Nintendo's (sometimes sordid) past now available on Google news archives

by Vladimir Cole { Sep 6th 2006 at 1:55PM }

Google just unwrapped "news archive search," a new feature that allows users to search years and years of old news accounts. The company says the ability to search through a comprehensive database of old news will "make it possible for users to read about historical events as they happened."

Just to give the service a whirl, we asked the search engine to dredge up Nintendo's past from its archive of newspapers past. Most of what comes up is trivia (did you know that Universal sued Nintendo for infringing on King Kong with Donkey Kong?), but some of it's more interesting.

For instance, there's plenty on Nintendo's alleged monopoly, the subsequent Nintendo price-fixing settlement, and the fight between Nintendo and Game Genie.

What's really striking about this historical survey of Nintendo news is how the company's public image has swung from big, bad, litigious monopolist to underdog over the last 17+ years. Flipping through historical news accounts provides a sense of perspective that's sometimes lacking from the day-to-day tussle of the sixth console war now underway.

Tags: google, king kong, microsoft, nintendo, sony, universal

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

AceMilo @ Sep 6th 2006 1:59PM

I remember getting that $5 coupon and using it to get Adventure Island II. Good times, good times.

Phranctoast @ Sep 6th 2006 2:00PM

wow.... negative nintendo post on joystiq.

El Hajjish @ Sep 6th 2006 2:02PM

What's funny about the Universal / King Kong thing was that Nintendo won on the basis that Universal didn't have the actual rights to the King Kong name.

AlloyNES @ Sep 6th 2006 2:03PM

Yep. Nintendo has changed over the years. Of course, this is mainly because of the change of guard. Now we have President Iwata and President Fils-Aime. Things are much different these days, and they've learned from the past. Nintendo went through struggles as pioneers, and kudos should be given to them for being the first to go through certain controversies.

El Hajjish @ Sep 6th 2006 2:04PM

Also, if you want a "sordid past," Nintendo used to operate "Love Hotels" in Japan.

Jecrell @ Sep 6th 2006 2:06PM

@2. "wow.... negative nintendo post on joystiq."

This doesn't count. This is nostalgia remembering the good old days when Nintendo owned the world. Now the console war is split 3 ways and it's even harder to get into gaming.

Did I mention Nintendo and Sony killed the Dreamcast?
=D

get over it @ Sep 6th 2006 2:07PM

it's not negative phranctoast

"...the company's public image has swung from big, bad, litigious monopolist to underdog over the last 17+ years."

see, they used to be big and bad but now they're the scrappy underdog of a company just barely getting by who's only concern is your happiness, even if it's at the cost of their own profits.

kite @ Sep 6th 2006 2:23PM

Correcting: Get over it.

They used to be big and bad, but now they make you believe they are a scrappy underdog who is barely getting by. Mind you that nintendo is a big and rich company.

Colonel @ Sep 6th 2006 2:51PM

Nintendo had a monopoly on video games way before Sony did, and they've done some pretty messed up things to keep it that way up until they shorthanded themselves against Sony. Back then Nintendo's image was just as bad, if not worse than Sony's is right now.

It was only through being beaten out for 1st place in two generations (N64+GC) that they finally started changing the way they went about business. Maybe they realized trying to compete with a company bent on touting their (own) technological prowess, it wasn't the right direction. Nintendo probably knew they couldn't last in a pissing contest with the hopes the public had of the Sony portable and the PS3 WAY back in 2004.

Their business direction is different but I sincerely doubt that they're intentions are much different than they were in 1990 when they held the VG industry in their hand.

Summing it all up: NINTENDO FANBOYS: Nintendo is NOT an underdog company, they are far from it, just because they haven't had luck with their consoles lately doesn't mean they haven't shown their own arrogance in their portables/their constant redesigns which often render previous versions of the same portable almost obsolete, as well as dropping support (GBA-GBA SP, DS - DSLITE)

NETNAVI @ Sep 6th 2006 2:27PM

Underdog? Sure. After they got a good kick in the pants by Sony. Nintendo is in it for the big bucks and as soon as they get back on top for a couple generations expect the same kind of ego that is happening with Sony right now.

Whats that saying about people in high places? Something about corruption. Anyway.

Nintendo has the outward appearance of an underdog (because of fanboys) but when the consistantly make profit on everything they do (even Gamecube) they are just playing smart.

The thing is Sony is in trouble now troughout its entire company! This generation may be it for them if they don't get there act together. If not we'll be calling Sony the underdog.

and MS is clearly in the middle. cant go wrong with that.

Draco @ Sep 6th 2006 2:29PM

whats with all the pay-per view, I'm not paying 3$ to read a news artical from 15 years ago!

every single link has a 3-6$ charge attached to it.

get over it @ Sep 6th 2006 2:29PM

sorry, it's called sarcasm...

AlloyNES @ Sep 6th 2006 2:31PM

kite--

You're damn right. For the last few years and especially now, Nintendo makes the most profits from the market. This is mainly because they're ONLY a gaming company, where Sony is TVs, Blueray, etc. and Microsoft is Computers, software, etc.

Also, Nintendo is a vet when it comes to managing money. They have decades of riches keeping them comfortable.

Nintendo reps have said "We'd be satisfied if we were #3 in the race. It doesn't matter. Our goal is to widen the market and bring something fresh and easy to afford to the table."

They're not trying to win, and don't care, when in reality they have the most money. Sony may have sold more PS2's quantitatively, but they lost and are losing more money than we can imagine for each title and system manufactured. Microsoft is in a similar place, but in that they are bombing in JPN.

msdarnell @ Sep 6th 2006 2:39PM

What Joystiq was trying to imprint upon you is the fact that perceptions change over time, mostly guided by actions. In other words, being a fanboy or a company hater is absolutely ridiculous. Today's hero may be tomorrow's bastard child. Apparently, from the comments above, they failed.

Seriously, after living through the times when Nintendo barely allowed third party software, to now, when they need it the most, it's hard to be biased. For or against, all three of the present companies have done wrong and right.

Sony right now, is making far too many mistakes that Sega has already paid for. Two years ago it was Nintendo. Microsoft bobbled their launch as well.

Stop this ridiculous "Joystiq is BIASED for/against Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft." The very fact that there are comments in each thread voicing each said bias ought to tell you something. It probably won't.

Savok @ Sep 6th 2006 2:34PM

It's all about priorities, Nintendo treated everyone like crap, but consumers the least, just ask anyone who wanted to develop for one of their systems back then.

Sony on the other hand seems to have some terrible grudge against the consumer and wishes nothing but misery upon us.

smashp @ Sep 6th 2006 2:55PM

ah history. anyways.. nintendo didn't kill the dreamcast, ps2 and the downhill history of sega beginning with the sega cd/32x disasters killed the dreamcast. alot of ppl didnt buy a saturn because of the ridiculous peripheral/consoles sega kept putting out in the mid-nineties. too much on the market at once.. making consumers think "wait.. if i get this 32x thing... why would i get a whole new console if they both claim to be 32 bits?" when in reality the 32 stood for how many games they released for the thing. i truly believe that if sega had not even wasted time or money on the 32x and just focused on the saturn, things would have been much diff.

oh and the nes was the only console nintendo pulled a "playstation" with. the genesis at one point was ahead of the snes.. that generation was the best, because the 2 leaders (yeah there were 3 in that war... remember turbo grafx 16?) sega and nintendo had fairly equal market share.. but both companies were so different that there was an actual reason to own both systems. nowadays.. what does sony or microsoft themselves make that make you want to buy one of their consoles? nothing. sega had sonic, streets of rage, and shinobi, while nintendo had mario, zelda, and donkey kong. *sheds tear*

Bub @ Sep 6th 2006 3:26PM

Very interesting. Articles like this really give a good perspective on current events, and I'm really glad to see Joystiq offering a picture of things that allows a more holistic understanding of what we're experiencing now. Someone complained that this is old news; maybe as news-- but the perspective analysis is relevent.

KR @ Sep 6th 2006 3:17PM

"Yep. Nintendo has changed over the years."

No, their IMAGE has changed...to the easily misled. They're still an "evil corporation," as people would refer to MS and Sony. People just seem to fool themselves into thinking Nintendo is a pure and good company that would never wrong anyone or do anything to hurt anyone.

saboola @ Sep 6th 2006 3:20PM

I used my five dollar coupon on River City Ransom, which was on sale at the time for $15. $10 for in my opinion one of the best games of all time.

KR @ Sep 6th 2006 3:22PM

#16 "what does sony or microsoft themselves make that make you want to buy one of their consoles? nothing"

Yeah, if "nothing" is GTA, Halo, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Fable, KOTOR, Ninja Gaiden, Splinter Cell...(this could go on for five minutes, you get the idea).

In other words - you're wrong. "ah history" indeed. Why do I get the feeling you're like 16 years old and weren't even old enough to even play any of these games you're lauding during the Genesis/NES war?

Paul P. @ Sep 6th 2006 3:37PM

Well, you go from Yamauchi, this old skinny dude who in all his pictures has this look on his face as if he is about to attack you, to Satoru Iwata, who is a shorter and slightly pudgy man who looks young and comes off as an innocent toymaker.

Imagewise, it's a huge difference.

White Rose Duelist @ Sep 6th 2006 3:50PM

The settlement against Nintendo was the best ever - for a company judged against. Coupons $5 off a game? Great, that means another game is sold to everyone in the class. On a Nintendo-manufactured cartridge.

OtakuCODE @ Sep 6th 2006 4:08PM

Nintendo's fight with Galoob over the Game Genie cost them me as a customer for over a decade. Their fight was unethical and wrong. I was only 10 years old and I knew this. I followed the court case every month for the years it dragged on in Electronic Gaming and Video Computer Entertainment (something like that, it was a BADASS magazine, hugly thick, riddled with technical articles about game systems and computers, information about games in Japan, etc, etc... but had a terribly long name). I got the Game Genie when it finally came out years after it should have, near the end of the NES lifespan, and it always tasted bitter. That Xmas I got a Sega Genesis and the next Nintendo console I bought was the Gamecube.

PhoenixJ @ Sep 6th 2006 4:12PM

@19 "GTA, Halo, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Fable, KOTOR, Ninja Gaiden, Splinter Cell"
GTA - Rockstar, Take Two
Metal Gear - Konami
Final Fantasy - Square Enix
KOTOR - LucasArts, Activision
Ninja Gaiden - Tecmo
Splinter Cell - Ubisoft

Only one of the games you mentioned was developed by Microsoft Game Studios. Very few of them were platform specific.

Panadero @ Sep 6th 2006 4:37PM

KD, you completely missed the point. Microsoft and especially Sony make next to no games of their own and instead rely nearly entirely on third parties. Their success lies in the hands of independent companies who have been shown to be fickle. Nintendo and Sega are more video game companies than Sony in particular will ever be.

bm @ Sep 6th 2006 6:31PM

"Nintendo's fight with Galoob over the Game Genie cost them me as a customer for over a decade. Their fight was unethical and wrong."

Unethical and wrong? WTF? A cheat device would have had no negative financial consequences for Nintendo (on the contrary I'd say!), yet they still didn't want people to cheat at (read: ruin) their games. Regardless of whether or not you agree with their standpoint, fighting for something they believed in instead of going for the most lucrative option can hardly be called "unethical and wrong". That's just silly.

Of course, reading that you thought this when you were ten years old puts it all in perspective.

tactics @ Sep 6th 2006 9:06PM

KR: you suck.

bm: i agree totally. OtakuCODE has the mentality of a game-player, while you've demonstrated the mentality of the game creator. i help develop an online rpg myself, and i gotta say, there's nothing more annoying than people that spend all day trying to figure out new ways to cheat and/or exploit bugs. it's about respect for the creator of the game, and playing it the way it was designed to be played.

i never owned a game genie, and never will. if i couldn't beat a game, i kept playing and kept playing until i could. if i still couldn't, then i accepted defeat.

thank you, nintendo, for trying to stick up for game developers everywhere in the fight against bug abuse and cheating.

-"superfan" tactics.