Unlike other big companies that dominate the gaming market, Nintendo was born from modest beginnings. Originally as a card factory and toy manufacturer, the company has always tried new, interesting and unique things about game innovation. Without Nintendo's original ideas, the company could never have known massive hits like the Wii or DS. Mario's House has always played by its own rules, even if these rules were to ensure that your wrist strap was securely attached and secure. But, with all of its successes, there have also been plenty of flops and a lot of just plain weird ideas. So, we've rounded up five of Nintendo's weirdest gaming peripherals for your perusal and fun.
satellaview
It took Nintendo a long time to find its mark when it came to online gaming, but it was actually one of the first companies to try it. If you were a rich kid in Japan in 1995, you probably know more than Satellaview. In Satellaview, Nintendo partnered with streaming company St. Giga, and thanks to satellite streaming, the device allowed kids to access games, magazines, and other forms of media on their SNES. . The Satellaview itself was an attachment to the SNES (Super Famicom in Japan) and allowed the console to be connected to a BS tuner (BS is the unfortunate brand they decided to go with). The BS tuner was a satellite subscription service provided by St. Giga and was also required to play Satellaview. But with the Satellaview costing around €150 and a BS tuner subscription running at €54 per month, most people dreamed of owning a Satellaview light-years away. Talk about BS. However, the Satellaview was a great idea. In addition to the many games available to play on the device, there were also scheduled streams that allowed access to special editions of certain games. For example, BS Zelda saw the option to replace Link with an avatar character, had voice acting and an orchestral score. All of this content was a huge amount of data at the time for the SNES and streaming made it possible to share these large files, which was way ahead of its time. Since much of the content has been broadcast, much of the Satellaview content is now lost over time. But Nintendo fans managed to find remnants of this content and put it online, but many of them haven't stood the test of time and are probably rotting in Nintendo HQ. somewhere.
Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure
What better way to get kids to learn an important life skill like writing than by infusing them with what they already love: Pokemon! And Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure did exactly that. The DS game comes with a wireless Bluetooth keyboard that connects to the game cartridge and requires kids to correctly type a Pokémon's name to capture it. There were 403 different Pokemon available to catch, the game taking approximately two hours to complete. At first glance, the idea of combining education and Pokémon seems like a logical choice to teach youngsters the necessary skills, until you realize that ``Rayquaza'' and ``Spoink'' are probably not words. that children are likely to encounter in life. The game was only released in Japan and PAL regions; while the keyboard is generally white, with a black version exclusive to Japan. The keyboard keys were modified to respectively suit each country's settings and had the ability to connect to other Bluetooth devices, the home button worked with the Nintendo Wii. Even though Learning with Pokémon: Typing Adventure was dark, it still managed to sell well.
Wii Vitality Sensor and N64 Biological Sensor
Nintendo's Wii Vitality Sensor was announced in 2009: the Wii Fit era. It was a time when the success of motion controls was probably at an all time high and Nintendo was gradually changing its marketing to focus on families. The Wii Vitality Sensor was a unique add-on that measured your heart rate. However, this device died before we knew much. Nintendo's president at the time, Satoru Iwata, announced that the product would be discontinued in 2013, saying that it was due to the fact that the product was not performing as well as the company had hoped. But it wasn't Nintendo's first crack at a heart rate sensor. In 1998, Japan had Tetris 64, which came with a heart rate monitor that hung from your earlobe and clipped into the controller, adding a whole new meaning to the pun ``accessory''. This device, called the N64 Bio Sensor, measured your heart rate, making it difficult to play abnormally shaped blocks that seemed more stressful for a player. As heart rate monitors disappeared, none of these devices were popular enough to get the hearts of Nintendo fans pumping, so Nintendo quickly pulled the plug on this accessory. Tetris 64 was the only game to use the N64 Bio Sensor.
E-Reader
Like the Satellaview, the e-Reader was another device designed to allow gamers to access additional content from Nintendo games, as well as brand new content. But his time was done, not by satellite transmission, but by swiping cards. The e-Reader was an attachment for the Game Boy Advance, and when swiped with certain cards, it worked with games like Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, Super Mario Advance 4, and even Animal Crossing (when used on a GameCube). The cards were purchased separately in packs, and specialized codes printed on them were used to store the data. There was even a set of Pokémon trading cards that were compatible with the e-Reader, and once swiped, they unlocked mini-games, music, a Pokédex-like page for your cards, and sometimes even additional attacks. for your Pokémon cards. Other exciting features of the e-Reader include a real Mario Party board game with mini-games playable on the Gameboy Advance, as well as the ability to unlock rare items, town tunes, and send letters to some villagers in GameCube's Animal Traversée. There was even compatibility with Pokemon Colosseum and F-Zero: Legend of Falcon. The e-Reader did well in Japan from 2001 to 2008. Outside of Japan, people seemed less interested in the idea and it was considered a failure. The e-reader ran from 2002 to 2004 in North America, had a short availability window of one year in Australia, and was due to arrive in Europe at some point, but that never happened. Nintendo has always had unorthodox methods of giving fans more content, but for now, it's safe to say that DLC is the way to go.
Robot Operating Companion (ROB)
Most Nintendo fans will be familiar with ROB: the sketched character Wall-e from Super Smash Bros. But ROB wasn't born out of the Super Smash Bros. series, he was inspired by a gaming controller from the very beginning of the NES's life. . ROB. was a battery-powered robot that, with the NES controller in hand, would function as a "2 Player" to assist the popular NES games, Gyromite, and Stack Up. These were two-player games in which ROB could interact, which which means you didn't need a real player to play with you. ROB's timely invention was born out of the infamous "Video Game Crash" of 1983. Due to games not doing so well during this period, Nintendo encouraged marketing the NES as a Nintendo Entertainment System, rather than a video game console. any reference to gaming and, along with ROB supplied with the system, helped distinguish hardware from gaming. The NES and the ROB Bundle was released to critical success. After the accident, ROB was long forgotten, but the robot friend was hailed as a savior, a scapegoat, and a Trojan horse. His legacy lives on in the many appearances he has made in Star Tropics, F-Zero GX, Kirby's Dreamland 3, the Wario Ware series, Pikmin 2, Super Mario Maker and as playable characters in the famous Mario Kart DS and Super Smash. Bros. Series Gone, but never forgotten.