The Nintendo 64 was the multiplayer Mecca for many gamers in its day. The list of games people fell in love with because of their multi-player modes, and in some cases still play today, is staggering. Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, Perfect Dark... hell, even the Mario Party series was compelling back then. Multiplayer helped sell the N64 to many people who would have otherwise been disinterested, something Nintendo failed to capitalize on with the Gamecube. Now that consoles have taken the hint from PCs, many gamers tend to play with each other online. The potential for loyalty is still there and displayed prominently in new series like Halo, Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War, so why hasn’t Nintendo developed a system to capitalize on the potential hidden in their catalogue? The longer they wait the more ground they lose to the competition.

It’s incredibly inconvenient to enjoy Nintendo’s games online at the moment. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was supposed to be a quintessential online title for many fans, but it might never reach its potential because of the awful system used to play with friends. It’s kind of a pain in the ass to put in a 12 digit code for each friend for every single game. Nintendo would do well to institute some kind of universal friend list for each system. It’s also kind of silly that Brawl only allows you to have 64 friends. The other consoles’ online communities allow for a near-limitless amount of people to play with, so it’s baffling that they’d go with such a small limitation. Do they really think people are only going to exchange numbers with their real life friends? Get real, Nintendo. Also, not being able to befriend people in random Brawl matches, or even identify them for crying out loud, is a grievous oversight. What better way to get better than to play people better than you? You’ll have to search them out yourself, sadly. The lack of voice chat is the final faux pas. Programming random text blurbs to your taunts is a clever touch, but hardly a replacement for verbally assaulting someone you just eliminated with a Final Smash. It’s the little things that add up and make the online experience more enjoyable, and it’s noticeable when they’re missing.

The Nintendo 64 had a unique advantage in the 90s – it was the only system with four controller ports. Sure, the Playstation had an adaptor, but it was kind of pricey and few people actually bought it. That made the N64 the natural leader and system of choice for developers looking to create a multiplayer experience. The Wii’s unique control possibilities could be an advantage if used correctly, but Nintendo’s current online scheme does little to make use of that. How much fun would a worldwide Wii Sports tournament have been? Even playing a few games with a friend who lives in another state would have been a great time and different from the competition because of how you play. Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s control scheme doesn’t exactly break boundaries, and many players use the Gamecube controller or classic controller instead; will the same thing happen when Mario Kart is released?

Of course, Nintendo will point toward the sales charts now that they’re tilted in their favor. Their best-selling console has the highest user-base. They might argue that if gamers really cared about online support, then the Xbox 360 would be the market leader due to how well Live is implemented. Since they aren’t behind the 360, the consumers have spoken. This line of thought is incredibly shortsighted. Halo 3 didn’t move an incredulous amount of 360s to outsell the Wii in September of 2007 because of the single-player mode – gamers were pumped about playing online. With their friends. Conveniently. The fact is that the 360 currently has a selling point on the Wii. It’s another thing someone in the market for a new system might look at and say, "This is really important to me. I’m going with this console instead."

If the problem is lack of storage space, Nintendo should release a hard drive peripheral, or allow gamers to use third party devices. If the problem is system integration, they should work hard on making a system that works well for the next system while trying to make the current setup as convenient for the consumer as possible. But the problem seems to be sheer stubbornness, and it’s doing little to refute the Wii’s growing reputation as nothing more than a dumping ground for shovelware and ports, much less increase the view that it’s a capable system. By ignoring what has become an integral part of gaming, Nintendo is not just ignoring a whole piece of the pie; they’re gift-wrapping it for the competition, and it could catch up with them someday.