Following two relative commercial calamities that were the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube; at least compared to Nintendo's earlier success stories; consoles that were the undisputed victors of their respective generations in the Gameboy, NES and SNES; Nintendo fans universally felt left out in the cold. Sure, the Nintendo franchise favourites like Mario, Zelda and Metroid still appeared a couple of times per year to rave reviews, but third-party companies abandoned the once-proud Japanese giant for newcomers to the hardware biz in Sony and Microsoft. The N64 and Gamecube yielded very little in the way of titles to play that weren't from Nintendo, dissuading the mainstream audience that weren't hardcore Nintendo-philes from giving those consoles a second look, opting instead for Halo, Final Fantasy (a franchise that was once a boon for Nintendo before Square got into bed with Sony) and Grand Theft Auto. A black wave appeared to enshroud the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom..

After a successful launch of the Nintendo DS, Mushroom-heads felt a little more optimistic; say what you will about some of Nintendo's lesser consoles, but they sure know how to dominate the handheld market. Naysayers had a valid argument in pointing out that Nintendo's handheld supremacy had never witnessed a viable competitor and they considered Sony's forthcoming Playstation Portable to be just that contender. While not a failure, the PSP has been absolutely dominated by Nintendo's DS, with its main faults being pointed out as there being too many stripped-down PS2 ports in its game library, poor media playback (you'd be better off with an iPod Video for portable music and video capabilities) and short battery life.

By modeling the design of their Wii after their innovative touch-screen controlled DS, Nintendo took a gamble by implementing motion-sensitive controllers into what was basically a Gamecube on steroids in terms of its processing power. Many lauded Nintendo for this decision, as the market certainly didn't need a third "the same, only more powerful" console, which seemed to be Sony and Microsoft's mantra with their Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, respectively. Upon its launch, Wii seemed to strike a chord not only with the diehard Nintendo fans, but with people who'd normally peg the entertainment medium more lucrative than the movie industry to be a "waste of time". With the monster hit of a pack-in that is Wii Sports, Nintendo managed to corral the hearts and minds of parents and even grandparents, with there being reports that Wii Bowling is a big hit in retirement homes. Time Magazine even did an article on the weight-loss wonders of the phenomenon, with one editor reporting he'd lost 11 Ibs. playing solely Wii Boxing (by far the most strenuous of the five games included in Wii Sports) everyday for a month. It seemed Nintendo could do no wrong, dominating both the home and portable console market once again..

Muffled by the media proclaimations of sales records being shattered and grandmothers waving their arms around in front of their televisions were the complaints of the hardcore gamers. Looking beyond the triumph for casual gamers that was Wii Sports, the hardcore couldn't find much to play. Sure, there were Gamecube ports like Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Paper Mario (which started life on Gamecube but was quietly shelved in favour of being exclusive to Wii) that featured rudimentary Wii-mote controls, but beyond that, an influx of shallow but fleetingly fun mini-game compilations such as Rayman Raving Rabbids, Warioware, Carnival Games, Wii Play and PS2 ports with tacked-on motion controls. Another issue was that the online aspirations didn't seem to go beyond what was offered on DS's service -- a barebones affair with annoying "friend codes" for each game, a system that didn't encompass all games -- while Xbox 360 owners enjoyed the most comprehensive and detailed online gaming service ever in Xbox Live, though paying to play online is still an issue for some. Even still, with Xbox Live's "silver" account, the free alternative, the service is still much more versatile than Nintendo's WiFi service, allowing one to voice chat with friends while playing through games; compare one's "Achievements" across all games to their friends'; download game demos; send voice messages. Despite these shortcomings, the Wii has come out on top in hardware sales nearly every month compared to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and recently surpassed Microsoft's sophomore console, despite it having a year's headstart.

With heavyhitters so early in the year in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii following the late 2007 success of hardcore hits like Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo seems poised to stay ahead of the pack in 2008 and have even announced plans to integrate a pay-to-play online service, prompting fans to speculate as to whether they'll adopt an Xbox Live-like online interface. It seems 2008 is the year Nintendo will be at the top of their game.