History MisBlamed / VideoGames

[[folder:Nintendo]]
* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing: amiibo Festival'' gets a lot of hate from people who assumed it prevented a true ''Animal Crossing'' game from appearing on UsefulNotes/WiiU. The main reason there was no Wii U installment in the series is because one was never planned. While the next mainline entry began conceptualization immediately after the release of ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf New Leaf]]'', series director and producer Aya Kyogoku stated during the marketing cycle for ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons New Horizons]]'' that they were thinking about it as being a game for Nintendo's next portable console, which would ultimately be the hybrid UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.
* ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'':
** Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto was often blamed for the lack of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' characters in ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongJungleBeat Jungle Beat]]'' and the general [[AudienceAlienatingEra sorry state of the franchise throughout the '00s]], with the evidence being an old interview where he supposedly bashed the first ''DKC'' with the statement "''Donkey Kong Country'' proves gamers will put up with mediocre gameplay if the art is good." Not only is there [[GodNeverSaidThat no proof Miyamoto ever said that to begin with]], he was closely involved with the creation of the first ''Country'' installment, supervised the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKonga'' series (all of which feature DKC characters), and was the most supportive of Creator/RetroStudios reviving the series with ''Returns''. If certain characters don't show up, it's because the development team doesn't feel like using them.
** A lot of people seem to misblame Creator/{{Rare}} for the lack of Kremlings in some games (e.g., ''Donkey Kong Country Returns''), mistakenly thinking the British developer still owns them. By the contrary, Nintendo retained the rights to the Kremlings and any other enemy characters they created for the ''Donkey Kong'' series following Rare's purchase by Microsoft, and used them in several titles such as ''VideoGame/DonkeyKonga'', ''VideoGame/DKKingOfSwing'', ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongJungleClimber'', and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongBarrelBlast''. Once again, their infrequent appearances are the result of given development teams not wanting to use them.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'''s 3DS remake had a few changes, among them censoring a scene with stabbing and notably changing Jessica's outfits so that they are less {{Stripperific}}. Being that the 3DS port was published by Nintendo of America and came following a lot of outcry over changes made in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates''[='=] localization, many people in the West pointed fingers at Nintendo for censoring it. Actually, these changes were present in Japan, too -- CERO (Japan's game rating board) had enacted stricter policies, and such changes were required in order for the game to retain the CERO rating that it got back in 2004.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** In the ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' fandom, before the game was officially brought to the USA, some unofficial translations made the [[BloodKnight Henry]] x [[NoSocialSkills Olivia]] ship extremely popular due to Olivia apparently going "ICanChangeMyBeloved" on Henry. Then the game was released in the West, and the fans went ''berserk'' at how their ship was "ruined" and "made uncute" by the apparent AllGirlsWantBadBoys swing the supports took. '''Then''' Japanese-speakers showed that the translation most shippers based their preferences on was... not entirely accurate anyway. Oops.
** Many fans were surprised that the Japanese rerelease of ''VideoGame/TokyoMirageSessionsFE'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch used a localized version of the North American version. [=NoA=] was blamed for pushing Western values on Creator/{{Atlus}}, but similarly to the aforementioned ''Dragon Quest VIII'' example, the change was due to CERO becoming much stricter on sexual content; the existing censored version made for Western audiences conveniently fit the new standards required to retain the old rating.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** The original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' is known for being a BlindIdiotTranslation. As shown [[http://legendsoflocalization.com/the-legend-of-zelda/first-quest/ here]] though, the game's most infamous and confusing hints, "Eastmost penninsula is the secret" and "10th enemy has the bomb", aren't in the Japanese version at all. They were actually created specifically for the English version, replacing the more straightforward "You can't use arrows if you run out of money" and "Look for the Lion Key". It is unknown why these unique hints were created, but it nevertheless took the fandom decades to understand what either of them meant.
** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' features a strange man in a house in Ruto who, when spoken to, says the bizarre phrase "I AM ERROR". It was commonly believed to be a translation error or some kind of coding bug, but Error is his actual name, and was spelled phonetically in Japanese; if you talk to another character in Mido, he tells Link to ask Error about how to find the secret entrance to the Island Palace in the graveyard. The ''actual'' translation error comes from another NPC in the game named [[ThemeNaming Bug]], who mistakenly had his name translated directly from the katakana as "Bagu".
** When talking about ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', many sources will credit Yoichi Kotabe, a veteran Creator/{{Toei|Animation}} animator who worked for Nintendo from 1985 to 2007, as the artist behind the game's distinctive cartoonish visuals. It seems like a reasonable assumption to make as Kotabe had done illustration work on the some ''Zelda'' titles, and ''Wind Waker'' in particular bears a lot of aesthetic similarities to classic Toei animated films like ''Anime/TheLittlePrinceAndTheEightHeadedDragon'' (on which he was a key animator), but Kotabe had no personal involvement in ''Wind Waker''[='s=] development. He has stated as such in multiple interviews, and his name doesn't appear anywhere in the credits, which list Yoshiki Haruhana, Satoru Takizawa, and Masanao Arimoto as the design managers instead. Javed Sterritt of ''The Hyrule Journals'' has [[https://youtu.be/mFAlqXavXRs a video]] going into detail about this misconception and how it came to be.
** In regards to the UsefulNotes/PhilipsCDi games, many assume that Animation Magic Inc., developers of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames Link: The Faces of Evil]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon]]'', also created ''VideoGame/HotelMario'' due to all three games featuring similar [[SoBadItsGood so-bad-they're-good]] animated cutscenes. In reality, Animation Magic had nothing to do with ''Hotel Mario'', which was developed in-house by Philips Fantasy Factory. Even the aforementioned cutscenes have clear stylistic differences between them that suggest they were made by different teams, with ''Hotel Mario'' featuring stiff LimitedAnimation while the ''Zelda'' titles are much more fluid and [[DerangedAnimation bizarre]].
* Team Ninja were originally blamed for much of ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''[='=]s failings. In reality, most of the decisions that fans took issue with were decisions made by series producer Creator/YoshioSakamoto: from Samus Aran's portrayal and her English VA's performance, to the story, to the linear gameplay. Even the single Wii Remote control scheme, which Team Ninja vocally fought against, was a mandate from Sakamoto, since he personally struggles with 3D games and analog controls.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** The idea that Nintendo created and owns ''Pokémon'' gets the company hit with both praise and anger whenever something happens regarding any facet of the series. Though Nintendo does have a large stake in the franchise, Creator/GameFreak (an independent third-party studio) is the one who created the series and actually develops the core mainline titles. Meanwhile, it is the joint venture company "The Pokémon Company" -- founded by them, Nintendo, and a third studio called Creatures Inc. (which handles [[TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}} the trading card game]], toys, and 3D modeling for the various games) -- that manages every aspect of the brand. This misconception has even affected Nintendo's stock price at various times, with one notable instance being the success of ''VideoGame/PokemonGo'' causing Nintendo's stock price to more than double shortly after release, prompting Nintendo to explain that they had no involvement with the game and only receive [[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2016/160722e.pdf a small cut of the licensing fees]].
** Website/{{Smogon}}'s critics near-universally hate on Sleep Clause as "another of Smogon's stupid rules". Sleep Clause was in fact an official rule created by Game Freak, found in every ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium'' game and seeing use in many early tournaments. The only clauses specifically created by Smogon are those dealing with Evasion, Moody, Dynamax, and One-Hit KO moves.
** The scarce news updates about ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' prior to release (and every ''Pokémon'' game since, for that matter), was not Game Freak's decision. Rather, it was because of a new marketing process at The Pokémon Company that required everything shown pre-release to go through [[ObstructiveBureaucrat a slow, convoluted chain of approval]]. To give an idea, a journalist for gaming site IGN would state shortly after an interview for ''Sword & Shield'' that there were four Japanese businessmen standing offscreen; ''all four'' needed to approve of a comment for it to be allowed to be made public.
** One of the complaints made about ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'' concerned how the title changed the dialogue of the old man outside of the Celadon City Gym so that he doesn't lecherously comment about [[DirtyOldMan the gym being full of girls]], but instead of strong Trainers. The dialogue change was done first for ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'', [[OlderThanTheyThink 8 years before]].
** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl]]'' saw many fans point fingers at Game Freak for the various problems found in the titles. This is despite it having been announced from the start that Game Freak wasn't the developer for these remakes, with the job instead [[BTeamSequel given to ILCA]].
** Many people immediately blame Ken Sugimori, the lead character designer and art director of the franchise, when discussing Pokémon designs they don’t like. This also works [[InvertedTrope inversely]], as he is also given praise for Pokémon he didn't design. In actuality, while he is responsible for ''approving'' creature designs as per his role of art director, there is a team of several artists that are involved in conceptualizing and designing the series' various monsters.
*** Many people blame artist James Turner for the numerous "object" Pokémon that have been in the series since Gen 5. While he is infamous for designing the Vanillite line during that generation, the only other objectmon he designed during his time at Game Freak was the Sinistea line in Gen 8, which was actually [[EnsembleDarkhorse well-received]].
** ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'':
*** After the game was released with a number of technical issues, many fans and critics blamed the hardware, with the Switch being simply too weak to run the game. However, the Switch is host to several WideOpenSandbox games that are greater in scale and complexity, yet lack such problems, such as ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' (which was a launch title). The graphical issues were the result of poor optimization, theorized to be due to the game being ChristmasRushed.
*** Due to Hitoshi Ariga being a Pokémon designer who's previous worked on the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' franchise, he's considered to be the creator of Armarouge and Ceruledge, whose designs reminded people of ''Mega Man'' characters. However, the only Gen IX Pokémon he's confirmed to have created are the Nacli line, Espathra, and Flutter Mane.
* Many people blame Shigeru Miyamoto for ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' being rushed and simplified compared to what was originally planned for ''VideoGame/DinosaurPlanetRare'', as he supposedly told them to make it a ''Star Fox'' title at the last second. In reality, the suggestion didn't come that late into development, being done before the title had even [[MovedToTheNextConsole shifted from the N64 to the GameCube]]. The actual reason the game was rushed and had so much planned content removed was because Microsoft began the process of buying out Rare during production, neccesitating that they scrap more than a third of the game if they wanted to get it out before the purchase was finalized.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** It's widely and mistakenly thought that Nintendo of America refused to release ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels'' stateside solely due to the belief that Western players couldn't "handle" its high difficulty. While the brutal difficulty did play a role (with [=NoA=] president Howard Phillips personally citing it as such), the ''other'' reason for the change was because it was deemed to be little more than a MissionPackSequel that would have looked outdated compared to other NES games at the time.
** Miyamoto receives a lot of hate for the failings of the ''Mario'' [=RPGs=] since ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'', especially the ''Paper Mario'' games. While he did ask that ''Sticker Star'' not be a repeat of ''The Thousand Year Door'' and asked for [[ExactWords as few]] original characters [[ExactWords as possible]] and less story, that is the only major role he had. According to Iwata Asks, Miyamoto even said the final version of Sticker Star was "boring". Everything else was the work of the creative team making the games. He was also not behind ''Color Splash'' using the same gameplay. Similarly, while ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam'' similarly utilizes few original characters, that was a decision made by the creative team so they could focus on the differences between the regular ''Mario & Luigi'' cast and their paper counterparts.
** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash'' got this ''bad.'' Being a direct sequel to the poorly-received ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'', it's often pointed to by fans as "evidence" that Nintendo is growing increasingly out of touch with their fanbase and that they didn't learn a thing from their mistakes. In reality, development on ''Color Splash'' started almost immediately after ''Sticker Star'' was released, so by the time the negative fan response started to roll in, it was too late to turn back. And even then, they made sure to fix some major complaints about the gameplay.
** The version of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' included in the Nintendo Switch ''Super Mario 3D All-Stars'' collection is often blamed for doing things like patching the [[GameBreakingBug Backwards Long Jump glitch]] or removing the [[MemeticMutation "So long gay Bowser"]] line. In reality, this is the result of the collection using a localization of the game's [[NoExportForYou previously Japan-only]] 1997 re-release that added Rumble Pak support.
* The MovesetClone characters in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' (Lucina, Dark Pit, and a [[TheBusCameBack returning Dr. Mario]]) were hated by some fans due to being seen as "slot thieves", implying that the work done getting these characters into the game could instead have been used to add other, more unique characters. [[https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2014/oct/13/sakurai-says-clone-characters-super-smash-bros-4-are-free-dessert-after-luxurious-meal/ Sakurai himself had to step in]] and clarify that adding a fighter with a unique moveset would have required significantly more work than adding three clone characters, and that when the initial roster was planned out, these characters were [[WhatCouldHaveBeen initially intended as mere alternate skins similar to Alph and the Koopalings]], so if anything, these characters are responsible for ''adding'' more "character slots" to the game.
* Creator/GunpeiYokoi, famous for creating and leading development on various pieces of Nintendo hardware, is solely blamed for UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy. However, many of the issues that people had with the system were things that Yokoi was aware of and wanted to fix; the system was ChristmasRushed to serve as a stop-gap between the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} and UsefulNotes/Nintendo64. Also, Yokoi's resignation wasn't because of the Virtual Boy's failure; he had actually planned to retire ''earlier'', but postponed it precisely because he wanted to avoid it appearing as though he was fired. In fact, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi didn't want him to retire ''at all''.
* Nintendo got mis-blamed in December of 2013 when an update by Google to Website/YouTube's copyright algorithms caused videos to get unnecessary copyright claims from not just Nintendo, but other major gaming companies like Square Enix, Capcom, and Ubisoft, and even claims from non-gaming sources like Hasbro and Japanese record labels started to pop up. Why did Nintendo catch most of the blame for a Website/YouTube problem? First documented cases of this problem occurring seemed to happen with video makers who specialized in Nintendo coverage, with the news that this was a wide spread issue across all of Website/YouTube with many different companies not becoming as well known until later.
* At the height of the Wii's popularity, Nintendo was heavily blamed for "allowing" shovelware games to plague the console and how Nintendo should have been more restrictive with the games as they supposedly had done years back with the Nintendo Seal of Quality. In actuality, the Seal of Quality was never a assessment of how good a game was, even if marketing enjoyed giving that impression. It was just assurance that the game went under Q&A testing (i.e, was tested for bugs and glitches) and it runs well enough without the game crashing from a single button press or blowing up the console. Basically, that the software can manage to accomplish the bare minimum required of it. Most shovelware games fall into this category. Somehow, the developers of the shoddy games themselves rarely get blamed. Regardless, the confusion festered long enough for Nintendo to rebrand the seal simply as the "Nintendo Seal".
* Reggie Fils-Aime, former president of Nintendo of America, was blamed for things such as not improving the Wii's infrastructure, for withholding potentially good games for the Wii, and is also blamed for not releasing ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' on the Virtual Console, or ''VideoGame/Mother3'' at all outside of Japan. Reggie had no significant control over any of that, with such things being the decision of Nintendo's Japanese headquarters. As for ''[=EarthBound=]'''s case, the reason it took until 2013 to be re-released outside Japan is because Nintendo simply believed there was no interest for the game outside a vocal minority.
* In the early production cycles of the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, it was discovered that a lot of left Joy-Cons had a defect where it wouldn't calibrate properly and sometimes not work if something was in between it and the Switch if one plays it undocked. People were quick to blame Nintendo for making shoddy and cheap controllers, but it turned out to be a manufacturing error rather than a design flaw. Nintendo allowed people to send in their controllers for a replacement at no cost and they quickly corrected the source of the error.
* Nintendo inevitably gets blamed for whenever a game someone liked isn't yet on the Virtual Console or included as part of Nintendo Switch Online. While a valid criticism when concerning games that Nintendo owns the full rights to, when it comes to third-party titles, since Nintendo is neither the developer nor the publisher for such games (thus they do not hold the license), there is no guarantee that they can successfully get permission to put it on their system. This includes titles such as ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', where the rights for the game and its characters are split between Nintendo and other parties.
** When it came to games that had no [[NoExportForYou international release]] but are available on the Virtual Console, NES/SNES Mini or Nintendo Switch online in Japan, Nintendo ''also'' gets blamed for being "lazy". In order to give games an international release, they need to file new trademark(s), licensing, and receive a rating from the local rating(s) board, which means these titles are oft more expensive to add.
** Nintendo, like others, also receives blame for being "lazy" and ignoring fan translation patches. Even if they were offered for free, companies are legally required ''not'' to use the fan translation patch(es) because this can cause legal trouble.
[[/folder]]

* ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'''s review of the NES [[PortingDisaster port]] of ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' involved him complaining about butchery of a 'great game'. Among the features he complained about were the fact that you can't open a door and wear your gas mask at the same time, forcing you to sacrifice some health when you enter or leave a gassy room, which was a design flaw of the original game not really fixed until ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|Sons Of Liberty}}''. He also complained about Big Boss prefacing his misleading hints with the phrase 'I forgot to tell you...', claiming it was a terrible translation -- not only was this a better translation than the one in the European MSX version of the game, but Big Boss's hints really were supposed to be [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper useless and annoying]] for plot reasons, similar to the ''Castlevania'' "graveyard duck" hint.
* Again, one of the many complaints lodged against ''Snake's Revenge'' is that the translation tells you the opposite of what you have to do during the train level ("THERE IS NO TRAP ON THE TRAIN" has become a semi-meme). Of course, the sequence was a deliberate callback to ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' since it happens immediately before the person giving you the hints turns out to be [[TreacherousAdvisor a spy trying to make you fail]], who you then fight in a boss battle.
** Also, a lot of ''Franchise/MetalGear'' fans who never actually play the NES version of the game accuse it of having a silly plot in comparison to the "serious" storyline in the original [=MSX2=] version, replacing the original BigBad of Big Boss, an American soldier turned renegade mercenary, with Vermon [=CaTaffy=], a pastiche of real-life dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi. In truth, Konami's American manuals back in the day tended to feature weird plot changes (as evident by the American manuals for the early ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'', and ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' games) that thankfully did not affect the games themselves. The NES version of ''Metal Gear'', despite its BlindIdiotTranslation quality, is almost identical to the [=MSX2=] version in terms of plot aside for a few minor differences and Big Boss is still the BigBad in the NES version. The non-canon ''Snake's Revenge'' also featured a similar discrepancy between the game and its manual, with the manual identifying the bad guy as Higharolla Kockamamie (another pastiche, this time of Ayatollah Khomeini), but the actual villain of the game is revealed to be a cyborg Big Boss.

* Both Sony and Superbot Entertainment of ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' have gotten much ire for its roster that omits much-requested characters like [[Franchise/MetalGear Solid Snake]] in favor of more contentious choices like [[VideoGame/DMCDevilMayCry reboot Dante/"Donte"]] and [[Franchise/MetalGear Raiden]]. However, many of these characters are from franchises that, while almost exclusively released on the Playstation line, are owned by third party publishers. Even if Sony and Superbot wanted to add the original Dante or Solid Snake, Capcom and Konami [[ExecutiveMeddling would use copyright laws to ban their inclusion]]. In fact, the inclusion of Raiden was made by none other than Creator/HideoKojima himself.

* [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] is guilty of this in his review for ''VideoGame/TheConduit''. He blamed all his issues with the game, such as the default control scheme on ''Nintendo'' -- when they didn't even ''make'' the game in the first place!
** He also made this mistake in reverse in his ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' review. He blamed Team Ninja rather than Nintendo, who were responsible for everything he criticized.

* ''Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute'', a CompilationRerelease of two ''VideoGame/{{Cotton}}'' games and ''VideoGame/GuardianForce'', is widely regarded as a PortingDisaster for having ''10 frames'' of input lag, and the developer of the port, City Connection, was quickly blamed for those 10 frames. However, that's only roughly ''half'' correct. The three games already have about 6 frames of lag on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn, and 6 frames is already a lot for many players. Barring emulation techniques like [[https://docs.libretro.com/guides/runahead/ runahead]] that may require very strong hardware, it would not have been possible for City Connection to port the games to have input response that would please most players.

* ''Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute'', a CompilationRerelease of two ''VideoGame/{{Cotton}}'' games and ''VideoGame/GuardianForce'', is widely regarded as a PortingDisaster for having ''10 frames'' of input lag, and the developer of the port, City Connection, was quickly blamed for those 10 frames. However, that's only roughly ''half'' correct. The three games already have about 6 frames of lag on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn, and 6 frames is already a lot for many players. Barring techniques like [[https://docs.libretro.com/guides/runahead/ runahead]] that may require very strong hardware, it would not have been possible for City Connection to port the games to have input response that would please most players.

* ''Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute'', a CompilationRerelease of two ''VideoGame/{{Cotton}}'' games and ''VideoGame/GuardianForce'', is widely regarded as a PortingDisaster for having ''10 frames'' of input lag, and the developer of the port, City Connection, was quickly blamed for those 10 frames. However, that's only roughly ''half'' correct. The three games already had about 6 frames of lag on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn, and 6 frames is already a lot for many players.

** The increasing cost to play one credit of an arcade game is often explained as "arcade operators are greedy" and "the death of arcades." While this ''might'' be the case with some owners, arcades are still businesses, with all the operating expenses and need to turn a profit to stay in business that entail, like utilities (espeically since arcade cabs use a lot of electricity), buying cabinets, employee wages and salaries, and rent. Factor in inflation in many countries, and as a result, raising the cost to play a credit ends up being a necessity for many arcades. Regardless of pricing, many arcades that aren't attached to multi-entertainment centers (the kind to have restaurants, bowling alleys, pool tables, party rooms, playgrounds, and the like) or bars (also known as "barcades"), end up going out of business because they just couldn't keep up with the costs anymore. In short, while it ''is'' true that raising the cost to play an arcade game turned off some customers, it's mostly due to being an ''effect'' of unfortunate circumstances rather than a ''cause'' of them. Many indie/small-business dedicated arcades that crop up in the 2010s and beyond with a focus on the "hardcore" crowd, often fighting game and RhythmGame players, end up closing within a year or two despite charging what many gamers consider a fair price for an arcade game credit.

* Why aren't UsefulNotes/{{arcade|Game}}s really a thing anymore? A lot of people who grew up with [[TheNineties 90s]] arcades are quick to blame rising costs of credits (with the most notable increase being from 25 US cents to 50) or the proliferation of [[ArcadePerfectPort Arcade-Perfect Ports]]. The actual reasons are a bit more complicated than that and their fade into obscurity is more of a byproduct of evolving video game industry and culture and unfortunate changes in the economic landscape:

** The increasing cost to play one credit of an arcade game is often explained as "arcade operators are greedy" and "the death of arcades." While this ''might'' be the case with some owners, there's also the fact that arcades are still businesses, with all the operating expenses that entail, like utilities (espeically since arcade cabs use a lot of electricity), buying cabinets, employee wages and salaries, and rent. Factor in inflation in many countries, and as a result, raising the cost to play a credit ends up being a necessity for many arcades. Regardless of pricing, many arcades that aren't attached to multi-entertainment centers (the kind to have restaurants, bowling alleys, pool tables, party rooms, playgrounds, and the like) or bars (also known as "barcades"), end up going out of business because they just couldn't keep up with the costs anymore. In short, while it ''is'' true that raising the cost to play an arcade game turned off some customers, it's mostly due to being an ''effect'' of unfortunate circumstances rather than a ''cause'' of them. Many indie/small-business dedicated arcades that crop up in the 2010s and beyond with a focus on the "hardcore" crowd, often fighting game and RhythmGame players, end up closing within a year or two despite charging what many gamers consider a fair price for an arcade game credit.

* Why aren't UsefulNotes/{{arcade|Game}}s really a thing anymore? A lot of people who grew up with [[TheNineties 90s]] arcades are quick to blame rising costs of credits (with the most notable increase being from 25 US cents to 50) or the proliferation of [[ArcadePerfectPort Arcade-Perfect Ports]]. The actual reasons are a bit more complicated than that:

** In the mid-90s, advancements in video game console technology allowed for developers to make more long-format games with extensive stories beyond [[ExcusePlot "the bad guys are doing things, the good guys must stop them!"]] and more cinematic storytelling. Games like ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' demonstrated that games could be used to tell stories in a manner reminiscent of big-budget films; you're not going to be seeing someone sit at an arcade for a 30-hour story-heavy adventure. These became the sort of games that many gamers began to seek out rather than just gameplay-focused games that are all about [[ScoringPoints getting points]] or just discovering and beating the next level. As a consequence, the demand for arcade-style experiences diminished, to the point where even when arcade games did get perfect ports on consoles, they generally ended up being passed over and not selling as much as those AAA heavy-narrative games, with {{Fighting Game}}s being the exception due to their competitive scene (now the UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity can have setups at homes and non-arcade public venues, and later the introduction of online play allowed players to have matches any time they want).

** The increasing cost to play one credit of an arcade game is often explained as "arcade operators are greedy" and "the death of arcades." While this ''might'' be the case with some owners, there's also the fact that arcades are still businesses, with all the operating expenses that entail, like utilities (espeically since arcade cabs use a lot of electricity), buying cabinets, employee wages and salaries, and rent. Factor in inflation in many countries, and as a result, raising the cost to play a credit ends up being a necessity for many arcades. Regardless of pricing, many arcades that aren't attached to multi-entertainment centers (the kind to have restaurants, bowling alleys, pool tables, party rooms, playgrounds, and the like) or bars (also known as "barcades"), end up going out of business because they just couldn't keep up with the costs anymore. In short, while it ''is'' true that raising the cost to play an arcade game turned off some customers, it's mostly due to being an ''effect'' of unfortunate circumstances rather than a ''cause'' of them. Many indie/small-business arcades that crop up in the 2010s and beyond with a focus on the "hardcore" crowd, often fighting game and RhythmGame players, end up closing within a year or two despite charging what many gamers consider a fair price for an arcade game credit.

** The increasing cost to play one credit of an arcade game is often explained as "arcade operators are greedy" and "the death of arcades." While this ''might'' be the case with some owners, there's also the fact that arcades are still businesses, with all the operating expenses that entail, like utilities (espeically since arcade cabs use a lot of electricity), buying cabinets, employee wages and salaries, and rent. Factor in inflation in many countries, and as a result, raising the cost to play a credit ends up being a necessity for many arcades. Regardless of pricing, many arcades that aren't attached to multi-entertainment centers (the kind to have restaurants, bowling alleys, pool tables, party rooms, playgrounds, and the like), end up going out of business because they just couldn't keep up with the costs anymore. In short, while it ''is'' true that raising the cost to play an arcade game turned off some customers, it's mostly due to being an ''effect'' of unfortunate circumstances rather than a ''cause'' of them. Many indie/small-business arcades that crop up in the 2010s and beyond with a focus on the "hardcore" crowd, often fighting game and RhythmGame players, end up closing within a year or two despite charging what many gamers consider a fair price for an arcade game credit.

** In the mid-90s, advancements in video game console technology allowed for developers to make more long-format games with extensive stories beyond [[ExcusePlot "the bad guys are doing things, the good guys must stop them!"]] and more cinematic storytelling. Games like ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' demonstrated that games could be used to tell stories in a manner reminiscent of big-budget films; you're not going to be seeing someone sit at an arcade for a 30-hour story-heavy adventure. These became the sort of games that many gamers began to seek out rather than just gameplay-focused games that are all about [[ScoringPoints getting points]] or just discovering and beating the next level. As a consequence, the demand for arcade-style experiences diminished, to the point where even when arcade games did get perfect ports on consoles, they generally ended up being passed over and not selling as much as those AAA heavy-narrative games, with {{Fighting Game}}s being the exception due to their competitive scene (now the UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity can have setups at homes and non-arcade public venues).

** The increasing cost to play one credit of an arcade game is often explained as "arcade operators are greedy" and "the death of arcades." While this ''might'' be the case with some owners, there's also the fact that arcades are still businesses, with all the operating expenses that entail, like utilities (espeically since arcade cabs use a lot of electricity), buying cabinets, employee wages and salaries, and rent. Factor in inflation in many countries, and as a result, raising the cost to play a credit ends up being a necessity for many arcades. Regardless of pricing, many arcades that aren't attached to multi-entertainment centers (the kind to have restaurants, bowling alleys, pool tables, party rooms, playgrounds, and the like), end up going out of business because they just couldn't keep up with the costs anymore. In short, while it ''is'' true that raising the cost to play an arcade game turned off some customers, it's mostly due to being an ''effect'' of unfortunate circumstances rather than a ''cause'' for them. Many indie/small-business arcades that crop up in the 2010s and beyond with a focus on the "hardcore" crowd, often fighting game and RhythmGame players, end up closing within a year or two despite charging what many gamers consider a fair price for an arcade game credit.

** The increasing cost to play one credit of an arcade game is often explained as "arcade operators are greedy" and "the death of arcades." While this ''might'' be the case with some owners, there's also the fact that arcades are still businesses, with all the operating expenses that entail, like utilities (espeically since arcade cabs use a lot of electricity), buying cabinets, employee wages and salaries, and rent. Factor in inflation in many countries, and as a result, raising the cost to play a credit ends up being a necessity for many arcades. Regardless of pricing, many arcades that aren't attached to multi-entertainment centers (the kind to have restaurants, bowling alleys, pool tables, party rooms, playgrounds, and the like), end up going out of business because they just couldn't keep up with the costs anymore. Many indie/small-business arcades that crop up in the 2010s and beyond with a focus on the "hardcore" crowd, often fighting game and RhythmGame players, end up closing within a year or two despite charging what many gamers consider a fair price for an arcade game credit.

** The increasing cost to play one credit of an arcade game is often explained as "arcade operators are greedy" and "the death of arcades." While this ''might'' be the case with some owners, there's also the fact that arcades are still businesses, with all the operating expenses that entail, like utilities (espeically since arcade cabs use a lot of electricity), buying cabinets, employee wages and salaries, and rent. Factor in inflation in many countries, and as a result, raising the cost to play a credit ends up being a necessity for many arcades. Regardless of pricing, many arcades that aren't attached to multi-entertainment centers (the kind to have restaurants, bowling alleys, pool tables, party rooms, playgrounds, and the like), end up going out of business because they just couldn't keep up with the costs anymore. Many indie/small-business arcades that crop up in the 2010s and beyond with a focus on the "hardcore" crowd, often fighting game players, end up closing within a year or two despite charging what many gamers consider a fair price for an arcade game credit.

** The increasing cost to play one credit of an arcade game is often explained as "arcade operators are greedy" and "the death of arcades." While this ''might'' be the case with some owners, there's also the fact that arcades are still businesses, with all the operating expenses that entail, like utilities (espeically since arcade cabs use a lot of electricity), buying cabinets, employee wages and salaries, and rent. Factor in inflation in many countries, and as a result, raising the cost to play a credit ends up being a necessity for many arcades. Regardless of pricing, many arcades that aren't attached to multi-entertainment centers (the kind to have restaurants, bowling alleys, pool tables, party rooms, playgrounds, and the like), end up going out of business because they just couldn't keep up with the costs anymore.

** In the mid-90s, advancements in video game console technology allowed for developers to make more long-format games with extensive stories beyond [[ExcusePlot "the bad guys are doing things, the good guys must stop them!"]] and more cinematic storytelling. Games like ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' demonstrated that games could be used to tell stories in a manner reminiscent of big-budget films. These became the sort of games that many gamers began to seek out rather than just gameplay-focused games that are all about [[ScoringPoints getting points]] or just discovering and beating the next level. As a consequence, the demand for arcade-style experiences diminished, to the point where even when arcade games did get perfect ports on consoles, they generally ended up being passed over and not selling as much as those AAA heavy-narrative games, with {{Fighting Game}}s being the exception due to their competitive scene (now the UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity can have setups at homes and non-arcade public venues).

** In the mid-90s, advancements in video game console technology allowed for developers to make more long-format games with extensive stories beyond [[ExcusePlot "the bad guys are doing things, the good guys must stop them!"]] and more cinematic storytelling. Games like ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' demonstrated that games could be used to tell stories in a manner reminiscent of big-budget films. These became the sort of games that many gamers began to seek out rather than just gameplay-focused games that are all about [[ScoringPoints getting points]] or just discovering and beating the next level. As a consequence, the demand for arcade-style experiences diminished, to the point where even when arcade games did get perfect ports on consoles, they generally ended up being passed over, with {{Fighting Game}}s being the exception due to their competitive scene (now the UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity can have setups at homes and non-arcade public venues).

** The increasing cost to play one credit of an arcade game is often explained as "arcade operators are greedy" and "the death of arcades." While this ''might'' be the case with some owners, there's also the fact that arcades are still businesses, with all the operating expenses that entail, like utilities (espeically since arcade cabs use a lot of electricity), buying cabinets, employee wages and salaries, and rent. Factor in inflation in many countries, and as a result, raising the cost to play a credit ends up being a necessity for many arcades. Regardless of pricing, many arcades that aren't attached to multi-enetertainment centers (the kind to have restaurants, bowling alleys, pool tables, party rooms, and the like), end up going out of business because they just couldn't keep up with the costs anymore.

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing: amiibo Festival'' gets a lot of hate from people who presumed it prevented a true ''Animal Crossing'' game from appearing on UsefulNotes/WiiU. The main reason there was no Wii U installment in the series is because one was never planned. While the next mainline entry began conceptualization immediately after the release of ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf New Leaf]]'', series director and producer Aya Kyogoku stated during the marketing cycle for ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons New Horizons]]'' that they were thinking about it under the idea that it would enter production for whatever hardware Nintendo would be releasing ''after'' the Wii U.

** When talking about ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', many sources will credit Yoichi Kotabe, a veteran Creator/{{Toei|Animation}} animator who worked for Nintendo from 1985 to 2007, as the artist behind the game's distinctive cartoonish visuals. It seems like a reasonable assumption to make as Kotabe had hands on the ''Zelda'' series since [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI the first game]], ''Wind Waker'' bears a lot of aesthetic similarities to classic Toei animated films like ''Anime/TheLittlePrinceAndTheEightHeadedDragon'', and it was released in 2003 so the timeline adds up. However, Kotabe had no personal involvement in ''Wind Waker''[='s=] development -- he has stated as such in multiple interviews, and his name doesn't appear anywhere in the credits, which list Yoshiki Haruhana, Satoru Takizawa, and Masanao Arimoto as the design managers instead. Javed Sterritt of ''The Hyrule Journals'' has [[https://youtu.be/mFAlqXavXRs a video]] going into detail about this misconception and how it came to be.

* Team Ninja were originally blamed for much of ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''[='=]s failings. In reality, most of the decisions that fans took issue with were decisions made by series producer Creator/YoshioSakamoto: from Samus Aran's portrayal and her English VA's performance, to the story, to the linear gameplay. Even the single Wii Remote control scheme, which Team Ninja vocally fought against, was a mandate from Sakamoto.

** The idea that Nintendo created and owns ''Pokémon'' gets the company hit with both praise and anger whenever something happens regarding any facet of the series. Though Nintendo does have a large stake in the franchise, Creator/GameFreak (an independent third-party studio) is the one who actually develops the core mainline titles. Meanwhile, it is the joint venture company "The Pokémon Company" (founded by them, Nintendo, and a third studio called Creatures Inc.) that manages every aspect of the brand. This misconception has even affected Nintendo's stock price at various times, with one notable instance being the success of ''VideoGame/PokemonGo'' causing Nintendo's stock price to more than double shortly after release, prompting Nintendo to explain that they had no involvement with the game and only receive [[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2016/160722e.pdf a small cut of the licensing fees]].

** The scarce news updates about ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' prior to release (and every subsequent ''Pokémon'' game since, for that matter), was not Game Freak's decision. Rather, it was because of a new marketing process at The Pokémon Company that required everything shown pre-release to go through [[ObstructiveBureaucrat a slow, convoluted chain of approval]]. To give an idea, a journalist for gaming site IGN would state shortly after an interview for ''Sword & Shield'' that there were four Japanese businessmen standing offscreen; ''all four'' needed to approve of a comment for it to be allowed to be made public.

** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl]]'' saw many fans point fingers at Game Freak for the various problems found in the titles. This is despite it having been announced from the start that Game Freak wasn't the developer for these remakes, with the job instead given to ILCA.

*** Due to Hitoshi Ariga being a Pokémon designer who's previous worked on the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' franchise, he's considered to be the creator of Armarouge and Ceruledge, whose designs reminded people of ''Mega Man'' characters. However, the only Gen IX Pokémon he's confirmed that he created are the Nacli line, Espathra, and Flutter Mane.
* Many people blame Shigeru Miyamoto for ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' being rushed and simplified compared to what was originally planned for ''VideoGame/DinosaurPlanetRare'', as he supposedly told them to make it a ''Star Fox'' title at the last second. In reality, the suggestion didn't come that late into development, being done before the title had even [[MovedToTheNextConsole shifted from the N64 to the GameCube]]. The actual reason the game was rushed and had so much planned content removed was because Microsoft began the process of buying out Rare during production, forcing them to have to scrap more than a third of the game if they wanted to get it out before the purchase was finalized.

** Miyamoto receives a lot of hate for the failings of the ''Mario'' [=RPGs=] since ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'', especially the ''Paper Mario'' games. While he did ask that ''Sticker Star'' not be a repeat of ''The Thousand Year Door'' and asked for [[ExactWords as few]] original characters [[ExactWords as possible]] and less story, that is the only major role he had. According to Iwata Asks, Miyamoto even said the final version of Sticker Star was "boring". Everything else was the work of the creative team making the games. He was also not behind ''Color Splash'' using the same gameplay. Similarly, while ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam'' uses the "few original characters" mandate, that was a decision made by the creative team so they could focus on the differences between the regular characters and their paper counterparts.

* Creator/GunpeiYokoi, famous for creating and leading development on various pieces of Nintendo hardware, is solely blamed for UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy. However, many of the issues that people had with the system were things that Yokoi was aware of wanted to fix; the system was ChristmasRushed to serve as a stop-gap between the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} and UsefulNotes/Nintendo64. Also, Yokoi's resignation wasn't because of the Virtual Boy's failure; he had actually planned to retire ''earlier'', but postponed it precisely because he wanted to avoid it appearing as though he was fired. In fact, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi didn't want him to retire ''at all''.

* Reggie Fils-Aime, former president of Nintendo of America, was blamed for things such as not improving the Wii's infrastructure, for withholding potentially good games for the Wii, and is also blamed for not releasing ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' on the Virtual Console, or ''VideoGame/Mother3'' at all outside of Japan. Reggie had no significant control over any of that, with such things being the decision of Nintendo's Japanese headquarters. As for ''[=EarthBound=]'''s case, the reason it took until 2013 to be re-released outside Japan is because Nintendo simply believed there was no interest for the game.

* Nintendo inevitably gets blamed for whenever a game someone liked isn't yet on the Virtual Console or included as part of Nintendo Switch Online. While a valid criticism when concerning games that Nintendo owns the full rights to, when it comes to third-party titles, since Nintendo is neither the developer nor the publisher for such games (thus they do not hold the license or the source codes), there is no guarantee that they can successfully get permission to put it on their system. This includes titles such as ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', where the rights for the game and its characters are split between Nintendo and other parties.

** When talking about ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', many sources will credit Yoichi Kotabe, a veteran Creator/{{Toei|Animation}} animator who worked for Nintendo from 1985 to 2007, as the artist behind the game's distinctive cartoonish visuals. It seems like a reasonable assumption to make as Kotabe had defined the ''Zelda'' series' visual identity since the first game, ''Wind Waker'' bears a lot of aesthetic similarities to classic Toei animated films like ''Anime/TheLittlePrinceAndTheEightHeadedDragon'', and it was released in 2003 so the timeline adds up. However, Kotabe had no personal involvement in ''Wind Waker''[='s=] development -- he has stated as such in multiple interviews, and his name doesn't appear anywhere in the credits, which list Yoshiki Haruhana, Satoru Takizawa, and Masanao Arimoto as the design managers instead. Javed Sterritt of ''The Hyrule Journals'' has [[https://youtu.be/mFAlqXavXRs a video]] going into further detail about this misconception and how it came to be.

* Reggie Fils-Aime, former president of Nintendo of America, was blamed for things such as not improving the Wii's infrastructure, for withholding potentially good games for the Wii, and is also blamed for not releasing ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' on the Virtual Console, or ''VideoGame/Mother3'' at all outside of Japan. Reggie had no significant control over any of that, with such things being the decision of Nintendo's Japanese headquarters. As for ''[=EarthBound]]'''s case, the reason it took until 2013 to be re-released outside Japan is because Nintendo simply believed there was no interest for the game.