{"id":274,"date":"2007-02-13T15:57:24","date_gmt":"2007-02-13T20:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/?p=274"},"modified":"2007-02-14T16:55:23","modified_gmt":"2007-02-14T21:55:23","slug":"super-game-64-advance-ds-the-nintendo-game-naming-formula-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/archives\/274\/super-game-64-advance-ds-the-nintendo-game-naming-formula-revealed","title":{"rendered":"Super Game 64 Advance DS<\/em>: The Nintendo Game Naming Formula Revealed!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Super<\/a>What’s in a name? Well, if it’s the name of a game for a Nintendo console, there’s a strong chance that part of the system’s name will make an appearance. Popular examples of this practice include the game title Super Metroid<\/em> for the Super NES and Super Mario 64<\/em> for the Nintendo 64. I call this phenomenon “system-naming,” for lack of a better term.<\/p>\n

System-naming is largely isolated to games produced for Nintendo systems due to the company’s penchant for adding “upgrade” prefixes (the “Super” in “Super NES”) or suffixes (the “64” in “Nintendo 64”) to their system titles. We’ll take a look at some instances of non-Nintendo system-naming near the end of the article.<\/p>\n

So what does “system-naming” matter? The answer, quite simply, is nothing. Really — nothing at all. This is an exercise in pure console nerdlyness. Information for the sake of information. So if you’re easily scared away by the academic study of trivial minutia, turn away now!<\/p>\n

Still there? Ok. Let’s take a look at each Nintendo system, tally up their system-named games, and see which system ultimately wins the battle of the names. All percentages have been rounded up to the next whole number. Sources for the data presented are listed at the end of each section.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Super<\/em> NES: A Trend is Born<\/h3>\n

\"SNESSystem-naming in game titles can trace its origin back to one console: the Super Nintendo (or Super NES, also known as the Super Famicom in Japan). By simply adding a “Super” to the name of their previous console (the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES), Nintendo created a new system name that philosophically exists relative to their previous generation of products. Since the NES single-handedly resurrected an industry and defined<\/em> a whole generation of video games with its astronomical success, every Nintendo product from then on would have to measure up in some fashion to that 800-pound gorilla looming nearby, casting its long, deep shadow upon history.<\/p>\n

Logically, games that were upgraded with better graphics and sound for the new “Super” NES could carry the same prefix as the system to denote the upgrade. As a result, we saw a lot of games like Super Bomberman<\/em>, Super Adventure Island<\/em>, Super Metroid<\/em>, or Super Castlevania IV<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Below is a list of all of the “Super” games, with some obvious ones removed that included “Super” phrases that existed independent of the system itself, like Super Mario World<\/em>, Super Street Fighter II<\/em>, WCW: Super Brawl Wrestling<\/em>, and Kirby Super Star<\/em>, although the last example could possibly be a play on the system name, as it was the first Kirby game for the SNES.<\/p>\n

60 out of 715 games<\/strong>, or 8%<\/strong> of the entire licensed U.S. SNES catalog has a name that is derived from “Super Nintendo.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \nKrusty’s Super Fun House
    \nSuper Adventure Island
    \nSuper Adventure Island II
    \nSuper Aquatic Games Starring The Aquabats, The
    \nSuper Baseball 2020
    \nSuper Baseball Simulator 1.000
    \nSuper Bases Loaded
    \nSuper Bases Loaded 2
    \nSuper Bases Loaded 3: License to Steal
    \nSuper Batter Up
    \nSuper Battleship
    \nSuper Battletank 2: War in the Gulf
    \nSuper Battletank: War in the Gulf
    \nSuper Black Bass
    \nSuper Bomberman
    \nSuper Bomberman 2
    \nSuper Bonk
    \nSuper Bowling
    \nSuper Buster Bros.
    \nSuper Caesars Palace
    \nSuper Castlevania IV
    \nSuper Chase HQ
    \nSuper Conflict: The Mideast
    \nSuper Double Dragon
    \nSuper E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force
    \nSuper Empire Strikes Back
    \nSuper Ghouls ‘N Ghosts
    \nSuper Goal! Two
    \nSuper Godzilla
    \nSuper High Impact
    \nSuper James Pond
    \nSuper Metroid
    \nSuper Ninja Boy
    \nSuper Off Road
    \nSuper Off Road: The Baja
    \nSuper Pinball: Behind the Mask
    \nSuper Play Action Football
    \nSuper Punch-Out!!
    \nSuper Putty
    \nSuper RBI Baseball
    \nSuper Return of the Jedi
    \nSuper R-Type
    \nSuper Slam Dunk
    \nSuper Slap Shot
    \nSuper Smash T.V.
    \nSuper Soccer
    \nSuper Soccer Champ
    \nSuper Solitaire
    \nSuper Star Wars
    \nSuper Strike Eagle
    \nSuper Tennis
    \nSuper Troll Islands
    \nSuper Turrican
    \nSuper Turrican 2
    \nSuper Valis IV
    \nSuper Widget
    \nTecmo Super Baseball
    \nTecmo Super NBA Basketball
    \nTKO Super Championship Boxing
    \nWWF Super Wrestlemania\n<\/ul>\n

    <\/em><\/p>\n

    Source: Nintendo’s Official SNES Game List PDF (http:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/gamelist?category=classic)<\/small><\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n

    Nintendo 64: The King of System-Naming<\/h3>\n

    \"N64The next Nintendo system to have a swath of system-named games was the Nintendo 64, Nintendo’s next-gen successor to the SNES. I’m not sure if it was Nintendo-mandated policy to name your games “Something 64,” but there sure were a lot of them.<\/p>\n

    47 out of 291 games<\/strong>, or 16%<\/strong> of the entire licensed U.S. N64 catalog has a name that is derived from “Nintendo 64.”<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

      \nAsteroids Hyper 64
      \nBomberman 64
      \nBomberman 64: The Second Attack
      \nCarmageddon 64
      \nClay Fighter 63 1\/3
      \nDaikatana 64
      \nDestruction Derby 64
      \nDonkey Kong 64
      \nDoom 64
      \nDr. Mario 64
      \nDuke Nukem 64
      \nExcitebike 64
      \nF1 Pole Position 64
      \nFIFA Soccer 64
      \nFighting Force 64
      \nForsaken 64
      \nGEX 64: Enter the Gecko
      \nGolden Nugget 64
      \nGT 64: Championship Edition
      \nHarvest Moon 64
      \nIn Fisherman Bass Hunter 64
      \nInternational Superstar Soccer 64
      \nKirby 64: The Crystal Shards
      \nMadden 64
      \nMario Kart 64
      \nMega Man 64
      \nMia Hamm Soccer 64
      \nMicro Machines 64 Turbo
      \nMonster Truck Madness 64
      \nNamco Museum 64
      \nNuclear Strike 64
      \nOgre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
      \nPilotWings 64
      \nQuake 64
      \nQuest 64
      \nRidge Racer 64
      \nRoad Rash 64
      \nRobotron 64
      \nShadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers
      \nStar Fox 64
      \nStarCraft 64
      \nStunt Racer 64
      \nSuper Mario 64
      \nVirtual Chess 64
      \nVirtual Pool 64
      \nWave Race 64 Kawasaki Jet Ski
      \nWipeout 64\n<\/ul>\n

      <\/em><\/p>\n

      Source: Nintendo’s Official N64 Game List PDF (http:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/gamelist?category=classic)<\/small><\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      Game Boy Advance: Revenge of the Suffix<\/h3>\n

      \"GBAI don’t know if anyone realizes this, but the Game Boy Advance has had more licensed titles released for it in North America than any other Nintendo system to date. The official number is currently 975 games, which is an absolutely certifiable butt-load of games. With so many games, it’s no surprise that some have taken on the family name. A few games have chosen the suffix “EX” over “Advance,” but that doesn’t count.<\/p>\n

      55 out of 975 games<\/strong>, or 6%<\/strong> of the entire licensed U.S. Game Boy Advance catalog (as of 02\/08\/2007) has a name that is derived from “Game Boy Advance.”<\/p>\n

      <\/p>\n

        \nAce Combat Advance
        \nAdvance Guardian Heroes
        \nAdvance Wars
        \nAdvance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
        \nArmy Men Advance
        \nAtari Anniversary Advance
        \nBaseball Advance
        \nBomberman Max 2: Blue Advance
        \nBomberman Max 2: Red Advance
        \nContra Advance: The Alien Wars EX
        \nDesert Strike Advance
        \nDisney’s Donald Duck Advance
        \nDouble Dragon Advance
        \nDragon Ball Advanced Adventure
        \nDriver 2 Advance
        \nDuke Nukem Advance
        \nDynasty Warriors Advance
        \nFinal Fantasy Tactics Advance
        \nFinal Fantasy V Advance
        \nFinal Fantasy VI Advance
        \nGekido Advance: Kintaro’s Revenge
        \nGrand Theft Auto Advance
        \nGT Advance 2: Rally Racing
        \nGT Advance 3: Pro Concept Racing
        \nGT Advance Championship Racing
        \nGuilty Gear X: Advance Edition
        \nInspector Gadget: Advance Mission
        \nKonami Collector’s Series: Arcade Advanced
        \nMario Golf: Advance Tour
        \nMario Party Advance
        \nMax Payne Advance
        \nMetal Slug Advance
        \nMonster Rancher Advance
        \nMonster Rancher Advance 2
        \nMortal Kombat Advance
        \nMoto Racer Advance
        \nMotocross Maniacs Advance
        \nPac-Man Pinball Advance
        \nPolarium Advance
        \nPuyo Pop Advance
        \nRacing Gears Advance
        \nRayman Advance
        \nRobot Wars: Advanced Destruction
        \nSerious Sam Advance
        \nSonic Advance
        \nSonic Advance 2
        \nSonic Advance 3
        \nSuper Dodge Ball Advance
        \nSuper Mario Advance
        \nSuper Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
        \nSuper Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2
        \nTekken Advance
        \nTokyo Xtreme Racer Advance
        \nWhiffle Ball Advance
        \nYoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3\n<\/ul>\n

        <\/em><\/p>\n

        Source: Nintendo’s Online Game Database (http:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/gamelist?category=all)<\/small><\/p>\n

        <\/div>\n

        Nintendo DS: A New Twist on an Old Tradition<\/h3>\n

        \"NDSWith the arrival of the DS, game developers have apparently tired of taking an obvious and boring route of just adding a plain “DS” to the end of their games’ titles. Instead, developers go to great lengths to construct contrived reverse meanings for the “DS” acronym and tag them on to the end of their game names.<\/p>\n

        Without a doubt, some of the dumbest “DS” reverse acronyms are Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy<\/em>, Guilty Gear Dust Strikers<\/em>, Dig Dug Digging Strike<\/em>, and Resident Evil: Deadly Silence<\/em>. Since the Nintendo DS has plenty of life left in it, expect this trend to continue well into the future.<\/p>\n

        Just for trivia’s sake, the DS is the home of the only game with two system suffixes in its title, Super Mario 64 DS<\/em>. It would be three<\/em> if the “Super” in “Super Mario” counted.<\/p>\n

        31 out of 294 games<\/strong>, or 11%<\/strong> of the entire licensed U.S. Nintendo DS catalog (as of 02\/08\/2007) has a name that is derived from “Nintendo DS.”<\/p>\n

        <\/p>\n

          \nAdvance Wars: Dual Strike
          \nBust-a-Move DS
          \nCastlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
          \nDiddy Kong Racing DS
          \nDig Dug Digging Strike
          \nDigimon World DS
          \nDK King of Swing DS
          \nDS Air
          \nDynasty Warriors DS
          \nFullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy
          \nGuilty Gear Dust Strikers
          \nHarlem Globetrotters World Tour DS
          \nHarvest Moon DS
          \nLunar: Dragon Song
          \nMage Knight: Destiny’s Soldier
          \nMario Kart DS
          \nMr. DRILLER: Drill Spirits
          \nPanzer Tactics DS
          \nRayman DS
          \nResident Evil: Deadly Silence
          \nRidge Racer DS
          \nSBK: Snowboard Kids DS
          \nSpider-Man 2 DS
          \nSuper Mario 64 DS
          \nTamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop DS
          \nTao’s Adventure: Curse of the Demon Seal
          \nTenchu: Dark Secret
          \nTetris DS
          \nWorld Championship Poker: Deluxe Series
          \nYoshi’s Island DS
          \nZoo Tycoon DS\n<\/ul>\n

          <\/em><\/p>\n

          Source: Nintendo’s Official Game List (http:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/gamelist)<\/small><\/p>\n

          <\/div>\n

          Everything Else: Nintendo Systems with Negligible System-Naming<\/h3>\n

          \"NegligibleThe NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Virtual Boy systems all have either a couple or no games named after the system. So what happened?<\/p>\n

          Well, the NES started it all, so it’s what all other Nintendo systems are compared to. The closest you can get to system-naming on the NES are the games NES Open Tournament Golf<\/em>, NES Play Action Football<\/em>, and Nintendo World Cup Soccer<\/em>. The NES was the home of the original games — like Metroid<\/em>, Zelda<\/em>, Castlevania<\/em>, and even Tennis<\/em> — that were typically upgraded with affixes later.<\/p>\n

          The original Game Boy had its own unique name that wasn’t a play on either “Nintendo” or “NES” (i.e. it’s not the “Nintendo Boy” or “Mini NES”) . But, in turn, it would be “name upgraded” like the NES was with the “Game Boy Advance” later on. Also, the suffix “Boy” isn’t generic enough to add to every game out there. Imagine “Metroid Boy,” “Super Mario Boy,” “WWF Wrestlemania Boy,” or “Barbie Fashion Boy” and you’ll get the idea. There was<\/em> one “Boy”-derived game title — Blaster Master Boy<\/em> — and one “Game Boy” title, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Game Boy Adventure<\/em>, but that’s it. Once the smaller Game Boy Pocket was released, a few titles played off of either that or just the portability of the Game Boy in general, like Pokémon<\/em> (a contraction of the term “Pocket Monsters”), Pocket Bowling<\/em>, and Pocket Bomberman<\/em>.<\/p>\n

          The Game Boy Color had its own pseudo system-naming suffix in the form of “DX,” which appeared in titles such as Tetris DX<\/em>, Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX<\/em>, R-Type DX<\/em>, and to some extent, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe<\/em>. Two games included the system term “Color:” Ms. Pac-Man Special Color Edition<\/em> and Pac-Man Special Color Edition<\/em>. Other than that, the GBC library is conspicuously lacking more “Color” games. <\/p>\n

          Did you know that 7% of the entire Virtual Boy game catalog released in the US begins with “Virtual?” Well, sure…it’s 7%, but 7% of fourteen games ever released in North America. So only one game, Virtual League Baseball<\/em> carries that distinction. However, I have no doubt that if the Virtual Boy had stayed around long enough, there would have been many more game titles christened with the “Virtual” prefix.<\/p>\n

          Source: Nintendo’s Official PDF Game Lists (http:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/gamelist?category=classic)<\/small><\/p>\n

          <\/div>\n

          The World Beyond Nintendo<\/h3>\n

          \"GenesisNotice how this article only focuses on Nintendo-released game systems? Other companies just don’t seem to “get it” when it comes to system-naming. What’s up, Sega? Why the “Genesis?” Why not the “Super Sega Master System?” And why give a console a dumb name like the “Saturn” when it could have been the “Genesis Plus?”<\/p>\n

          No other game hardware company seems to be into upgrade affixes like Nintendo. The closest any organization has ever come was Atari with their Atari 400 \/ 600\/ 800 \/ 1200XL \/ 130XE (etc…) 8-bit computer line and their Atari 2600 \/ 5200 \/ 7800 game consoles. Still, I can’t think of any games with “7800” or “5200” in the title, can you?<\/p>\n

          There are no games for the Sega Genesis that carry the system title. However, there are two games that carry the Japanese title of the system, which is “Mega Drive.” Those games are Mega Bomberman<\/em> and Mega Turrican<\/em>, but those were the only “Mega” games released in the US, so I’m not sure how many there were in Japan.<\/p>\n

          And sure, the Sega CD, Sega 32X, and the Xbox 360 use upgrade affixes, but there aren’t many games for those systems that used system-derived titles. I haven’t made a study of it, but I know there’s at least one Sega CD title, Sonic CD<\/em>, that carries the system name. There were no games for the 32X that included “32X” in the title (according to Wikipedia, anyway). And the Xbox 360? You got me on that one. I doubt there are any “360”-titled games, but feel free to let me know about in the comments section!<\/p>\n

          Playstation? Playstation 2? Playstation 3? Not much luck there either.<\/p>\n

          <\/div>\n

          The Future of System-Related Game Names<\/h3>\n

          \"Wii\"So, aside from absolutely nothing, what have we learned about the practice of system-naming? Mostly that publishers who produce titles for Nintendo like to do it a lot, and that they’ll probably continue to do so as long as Nintendo keeps using upgrade affixes in their system titles. The current generation of Nintendo systems is split in the system-naming department. There’s the Nintendo DS, which is the new standard-bearer of system-naming, but then there’s the Wii. With Nintendo’s release of a console that only goes by “Wii” and not “Nintendo Wii,” the future of non-portable system-naming looks bleak. That is, of course, until Nintendo releases the “Super Wii” or the “Wii 256,” which will start the cycle all over again.<\/p>\n

          Yeah, there have been a few games like Wii Sports<\/em> and Wii Play<\/em> that include the Wii system name so far, but I don’t think that trend will be very popular. If anything, expect more titles that play on the pun of “Wii” = “we.” Regardless, I can’t wait until the Wii version of the sequel to iNeed<\/em> (aka iNeed 2 Wii<\/em>) is released next December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          What’s in a name? Well, if it’s the name of a game for a Nintendo console, there’s a strong chance that part of the system’s name will make an appearance. Popular examples of this practice include the game title Super Metroid for the Super NES and Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64. I call […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,24,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video-game-collecting","category-video-game-info-and-history","category-humor","category-nes-famicom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}