@Guru_Larry As mentioned above in the comments, Nintendo was a big thing in the Nordic countries in the 1980s and 1990s, so you shouldn't be making sweeping statements about the whole of Europe either. My childhood here in Finland was very much coloured by the NES and its games, as half the kids I knew had one, whereas only one of my friends had a Sega Master System.
Nintendo didn't take Europe seriously until the 16-bit era, instead allowing Bandai to distribute its hardware in the region. As a result, it was the Sega Master System which introduced many European players to the wonders of game consoles, and by the time the Mega Drive arrived, Sega had a sizeable lead over Nintendo in the territory – and by the time Sega's star began to fall, Sony's PlayStation was on the market, meaning that many Europeans bypassed Nintendo altogether.
The quoted statements may be true of France and some other parts of Europe, but you shouldn't really be talking about Europe as whole. For example, here in the Nordic countries the original NES was very popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, much more popular than Sega's consoles. So it would be considered weird if a Nordic game director in their 40s would say that they've never played any NES or SNES games.
Comments 2
Re: Random: "That's Wild" - The Fact That Two French Devs Didn't Play Nintendo As Kids Appears To Have Upset Some People
@Guru_Larry As mentioned above in the comments, Nintendo was a big thing in the Nordic countries in the 1980s and 1990s, so you shouldn't be making sweeping statements about the whole of Europe either. My childhood here in Finland was very much coloured by the NES and its games, as half the kids I knew had one, whereas only one of my friends had a Sega Master System.
Re: Random: "That's Wild" - The Fact That Two French Devs Didn't Play Nintendo As Kids Appears To Have Upset Some People
The quoted statements may be true of France and some other parts of Europe, but you shouldn't really be talking about Europe as whole. For example, here in the Nordic countries the original NES was very popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, much more popular than Sega's consoles. So it would be considered weird if a Nordic game director in their 40s would say that they've never played any NES or SNES games.