Was the NES created just to push publication sales

[WeaponXxX]

Right now I am playing Super Mario World on the Wii and was pondering what I enjoyed better...SM3 or SMW....going over level designs, bosses, ect...and I was thinking about the white block in SM3 and how you had to duck for X amount of time before you fell behind it. Who the hell figured that one out WITHOUT Nintendo Power. All kinds of shit from Zelda (the original where you had to blow random holes in walls) to Castelvania 2 where you also had to duck with a certain item in your possession, remember back in the day we didn't have gamefaqs....the only way to beat some of these games was to read Nintendo Power or something like EGM. Which makes me wonder...was the gaming market a big way to sell magazines? Did anyone get through Zelda without reading Nintendo Power's detailed guide?

 

[lagman]

To sell magazines and to have something to show off to your cousins.

 

[Gamesphere]

I think the NES was made to piss people off. I have a realativly new one 4 years old sitting right in front of me and it won't play any my 150 games!

It's like putting everlasting youth candy in a jar that can't open.

 

[PikaPika]

That's when you smash the jar (which means smack the NES/blow the carts).

 

[Mangofett]

I beat Zelda one without a problem. It was classic NES series but I dont think they altered anything.

 

[acrocosm]

i beat zelda on the gb. that was the first zelda i have ever played and the first console i have ever owned (except for the countless one-game "electonic games with lcd display")

it took me a month at the age of 8. yes the hardness of the old games, whether that was adventures on the computes or any other type was indeed a great way to sell magazines and printed guides.

Also, I don't know for other countries but the official inposter of Nintendo products ion greece had a telephone help line where besides technical issues you could also ask for solutions on a particular game. The good thing was that it was charged at the standard telephone rate.

apart from that i don't think that the game industry was secretly promoting magazine sales just the magazine publishers taking great advantage of the difficulty of the games of that age and teh lack of widespread and fast internet

 

[Foie]

Obviously not, because if there was no NES, then there have would be no Nintendo power. The NES came first.

 

[Sc4rFac3d]

Of course not, it was bound to happen. I mean they have magazines for pretty much everything. Even for stuff you'll never think of.

I'm guessing Nintendo saw big profit in the thing since they had financial problems, not sure though.

 

[nloding]

I accidentally found the SMB3 whistle ... I didn't accidentally find the other ones. I think a lot of it is just people playing.

Zelda ... I spent countless hours waving my candle at bushes and settings bombs near rocks. If I remember right, in dungeons you could tap the walls and hear a difference ... or maybe I was just 7 years old.

The coolest thing I remember finding on my own was the 3 warp tubes on level 4 is the original Super Mario Bros. Jumps you right to level 8 ... that was bad-ass.

 

[Glacius0]

In the NES days I generally got my gamefaqs-like info from friends or magazines or friends that had magazines. We'd play the same game and discuss how to get past, or when I didn't get further I'd get bored, loan out the game, and when my friend figured it out I'd play again.

But yeah, there were tons of moments where we were just backtracking over and over again sitting at the TV screen and trying every possible unlikely little thing to get further.

 

[Shinji]

And who figured out the Justin Bailey password anyways? I

you !

 

[lagman]

In the NES days I generally got my gamefaqs-like info from friends or magazines or friends that had magazines. We'd play the same game and discuss how to get past, or when I didn't get further I'd get bored, loan out the game, and when my friend figured it out I'd play again.

But yeah, there were tons of moments where we were just backtracking over and over again sitting at the TV screen and trying every possible unlikely little thing to get further.

:'( I miss my childhood.

EDIT: @Shinji: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid#JUSTIN_BAILEY There's a new crazy password!

 

[Renegade_R]

I beat Zelda 1 and 3, found all the hearts and secrets without Nintendo Power...all its takes is a little effort and a LOT of time...something we all had in our childhood.

 

[Pigwooly]

The SM3 ducking on the white block was actually revealed in the movie the Wizard (released 1989), before the game came out. I remember watching it and drooling over SM3. Then I remember scraping all my money together and buying the game and having my head explode for a full week while I played it.

 

[.TakaM]

discovering obscure secrets like that make you feel like the god damn man.

People did discover stuff like that before reading it in a magazine or gamefaqs existed, bragging at school the next day


the most recent memories I have of something similar is animal crossing on the gamecube.
I knew it was a pretty long game and there would be tons of little things you could do, so I never checked gamefaqs to spoil it for me.
I remember when I discovered one random rock each day will give you bells, if you dig up the glowing spot, how some items would grow special trees if you planted them in that spot, finally figuring out how many trees to have on each acre.. good times

 

[Renegade_R]

Remember in Star Fox for the first time you found the Black Hole? You felt like a fucking king!

 

[illuminarok]

deleted

 

[Gamesphere]

I don't mean to be off topic but I beat this NES till my arms fell off, Used Q-Tips, Blew into the NES and carts till i developed asthma


Any more ideas?

 

[PikaPika]

seek medical attention? (no arms, asthma, is an NES really worth that?)

But seriously, see if the cartridge bridge thingy is the problem. If it is, you can get a new one online for cheap.

 

[Darkforce]

I don't mean to be off topic but I beat this NES till my arms fell off, Used Q-Tips, Blew into the NES and carts till i developed asthma


Any more ideas?

Tried replace the cartridge connector inside the machine?

Failing that just like buy another NES?