Nsider
Nsider was an online chatroom created by Nintendo in 1996, at which time it was known as The Loud House. In addition to the chat room features, the website featured various activities, contests, and articles that the user could access. Many of these features were themed to or involved the Super Mario franchise.
The Loud House[edit]
- Main articles: Mario Kart Logic Puzzle, Loud House Anagram Challenge, Ask Dan
The Loud House's functionality differed little from that of Nsider. However, it did feature a series of unique contests and activities, including the Mario Kart Logic Puzzle (to which the answer was "Luigi"), for which the winner, whose username was Caseyh, won a large t-shirt with a picture of Bowser on it. In addition, the winner of the contest involving the Loud House Anagram Challenge, whose username was Xizor, also won the same prize. Ask Dan also appears to have been part of The Loud House, which included special live sessions in the "Loud House Chat Arena". In addition, an image of Donkey Kong riding Enguarde was shown on the sign-up screen.
Rebrand[edit]
The Loud House was rebranded to Nsider in late 1997. New articles, contests, and activities would continue to be introduced, though Ask Dan was carried over from The Loud House. A new section was added, this being the "Arena" section, in which players could attempt to obtain high scores in certain games with the intention of being featured in Nintendo Power. The whole website now featured a predominantly green and black color scheme. In addition, a poll was featured on the main page, with three of its questions relating to the Super Mario franchise.
- articles
- Main articles: Ask Dan, Trav's Test Drive, Miyamoto on Zelda
The "Articles" section of the website featured three types of articles related to the Super Mario franchise, these being Ask Dan, in which users sent in many questions relating to various Super Mario games, Trav's Test Drive, in which Travis (or "Trav") reviews video games, one of these being Mario Party 2, and Miyamoto on Zelda, an exclusive interview with Shigeru Miyamoto that mentions Super Mario 64 and its cancelled sequel.
- contests
The "contests" section of the website allowed users both to participate in and view the winners of previous contests. After the rebranding from The Loud House to Nsider, only one of these contests was themed to the Super Mario franchise, this being Grab Bag The prizes included both a Mario and a Donkey Kong shirt.
- arena
The "arena" section of the site allowed users to attempt to attain specific scores in order to be featured in Nintendo Power. The list of games that the user could attempt to attain a specific score in included certain games in the Super Mario franchise, including Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong Land III, and Yoshi's Story.
- store 64
The "store 64" section of the site allowed users to view previews of merchandise from getngear.com, with the user being able to see the item number, the price, an image of the merchandise, and the phone number that the user must call to order the merchandise.
- Ntertainment
- Main articles: Donkey Kong Country 3 Challenge, Diddy Kong Racing Challenges, Super Mario 64 Challenges, Cold Crossword Challenge, Rewrite Auld Lang Syne, New Year's Resolutions, Box Art Challenge, Lost in the DK Isles
The "Ntertainment" section of the website contained activities for the user to participate in, with the majority of the activities being themed after games in the Super Mario franchise on the Nintendo 64. In addition, certain contests (New Year's Resolutions, Rewrite Auld Lang Syne) and "Game Challenges" were also available from the Ntertainment section of the site.
Second restructuring[edit]
The site was heavily modified a second time in 2001. The activities were removed, and a section for fan-created art ("Fan Galleries") was added. A "Featured Galleries" section was also added directly underneath. The section for fan-maintained sites was kept, though all other aspects of the site aside from the chat functionality were removed.
Third restructuring[edit]
The site was heavily modified for a third and final time in 2004. The only functionality that appears to remain is the chatroom functionality; the site had been stripped of any other elements.
Closing[edit]
Due to Nintendo overhauling the nintendo.com domain, the Nsider forums were permanently closed on September 24, 2007.[1] All of the pre-existing forums were temporarily available in read-only format from September 17 of that year to the 24th.[1]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- The webpage with the "The Loud House" sign-up page (archived)
- Nsider circa 1998 (archived)
- Nsider circa 2001 (archived)
| Mario Party 2 | |
|---|---|
| Main characters | Mario • Luigi • Princess Peach • Yoshi • Wario • Donkey Kong |
| Other characters | Bowser • Toad • Goomba • Boo • Koopa Troopa • Thwomp • Kamek • Whomp • Big Boo • Mr. I • Mushroom Genie • Steamer • Snifit Patrol • Shy Guy • Sushi • Baby Bowser • Woody • Professor Fungi • Battle T. • Totem Bros. |
| Items | Mushroom • Skeleton Key • Plunder Chest • Dueling Glove • Warp Block • Golden Mushroom • Magic Lamp • Boo Bell • Bowser Suit • Bowser Bomb |
| Spaces | Blue Space • Red Space • Item Space • Happening Space • Battle Space • Bowser Space • Star Space • Chance Time Space • Bank Space |
| Boards | Pirate Land • Western Land • Space Land • Mystery Land • Horror Land • Bowser Land |
| Other | Crazy Counting • Dinky Rinky • Goodness Rakes • Melon Mayhem • Nintendo 64 Funtastic Series Personality Test • Nomiss • Rules Land • Gallery • Mario Land • Multimedia • Minigames • Nsider • Pre-release and unused content • Quotes • Sound test • Staff • Trav's Test Drive |
