I haven’t read the article, because stuff like this is said all the time without any real perspective, but if you frame the argument that MAINSTREAM gaming was as good as it gets on SNES, then yeah, that’s at least arugable and somewhat defensible.
The most popular games in that era were largely the type of games that hardcore gamers loved then and still do now. Only sports was a popular category back then that can still be equated to a more casual fan today. When it comes right down to it, things like Katamari Damacy, however popular, just aren’t mainstream enough to make the people who love those types of games happy.
There’s certainly a lot of creativity in gaming today. The problem for a lot of people is most of it is confined to products that don’t sell as well as the latest movie tie-in, sports game or urban-themed game. I’m certainly happy to find things a little off the beaten path or to play Nintendo DS for a lot of unique game experiences, but in the US especially, creative and unique is just not something that sells well. Developers echo this in interviews when they often say they just can’t get those kinds of projects greenlighted. However, if they say “It’s like Grand Theft Auto, except…” then everything is ok.
Yes, there were movie tie-ins back then too, but many of them failed next to more hardcore fare.
–Dave