The DS was Nintendo's biggest gamble in years: up against the PSP which is a much more powerful multimedia machine, the DS was expected by the industry to be an out and out failure. Even the company pitched it as the "Third Pillar" alongside the Game Boy Advance and the GameCube. It was supposed to be another string to the bow and a kind of stop gap between the GBA and the Game Boy Next, or Game Boy Evolution, or the Game Boy Revolution or even the Game Boy Superior. Whatever. The fact is that Nintendo could not have anticipated the success of the machine � its flagship title was a rehash of a game that was released as a system seller on another machine. Ridiculous.

Despite the derision of insiders, the out and out abhorrence of retailers and the general indifference of the gaming public, the machine became a best seller overnight. No longer was it a third pillar to the ageing GBA or the under-performing GameCube, it was THE pillar on which the triumphal arch of gaming's future had to be built.

Then along comes the Wii: tiny when compared not only in size to its rivals but also in terms of power. With a revolutionary control system that was derided as much as the touch screen on the DS, critics and rivals were already sharpening their knives.

But somehow lightning struck twice: simultaneously regaining the lost trust of casual gamers and silencing critics into a miserable sulk. With nothing more to say about the inevitable failure of the console, journalists are restricted to ridiculing the profusion of "waggle" games and casual titles that neither stretch the capabilities of the machine nor the imagination.

Analysts and journalists have been predicting Nintendo's doom since the demise of the N64, and the GameCube was almost certainly the end for the company as far as the experts were concerned. But valiantly Nintendo fans fought on, enjoying the infrequent but high-quality gaming experiences that we have been relying on the Big N to supply us with for years.

Now, Nintendo is in an unusual position, a position of power once again. We are not the covetous prince trying to buy favour in the court � that role is ably played by Microsoft. Nor do we find ourselves the king of the land: Sony's legacy is far too entrenched in recent memory to be so easily toppled. Instead we play the presumptuous heir-apparent returned from our quest on the fringes of the known kingdom. Charming, fun to be with, vapid at times but mature in unexpected ways, it is almost impossible to resist the lure of Wii Sports, or to make a fool out of yourself on the Balance Board. Fun is the new word in the court, and it rattles through the halls of the castle like the whisperings of a revolution.

What scares me most, is that I have nothing to complain about. Nintendo are finally hitting the right buttons and getting people to buy their consoles over that of their rivals. What worries me most is what comes next. The effective lifespan of most consoles is about four years, plus or minus six months. More if you are a PS or PS2, but they are aberrations by the standards of a cynical market.

Now we find ourselves in this dominant position, what do we do? Settle old scores with our rivals? All glory is fleeting, and success can be snatched by the jaws of failure, just as victory can be taken from the feeding bowl of defeat. Prophecies of doom also seem unnecessary, and are easily debunked with continually strong sales figures.

But years of perceived failure have taught Nintendo fans that things can go wrong very quickly, so I find myself in a state of much more agitation than before. Time was, we knew for certain our big releases would cause a temporary spike in disappointing console sales, but now I find myself waiting for the first mistake so I can condemn Nintendo, rather than spend my time praising their success.

It's no way to live, with your nerves permanently on edge like this, anticipating the straw that breaks the donkey's back. And it's not just me: other journalists have already jumped before the gunshot has gone off and led a feeding frenzy on the company when Mario Kart did not match the stellar sales of Grand Theft Auto 4. And we are suddenly back in the old familiar country of defending Nintendo, but for all the wrong reasons.

Grand Theft Auto is arguably the most bankable franchise available on any console. Even the rubbish San Andreas was phenomenally popular and received glaringly blind reviews. This new game has easily beaten most sales records, and that's fantastic. But why compare it with Mario Kart at all? Mario Kart is a totally different genre available on only one console. It has less of a media buzz around it, and � for goodness sakes be realistic! If there were a freshly polished lump of dog poo in every box, the game would still sell. Because it's Grand Theft Auto.

Such a reaction is similar to acting surprised when Manchester United thrash Doncaster Rovers, or when the winner of the X-Factor goes straight to number one, beating out someone like Foster and Allen (ask your granddad). It's inevitable that the bigger and markedly more popular title will outsell any competing title, so why should Mario Kart be any different?

Perhaps this is where we hit upon the core issue: we all believe that Nintendo games are made better than others. And largely, it's true. The problem is that only a few people up until now have known this undeniable truth, so this new mass-market approach is going to take a little while to really filter through to everyone targeted. Even so, the likelihood of something like Mario Kart or Mario Golf outselling GTA is remote at best.

The well-worn path of defensiveness feels good in a way: we've known it for so long it has become our comfort zone, the snuggly blanket from when you were a child. The residual memory is so strong that we cannot help but coming back to it. The real proof, however, will be whether or not Nintendo can translate this success into the next generation. And the next generation scares me because now that Nintendo have proven that not only does innovation work, they've proven that it's bankable. If the rivals of the Big N start to innovate more, then Nintendo's often scatter-brained approach may not work a second time, and us Nintendo fans may have the sweet taste of success torn from our salivating tongues.

- Iun Hockley
N-Europe Staff Writer