Just a Kid's System?

by Moux Cow Petau 

One Monday morning, I'm surfing the net; my trusty Intuos pen (my trackball is broken) in one hand and my coffee in the other. Visiting RPGamer.com, I notice that a new eds link has been posted. I open the main eds page, click on MN's system impressions, and read...

...and become increasingly disappointed when I read that she, like many, view the GameCube (a system that hasn't even been released) as a kid's system. "How can anyone typecast a system that hasn't even been released, and has maybe 15 titles released?" I thought to myself. "And for that matter, what classifies a kid's system?"

I don't know about many other RPGamers, but I know that, although I've been playing action games since I got my first Nintendo, I also played Final Fantasy when I was 6! So, does a system's balance of action games vs. RPGs determine whether or not it is a kid's system?

Then, there was the Super Nintendo. Although its library of games included quite a few RPGs (many of which are still favorites among many RPGamers), its lineup was still primarily action games! Did that make it a kid's system? NO! It's still hailed as one of the greatest systems of all time!

September 29, 1996: A day that will live in infamy. This was the day that the Nintendo 64 was released. Although it did well originally, it soon fell behind the PlayStation, who had, among other things, more RPGs. Soon, these same people who had hailed the N64 as a great system began calling it a kid's system. Wait a minute, why did they start to do that? Nothing really changed...except that Nintendo had lost their support, and for that reason, had stopped developing RPGs for the system!

Now, why would we blame Nintendo for the mess that we, as RPGamers, had created? After all, had we stuck with them, they might have released far more RPGs, and maybe even the ill-fated 64DD! And why would you blame them for making games primarily for kids? Oh, so action games with colorful, vibrant graphics are just for kids now? That wasn't the case ten years ago with Super Mario World; why is it the case now?

And for that matter...why do we feel there is a need to classify different sorts of systems? Isn't it possible not to just have a system for kids or a system for adults, but a system for gamers? A system that gamers of all ages can enjoy? That is Nintendo's goal for the GameCube: to supply a system for gamers, and not just kids. And when November 4th (or whenever the GCN's release date is) comes around, I'll be standing outside my AAFES PX with $200 in one hand and a coffee in the other; because I'm a gamer, and I won't dismiss a system based on people calling it a "kid's system".

Questions? Comments? Flames? E-mail me at mouxcowpetau@lycos.com