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[Forkball]

It's probably October 20th in New Zealand or something so...

The tweet that shocked the gaming world

On October 20th, Nintendo revealed the Nintendo Switch, once known as the NX, to the public. After over a year of rumors, speculations, leaks (both real and false), we got our first peek at Nintendo's innovative hybrid console with a short three minute video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5uik5fgIaI

The video showed off brief glimpses of new games, as well as highlighting the different methods of play and the various controllers. It was a distinct separation from their Wii/Wii U advertising, especially the Wii U announcement trailer that is so horrible I'm not even going to post it. The video brought as many questions as it did answers, and spawned numerous rooftop parties. And in pure Nintendo fashion, they immediately announced they had nothing more to say until January. IS THAT A NEW MARIO KART OR NOT WE NEED TO KNOW.

Like most nerds, I was sitting at my computer, furiously hitting the F5 button on Nintendo's Youtube page. I must have seen it within seconds of the video being uploaded, and my first words when I saw the thumbnail was "NINTENDO SWITCH WHAT" I didn't know what to think of the video at first. It seemed to be exactly what Eurogamer had discussed and I had so many questions that I can't say I was immediately enraptured by it. I also felt disappointed by the January conference. It wasn't until I got it in my hands, with Zelda, that I truly understood the appeal of the console.

For funsies, here is the GAF thread of the Switch announcement. Yes, I am quoted in the OP, be sure to note that in my obituary. Feel free to quote year old posts in this thread and laugh at them.

So let's reminiscence about the day Nintendo finally showed off the once fabled NX. Were you immediately on board? Skeptical? In love with Karen?

 

[JustJavi]

I can confirm it's 2am of the 20th here in Wellington, New Zealand

Loved the trailer they released a year ago, loved the conference of january, love my Switch and looking forward to more great games.

 

[robotrock]

To this day I still call it the Revolution.

 

[Sora the Cat]

That reveal video was so HYPE. I wanted to pre order that same day.

 

[The Last One]

 

[teeny]

My favourite pre-reveal thread was this.

lol

 

[LordOcidax]

My favourite pre-reveal thread was this.



lol

Crazy times.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Merry Switchmas!

 

[Nairume]

And in pure Nintendo fashion, they immediately announced they had nothing more to say until January. IS THAT A NEW MARIO KART OR NOT WE NEED TO KNOW.

Don't forget the weirdly hard to shake "oh look, a port of splatoon is clearly a port because it looks to be a 100% port of Splatoon despite the new features, improved visuals, and clearly new everything else that could only mean a port"

 

[MaximumSpider]

What a time to be alive

 

[Jonneh3003]

and to think every game from the debut trailer will be in store shelves in a few weeks!

 

[NotLiquid]

Legendary tweet

 

[Hylian7]

The most impressive thing about this trailer was the fact that it was pretty universally well received by the main stream. Yes, it ended up partially being sold by Breath of the Wild being a launch title, and footage of it was shown in the trailer, but still the idea itself resonated with lots of people.

Jim Sterling did a video on it after the trailer came out, but one important point he made was that unlike the Wii U, there were no words in the trailer other than the logo and the lyrics of the song playing, as well as when they said "Nintendo Switch" at the end. It was really telling versus how they showed the Wii U.

 

[KevinG]

It was a good day.

My favorite piece of video game hardware since the Gamecube.

 

[JigglesBunny]

Yeah, I heard he got that hot new thing
It's called "Switch"

 

[teeny]

Crazy times.

The thirst for NX news was high. It was when people were trying to figure out where the leak came from by comparing the reflection of the tree to some developer's buildings that I realised some people had lost it.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

It was a good time to see the concept in the flesh, especially as NX fever was getting out of hand.

 

[Blam]

It was good shit all the rumors surrounding it and seemingly how nobody thought the Switch would look like the patent.

 

[Cymbal Head]

Let's take a look at my reaction:

Please let the pro controller have a gyro for playing Splatoon.

And it did!

This is exactly what I wanted.

Hope the price is right.

And it was! Mostly.

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

That trailer was so hype. And the device has actually lived up to expectations so far!

 

[BanjoLayleeYookaKazooie]

My favourite pre-reveal thread was this.



lol

Wasn't around back then but I've read that thread though and... I feel kinda embarrassed for people ITT really. Excitement, hype, anticipation and all that is good stuff is fine but when you're trying to identify a tree from a reflection of that... thing... yeah people were insane back then.

Good to know in hindsight that this rubbish was indeed rubbish and the final product was great but some people were out of their minds back then seriously.

October 20th was a good day though, despite the "3D runner/tech demo/ports/Skyrim 360 version" nonsense that people jumped to conclusions to.

 

[Firemind]

Legendary tweet

Nintendo reads GAF?

advance wars pls kthx

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

Man I completely forgot about the rooftop party memes.

 

[Ninja Dom]

That was a great day!!

 

[WhatWeLeftBehind]

Seeing that reveal video, along with the features supported and how well everything was communicated, made me feel very good about the future of Nintendo as a whole.

Fabulous piece of marketing. As effective as that fantastic wii-remote reveal back in 2005.

 

[dukie85]

Karen will be celebrating like crazy tomorrow, I would think.

 

[Peltz]

What a year it's been. I certainly didn't realize what a beast Switch would be 1 year ago today. Even the nane seemed so bizarre. Hindsight is 20/20. The vision they revealed was perfect.

 

[NotLiquid]

My own posts from that topic

It took Nintendo months to get me on board with the Wii U and with the Switch they managed to do that in 3 minutes.

Based on the sales and word-of-mouth, I'd say most people felt much the same.

The worst thing I can say about the name is that it isn't a make-believe brand.

Game Boy, Playstation, Xbox, Gamecube, Wii, DS, Dreamcast etc.

A large majority of history's most popular consoles have used naming conventions that seem to come from a place of creative originality. They're names that have a bit of a unique ring to them and bring to mind a creative playground that symbolizes the titles we partake in. Even the Wii, which is a pun, had an iconic spelling convention to itself. Switch, on the other hand, is the first console in a long time that resorts to just using a simple everyday word to define it's console - something that on first glance might be considered more "corporate" (the console's design itself even looks less "playful" than Nintendo's usual fair as well). I think that might be what makes it a bit awkward, and it doesn't help that "NX" still resonates in the minds of many since that was a pretty cool old-school era reminiscent title for the console to have.

Having said all that I think even the dumbest names throughout history have become embedded into the minds of many with time. Wii was considered a terrible name but now it's something of a legendary brand. Wii U, even though I'd still call it a dumb name, is something that is accepted nonetheless. Time will tell how "Switch" ages, but I think Switch will become one of the much easier names to grasp, and it's actually a name that justifies itself through the concept. It's something fresh and a little different, and I think it'll do just fine.

One year later "Switch" feels like such an easy name for a console that rolls off the tongue. Everyone knows what it is. It comes so naturally. You say "The Switch", and most people will know what you're referring to, and they've gotten so much mileage out of doing puns and wordplays within marketing.

The power of iconography is a crazy thing.

 

[Heartskips]

DOA

 

[LordRaptor]

Don't forget the weirdly hard to shake "oh look, a port of splatoon is clearly a port because it looks to be a 100% port of Splatoon despite the new features, improved visuals, and clearly new everything else that could only mean a port"

I mean.... somebody literally just described it as a "semi-sequel" in the "Nintendo sold 2/3rds of all hardware this september" topic after rattling off the switches "2 wiiu ports" so its not like that particular quirk is a thing of the past

 

[Drillary Clinton]

Got mine last week and I love it. It’s a great little console.

 

[Forkball]

One year later "Switch" feels like such an easy name for a console that rolls off the tongue. Everyone knows what it is. It comes so naturally. You say "The Switch", and most people will know what you're referring to, and they've gotten so much mileage out of doing puns and wordplays within marketing.

The power of iconography is a crazy thing.

What I find amazing is that I didn't see a single person guess the name correctly, even though many knew about the Eurogamer story for months and thus were aware of the general idea of the platform. The name is just so simple and obvious, but it eluded everyone.

 

[CHC]

I can't believe it's only been that long, feels like it's been around forever.

I still don't have one but I'd really like to change that. I wish it was $199 but it packs a lot into a small package, so I understand.

I'm always late with Nintendo systems though - currently working my way through the 3DS catalog, since I just got my first one like 6 months ago!

One year later "Switch" feels like such an easy name for a console that rolls off the tongue. Everyone knows what it is. It comes so naturally. You say "The Switch", and most people will know what you're referring to, and they've gotten so much mileage out of doing puns and wordplays within marketing.

The power of iconography is a crazy thing.

Agreed, the branding is really good, I actually remember being baffled by the reveal since myself and many others expected Nintendo to fuck up the naming hard, haha....

 

[Toxi]

So happy I was wrong about the system. Nintendo really learned from their mistakes with the Wii U.

 

[Zalman]

That was an amazing day. Love at first sight.

 

[Trago]

The standout to me was the fact that a Bethesda game was showcased at all. Considering how dry the third party situation on Wii U was, this was a sign.

 

[pirateluigi]

I'm still shocked they would unveil the system using a 3d auto runner Mario.


Real talk, I loved this reveal. Miles beyond the Wii U reveal.

 

[phanphare]

what a great day for Nintendo

the day they showed that they actually got it in terms of marketing a piece of hardware

so many of my lapsed Nintendo friends on facebook were reacting to this video in a way that was like "finally they learned" and it seems that sentiment was shared by pretty much everyone once the release date rolled around

good stuff

 

[added_time]

Amazing trailer. With only visuals you could clearly see the exact gimmick and potential of the console.

 

[N.Grim]

What's a Switch? One year ago Rockstar relesed the first RDR 2 trailer

 

[Belgian Dude]

Today also marks Karen's one year (and counting) anniversary of playing Mario Odyssey before anyone else Hope she enjoyed that autorunner

Spoiler

(btw how was that 'concern' even a thing, when she takes the console out of the dock it literally shows mario standing still lmao)

 

[Hero of Legend]

Shoot, I was hoping to make the thread! Was going to wait until tomorrow at 10AM EST, the exact moment it happened a year ago.

 

[oti]

Ah, that was such a wonderful hype moment.

 

[Jonneh3003]

 

[Vampirolol]

I took a pause from work to watch that video. At first I liked it, but I was unsure on how people would react to that... seeing my brother and other non-gamers so excited felt unreal.

 

[Ctlead]

Wow. Doesn't even feel that long ago.

 

[James Scott]

The reveal was so well done.
It’s such a good video; pretty sure the reception was almost universally positive.

I remember the lead up to the reveal with people heavily debating rumors and trying to push a fake made up consoles because it’s what they wanted.
How embarrassing that was though it seems the main guy didn’t learn his lesson.

Also remember how some reacted to the games shown. Everything about Splatoon 2 seemed new but people were sure it was a port.
Easy Allies’s Trailer Jones said Skyrim was the ugliest version of the game (despite the footage most likely being another version like the darksiders 2 Wii U reveal)
Also people were sure Zelda ran worse on the handheld. Turned out to be the opposite

It’s weird that despite the reveal trailer being so warmly received that the switch reveal event made Gaf super pessimistic. Also, despite the concept being so good that many 3rd parties completely wrote it off.

It has admittedly turned out much better than even I expected. Such a fun little system

 

[Calm Mind]

Crow went on the endangered species list that day.

 

[kunonabi]

I hated everything about the switch aside from it being a hybrid from the initial reveal. It wasnt until the big presentation with the joycons that my opinion on it changed.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Karen will be celebrating like crazy tomorrow, I would think.

Rooftop parties for all!