The Mystery of the Nintendo Triangles

I love the title

Anyway, one day when I was looking through my collection of gamecube and wii games I suddenly realied there were little triangles on the case:

Notice the green triangle at the botton of the cover? What are they?

I've been asking many people about this. Someone in a video game store told me they were for the japanese market, and that Nintendo used them to separate genres. But that can't be right. Since when is Sonic (above) the same genre as Medal of Honor... and Mario Kart (GC)?

Worse yet, here's another Sonic case, this one from the Netherlands. It's... different from the UK one (the one I first posted).


Here's a list of some games I have (this for gamecube), all labeled green:

Mario Kart
Melee
Soul Calibur 2
Metroid Prime 1-2
Star Wars: Rouge Squadron: Rebel Strike
Mario Power Tennis
Red Faction
Zelda: Wind Waker
Sonic Mega Collection.

I find it quite disturbing that all those games are from different genres, have different age recommendations (Mario tennis (3+), Soul Calibur and Red Faction (16+)). Other titles such as Prince of Persia (16+) is labeled Lime, and Fifa 02 (age reccomendation unknown since they put a fifa label on top of it, and I can't be bothered with peeling it off) is labeled Red. Also, it shall be noted that all of these games aren't 1st or 2nd party titles, right? Exclusives? No, I don't think so...

Another thing that bugs me, is that the wii seems to follow a different labeling of triangles. Most titles are -I believe- labeled purple, including Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy. Should be noted that Wii Sports is also labeled purple. And here's another interesting label: Purple for Wii Point Card, which isn't even a game!

Should no one here know of this, I shall take the matter further and ask Nintendo themselves. I still wanted to share it with you people first, as I assume many are unaware of this mysterious activity that is the Nintendo Triangles.

I've seen those before but i never gave them a second glance, now i'm wondering what they are.
By the way how dare you play Fifa, Pro Evo is far better

Why are Xbox cases green?

Why are PS3 cases translucent?

Why is the sky blue?

Why make this thread?

Originally Posted by Hugh O

I've seen those before but i never gave them a second glance, now i'm wondering what they are.
By the way how dare you play Fifa, Pro Evo is far better

I beg to differ...I think all football games are crappy

Originally Posted by Sailboat

Why are Xbox cases green?

Why are PS3 cases translucent?

Why is the sky blue?

Why make this thread?

because it makes them stand out

because Sony cant afford the colourd plastic

no idea

because it is a question that he wants answering, I suppose you have never made a thread that has a question...


Anyway, as for the question in itself, I always thought it was genre or creator, but it seems that is not the case, so I have no idea to be honest

If I'm correct, I think the trinagles are for what regions the games are for or for where the games were manufatured, it's one of those reasons I think

I beg to differ...I think all football games are crappy

I beg to differ, lol.

Originally Posted by lavmiester

I beg to differ...I think all football games are crappy

Exactly. Hockey is a better sport. Hockey has better games.

Originally Posted by Sailboat

Why are Xbox cases green?

Why are PS3 cases translucent?

Why is the sky blue?

I doubt the triangles are there for design only. That makes no sense.

"I know, let's put triangles of different colors on every single game released for our systems!"

Originally Posted by Sailboat

Why make this thread?

I don't see these on mine...
Are they just on PAL versions?

I went to check the back of all my GCN/Wii games and the triangles were nowhere to be seen...

Are you sure is not a product of your imagination?

I'm pretty sure it's something to do with the country the game was bought in.

My only basis for that is the fact that my Spanish copy of Soul Calibur 2 has a red triangle and all my other (British) games have green.

Originally Posted by Khao

I went to check the back of all my GCN/Wii games and the triangles were nowhere to be seen...

Are you sure is not a product of your imagination?

Hehehe.

Hmm, they're not on the NTSC boxes? Maybe they're just PAL? In that case, NoE must be behind it. And if NoE is behind it, I promise you right now they're there for no good reason whatsoever.

EDIT: To pandaemonium: hmm... that might explain why the dutch copy was orange, to be sure. Are all (or most) games in the UK of the same color?

I'm pretty sure it's something to do with the country the game was bought in.

My only basis for that is the fact that my Spanish copy of Soul Calibur 2 has a red triangle and all my other (British) games have green.

Yeah, that is what I think because I think the ones that have orange are from Germany.

These are not found on NTSC boxes.

So, yeah, some NoE gimmick that probably doesn't make any sense.

So it was a product of NoE's imagination after all...
Well, whatever they are for I'm sure they are completely useless...

I checked my collection and I think it has to do with the language the game and manual are in. For instance: All my GC games have a blue triangle except Metroid Prime; the only difference between Metroid Prime and the other games? All the other games have the manual and cover text in Dutch except for Metroid Prime which has those in English.