10 CRAZIEST Things Nintendo Has Ever Done

4. Ignoring Europe During The Original Console Wars

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It's safe to say that Nintendo pretty soundly won the original so called "console wars" but there was a time when they were giving the esteemed competition a serious advantage.

While Nintendo wasn't an unknown presence in Europe, their advertising and distribution just didn't measure up to Sega, who were selling like hot cakes in comparison.

If you follow any European gaming YouTuber over 30, you've probably heard them talk about the Sega Mega Drive to death, but chances are they barely mention the NES or SNES. That's because Sega prioritized Europe far more than Nintendo at the time.

The result of this is that Sega got a LOT of mileage out of its European market, while Nintendo focused the hardest on America and Japan.

Now, while this ultimately worked out for Nintendo in the end, the fact they largely ignored Europe is frankly ludicrous. Sega was very lucky to be in a position to take advantage of this oversight, because they might not have lasted as long as they did otherwise.

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John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?