Nintendo's Bizarre Web Browsers for Windows
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- čas přidán 18. 05. 2024
- Back in the early 2000s, the tech world saw the release of a handful of custom web browsers themed after Nintendo games. Turns out, they were created with Nintendo's blessing - and it resulted in some rather bizarre Windows software that you don't typically associate with the company. Let's check them out!
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:34 - Backstory
03:09 - Installation & Patching
05:32 - Pokémon Gold & Silver
09:03 - Mario Tennis
10:18 - Nintendo Power
11:43 - Paper Mario
12:43 - Zelda
14:34 - But wait, there's more!
18:23 - Outro
The First 5 Browsers: archive.org/details/ninten-me...
Metroid Prime Browser: archive.org/details/pftwMetroidP
Pokemon Colosseum Browser: archive.org/details/PokemonCB...
Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire Browser: archive.org/details/PokemonRS...
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#MichaelMJD #Nintendo #Windows - Věda a technologie
01:08 "Putting ads on the desktop" - a headline only two decades ahead of its time...
Windows 98 had that channel bar that showed ads on the desktop. Fortunately, it can be removed in one click.
Wow, the designs of these Internet Explorer clones look very much like kids' websites of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nice job!
This is so sad, imagine downloading what essentially is a program to sell you the game and then it also has ads
Nintendo is for kids.
@@9852323 Says the guy who deliberately clicked on a Nintendo themed video. Also, kids totally don't play Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto and other M rated games that they probably shouldn't be playing on PC, XBOX, and Playstation. Also a lot of them play mobile phone games. I guess you play none of the above. You sure showed everyone.
damn struck a nerve huh? @@myhandleiswhat
@@9852323 like no fucking shit man, their target audience is not exactly "hospice patients".
Advertisements built into the web browser? DON'T tell Google!
They kinda already do that
Opera had banner ads way back in the day
They're already siphoning your data, then again with the current state of CZcams... I dunno if people would be willing to put up with that. I remember there was malware in the 90's and 00's that would randomly distribute ads to you. My father downloading god knows what and blaming it on me.
Wow, I see CZcams updated, even I can't see my hidden for whatever reason comment unless I do "newest" and search for your comment. Good show, CZcams.
as an opera gx user sometimes it adds websites i never added to the new tab page and also shows a little ad on in the corner of the new tab page sometimes @@agy234
there's something in my brain that feels so wrong about seeing games on the Gameboy Color and the N64 getting full-on web browsers even though chronologically it makes total sense.
One thing that messes with my head is the Wii's long lifespan.
The last two Wii games came out in 2020. It's weird to think about how an 00s console had games officially released for it in the 2020s.
@@EnigmaticLucas To mess with it even more, that was not even that long after the console officially died. The Wii died in 2017 because the WiiU also included one, so their lifespans were pretty much linked.
@@lpfan4491 What?
@@girlmaya6818 vWii.
@@girlmaya6818the wiiU had a wii compatibility layer that let you run wii games.
The fact that there's not only an entire sidebar that takes up 1/3rd of the browser dedicated solely to advertising a product to you, but also rotating banner ads in the bottom, is so egregious to me lmao. And on a kid's promotional product too. Absolutely insidious.
Fun fact: stuff like this is the reason why laws like COPPA exist.
And then, you go to CZcams and… _see ads._ Then you watch a video and see… _midroll_ ads. And then you continue to watch a video _after_ the mid-roll ads, and see… *_banner_* ads. Oh, something in the banner interested you? _Too bad_ midroll ad!_ Then you go away from CZcams and get… _an _*_interactive_*_ flash ad!_ 💀
@@bluephreakr I've used an adblocker for so long i sometime forget that CZcams does have ads lol
@@bluephreakr if you're getting flash ads in 2024 you have other problems to worry about
@@ryjelsum It was a little bit of hyperbole.
It probably wouldn't be surprising to say these could've been recreated in PowerPoint with the Internet Explorer ActiveX control and macro scripting.
Ah yes, PowerPoint internet browsers. Takes me back.
my friend used to do that in the windows 7 era
At some point, "making" your own browser was so easy, a child could do it. Fire up Visual Basic and click and drag the browser ActiveX control. Throw a text box and a button, and add pokemon pictures on it and boom, your own browser
I think it was the ignorance of how effortless these types of things were that got advertisers buying into them.
you still can by using WebView2, which is based on Chromium Edge
It still is that easy (kind of). The ActiveX control was replaced by WebView and WebView2 controls, which are under .NET, so that still technically counts as Visual Basic.
I did this when I was a kid! VB 2005 wooooo
Man, these browsers look so funky. Perfect for the 90s, I suppose.
That MediaBrowser logo punched me in the face with how 90s it is
waluigi tennis iirc was where the toenail clipping game came from, with the joke being that waluigi wasn't added to mario tennis.
That's the punchline... FEET
As a long-time Pokémon fan, I can't believe I never knew about these browsers. While I was only 9 when the Gold and Silver one came out, I preordered Colosseum and it was my favorite game for quite some time so you'd think I would have heard about that one.
So I'll say this... Nintendo did an absolutely terrible job at advertising and promoting these things. I had a Nintendo Power subscription and I read every issue of it, and not a single word about Nintendo-themed web browsers. I'm surprised even those 72000 people knew about it to install it originally.
Also, that's a nice "hack" for getting an ad-free experience on those Mediaweb browsers, simply having the ads be offline for decades!
Followup comment. In the archive, there are a couple screensavers included too. Both are from Nintendo of Europe and one has a control panel in German.
So I'm guessing all of these came from NoE, which explains why I never heard of it as I'm in America. Despite being the same corporation, Nintendo of Europe and Nintendo of America don't really collaborate on things so any promotional stuff released by one of them was probably not mentioned by the other.
@@drfsupercenter I was going to say -- as someone who was Extremely Online and Extremely Into Video Games back then, there's no way I wouldn't have heard about these. Unless of course they were targeted at another continent.
Weird shitware like this is why I like the old web so much. Yeah everything's cleaner and more practical nowadays, but it's *boring*!
At least Firefox browsers allow you to still install skins.
@@kingzach74and some even turns it into a different browser. there are themes that makes Firefox look completely like IE8, for example!
this one was quite bad but you had a lot of good ideas back then that got forgotten.
@@kingzach74 I finally looked at that stuff on firefox for the first time a few weeks ago. Man I wish I did that earlier lol. Got some good ones
Insane really, getting someone to install a banner ad that takes up an enormous amount of their limited Y2K screen real estate
Sounds like the 'browsers' I made in VB6 when I was 13 - paste IE5 ActiveX object onto a form - add buttons for forward, back, home and refresh - job done :D
I remeber VB5 being able to do that as well
Someone should find a way to replace the embedded IE frame with a modern version of Firefox for those, so you can use them to browse the modern web.
Firefox isn't available as an embedded "Web View" like Internet Explorer. I know Chromium and various flavours of WebKit are, though.
@@nulcowExactly :)...
Honestly, what happens if you install this on Windows XP with IE8? Does it still work? You could then upgrade that computer to Vista and Windows 7 to get IE9, and so on. Hmm, I want to try this in a VM
Like using whatever Wine uses to embed Gecko in its internet panes?
palemoon esque
This type of wacky turn of the millennium software retrospective is why I like this channel.
I think the reason why they didn't specify that it was a browser in the shortcut name is to trick kids into clicking on the shortcut to show them ads.
or windows back then had a much shorter character limit.
It's definitely for ads. The character limit hasn't changed since Windows 95.
Narrator (V.O.)
He didn't want them to believe he found joy in the Waluigi laugh, but secretly he relished every chuckle. He intends to take this secret to the grave.
9:29 The game that was meant to be in that space was "Waluigi's Foot Fault", a game about clipping Waluigi's toenails. I'm being serious...💀
I'm honestly glad these things never got to get cramped even further with ads. Where would you even fit them??
They were going to go in that panel at the bottom that's also a broken page.
@@stevethepocket Yep, saw that but it’s hard to believe they could sustain an entire company just with a footer ad. That must’ve been merely a Phase 1 setup - the end result, to make financial sense, would’ve led to a layout looking like those IE6 with 7 billion ActiveX toolbar plugins screenshots.
I remember there was a "Metroid Prime" internet browser that I tried getting to work forever ago but never did.
It came out around 2002 in a GameCube promo CD along with probably a bunch of other things too.
I just find it really funny that the icons for these skinned browsers is just the game logo with the game's name and no mention of "internet browser" in the name.
If i remember correctly VB5 had the ability to insert a browser into just about anything so it would have "super easy barley an inconvience" to make a themed browser once you had a proper project template made...
Man, I bet Bonzai Buddy would have loved that browser. He was such a good friend.
I think the Nintendo Power one may have been one that would change monthly. If you notice in the upper left it had the month and "issue" number. My guess is each month the promoted game would update. The base install was just Banjo.
I remember these but every company had weird computer stuff in the 90’s.
Cap’n Crunch had this sick game that came with the cereal.
As a Pokémon Colosseum fan, I'm quite delighted with this✨
Never knew Nintendo Web Browsers were a thing! Great video Michael!
Me neither. They look impressive!
WAIT, THIS VIDEO JUST RELEASED AN HOUR AGO NOT 21- TF?
@@muffinV136 patreon and youtube memberships have early video viewing perms
@@muffinV136it's probably a member because some videos get released to members early
> See's Nintendo
Nintendo's ethically-dead lawyers: NINTENDO MENTIONED
I remember downloading these back in the day. Even as a kid I realized they were basically just skins for IE. I don't think I used them seriously as a web browser, my main browser was Netscape and later Firefox. I had no idea about the later GameCube era browsers though. I think by that point the novelty of software trinkets was gone.
This reminds me of a Daria themed web browser that MTV had back in the day. I wish I still had the install file for that, I had a lot of fun with it at the time.
Dig through the Internet Archive; you might find a cache of MTV browsers.
Maybe Nintendo thought they were called MediaBowser and immediately signed a contract with them without reading it.
the Nintendo Power browser references issue #139 which featured Banjo Tooie as the cover story.
I'm not sure if they intended to update it for different issues or just really liked the December 2000 issue. 🤷♀️
Tampa Bay resident since 1986, so that's kinda wild, lol.
EDIT: Wow, two entirely separate Florida universities (UCF and FSU) made a deal with this company? man, lmao.
this looks really cool, it would be nice if there was some kind of chrome theme like this
Imagine reading the Vaporeon copy-pasta on the Pokémon Internet Browser
I had something like this at the time (or I guess a little before), but it was a themeable browser with a gen1 theme instead of gen2. There were a whole bunch of other themes for it, too and I imagine it was also just a reskin of IE. Probably not as official or anything, might have to try and see if I can find any reference to it having existed sometime.
I JUST bought those exact same speakers a few days ago; brand new and sealed! My mom used to have them on her Gateway PC back in 2002. They're a little boomy/bassy but sound pretty decent when EQed first.
Great video! Very interesting that Nintendo made browsers.
This oddly reminds me of my local library computer because It had a really kid themed computer
If I didn't have dial up growing up, I'd probably enjoy those browsers, despite the ads.
Do you plan to make another video about CavEX for the Wii one day? Not so long ago an update dropped and now you can actually play the game like a normal minecraft (instead of flying all the time). Although there are still some features missing, yet to be added by the creator.
Certainly a possibility! I'll have to make a note of this. Thanks for the suggestion!
I would have 100% installed these back in the day if I had come across them! Loved discovering and trying software in the early Internet days.
Love the Protoweb project keeping the old internet alive!
And this still kinda-sorta exist with proprietary-franchise based themes for browsers like Chrome and Edge.
Absolutely fascinating! I love these weird little nuggets of 00s nostalgia.
It's a nice touch that the top left logo its animated while the website is loading.
It's amazing how minimal the old windows design is
Fr everything feels so convoluted and not user friendly
Haven't watched the video yet but I've been thinking about these for a while and I'm surprised no one has made a video on these yet. I first learned about these by checking the earliest Pokemon websites on wayback and they were being advertised.
I'd very much still want a web browser that is aggressively Pokémon-themed, to the point of almost being a detriment to its usability.
It's always a good day when Michael uploads a video.
I remember these!! Ahh, they were so cool! I used the Pokemon GS and Majora's Mask ones for a while.
I love stuff like this like it was definitely a product of its time but pretty cool. Stuff like the gps on psp and food delivery on wii are just cool
Definetly gonna use one of these for my compaq computer
Man, this is some interesting stuff. It's always intriguing to see old stuff like this in action. I'm kind of curious as to what other games could've ended up getting these. Like for example, we could've gotten one themed around Kirby 64, given the timeframe these came out in.
MM yes , my favorite tech youtuber , well atleast favorite in list of my fav youtubers
I can't even remember the last time I saw those icons for image files. Does every OS eschew them now in favor of displaying a thumbnail of the image?
I'd use the Mario browser any day if there was a Windows 10 version for it.
I was here before this comment becomes famous ! And also first like
bowser takes over your browser
@@heather3838 posts in an hour, lol. How's in feel to get clowned by reality?
@@blunderingfool:(
I'd use a Waluigi browser
If MJD had a web browser, i'd use it.
When installing, it always fails at first and you have to spend a lengthy amount of time to get it working.
@@CayenneGaramondeSounds like a Linux distro
@@CayenneGaramondeSounds like a MJD style of video.
@@GoogleDoesEvil Is that really even still an issue outside of bleeding edge hardware that isn't likely to have driver support for distros using older kernels?
@@myhandleiswhat The only computer I have that can run Linux reliably is my Microsoft Surface. All my other desktops really struggle with task scheduling on Linux for some reason. And because of how *nix works, when the OS locks up when performing a bunch of file operations it corrupts the filesystem and then you have to manually run fsck in the Grub recovery menu. Windows does not have these issues.
I wonder if the Nintendo Power one would update, say, monthly to reflect the cover game, maybe Banjo Toowie was the "active" cover game at the time they froze for release?
Id love for something like this to be made in future. A lot of browsers feel sort of same-y but having Nintendo themed ads is a fair sacrifice to make for personality. There's a lot of charm to them!
Yep, I used these as a kid. Finally something I already used!!!
For real, UI was a really new concept back in the 2000s. But these skins, just make it that much more impossible to see what needs to be pressed, or where you need to point your cursor. I'm glad we've learned. 😂🤣
I would absolutely love to see how these browsers perform under windows 10 or 11
As a dumb child with an obsession with pokemon and limited supervision, i am surprised i didn't use this.
This video reminded me of some sort of WB web browser thing that installed off of my Pokemon: The First Movie DVD back in the day. I wonder if I could find that online somewhere.
I forgot I had Minecraft running in the background while watching this.
The music just worked too well.
at that time I was a kid "developing" in Visual Basic. and one of the available component was IE browser.
I remember doing very similar stuff but for my own use. So I believe they did the same here
That wallpaper is awesome
I dont remember what browser came out that was themable and i spent like a week making a Sailor Mars theme back in like 2000 lol 😅 i think it used the firefox engine
Likely Netscape
Do the Austin Powers web browser, it came with DVD copies of Austin Powers 2
Was 20 when these released and TOTALLY remember this.
i really like that desktop background ;o; gimme lol
the puzzle pieces on the nintendo power one is part of the banjo tooie theme. you collect puzzle pieces in the game
This is really cool I love watching these videos everything a mjd video is out I stop what I am doing to watch his latest video
1:11 Ayo they had Opera GX before Opera GX
I love the floppy disk wall
I never used these myself but I somehow remember them now i've seen how they look again.
This whole thing reminds me of MSN Explorer, which was basically IE, but had MSN Messenger attached. Goor times.
I was here when it released to public
I remember the Pokémon browser being bundled on the preorder Windows CD.
This is just using OLE objects. IE had one. I use to use it to render basic HTML back in the day when I wrote some VB6 apps. You could tie all the IE buttons and menu items to object methods and create your own control GUI for it.
Nice video :)
Some browsers do not take up the whole screen. You can see that on the pikachu browser, where you can see some desktop to the left.
I took a look around but couldn’t find their Star Wars ones mentioned in some press releases
I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo made a prototype Mario game for Windows 98.
I absolutely love this, i want gold and silver browser for my modern pc, i wish
I wish these worked on new browsers.
Maybe you should do a video on the Kirby browsers
Yo Micheal mjd I am a big fan ! I love your content you got this !
hey michael i have a idea for your next video after the one you just made there is a project thats out that revived the wii shop channel its called the rii shop channel and its not that hard to setup from what i saw
Great video! What's happening with old net though
Ads? Like the banner in 2000s Opera? Or the popup in early versions of iCab?
This is the equivalent of every website telling you to download the app which is actually just a webview of their website.
11:20 We were initially on version 1.--- Zelda boss battle theme starts playing ad with bird in a pit of trash what the heck
Damn that logo on the thumbnail was so convincing that I wanted to believe it real.
I love your vids!!!!!
Seems to be very interesting!!!
More web browser content please :)
We want that web browsers for Chrome o Firefox etc thats look insanely cool !!!
I had a Program that made it really easy to made your own Browser aka Skin for Internet Explorer, made some different ones and it worked pretty good.
Maybe it was the same Company.Edit: Guessing from the Look of those Skins in the Video, it was the same. Had some Stuff with Final Fantasy X.
Edit2: But i could swear the Layout was different and that i was able to change Stuff around and don't having Advertisment.