Nintendo Is Van Halen

History repeats itself time and time again.  But repetition is by no means limited to the same medium.

As we progress deeper into the first full year since the backlash over Nintendo’s E3 2008 showing, and the continuing trend of terms such as “hardcore” and “casual” ripple through gaming journalism, I can’t help but remember some history from a little rock band called Van Halen. (Maybe you’ve heard of them?)

And the more I think about it, the more I realize that the Big N has a lot in common with what some consider the progenitor of 80s hair bands.

Both Van Halen and Nintendo got their start in their current industries (music and video games, respectively) in approximately the mid-to-late 1970s.  Both became famous around the mid-1980s and each group had its easily recognizable trademarks.  For Van Halen it was wild finger-tapping guitar style of Eddie Van Halen as well as the onstage anctics of frontman David Lee Roth.  For Nintendo it was the addicting and enjoyable creations of Shigeru Miyamoto as well as the lesser-known strategic business planning of former NOA president Minoru Arakawa.

But more importantly, both groups suffered from a severe backlash by the self-described “hardcore” crowd upon a sudden change in creative direction that expanded their markets.  However, unlike the previous similarities I point out, the referenced backlash to both Van Halen and Nintendo occurred almost exactly 20 years apart from each other.  It’s a two-decade gap that makes the recurrence so intriguing.  Neither backlash of the hardcore is entirely unique.  In fact, the similarities are quite astounding.

Van Halen had built quite an underground following between the years of 1978 and 1983.  The group and its five studio albums were well established within the rock community, but they still failed to achieve mass marketing penetration.

In 1984 the group released its mega-hit album, 1984, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts, right behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller.  The lead song from the 1984 album, “Jump,” rocketed Van Halen to stardom along with other songs such as “Panama,” “I’ll Wait,” and “Hot For Teacher.”