Nintendo was one of the last companies trying to innovate with each console they released. Whilst Xbox & PlayStation simply went the “more power = better” route.
But it feels like Nintendo has caved in, and is just following suite. Are there any gimmicks left to sell consoles? Or is it just gonna be like smart phones, we just upgrade because that’s what we do.
I’m gonna miss the era of Nintendo giving us never before seen technology on the mainstream
Gameboy (Handheld) N64 (Analog Stick) DS (Touch Screen) Wii (Motion Control) Switch (Hybrid Console)
I’ll reserve judgement until I have one, but here’s my $.02:
The Wii U was wildly innovative and a giant flop. In the end, it was a big clumsy prototype for the switch IMO. The switch was the perfect evolution of some of the ideas the U had, like bringing the stationary console into your hands rather than just a tiny pocket console.
The GameCube didn’t do anything really that wildly innovative after the n64, it just had discs and a more comfy controller.
The Wii was pretty fresh, but in the end, relied a bit too heavily on gimmicks, the key parts of which I think were successfully captured by future motion controllers like the joycons.
The DS was super cool, and I love mine, but most games ended up primarily using a single screen, and the other screen just kinda sat there or acted as a map. Switch has a larger touchscreen which makes up for loss of stylus in a lot of ways.
The 3DS was cool for a minute too, but the effect was eye strain inducing and had limited value IMO.
I think it’s great to come up with something totally new now and then, but changing for change’s sake probably isn’t good, and axing a form factor that has been so wildly successful sounds risky.
Nintendo has always operated on a tick-tock pattern (gameboy -> pocket -> color -> advance -> ds -> ds lite & 3ds). Plenty of evolutions between form changes.
Phones, computers, tablets, and now consoles are all reaching their inevitable optimized form- large screens with good I/O. While boring to look at, at the end of the day it’s about the experience of using the device, not how wacky the console looks/works.
I don’t doubt that Nintendo will have more wild ideas in future systems, but I personally dont want a dual screen switch with an attached printer and a VR headset- I want a bulletproof hand held that does what it does very well and provides value. The entire switch concept is so well executed and seamless- don’t take that away! Make it better- battery, heat, graphics power, ergonomics, charge speed, Bluetooth, build quality, etc. make all those things as good as they can be. The switch 2 looks like it improves on many of those things without taking anything away, so I’m pumped to get my hands on one!
Pretty much agree with everything you said. A VR Printer Console sounds so dope though 😂. I can ironically see something like that being made. Idk how it’d work, but count me in