Jubenhimer
Member
For nearly 4 decades, Nintendo has been the undisputed king of dedicated portable gaming. Their Game Boy, Nintendo DS, and now Nintendo Switch brands have been synonymous with playing video games on the go, and pretty much crushed every other competing platform in their path. But when it comes to home consoles, the story is a little different. Nintendo's dedicated home gaming systems for the most part, have sold less and less with each generation, with the sole exception of the Wii.
The Nintendo Entertainment System was really the only undisputed success Nintendo had in that field, dominating everything in its path with a near 80% of the market. The Super Nintendo was popular, but also had very stiff competition from Sega's Genesis in North America and Europe. Nintendo 64 was the beginning of the end with its use of cartridges and lack of third party support. The Nintendo GameCube marked an even bigger decline with a childish image, lack of online, and no multi-media functionality compared to its competitors. The Wii was a smash hit with non-gamers and casuals, but had the stigma of not being a "hardcore" system with its focus on motion controls, family games, etc. And the Wii U was barely a blip on everybody's radar with a bizarre name, a bloated gimmick that not even Nintendo themselves could find a good use for, and nearly non-existent third party support.
Meanwhile, their handhelds have consistently been way more successful, and much more well recieved among gamers compared to a lot of their home consoles. Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS all had tons of games and usually better third party support and software sales than Nintendo's consoles. Even the 3DS, which I always felt had the weakest support of Nintendo's handhelds, still did pretty okay on that end compared to the ghost town of the Wii U. And of course, one of the biggest multimedia franchises in existence, Pokemon, always had its mainline games exclusive to handhelds. People like to say that Nintendo consoles are secondary platforms. But I think this was especially true for last generation, where I'm willing to bet most gamers just got a 3DS for their Nintendo game fix, while the biggest games are played on PS4 or Xbox One.
Now we're at the Nintendo Switch, which is a hybrid system doubling as both a portable and home console with detachable Joy-Con controllers. The Switch is a massive hit, but there is a perception of it depending on how you use the system. If you strictly use it as a home console. IE, do not care for its mobile features and perpetually keep it docked to your TV, then it looks rather weak compared to a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series if you own either of those. In which case, the Switch isn't much different from the past four home consoles Nintendo released in that it's another gimmicky, under-powered system with great first party games, but very little of the biggest third party games. If AAA third party games do come, they're often late "impossible ports" or cloud versions. Which if you own a more powerful console, is pretty pointless.
However. If you regularly use the Switch as a portable console. Playing it un-docked frequently or even exclusively, then its arguably one of the best portable consoles Nintendo has created yet, especially if for whatever reason, it's your only console. Those "Impossible Ports" of AAA third party games look a lot more impressive running on a smaller screen, and hold more value when you can take them on the go. Plus, there's plenty of indie games, AA titles, and unique exclusives releasing for it every month to compliment Nintendo's own games. And there's the added bonus of having an optional TV out for them as well.
Looking at Nintendo's history, it's easy to come to the conclusion that they were always better at being a portable console maker vs. a home console maker. They've just been more consistently successful and well recieved in that market, while their consoles especially after the SNES, have been seen as kind of a joke. Even with the Switch, the glass half empty perspective is that it's a glorified HD Game Boy Player rather than a true home console. Whatever your views on it are, it's hard to deny that Nintendo has always ruled the portable gaming space.
The Nintendo Entertainment System was really the only undisputed success Nintendo had in that field, dominating everything in its path with a near 80% of the market. The Super Nintendo was popular, but also had very stiff competition from Sega's Genesis in North America and Europe. Nintendo 64 was the beginning of the end with its use of cartridges and lack of third party support. The Nintendo GameCube marked an even bigger decline with a childish image, lack of online, and no multi-media functionality compared to its competitors. The Wii was a smash hit with non-gamers and casuals, but had the stigma of not being a "hardcore" system with its focus on motion controls, family games, etc. And the Wii U was barely a blip on everybody's radar with a bizarre name, a bloated gimmick that not even Nintendo themselves could find a good use for, and nearly non-existent third party support.
Meanwhile, their handhelds have consistently been way more successful, and much more well recieved among gamers compared to a lot of their home consoles. Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS all had tons of games and usually better third party support and software sales than Nintendo's consoles. Even the 3DS, which I always felt had the weakest support of Nintendo's handhelds, still did pretty okay on that end compared to the ghost town of the Wii U. And of course, one of the biggest multimedia franchises in existence, Pokemon, always had its mainline games exclusive to handhelds. People like to say that Nintendo consoles are secondary platforms. But I think this was especially true for last generation, where I'm willing to bet most gamers just got a 3DS for their Nintendo game fix, while the biggest games are played on PS4 or Xbox One.
Now we're at the Nintendo Switch, which is a hybrid system doubling as both a portable and home console with detachable Joy-Con controllers. The Switch is a massive hit, but there is a perception of it depending on how you use the system. If you strictly use it as a home console. IE, do not care for its mobile features and perpetually keep it docked to your TV, then it looks rather weak compared to a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series if you own either of those. In which case, the Switch isn't much different from the past four home consoles Nintendo released in that it's another gimmicky, under-powered system with great first party games, but very little of the biggest third party games. If AAA third party games do come, they're often late "impossible ports" or cloud versions. Which if you own a more powerful console, is pretty pointless.
However. If you regularly use the Switch as a portable console. Playing it un-docked frequently or even exclusively, then its arguably one of the best portable consoles Nintendo has created yet, especially if for whatever reason, it's your only console. Those "Impossible Ports" of AAA third party games look a lot more impressive running on a smaller screen, and hold more value when you can take them on the go. Plus, there's plenty of indie games, AA titles, and unique exclusives releasing for it every month to compliment Nintendo's own games. And there's the added bonus of having an optional TV out for them as well.
Looking at Nintendo's history, it's easy to come to the conclusion that they were always better at being a portable console maker vs. a home console maker. They've just been more consistently successful and well recieved in that market, while their consoles especially after the SNES, have been seen as kind of a joke. Even with the Switch, the glass half empty perspective is that it's a glorified HD Game Boy Player rather than a true home console. Whatever your views on it are, it's hard to deny that Nintendo has always ruled the portable gaming space.
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