantially weaker than it. The GameCube is really an excellently engineered little box which punches above its weight.

[@garvensman]

Andrew Roskuski It was only behind the original Xbox because Xbox came many years later than PS2 and GameCube as well

[@andrewroskuski18]

garvensman The GameCube and Xbox released at around the same time (and are pretty similarly capable). The Xbox did have a somewhat more modern designed GPU which gave it an edge in some areas, though.

[@garvensman]

You're right, they did both release in 2001. I could have sworn they were further apart, but yes, XBOX had the advantage thanks to what MS learned when they teamed up with SEGA a bit on the Dreamcast. It really was just a polished Dreamcast at heart.

[@JediMB]

While it was widely believed at the time that the GameCube was less powerful than the Xbox, more recent looks at the hardware suggest that the GameCube would actually come out on top as long as the developers had sufficient knowledge on how to use its GPU. Of course, it also wasn't uncommon for PS2 fans to believe that their console of choice was more powerful, but they were blatantly wrong even back then.

[@JoRobotArt]

Alright... so a large company invested in family entertainment known for making timeless media with a strong aesthetic cohesiveness that makes this company's products more easily identifiable when compared to the competition? Are we talking Nintendo of Walt Disney Animation?

[@lisahatfield4203]

I was thinking exactly that.

[@Yntec]

I compared Elsa with Cinderella side by side. I don't think much cohesion was maintained as they couldn't really share the same universe...

[@Sly_Maverick_31]

Nah, more like Studio Ghibli.

[@JoRobotArt]

I mean, sure, one's CG and the other's hand animated, but I feel like that's kind of like comparing CG Mario to Pixel Mario. (Also, I lowkey think that Frozen is a weird outlier when compared to other Disney films when it comes to discussions like this. Both Moana and Tangled seem to follow the Disney formula a bit more faithfully. On a personal note, I'd also argue that they are better films.)

[@felixdaniels37]

Yntec That comes with the territory of moving to CGI. But nearly all of their 2D works still have a sense of cohesion amongst each other, as well as the CGI movies do with themselves. Yeah, Cinderella looks out of place compared to Elsa, but she doesn't when compared to Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, and Elsa doesn't look out of place compared to Moana and even Big Hero 6. Kingdom Hearts is a testament to how well everything Disney tends to blends together. Even with Final Fantasy as a contrast, nothing looks too out of place. The original characters like Sora and Riku are deliberately stylized to be a mix between the two to bridge the gap between them. And it works a way to blend the worlds in a cohesive way.

[@josephcross8464]

This is why I am in love with Nintendo's aesthetics. They are nice, they are colorful, they are wacky, unique and instantly recognizable. Try showing a random stranger on the street an image of Mario or Bowser or Yoshi, and they will tell you on the spot that they are Mario characters. Now try showing that same stranger an image of Master Chief, unless he or she's a Microsoft nut he or she'll have a hard time telling you what game he belongs to. Now try showing that same person an image of Cloud from FFVII and try not to burst into laughter when he or she asks you if he's some character from Dragon Ball Z .

[@josephcross8464]

I prefer to think that such an approach is what separates them from their competitors. The same way you may not feel like playing as a cute and cuddly protagonist or as a cartoony wide-eyed hero, many other people don't feel like playing as ""realistic white dude #3,985,724" or as "young anime protagonist #999,999,943." It might not be what everybody who grew up in the 90's wanted from them but that only makes them even more recognizable in the world we live in today.

[@Treetops27]

Everyone and their mother knows who Master Chief is. A better example would've been a Gears of War character.

[@niello5944]

"young anime protagonist #999,999,943." lol

[@jjbrennan1994]

I know for a fact my parents and probably most non-gamers, would not know who Master Chief is. They'll all recognise Mario though.

[@NeoShameMan]

There is a mistake that assuming the horsepower isn't there that they are not using the cutting edge of visuals ... they are as much as cutting edge as anyone else relative to the same horsepower, pikmin on wii u has very advance realism for real world objects, and even have some cool 2d fluid dynamics, breath of the wild have insane grass tech and use as much screen space reflection and ambient occlusion as any modern game. These are teh same techniques used in photorealism, except used for stylize rendering, even the mario 3d world use many of the pbr shader and translucent stuff to make the shinies be particularly shiny. Even in old hardware like wii, mario galaxy had a fantastic on fresnel and specularity that took inspiration in real world material to make their material spark on screen. Style is not equal techniques. Edit for the same horsepower you can see equivalent realistic stuff, like mgs 5 on xbox 360 and ps4, which have only very minor improvement, given than the wii u and switch are more powerful that a x360, it's not horsepower teh problem. I mean what does realism mean? yoshi wolly world was very realistic rendering of yarn compare to other game doing the same material. Nintendo do pursue realism, but it's generally TOY realism, as a call back to their roots as a toy company. And it's false they aren't pursuing newness, it's not just incremental realism, yarn visual, cel shading, plasticine look, child drawing, cg render, nintendo is know for tryng new visual motif, mario galaxy is prime exemple of that, it has spectacle and teh constant engagement of a call of duty game, jumping from planet to planet, always changing gameplay items and having big explosion while flying over stuff or landing. Even mario kart 8 is full of visual moment like using the paragliding and the using the gravity mechanics to create vertigo, each terrain is full (much more than any racing game) of side animation, like big browser sending flame and all level cycle sub theme as quickly as possible to not bore the player, once you are outside, then in a mine cave, then outside again in a different decor. Nintendo game have a density of variation that other game don't simply have. Newness is so much ingrained that fan are now pleading nintendo to stop shoving gimmick in their games, like the new star fox. Nintendo do the same as other but focus on different area, that's the nintendo way. The real truth is that, being once a toy company that hire design engineer, nintendo simply kept that over time, designing visual is just a form that follow function, they use elements that fit the desired goal, they do use cutting edge techniques, repurpose to whatever goal they have. It's also because they are functionally creating mascot more than character, heavily influences by works like sanrio, where character are vessel carefully design to imply a "social mask" that favor identification, the concept *sanrio* theorized as "amae", ie the same reason we relate to dolls and action figures, which loop nicely back to their toy company legacy.

[@ianboswell]

Former Sega Game Dev Here. The other important reason people keep forgetting about is: Development Time & Budget. It's MUCH cheaper and faster to engineer games for lower-end hardware like the time-tested and proven Switch which you can make a Unity Game for which still blows everyone away in less time than if you were having to, say, engineer UE4 shaders which haven't been nearly as researched (See Zelda Breath of the Wild). Most of these older (time-tested) engines have already existing tutorials, tools, and (most importantly) people already well-skilled in building games for them. Nintendo is also SUPER hardcore about their visual guidelines and they often scrum (re-use) the same shaders across multiple games. You can, for instance, spawn tiny StarFox64 Arwings in Ocarina of Time because the pathing AI that makes Peppy and Falco fly around is re-used for how those annoying bats we all hate fly around and bother link (and possibly Navi's pathing, too) and they didn't even bother removing the model files! You'd better believe Splatoon shades shaders with Mario 3D World which give both games a kind of shiny, bright, clean look.

[@ianboswell]

I actually have more to say on the topic: You see, Nintendo, by building for time-tested hardware like the Nvidia processor used in the Switch, also has more tools and talent at their fingertips which they can use to deliver products using already proven and time-tested methods. There's a lot less R&D in the way of hardware, and more R&D in the way of coming up with cool ideas. Just look at the Zelda:BoTW production process. It started 2D but quickly jumped into engine testing with link running around in an open world they could just spawn stuff in. They focus on the movement system first then they build the world out from that one step at a time, repeating patterns in different ways using modular steps to add variety and ramp up difficulty. It's brilliant, really, and more organic than you'd think, but also highly calculated.

[@east3myway]

Ian Boswell Are you this guy? playitagainproject.org/creators/ian-boswell/

[@ianboswell]

No, but some times confused for him at GDC. I'm a senior programmer and my specialties are net code and animation, though I often get stuck doing level and/or scenario design too. I'm also more known for my mobile phone stuff than my PC & PS4 stuff.

[@east3myway]

Ian Boswell Ah, okay. Thanks.

[@theakiwar9118]

Ian Boswell Yep I agree with you Metroid Fusion for example runs on the Wario Land 4 Engine. Zelda BotW uses the light engine of WWHD, Mario Galaxy 2 uses the same assets as 1. Metroid prime 3 uses Prime 1s engine. Every Pokemon uses the same engine per gen.

[@matman2872]

This man is very smart, most people who I ask why they dislike Nintendo, most will say something under the lines of, "Because it's not bloody" Because blood determines everything "Because they are dumb" Could you give more reasoning please? "Because they are kiddie" Have you seen fire emblem? Have you seen Zelda? Have you seen Earthbound?! "Because they aren't cool" Yes, because we must follow the trends of society and blindly follow what others say, I'm sure the majority are right, just because they are the majority. Some of them have better reasoning but 9 times out of 10 this is the kind of stuff I here.

[@theatom7264]

I just wish Nintendo Wii had a more diverse selection of game genres like back on the N64. The Wii mostly seems to just have these family oriented cartoony arcade-like games. The N64 had sports games, racing games, flying games & even some good shooters like Goldeneye & vehicular combat games like Vigilante 8. If they made games like that on the Wii again I would seriously consider getting one.

[@RogersBase]

Really fantastic video. You hit on so many points that I totally agree with: the cohesion among each Nintendo console's library and each series and the immediate "good feel" and nostalgia grab that comes from already looking retro.

[@OpXarxa]

"nintendo graphics are defined by hardware limitations" Has there been a bout of mass amnesia where everyone forgets that before the wii, nintendo made *powerful* consoles? they even named the N64 after having double the power as the other consoles, 64-bit against 32-bit... that's 6 gens of power vs. 2 and barely started the third gen of underpowered. edit: not trying to be a fanboy here, I just find it weird that everyone acts as if nintendo had always had the wii brand. Even more so now with the switch, wich as a mobile console, is basically peak technology.

[@OpXarxa]

see, this kind of misunderstanding is what really gets to me. the SNES CRUSHED the sega console in specs, as that one was made to compete with the NES. Playstation got killer sales because it came out earlier, at exactly the right time, and was cheap; but it was also a toaster, hardware-wise. Trumped over the more powerful sega saturn because that one was hella expensive, and it still was a 32-bit system that the N64 easily beat. and the PS2 was still the most underpowered system of the generation, by quite a bit, with the gamecube being actually pretty damn powerful, even if not as much as the beastly xbox. But the PS1 stole the thunder from the N64 and the gamecube did a lot of mistakes, so they undersold. Then the wii came, it was a stellar success for pretty much the same reason as the ps1-the right console at the right time, and they figured there was no need to change gears for the next console.

[@King_Kong_Song]

You have a misunderstanding yourself, actually. The N64 is where Nintendo's history of hardware limitations began. Nintendo still used cartridges for the N64. Cartridges were expensive, which made developers (most notably Square Enix) move to the PS1. They continued this with the Gamecube as well. The Gamecube's discs were 1.5GB (As opposed to a DVD, which could be up to 8.5GB.) Most games had to be compressed to even fit on a disc. Combine that with the Gamecube's separate memory pool for audio, and it's a difficult system to develop for. (See PS3 launch for difficulty developing.)

[@Gacu001]

Exactly my thoughts, maybe their competition managed to beat them (idk), but Nintendo actually *tried* to have powerful systems. With the Wii and NDS they found out it was not necessary and they just stopped trying.

[@OpXarxa]

bulbadude for clarification, the systems themselves were powerful, the storage media wasn't. Compressed GC discs have an argument for third party games, but they didn't compress 1st party ones, and N64 games used little data but without other limitations. Games like ocarina of time look gorgeous for a 5th gen game.

[@King_Kong_Song]

I completely agree; the first party games look great, but consoles need third-party games. What's the point of its power if it's never used? Off topic: Zelda games (Except TP) always look great. For a Wii U game, Breath of the Wild looks great, even compared to PS4/Xbox games.

[@Archer13591]

Not notification squad. Just on KZbin 24/7

[@sporeham1674]

yee boi!

[@ebernardou]

I think Nintendo carries the idea of play even into their aesthetic. A relaxed state where the suspension of disbelief is magically ever present, even in conjuring abstract and simplified shapes to represent caricatures of real life, much like game mechanics themselves as a whole through the entire spectrum of games. As much as the game mechanics abstract real life situations (say, for example, leveling up and increasing stats as a metaphor for personal growth, both intellectually and physically), Nintendo aesthetics are always stylized in a way that they don't represent real life objects and characters accurately, but rather a distilled and metaphorical version that we, somehow, still interpret as the real life object or character.

[@Rhaethyn]

I feel like the reason older-styled games can stay stunning is that the techniques used to produce them have had more time to accrue 'polish' - certainly within the realm of graphics, games seem to age as we discover the 'faults' in the rendering that make it appear unrealistic and break immersion - an odd animation here, a strange polygon there, all aspects that become obsolete with the next generation of rendering. However, what Nintendo seems to have done is continue and embrace the use of older software, which has been used long enough for those irregularities to be ironed out, contributing both to the 'feel' and the kind aging of their library. An excellent example of this would be comparing the terrible pixelated games from the SNES like *Timecop*, which has aged so poorly it's become comedy to the graphics of *Owlboy*, again with the pixelated style, but 8 more years of development and 20 more years of accrued 'polish' that produced art that seems like it will never age.

[@spudsbuchlaw]

Better question: why do they sound so much better than msot

[@rowtow13]

Since Mario 64, Mario has had really nice sounding footsteps that move quickly (because he's a fast character with stubby little legs) and make different sounds depending on the footsteps. It's so nice to hear him scurrying around. I don't think any character has footsteps as satisfying as Mario.

[@SparktehFox]

Chopper from One Piece.

[@Stephen-Fox]

The composers know what a melody line is, while most games don't these days, instead going with the same techniques of modern film scores which are written with instrumentation in mind that suits atmospheric music better than, well, tunes, apparently. ...Also they push interactive music more than most other developers aside from that, with several games where the sound effects will change to harmonize with the background music...

[@krombopulos_michael]

I do really think that's true. Almost every Nintendo game has a memorable soundtrack, or at least a theme. Very few other games I can think of have something like that. The Last of Us did too. I think a lot of it is just that they're still kind of rooted in the past. Older games had much more limited audio capabilities. They couldn't record or sample realistic instruments and they had to make their melodies quite short, which forced them to come up with tunes that were quick and catchy instead and that people still remember to this day.

[@matthewstanoch5102]

A huge part of the "Nintendo aesthetic," brand, and faithfulness to their franchises is the music. Long running franchises like The Legend of Zelda and Fire Emblem use variations on the same melodies over the course of decades. Others, like Pokemon, compose new themes for every new generation, but maintain a distinct musical style. Plus, Nintendo games tend to have a strong theme song that plays over the opening menu. And that itself is enough to make you imagine hitting that start button when Mike says "A Link to the Past. Furthermore, Nintendo game designers seem to be aware of this. In Twilight Princess, the first time you here that Legend of Zelda Theme Leitmotif is when you finally acquire the Master Sword, a good 2/3 to 3/4 into the game. And man is that cathartic.

[@ChrisCanberg]

The Mario Kart team does phenomenal work, and I think ARMS (by that same team) is the newest and best example of "cohesion". The fact that the game runs at 1080p60fps impressed people AFTER they were already pleased with it's art style. An art style to a game which could have had a prequel and a precursor-art style, if that makes sense. It feels timeless enough, and the characters are portrayed perfectly. As much as I love the Arkham games, there was always something weird about how Batman looked to me. It was the uncanny valley effect of making Batman look as realistic as possible, which even Batman movies didn't do, not even Nolan's trilogy. Sure, the Batsuit looks cool in Nolan's trilogy and even in Snyder's Batman V Superman. But they always maintained a level of whimsy and acknowledgment that Batman exists more as a cartoon these days. Batman Arkham games, while having an art direction show an almost uber-realism that feels more in lock step with the big games of that generation needing as many skin pours and wrinkles to clothing as possible. It always felt immature, like an insecurity that video games overcompensated for. And still do today, only to look worse tomorrow. Nintendo doesn't have that issue.

[@PhoebeGavin]

I watch idea channel when my phone yells at me that there is idea channel to watch. So it doesn't matter when. I will watch.

[@j.d.3597]

I like the comment responses the next day, it extends the content and allows time for us to ruminate on the current questions you present us.

[@Echocookie8948]

This is why the PC+Switch combo is the best possible (if you have the money of course). Each one gives you an experience the other cannot, and thus they supplement each other pretty nicely.

[@2nd3rd1st]

This is the first episode where the usually superfluous pop-up clips were neither annoying nor seizure inducing but actually a complementary visual aid.

[@aidabaida6076]

This felt like an old episode of idea channel!

[@videopsybeam7220]

It’s worth remembering that until the turn of the millennium, Nintendo’s console hardware was actually some of the best in its class. When the NES was released, we were just coming off the Atari 8-bit family and the pre-crash computers. Promotional materials made a point of how cutting edge it was. Sega struggled, and ultimately failed, to keep up with the SNES, which was where we first saw advanced technical experiments like Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country. The N64 is an interesting case: Its infamous blurry, stretched-out textures were a result of only 4KB of the system’s 4MB RAM being allowed for handling textures, combined with early 8 and 12MB cartridges only having enough space for a small selection of textures. Cartridge size, however, could vary dramatically from one game to the next, and later games using 32 and 64MB cartridges had space for enough textures to properly color their gameworlds. By combining those into multi-layered textures and streaming them in and out of RAM directly from the cartridge, you could alleviate these issues while staying within the memory limit. Operating at the peak of its abilities, the N64 could surpass the Saturn, and even the PS1, overall (compare Super Mario 64 to Sin & Punishment, Resident Evil 2, Perfect Dark, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, etc.) tl;dr The chief problem with the N64 wasn’t that it was underpowered, but that what power it did have was near-inaccessible to developers. (its 3D rendering processor was designed to be upgradable by custom microcode, which not everyone took full advantage of.) Even the Gamecube could at least compete with its peers. In any case, our conception of Nintendo as “behind the times” technologically is something of a modern one. On an unrelated note, Sega is an interesting case where the dogged pursuit of spectacle resulted in its own kind of cohesion: The aesthetic of Sega Cool. Hence the enduring fan following for the Dreamcast, full-body cabinets, Pop-inspired music, Early 3D games like Daytona(-aaaaa!) and Virtua Fighter, etc. It’s practically its own style. It helps that some of some its technical tricks, like stretching and re-pitching a small set of voice samples for the Daytona theme song, or scaling and rotating sprites and to create a 3D racetrack in Power Drift, seem even more ingenious in hindsight, given our increased awareness of the technical limitations of the time. But now I’m just gushing!

[@SiGeTVee]

I believe what defines the so-called "Nintendo aesthetic" can be boiled down to excellent art direction. Even with their newer IPs like Splatoon and ARMS, they show a very skillful use of color and design in such a way that it befits the players utility more than just merely to impress in "spectacle" terms. The closest analogy I can give that isn't from Nintendo's own back catalog would be VALVE's Team Fortress 2 and the recent Overwatch by Blizzard (the latter in fact seems to be an inspiration to ARMS aesthetic), were they make very effective use of character sillhouette design and color choices to better mark out players from the environment. It's the focus of playability versus the desire to mimic our real world as closely as possible that sets it appart, only that Nintendo seems to have artists that really efficiently use all of its detail to properly "sell" the cohesive "reality" of its worlds.

[@Golemkind]

First off, Mike, I love your happy noodle boy shirt! I've seen a few people mention this already, but a lot of Nintendo's characters have a vibrant color palette so whether they're in ensemble games or alone in their own games they look like they could belong within the same universe, if that makes sense. Also I've noticed that each of the characters have consistent designs throughout their games. As far as I'm aware at least, Kirby has always been a bright pink circle with little red shoes (or feet?) and Link has pretty much always been dressed in a green tunic and hat. The characters themselves look very timeless--not saying that they don't belong in specific time periods per se, but they're designs themselves don't really age. Like Mario and Luigi aren't running around in bell bottoms and Link doesn't have glorious 80's hair, they can't really be dated to specific eras of creation.

[@criticalconstruct5202]

I think the universal aesthetic of Nintendo games has more to do with company culture than anything else. IMO it’s more of a deliberate structured continuity than a reflection of hardware limitations. More important that that, though, is Nintendo’s goal as a game developer, or as Satoru Iwata put it, “Above all, video games are meant to just be one thing: Fun for everyone.” I believe this is the piece of philosophy that lead Nintendo to make games that look the way they do. They wanted to be approachable to everyone, whereas a lot of games that are interested in ‘spectacle’ want to be taken seriously, with a bit of gravitas, so they prefer more adult themes and gritty ‘realism.’ Another aspect of this is that Nintendo systems are pretty much carried by Nintendo games. The N64, Gamecube, and Wii U only really lasted as long as they did thanks to the first and second party titles. I’d even say this applies to the Wii, even though other developers still wanted to appeal to that broad install base (anyone else remember My Sims?), everyone was playing Wii Sports and Mario Kart (a cursory glance at the top Wii games has Nintendo taking the top 13 spots…. Number 14 was a SEGA title, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games). Compare this to third party developers, which make up the bulk of sales on other systems: they want to play it safe with their aesthetic and design choices, and shy away from the cartoony, family friendly vibe of Nintendo games, instead chasing after the older demographic of the “average” gamer, a 30-something year old male. Combine that with the fact that ever since the N64 days, third party developers have shied away from Nintendo consoles (handheld is another story). So it’s not so much that games on Nintendo consoles look a certain way, so much as Nintendo games tend to look a certain way. Another aspect of this cohesive look that I think needs to be talked about: Smash Brothers. Super Smash Bros. came out in 1999 for the N64, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this helped drive Nintendo to pursue that 'Nintendo feel’. It’s a small step, (remember, Mario and Donkey Kong are supposed to exist in the same world,) but I think an important one. Metroid is really the game that sticks out the most from the other Nintendo properties, but once they found a way to make Samus look fine next to Princess Peach, it doesn’t seem surprising that now Link, the Inklings from Splatoon and Animal Crossing characters are all in Mario Kart 8. P.S. I will point out that Nintendo having weak hardware specs only started with the Wii. The NES didn’t really have any large competitors, the SNES was still in command against the Genesis. The N64 was superior in specs to the Playstation and Saturn, but was hard to develop for and was hamstrung by sticking to cartridge based media. The Gamecube was technically superior to the Playstation, and some would argue to the XBox as well. Wii and Wii U were definitely underpowered compared to their competitors. The Switch seems to be on par with the PS4 and XBone (pre-upgrades, at least), but even if it is technically inferior, Nintendo will get away with it because it’s a portable.

[@gigglysamentz2021]

4:37 Big games that aren't on Nintendo are more about combining existing stuff than newness, novelty and the unexpected.

[@JoshuaHillerup]

No! Tarkin in Rogue One has *not* crossed the uncanny valley.

[@Houdini111]

Maybe not, but wouldn't you agree that he is quite close?

[@JoshuaHillerup]

No, I'd say there's at least another decade or two, compared to how similar technology was a decade or two ago.

[@bendaviskate]

Yes he has. For me at least, anyways.

[@GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

One thing people don't realise is that photorealistic CGI only looks fake when people already think they are fake. People who are not big Star Wars fans couldn't tell that Tarkin or Leia were CGI. Also good CGI blends in so well that people think they are looking at real sets or special effects, and then complain about the one single bad CGI and assuming that all CGI is bad.

[@JoshuaHillerup]

I didn't know Tarkin wasn't an actor until I saw him.

[@greasy13]

Saw this video on my suggested videos, forgot that this channel existed. Glad i rediscovered this channel.

[@nsnick199]

Ugh stretching that NES gameplay out to 16:9 in the top-left corner just looks wrong. Ironic, in a video about how Nintendo games look.

[@tgva8889]

I think the big thing here is the difference between having an aesthetic and between designing your game to look as real as possible. When your game is designed to look as real as possible, but you don't take into account aesthetic, your game is forgettable when years down the line the technology improves. But when your game is designed with an aesthetic, whether it is designed to look real or not, people will remember your graphics forever. A realistic game can still look good today if the designer tries to give that game a clear aesthetic, designs the game with a particular look in mind even if their attempt at "realistic graphics" looks awful compared to what we have today, just like some older movies still look fantastic despite the vast improvements in technology we've made in, for example, CGI. Aesthetic is really important here, and Nintendo is very good at finding the aesthetic that plays well with the mechanics they've made to make games we can remember the look of years down the line.

[@alfatemycats]

Great video. I do think one example you brought up, Persona 5, will survive the ravages of time better than other PS4/Xbox/PC games. Like many Nintendo games it leans heavily in to a strong, unique aesthetic that doesn't attempt to approach reality.

[@DeezieWheezie]

New Nintendo games always to some extent look outdated, but as you've said-a well aged outdated. I think a very interesting effect that comes with this is that the art style, while still improving and changing to some extend, brings a sense of nostalgia even on the first play through. Even though it's a new story, it doesn't feel new, it feels comfortable. Nintendo further plays on this by generally reusing the same geography or infrastructure in later installments of game series even when sometimes it doesn't "make sense" in story. A great example of this is in the legend of Zelda games, in most games Link's home town is heavily reminiscent of Ocarina of Time's Kokiri forest, even though many games have a separate location for the forest. When playing wind waker for the first time you start out on the island and it brings back all those memories of running around in oot as a kid, and the same thing happens with TP and SS. It makes the first minutes of gameplay really exciting, even though the story hasn't taken off yet. Nostalgia really is the best tactic Nintendo uses because it creates a bias for us the players, making us more likely to enjoy the game and continue buying the series just because it hits the brain in all the right ways.

[@音姫soundprincess]

HAPPY NOODLE BOY!! :D

[@WyattDavis]

Woot JTHM Fans!

[@aaronramsesfloreslopez9847]

First thing I noticed too

[@SilhouetteGames]

Was scrolling down and hoping to find a comment like this. I have a JTHM shirt I've had since like '96 and still wear. I've loved idea channel for a while, but now so much more.

[@KeyTryer]

I can't believe I haven't seen this in years...

[@beardlyplays955]

Seriously had a moment. That shirt has been near omnipresent in my life until recently , seeing it now brought a little nostalgic tear to my eye.

[@JulianSammy]

I like a little space between the A's and the Q's. Great show!

[@SG_01]

I feel the order on the comment response videos feels off now. It would make sense if it's a day before the main video rather than a day after it. That said, I am a programmer, and I like properly defined scopes.

[@ashleytwo]

I asked about this when it was initially suggested on Twitter and apparently they were told by KZbin The Algorithm™ prefers it this way round. Never question The Algorithm™.

[@Ockeroid]

I prefer the comment responses in the same video. Since I find my self never seeking out the dedicated response videos, but I often find my self enjoying the responses tagged onto an episode. The one thing I do wish it there was a MUCH more obvious link to the episode it's talking about! That was I can easily go watch it if I've not seen it and get caught up!

[@SupLuiKir]

Is that why there are any people that like Beats by Dre? Because people value spectacle? (beats by dre is cheap and easily broken plastic and it's price tag is inflated to a huge degree because of the cost of advertising and brand name recognition. By buying and wearing these headphones in public, you are announcing that you are an empty, superficial person that deserves nothing but scorn from passersby.)

[@pail.crimea]

No, it's the reason why per every 1 pair of beats sold, there are 50 fake 5$ beats.

[@antoniofiore2950]

Welcome to "The Society of the Spectacle".

[@Drawing4Justice]

· 0xFFF1 sp you judge people based on what they wear and you call them superficial? Oh the hypocrisy it hurts.

[@SupLuiKir]

well shit.

[@apteropith]

All that bunny needs to do is make pigeon trills while purring.

[@majora_90]

I prefer the way Nintendo games look. I'm sick of realistic looking games

[@axispro2215]

9to10 Gaming So are you saying Nintendo games look more unrealistic or cartoony and other consoles look more realistic?

[@Gavin-Leo--uk]

9to10 Gaming .... Yeah I like all the colours. It's like eye candy. I'm kinda getting bored of playstation and x box for some reason.

[@cubeofcheese5574]

I think the uncanny valley holds an interesting place in the success of Nintendo games. The Nintendo characters and other aspects of the graphics, but most notably the characters, lie too far away from the uncanny valley to ever become distracting or even slightly disturbing, whereas other games are close enough to looking real that is they get one thing wrong, the player is removed from the game.

[@caliklepto1316]

Nintendo games and animations are all smooth and polished and the characters don't move like lifeless awkward robots unlike in other games like gta and such..

[@davidliddelow5704]

When will we reach the Idea Channel singularity where there is an entire episode of Mike just saying the words he has chosen to pronounce humorously.

[@SteveEricJordan]

"PC Masterrace" Wow, you really looked older than 15

[@NoshuHyena]

He said "inb4 PC master race," so he was predicting that 15 year olds in the comments would respond with that, not claiming it himself.

[@d37tae]

You should have done this as a collaboration with Extra Credits! This would have been right up their alley.

[@ericvilas]

28 views? _actually_ one of the first comments? What is is this madness??

[@1wayroad935]

People don't like learning?

[@myu2k2]

I learned to draw when I was in grade school from drawing Super Mario World fanart. :) We got an SNES when it first game out, it was bundled with SMW, and I drew all the characters out of the instruction manual. I even made "Yoshi Comics" in 4th grade for my friends.

[@thomasgalbally1300]

1st

[@salsa-eater1031]

I spot a happy noodle boy! I usually just listen to these videos while doing something else, I'm glad to have caught it at all!

[@justinwilliams1989]

My number one question is where can I buy those floating shelves that are sturdy enough for all those books?!

[@Corran109]

I'm liking the split of days between video and comment responses. It works out, and I'm not entirely sure why I like it that way.

[@zoiwill00]

Your bad jokes is the reason I'm alive today, keep doing that forever, please.

[@danij5529]

Really what I love about the cohesion of Nintendo games is that it leads to comfort. I was playing NES in friends' basements when I was five or six. So a really long time, and that cohesion feels homey, if I have a bad day I can pop in Yoshi's Woolly World, or any number of Nintendo titles, and feel comforted and soothed, as opposed to sometimes stressful and emotional games like the Dragon Age series. My friends and I have dubbed a lot of Nintendo titles "Gentle Gaming". Mario 3D titles, the afformentioned Yoshi's Woolly World (it's fuzzy and soft, I feel like I could just find a nice spot and cuddle into the landscapes, and has a unique style, but still fits in with the general aesthetic).

[@Necrossauro]

I recommend Extra Credits' video about the "uncanny valley", but basically, it's all about art direction and stylization.

[@monkeymaster6489]

omg this video was such an excellent analysis how am I just finding this channel???

[@TheChainsawbox]

Sorry if someone else has already mentioned this but Chapter 2 of Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" talks a bit about the spectrum between photorealistic and cartoony. "The universality of cartoon imagery. The more cartoony a face is, for instance, the more people it could be said to describe" (p31). The counter examples to the Nintendo aesthetic in this video are all characters who are attempting to be realistic... and also comparing across developers but that's something else I'm going to try not to ramble so I cut back. I think the strongest influence on this argued unified aesthetic may be that Nintendo's characters have been around for a long time and they've had to evolve from those initial designs. For example those initial decisions to give Mario gloves or a mustache to help make him more visible. I think parallels can be drawn to Marvel's character's color schemes. Even if things didn't line up perfectly at the printers you'd still know that green blob with purple in the middle was the Hulk. p.s. Huge fan of your videos. p.p.s. Also Caveh Zahedi's discussion of Bazin in Waking Life and trying to capture reality seems relevant. The sequence was titled "The Holy Moment"

[@TheJaredtheJaredlong]

It also has the affect in that it allows a new generation of gamers to more easily access games from the past. A of backwards compatibility of skills. Their first Mario game may have been released this year, but they'll have no problems playing Mario from 1985. So in this way new gamers starting out on Nintendo are getting access to a huge existing library with minimal to no learning curve needed to enjoy them. This is also true for PlayStation and Xbox, but they have a comparatively shorter history and thus smaller library.

[@chonwarren9941]

i habe also been playing on Nintendo systems for 25+ years

[@GrapPro]

I think a large part is that much of Nintendo's original 80s artwork is simply being realized today (or rather, started to be realized around the Gamecube and continues to be refined). We knew what Mario looked like from our cereal boxes and cartoons and instruction booklets, and through time he began to look more and more like that. The only shift from that is a 3D figure, but even that is a reflection of the original creation. Same goes for the Zelda and Pokémon series. Many of the videogame series you spoke about try to be real life and reality. Nintendo leans more towards being cartoon animation.

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Aaron Wrotkowski Nintendo games are starting to get to a point where in the pursuit of being visually similar in its cohesion the world's Nintendo is creating mimics reality but applicable to its world meaning Nintendo games strive for realism mechanically (breath of the wild has a Dev that made sure the animal AI was natural to its behavior as in real life.) Miyamoto was also making sure that the wildlife was realistic in animation. no other developer like Nintendo actually cares about the AI of the npcs. (majoras mask)

[@kipper1668]

I noticed this while replaying A Link to the Past, that game (and some other SNES games, like Super Mario, for instance) have such a refined and well-made art style that they could easily pass as indie games made _today_ in 16-bit graphics.

[@Varatho]

I'm not sure if that's a joke or not, considering all those indie games are purposely trying to emulate the art styles of the 16 bit games from yesteryear.

[@kipper1668]

Well, what I mean is more that it seems like there weren't any limitations. Like, they made their art so efficiently and beautifully and it fits so well that it seems like it was a conscious decision to make the graphics like that, not a technical limitation. I guess I just said it in a really vague and round-about way...

[@briansaucier7702]

Anyone gonna mention that the clip at 2:50 ish is from the channel Primitive Technology?

[@jamesdickson6622]

Abobo's Big Adventure ties all the aesthetic ends together nicely.

[@1GTrider]

These are some awesome videos! Keep making them :)

[@lightandforms]

When you mentioned "spectacle" I assumed you were going to mention Aristotle right away. In Poetics (that cornerstone of dramatic theory), out of the 6 elements of tragedy, Aristotle lists "Spectacle" as the least important one.

[@brockmckelvey7327]

I haven't even been around for 25 years! :P Also, I like watching Idea Channel stuff more days of the week, so Friday is great.

[@timlarsson]

Randomly found this video, 3 seconds in, seeing House of Leaves on your shelf... Okay I know I'm going to love this video now!

[@phantomliger89]

This was posted on r/NintendoSwitch and got me to subscribe. Very interesting. I think Nintendo generally goes for an art style whereas a lot of other companies go for graphics. So basically as you said the technology focus vs more of a focus on the art itself. I believe that can bring many "non-gamers" into a game when the style shown is something that appeals to them. For me, the style focused games grab my attention for longer, while the tech focused ones usually grab my attention for brief moments. I think "oh that's pretty" and move on. The style games, they usually keep me finding really beautiful things to find or interesting techniques or a new way of showing something familiar.

[@stylomojo]

I've wonder since Zelda BOTW came out, what engine or software was used for making Zelda and Mario 3d games, can someone please tell me?

[@rampant1apart]

Actually now that Mike mentions it, spectacles inherent need to march away from what is already established has always weighed on my mind with a lot of media. I wonder if it caps many genres longevity as they have to continually outdo themselves. (Things like spectacle fighters in video games, summer spectacle blockbusters, the spectacle of celebrities, for example.)

[@JewishMusicToronto]

My older brother and I both used to review video games (at different points in time, mind you), but Nintendo titles were a big part of that for both of us. For my part, and to the best of my recollection during my time in the industry, I found that the aesthetic and cohesion you're describing were (and still are) far more prevalent in the official Nintendo titles than in third party titles. "Second-party" devs, looking back to when Rare was still working with Nintendo, however do follow this "look" for the most part (Banjo Kazooie, the DK games, Jet Force Gemini, heck, even Conker had that visual style even if it was not a kid's title). However, GoldenEye and Perfect Dark did not really follow the "look", and did try to push the system to its limits (even with the Expansion Pack, PD still froze a lot on some levels). Looking back to third party games on systems like Gamecube, you had Freedom Fighters, the Splinter Cell games and other ports (not even getting into the sports games, because that's such an easy example it probably shouldn't count) that stand out. Resident Evil, Killer 7 and... what was it, Manhunt? Those certainly don't fit the "typical" Nintendo mould, though they did have to deal with graphical limitations. I think the"Nintendofication" (can I say that?) of third party titles happened more when Wii came along and different physical play styles (and, therefore user interface options) were introduced. Before that, and even with the N64's unique controller, things weren't all that different in terms of interface. Wii changed that, and Wii U, continued it. Switch may return things back to how they were before in that sense.

[@hideshiseyes2804]

Two seconds before Mike said "a link to the past" I was thinking "this video is making me want to play A Link to the Past". 😆

[@LeandroLima81]

The script repeats itself in a few ways. Me and my partner both had a separate, "did you just remind it?"...moments

[@solarblitzX]

Back when implementing Mario in SMB1, the mustache was added to Mario's face so you could distinguish the different parts of his face. Overalls were chosen because they made it easier to see the movement of Mario and changes when he used power-ups (stars and fireflowers). So for Mario and many other games of the NES era, the art styles were constricted due to the technical limitations of consumer-grade hardware. When moving onto hardware with more colors and resolution, these characters and settings had to evolve with better defined features, but because players grew familiar with the look and the art of these characters' NES style, that style was not made realistic to accommodate for advances in hardware. I think that's because a huge change in character design - for Mario, e.g. - would be such a departure that fans would find the changes unsettling and not purchase the game(s). One funny tidbit: Shigeru Miyamoto didn't like being asked to make Yoshi's Island (called Super Mario World 2 in the US, but not officially part of the SMB franchise of stellar platformers) look like Donkey Kong Country, so he intentionally asked the developers to give it a crayon aesthetic. Another example: Sonic Adventure - although the characters maintained the same (or similar) art style, the world around them became more realistic. I'm sure Nintendo had their own opinions when they saw them.

[@ThisisnotElio]

Better question. Where did you get a happy noodle boy shirt?

[@Marcopolo-pm8ty]

I feel another main reason for Nintendo aesthetic similarity comes from their great attention to details, mainly visual feedback and functional design (or ergonomics). Simply put, visual feedback is about explaining visually (or with audio) the consequences and impact of any input: when Mario collects a coin, it doesn't just disappear, it has a little "poof" animation , your coin counter briefly expands in size, and finally the little and easily recognizable sound of Mario coins plays. Functional design or ergonomy is kind of the opposite, it's about designing an object/ enemy in a way that everyone can guess it's function. Easy example, mushroom have a round shape because you bounce on them, spiky turtles kill you. This has always been something Nintendo as a studio excels at, that's why their game are so easy to pick up and understand. This helps the cohesion you talk about because objects with the same purpose (a bouncing platform) will usually have the same basic shape, with a cute skin on it. The only company with this level of attention to design and feedback that I can think of is Blizzard, Overwatch and Hearthstone are tremendous examples. You can watch a stream and quickly understand both games even if you never played them. Hearthstone in particular with its wacky and funny vibe is really close to a Nintendo game, switch the orcs and elves for goombas and turtles and it could be confused as a legit Nintendo game. Both companies share this amazing attention to details and both have a very recognizable aesthetic. Case and point Heroes of the Storm manages to bring characters from various universe and still looks cohesive, just like Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros.

[@ashtongaskill3980]

Videos on separate days is an acceptable step down to my tastes. I liked them better together but if it's better for algorithms then it's fine. I do wish you'd put out the response video before the new content, though. I'd rather close out my thoughts on one subject before starting a new one. Thanks for all the great work!

[@magicbluewolf94]

In which Idea Channel valiantly tries to fill the void left in our lives by Game/Show.

[@KoenvMeijel]

What I enjoy about Nintendo games is that when I download a ROM from a game that was released on the Game Boy Advance 15 years ago, I still enjoy playing it in this day and age. The only difference between now and then is the fidelity of the graphics, but the styles mostly remain throughout the series. Also the colours and vibrance are very Nintendo-esque.

[@PIKMINROCK1]

Part of the reason I think they tend to have a bit of a homogeneous cartoon art style is that the artist pool is rather small. I don't mean that the people who make the graphics is small but the people who put out the official artwork. These people design the characters which is the second most drawing aspect of a piece of artwork (the first being the color palette used). if you moved Mario from Mario Kart 8 into 3D World, BotW, Xenoblade Chronicles, Star Fox and Animal Crossing without any other characters, you'll notice that he doesn't look too much out of place, but if you directly compare those environments, assuming they were rendered all in 1080p, they don't match all that well. Since you focus mainly on the characters, you can ignore the discrepancy in the background elements (you'll only remember it either in isolation or passing so, your mind ties the art design together based on the focused element). What happens is that the art director and lead artists come up with a design. This design goes the artists which design it better and more cohesive with other designs. Meanwhile, the graphics designers also get this designer but as it gets closer to launch, they add details and such so that the in game graphics look like what they are in the official artwork.

[@KuroKitten]

I don't mind having the comment response video and the main video on different days, but I definitely prefer having the comment response video being chronologically after the video it's responding to.

[@DiotheDino]

Nintendo games, whether by design or sheer coincidence, feature really interesting commonalities when it comes to the structure of not just the games themselves, but all of the content within those games. Scruffy's videos are a great example, he explores everything from textures and modeling in Pikmin to the ingenious musical scale of Super Mario. In-house talent like musicians, artists, and programmers who have access to some of the progenitors of modern video games has also contributed to the evolution of these products. In many ways Nintendo presents itself as the Disney of video games. There is a canon to adhere to for the sake of consistent design, but it never really limits the innovation for which the company has become known. Even small things like their tendency to make self-referential ads in game and creating pseudo-alphabets for certain games only deepens this attention to artistic merit, and I think that is what really gives Nintendo games cohesion.

[@AggresivelyBenign]

Did anyone else get the ad with the rich guy saying, "I've got a huge house, a huge yacht, there must be more..."? Yeah....

[@blasalvice]

2:55 PRIMITIVE TECHNOLOGY. I feel pleased

[@CheddarBayBaby]

Zelda: BOTW is a perfect example of how far Nintendo goes to avoid Spectacle, or one element of it being 'staging'. I counted only one room that I was locked in to fight a mini boss in 150 hours of gameplay. Previous games used gating to create a 'stage' for 'gameplay spectacle' to take place, not excatly a cut scene, but a discrete and thrilling moment of gameplay. On a separate note, i just got done commenting on a different video immediately before watching this one on this very same topic and how Metroid Prime: Federation Force (which yes i did like) is unique in that it goes out of its way to have cut scenes and staging which is something i appreciated and marks it as different within the Nintendo approach.

[@zacherylouis8660]

I like the comment responses on Friday. A little less content concentrated on Thursday means it doesn't get bogged down with Idea Channel content

[@jasonhogan1614]

One thing we mentioned on Twitter that wasn't mentioned in the video is how Nintendo's not primarily focusing on spectacle, it has allowed itself to excel with handheld gaming consoles. While convenient, these consoles are the Nintendo effect to the extreme, hardware constraints forcing the games to have an older look. High spectacle games that push for those high level resolutions or fluid frame rates don't bridge backwards well, but Nintendo has been able to thrive with those constraints. Which might help explain while the Nintendo DS thrived while the PSP or Vita flopped.

[@eminsecundo2634]

as an artist i kind of experience these, relatives often compared me to a cousin who is a commercial decorative painter and im doing conceptual stuff .

[@qawamity]

This sounded more like a love letter to Nintendo than something worthy of IdeaChannel.

[@anamorphicalan]

What pizza restaurant would you recommend to eat in NYC Manhattan? Also is there anyway to see Michael?

[@alexseemusic]

Super cheesy standing ovation from a media studies student for your "medium is the message" thesis. Just brilliant!

[@mausmalone]

So here's a good example of Nintendo eschewing spectacle: In New Super Mario Bros U, at some point you take down the airship, cause it to crash. In most other games there'd be a special cinematic for something like that - maybe even pre-rendered because you want maximum spectacle, hardware be damned. But in NSMBU the airship flies off-screen while smoking, then you hear a crash, then the camera pans over to the already crashed airship. It gets the job done. It's delightfully Loony Tunes. And imagine how much less work that must've been to produce.

[@piciaxel]

A distinguishable design path is the minimalist approach of the nintendo which as said even if it comes as a financial result has the remarkable propriety of "aging well". The secret to that is the thoughtfulness put into character design and the creation of the world starting from the character and not vice-versa.

[@gazelleguy]

As a player of the popular strategy series of Civilization, our community has run into an issue of spectacle vs. cohesion. On the whole from 1991 to today, Civilization has been a rather lighthearted game - slightly caricatured leaders, in jokes about Gandhi nuking the world, and even in Civ 2 live action advisors for comedic relief. However, Civilization V (or Civilization 5 depending on how you spell numbers) took a major detour graphically and attempted to make the interface more realistic, alongside its rehaul of the map generation from square to hexagonal and transitioning into the new developer company Firaxis. The leaders looked more realistic, the resources more accurate, and the tone of the game more serious. However, for their 25th anniversary title for Civilization VI/6, Firaxis returned to a much more caricatured and slightly cartoony style, which recieved so much initial backlash on some leaders like Teddy Roosevelt that Firaxis changed the model to be much less exaggerated before launch. There's still a rift in the Civilization community about it, but I think everyone is way cooler about the style since we've been playing for nearly 7 months now.

[@Matthew_Murray]

I think another good thing to look at when it comes to Nintendo's aesthetics is how their remakes have a rose tinted look to them. They look like what you remember from your childhood. When you play Ocarina of Time 3D it looks to you exactly like what you remember the N64 version looking like, even though side by side the difference is instantly noticeable.

[@chooseymomschoose]

Mike touched on the hardware limitation factor, but I think the key here is limitations. Limits breed creativity and excellent visual design (see Picasso's "Bull"). As hardware speed and rendering tools have removed limits, Nintendo is one of the few major developers that has maintained an emphasis on clear, concise visual design. This philosophy also drove the indie trend of retroesque pixel art and low poly games. Kentucky Route Zero may not share Nintendo's aesthetic, but Cardboard Computer's visual design is just as superb as something like LoZ: Wind Waker.