When it comes to Nintendo, the first thing that comes to mind is mostly “Super Mario”, “The Legend of Zelda” or “Pokémon”. But in fact, 20 years ago, Nintendo launched a quite alternative experimental series called Bit Generations. It had no gorgeous graphics, no well-known characters, and many players had not even heard of the name. However, twenty years later, many players still believe that this may be one of Nintendo’s most underestimated and most worthy of resurrection series.
No Mario, no Link, but playing Nintendo’s purest creativity
Bit Generations, launched in 2006, was an experimental work at the end of the Game Boy Advance. It launched a total of seven sketch games with completely different styles, all using minimalist graphics and gameplay design, hoping to use the fewest elements to create the most interesting gaming experience. Later, some works in the series were released on WiiWare and DSiWare under the Art Style brand, but unfortunately they never really continued.
Nintendo Life pointed out in the review that even today, the design concept of bit Generations is still quite avant-garde, and many works still cannot find real substitutes. It also shows Nintendo’s courage to use first-party resources to try various innovative gameplays.
Twenty years have passed, and all players are waiting for are memories.
In recent years, Nintendo has successively brought back many classic IPs, but there has never been any new news about bit Generations. Many young players even have no idea that it once existed. Perhaps from a business perspective, it has never been a masterpiece that can sell millions of units, but to many old players, it represents a Nintendo that is more adventurous and more willing to do strange ideas.
Looking back now, the real pity may not be that bit Generations did not sell well, but that Nintendo never opened the next page for it. After all, in today’s era of sequels and remakes, this kind of creative sketch series has become increasingly rare.