Nintendo On

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nintendo On is a fake video game console. The console was introduced in 6 minute and 21 second video released on the internet in 2005, shortly before E3. The video was created by Pablo Belmonte from Spain who goes by the screen name "psyco3ler." Belmonte posted it on message boards claiming to have found a leaked trailer of Nintendo's next console, at that time code-named Revolution. The video was very convincing to most, and it is now considered to be one of the greatest hoaxes in video game history.

1 Features
2 Reaction
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Features

The Nintendo On video can be divided into several parts:

(0:00) The first shows a brief history of Nintendo's consumer gaming hardware since 1980 (Game & Watch through Nintendo DS). This is set to the song "Guns" by Harry Gregson-Williams from the soundtrack to The Rundown. Each system is accompanied by a number representing an aspect of the system fetaured:
- 1980: Game & Watch - Age 01 (A Starman icon is pictured next to the number)
- 1983: Nintendo Entertainment System - 08 Bits (A Nintendo controller icon is pictured next to the number)
- 1989: Game Boy - 04 Grey Tones (A Game Boy icon is pictured next to the number)
- 1990: Super Nintendo Entertainment System - 02 Worlds (A Yoshi icon is pictured next to the number)
- 1995: Virtual Boy - 03 3D (A 3D glasses icon is pictured next to the number)
- 1996: Nintendo 64 - 04 Players (A Nintendo 64 controller icon is pictured next to the number)
- 2001: Game Boy Advance - 02 Designs (This time, two icons accompany the number; the original Game Boy Advance and the Game Boy Advance SP)
- 2002: Nintendo GameCube - 128 Marios (A Paper Mario icon is pictued next to the number)
- 2004: Nintendo DS - 02 Screens (A duel screen icon is pictured next to the number)
(1:29) A Nintendo DS is pictured, and the camera zooms in on the screen to display Princess Peach's castle in what is made out to be Super Mario 64 DS. After a flyby of the castle similar to the one at the beginning of the game, the camera goes into a closeup of the stained glass window of Peach while the year "2005" is displayed. A counter appears at the bottom of the screen, marked "NINTENDO REVOLUTION DAY", with an icon of the castle next to it and the number "000.000.001" displayed below it, and the camera begins to pull out to show a field of castles, which turns out to be itself a castle covered in thousands of smaller castles. During this, the counter continuously counts up the number of castles shown. The camera contiunes to pull back to reveal that the larger castle is part of a similar field of castles that makes up the Nintendo logo. At this point, the counter finally reaches the number "512.000.000". This is set to a remix of the music played in Bowser's levels from Super Mario 64, with part of the music from the ending of said game and concluding with Mario's victory from Super Smash Bros. Melee.
(3:16) Various close-ups of the console, consisting of a headset on top of a roughly hemispherical "brain" unit. set to slower electronic music.
(4:09) "Guns" starts again, and the video introduces the console's method of operation: a wireless headset is used as a controller that gives visual feedback, eliminating the necessity of a television or other display device. It also displays features of the console that have never been seen before in a video game console, making it the most immersive and innovative console ever.
(5:42) The final scenes of the video show hypothetical games in the Metroid and Super Mario franchises that use the VR headset. This part is also set to "Guns", and it ends abruptly.

[edit] Reaction

At the time, many people took the Nintendo On video as a true announcement of Nintendo's next generation system, because the console's description seemed to go along with what Nintendo had said they were planning for the Revolution. However, as time went on, no further information on the console was released by Nintendo, and the Nintendo On video was declared a hoax when Nintendo finally released pictures of the Revolution console after E3 2005. Now, some people continue to theorize that the Nintendo On was a very early preview of the Wii's successor or a Wii accessory and that it is actually under development by Nintendo, though this is highly unlikely. Others believe that the video was released merely as a prediction of Nintendo's path. Due to its similarities to the Wii in innovation, people sometimes compare the two.