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The 3DS beating the Vita is the most unjust result in the history of console wars

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Obviously personal choice; Kid Icarus: Uprising
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Mmnow

Member
The Vita had buckets of potential and not much else.

After not very long it became an indie machine and not long after it became a pretty sexy paper weight.

I'd love to see a detailed breakdown on what happened with it, tbh. It's like Sony forgot they had a handheld to support after the first sales data came in.

The 3ds had its faulta, but at least it was consistent. There was something half decent every few months for like 6 years.
 

Arthimura

Member
Hard to take this thread seriously since OP only talks about technical advantages of the Vita.

However i have both handhelds and library-wise it's not even possible to compare both, the 3DS has a much richer game library.

And talking about durability, i had two PS Vitas dying with random crashes and freezing. However i still play my 2013's 3DS XL without any problem, it functions perfectly both hardware-wise and software-wise.
 
Vita is amazing, but the 3DS has an insanely good library.

Lmao I completely and absolutely forgot that the 3DS had 3D implemented into the design.

I recall it baaaarely working on 90% if games released and just shut it off the entire time.

I used it so little it stopped crossing my mind that the "3D" in 3DS is about the 3D implementation 😅😂
 

_Ex_

Member
the only good Vita games appear to be a handful of PS2 ports (Persona 4, FFX, MGS2+3) and I guess some indies

:messenger_tears_of_joy: You have NOT done your homework pal. I own two Vitas (OLED and LCD model) and over a hundred physical Vita games. Fucking love this platform. Apex handheld ever, the Switch is a crass wannabe.

Edt: I also enjoy the 3DS, but it is an ugly ducking for sure. Especially the 16:9 top and 4:3 bottom, just no.
 
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MAtgS

Member
:messenger_tears_of_joy: You have NOT done your homework pal. I own two Vitas (OLED and LCD model) and over a hundred physical Vita games. Fucking love this platform. Apex handheld ever, the Switch is a crass wannabe.

Edt: I also enjoy the 3DS, but it is an ugly ducking for sure. Especially the 16:9 top and 4:3 bottom, just no.
I don't get it, all of the action was on the top screen while was secondary. If they made the bottom widescreen, that would stretch out the overall size of the system. Seems a weird nitpick to condemn a system over. & what the hell makes Switch a "crass wannabe" when it's sucessed everywhere Vita failed?
 

TexMex

Member
Lmao I completely and absolutely forgot that the 3DS had 3D implemented into the design.

I recall it baaaarely working on 90% if games released and just shut it off the entire time.

I used it so little it stopped crossing my mind that the "3D" in 3DS is about the 3D implementation 😅😂

I mean I don’t disagree but not sure what it has to do with my post. Everyone turned the 3D off. Hell they released a 2D iteration of the hardware because so little people cared.

Doesn't change the quality of the games though.
 

Neff

Member
I get if the library isn't to your liking but it has far from nothing.

That's basically it. For me, it had nothing. The prospect of OLED PSone games almost swung it, but in the end I just couldn't justify it. It wasn't even a price issue. I couldn't justify having another handheld sitting around because I knew I would rarely be using it.
 

Celine

Member
The Vita had buckets of potential and not much else.

After not very long it became an indie machine and not long after it became a pretty sexy paper weight.

I'd love to see a detailed breakdown on what happened with it, tbh. It's like Sony forgot they had a handheld to support after the first sales data came in.
The main issue for PSV was that western publishers weren't interested anymore to fund games for handheld consoles instead they targeted home consoles or games for smartphones and that the japanese publishers which were still interested in developing games for handheld consoles saw Vita as a platform for only small budget games or niche games.
While 3DS encountered the same problem with western third-parties, in Japan it seized early on the biggest third-party franchises available (Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest) and could count on Nintendo's software (Nintendo is by far the biggest publisher in the japanese market).
All this lead, after a rocky beginning, to 3DS performing very strongly in Japan even if sales outside Japan remained disappointing (not bad but not as good as hoped).

All PlayStation Vita got was a slew of Sony games that couldn't move the needle and a soft support from traditional third-party publishers.
It's hard to sell a console if the best you present is back compatibility games (PSP, PS1) and cheap indie games that could be played everywhere.
A PlayStation console lacking strong third-party support has no reason to exists.
There was very little Sony could have done.
 

Mmnow

Member
The main issue for PSV was that western publishers weren't interested anymore to fund games for handheld consoles instead they targeted home consoles or games for smartphones and that the japanese publishers which were still interested in developing games for handheld consoles saw Vita as a platform for only small budget games or niche games.
While 3DS encountered the same problem with western third-parties, in Japan it seized early on the biggest third-party franchises available (Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest) and could count on Nintendo's software (Nintendo is by far the biggest publisher in the japanese market).
All this lead, after a rocky beginning, to 3DS performing very strongly in Japan even if sales outside Japan remained disappointing (not bad but not as good as hoped).

All PlayStation Vita got was a slew of Sony games that couldn't move the needle and a soft support from traditional third-party publishers.
It's hard to sell a console if the best you present is back compatibility games (PSP, PS1) and cheap indie games that could be played everywhere.
A PlayStation console lacking strong third-party support has no reason to exists.
There was very little Sony could have done.
You're not wrong, and I agree with you 95 per cent.

But the Vita didn't get a slew of Sony games, certainly not "THIS IS WHAT THE VITA IS CAPABLE OF" first party games. We got Uncharted, Killzone, Wipeout and Gravity Rush. Tearaway and Modnation Racers as well, if you want.

Beyond that, it was Motorstorm: RC, some MLB for those countries that give a damn and a few indie tier stuff.

Imagine if that was all Sony released for the PS5. It'd be dead on arrival.

There were years when Nintendo's first party 3DS output trashed the Vita's entire lifecycle.
 

Aldynes

Member
The Vita had buckets of potential and not much else.

After not very long it became an indie machine and not long after it became a pretty sexy paper weight.

I'd love to see a detailed breakdown on what happened with it, tbh. It's like Sony forgot they had a handheld to support after the first sales data came in.

The 3ds had its faulta, but at least it was consistent. There was something half decent every few months for like 6 years.
Games sells systems not the hardware, like soooo many before that, VITA lacked games (outside of Japan) you pretty much summarized it.
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
I'd love to see a detailed breakdown on what happened with it, tbh. It's like Sony forgot they had a handheld to support after the first sales data came in.
Weren't they just coming out of PS3 horror years and launching PS4? After Microsoft decided to surrender the whole generation with XBO I guess Sony say an opening and they prepped their home console as much as they could. Still - probably could have handled it better with outsourcing exclusive handheld spin-offs to other developers (then people would have complained about gales being spin-offs and not main entries lol).
 

Mmnow

Member
Games sells systems not the hardware, like soooo many before that, VITA lacked games (outside of Japan) you pretty much summarized it.
If it'd have had really good third party support, they maybe would've survived on the Sony games they had. But with nothing major to look forward to after launch, momentum just died.

It's a real shame.

Weren't they just coming out of PS3 horror years and launching PS4? After Microsoft decided to surrender the whole generation with XBO I guess Sony say an opening and they prepped their home console as much as they could. Still - probably could have handled it better with outsourcing exclusive handheld spin-offs to other developers (then people would have complained about gales being spin-offs and not main entries lol).
This could easily be part of it, but I ant believe it's all of it. The early PS4 days weren't so good to sacrifice the Vita for it.

I can believe they wanted all hands on deck for the PS4 though.

I just can't believe the Vita got greenlit with plans for less than 10 first party titles, and like four "aaa" titles. The fact they could so easily move on means there wasn't much planning and they hoped this would sell on hopes, dreams and the PlayStation brand, or that the games in development were just plain cancellable.

There's more to the story, and I suspect its as simple as "this things not selling, let's move out attention elsewhere."

But it'd be good to know the detail between launch and when that decision was made, what was cancelled and what their longterm plans would have otherwise been.

Also, I seem to remember a Vita GTA was rumoured and cancelled. How many other third parties had similar plans?
 

PooBone

Member
About a month ago or so I ordered a Vita (slim aqua blue) and a 2DS XL from Japan on Ebay. The 2DS arrived first and I spent about a week playing Chrono Trigger, which is now one of my favorite games of all time. While I was deciding what to play next (basically toggling between Dragon Quest VIII and Radiant Historia), the Vita arrived and I've barely been able to pick up the 2DS since.

The Vita is hands down the best designed portable device I've ever used, and that's including smartphones. Everything about it is perfect, from the size to the build quality and materials to the battery life. The 2DS XL is a total piece of junk next to it, with its 95 ppi (!!!) screen, slippery analog pad, ineffectual Thinkpad camera control nipple, janky resistive touchscreen, and borked ergonomics. Then there's the fact that all the games look like shit - I know the 3DS is supposed to be more powerful than the Wii, so why is it that direct ports of sixth generation and Wii games like Xenoblade Chronicles and Dragon Quest VIII look so goddamn awful? The 3DS is so compromised and poorly designed that it's almost shocking these two devices were released at around the same time.

The problem, of course, is that the only good Vita games appear to be a handful of PS2 ports (Persona 4, FFX, MGS2+3) and I guess some indies. I've been using it for PS1 and PSP JRPGs mostly and it feels like it's going totally to waste. A real shame that a handful of idiotic decisions from Sony (proprietary memory, adding to the cost with superfluous cameras and that back touchscreen, no plan for PS2 hardware emulation, no first-party games with appeal to the Japanese market) killed the best-designed handheld system of all time and allowed its thoroughly unworthy rival to run away with all the profits.
I don't disagree. I still love my Vita. The 3DS felt like a needless system with a 3D feature, and they never did put out a hardware revision that I found comfortable for my rather average-sized hands, and the main games I played were ports and virtual console games.
 

Agent X

Member
Lmao I completely and absolutely forgot that the 3DS had 3D implemented into the design.

I recall it baaaarely working on 90% if games released and just shut it off the entire time.

I can see where you're coming from, and like I said earlier, I used to think the same way. I got the New 3DS, which has an eye tracking feature so it adjusts the 3D effect according to the position of your eyes. This would surely improve the usability and effectiveness of the 3D effect, compared to the earlier models that didn't have that ability.
 
I played on the vita for years and enjoyed a ton of games. I bought a 2DS XL a few years ago, played to zelda: link between worlds, codename steam, fantasy life, xenoblade chronicles. And that's it... I enjoyed these games a lot but I honestly struggle to find more top games to play on 2DS. For me, on the software part, Vita wins easily this game.

Any other unmissable games to play on 2DS?
 
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ClosBSAS

Member
Ah yes...i still remember that night where my friend kris was convinced vita would destroy 3DS and i said it would never come close. Hes eating crow now.
 

_Ex_

Member
If they made the bottom widescreen, that would stretch out the overall size of the system.

That's not true. Not with a different layout of the controls. It's already been proven to not be true. Go do some googling buddy.

>what the hell makes Switch a "crass wannabe" when it's sucessed everywhere Vita failed?

The Switch is an ugly ripoff of the sexy Vita, that's crass. The Switch sales are bolstered due to casuals who can't stop buying the same Mario / Zelda / Pokemon games over and over again. If you think the Switch would have been any kind of success without those franchises, you live in a delusional mindset. Nintendo could put out a fucking pocket calculator, but as long as it still plays rudimentary Mario or Zelda or Pokemon games, it'll sell its ass off.
 
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S

SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
Any other unmissable games to play on 2DS?
  • Kid Icarus Uprising (Don't know if it's playable on the 2DS though)
  • Monster Hunter 4
  • Dead or Alive Dimensions (seriously)
  • Kirby Planet Robot (maybe the best game in the franchise)
  • all the Etrian Odyssey games
  • Shin Megami Tensai IV
  • Bravely Default and Bravely Second
  • Zero Escape
  • Star Fox 64 3D
  • all Professor Layton games
  • All the Fire Emblem games
  • all the Persona games
  • Rhythm Heaven
  • DK Country Returns
  • Luigi's Mansion 2
  • Zelda OOT 3D
  • Wario Ware Gold
  • Rune Factory 4
  • Ghost Recon Shadow Wars (seriously)
  • Ever Oasis


 

MAtgS

Member
The Switch is an ugly ripoff of the sexy Vita, that's crass. The Switch sales are bolstered due to casuals who can't stop buying the same Mario / Zelda / Pokemon games over and over again. If you think the Switch would have been any kind of success without those franchises, you live in a delusional mindset.
Yes, having great games is typically considered a good thing in a console. That's video game business 101, which the Vita clearly skipped.
 

_Ex_

Member
Yes, having great games is typically considered a good thing in a console. That's video game business 101, which the Vita clearly skipped.

The Vita has tons of great games. Many of which I'd rather play than Mario/Zelda/Pokemon/Kirby re-re-re-re-re-re-reiteration #52 any day. The truth is if there was never a Vita, there never would have been a Switch. There was a time when the Vita was massively popular in Japan, and Japan fell in love with its design ethos (which Nintendo later cloned). Unfortunately the Vita was not marketed well in the USA. Nintendo absolutely kicks Sony's ass when it comes to marketing, that I won't deny.
 

Mmnow

Member
The Vita has tons of great games. Many of which I'd rather play than Mario/Zelda/Pokemon/Kirby re-re-re-re-re-re-reiteration #52 any day. The truth is if there was never a Vita, there never would have been a Switch. There was a time when the Vita was massively popular in Japan, and Japan fell in love with its design ethos (which Nintendo later cloned). Unfortunately the Vita was not marketed well in the USA. Nintendo absolutely kicks Sony's ass when it comes to marketing, that I won't deny.
I spent maybe four e3s in a row hoping Sony would say anything about the Vita beyond "Here's a montage of indie games, some which will be on the Vita."

Marketing wasn't the problem.
 

gradient

Resident Cheap Arse
The Vita has tons of great games. Many of which I'd rather play than Mario/Zelda/Pokemon/Kirby re-re-re-re-re-re-reiteration #52 any day. The truth is if there was never a Vita, there never would have been a Switch. There was a time when the Vita was massively popular in Japan, and Japan fell in love with its design ethos (which Nintendo later cloned). Unfortunately the Vita was not marketed well in the USA. Nintendo absolutely kicks Sony's ass when it comes to marketing, that I won't deny.

WHAT?! that's just delusional.

Nintendo led and leads the portable market. The Switch is a direct evolution of the Wii U, adding in the long range portability that the Wii U couldn't offer.

The Vita had no influence on the Switch. The Vita's primary legacy in the portable space is as a lesson that prorietary formats are poison.
 

MAtgS

Member
The truth is if there was never a Vita, there never would have been a Switch. There was a time when the Vita was massively popular in Japan, and Japan fell in love with its design ethos (which Nintendo later cloned).
You talk so much out of your ass. What the hell did the Vita even invent besides a shitty rear touchpad? BotW & Mario Odyssey did a hell of lot more to reinvigorate their IPs than that Uncharted game that Naughty Dog couldn't be bother with ever did.
 

MAtgS

Member
s-l640.jpg

Vita circa 2011.

Capture.png

Switch circa 2019.

You sure got me with that hot logic.
OK, may I ask what the hell do you think Nintendo should even make that doesn't "rip off" Vita? HD screen is just common sense, dual analogs is just common sense, a smaller more portable form factor when the tech is there is just common sense. You mistake correlation with causation.

You think Nintendo would not naturally arrive at the conclusion of having an HD screen in their hybrid device meant to work on HD tvs on their own? That they would not think to have dual analogs on something intended to function like a modern console?
 
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_Ex_

Member
what the hell do you think Nintendo should even make that doesn't "rip off" Vita? HD screen is just common sense, dual analogs is just common sense, a smaller more portable form factor when the tech is there is just common sense. You mistake correlation with causation.

:messenger_tears_of_joy: Oh wow

Alrighty. It's cute how you like your little Switch so much. Please have a joyful time playing Nintendo happy feelgood games. I won't say any more mean things about your favorite toy today.
 
Man...Trails of Cold Steel 3 and 4 on Vita would have been amazing if Falcom didn't decide to screw the fanbase over and force it to be PS4 only.

Playing that game on Vita is a must given the completion requirements.
 

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Resident Cheap Arse
s-l640.jpg

Vita circa 2011.

Capture.png

Switch circa 2019.

You sure got me with that hot logic.

tipu5M2.jpg


Is your argument really so weak as to pin itself on a single screen between two control areas?

Because you know, this well goes deep and it only makes your claim all the more absurd

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And the Switch's immediate predecessor:

bTiut6p.jpg



No, it was not the Vita that created that design, led that design or influenced the Switch's design.

The Vita did not coin that design. It did not popularize that design. It did not inspire use of that design. That design predates Sony's time in the gaming market. All Sony did was copy a standard and previously commonly used design.
 

_Ex_

Member
All Sony did was copy a standard and previously commonly used design.

You conveniently forget that for the past two portable generations, Nintendo had been chasing dual screen designs with minimally powered CPUs and low pixel resolutions. Sony continued their luxury portable idea from the PSP, into a super luxury portable with the Vita. Now, did Nintendo do another low tech dual screen after the 3DS? No? That's because the Vita was massively popular in Japan, showing that the vast demographic there was hungry for sexy high powered portables, which the Vita was. Thus Nintendo followed suit, by aping the Vita concept with the Switch. If you can't see the reality of that fact, I can't help you buddy.

Also, the Vita released BEFORE the Wii U, so stop using the Wii U as a reference point. If anything, the Wii U also copied the Vita's concept.
 
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MAtgS

Member
:messenger_tears_of_joy: Oh wow

Alrighty. It's cute how you like your little Switch so much. Please have a joyful time playing Nintendo happy feelgood games. I won't say any more mean things about your favorite toy today.
Maybe you would be taken more seriously if you weren't so insistent on outdated stereotypes and generalizations. BotW is a game 100 years the world went to shit and all of Link's friends died. Fire Emblem Three Houses is about friends becoming enemies in war. "Feelgood" doesn't sum them up.
 

MAtgS

Member
You conveniently forget that for the past two portable generations, Nintendo had been chasing dual screen designs with minimally powered CPUs and low pixel resolutions. Sony continued their luxury portable idea from the PSP, into a super luxury portable with the Vita. Now, did Nintendo do another low tech dual screen after the 3DS? No? That's because the Vita was massively popular in Japan, showing that the vast demographic there was hungry for sexy high powered portables, which the Vita was. Thus Nintendo followed suit, by aping the Vita concept with the Switch. If you can't see the reality of that fact, I can't help you buddy.

Also, the Vita released BEFORE the Wii U, so stop using the Wii U as a reference point. If anything, the Wii U also copied the Vita's concept.
Hey Dumbfuck, 3DS sold more in Japan than Vita did. You are "massively" overselling it. And Nintendo wasn't gonna make a hybrid console be less powerful than Wii U was.

Everything about the Switch's design was with the thought process of how to make tbe hybrid concept work. And in case you hadn't noticed, VITA'S NOT A HYBRID!!!!
 

gradient

Resident Cheap Arse
You conveniently forget that for the past two portable generations, Nintendo had been chasing dual screen designs with minimally powered CPUs and low pixel resolutions. Sony continued their luxury portable idea from the PSP, into a super luxury portable with the Vita. Now, did Nintendo do another low tech dual screen after the 3DS? No? That's because the Vita was massively popular in Japan, showing that the vast demographic there was hungry for sexy high powered portables, which the Vita was. Thus Nintendo followed suit, by aping the Vita concept with the Switch. If you can't see the reality of that fact, I can't help you buddy.

No, I didn't. I posted a picture of Nintendo's predecessor to the Switch. The thing that the Switch actually looks like and takes it's design from.

Nintendo stuck with the Dual screen on the DS line because it worked. The Vita didn't appeal, the DS and 3DS did and their dual screens were their distinguishing factor and offered functionality and gameplay opportunities that other gaming hardware couldn't.

Nintendo switched to the Wii U controller design following the Wii U because the Switch was a hybrid system and they wanted to keep that hybrid design and functionality in focus, marketing it as a Home offering alongside their portable one. They didn't dump the DS line straight away - just like the move from GBA to DS they kept it going in case the market didn't take to the new offering. They supported it well beyond the launch of the Switch and only eased it off when it became clear the market preferred the hybrid.

You're literally trying to credit a decades old design to Sony that they ripped off, just because they used it. Nintendo was making Game and Watches with that design before they even entered the home console market. It's absurd that you would try.
 
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The argument over who did what first is dumb. I absolutely love the Vita but I don't think it really inspired the Switch. I'm sure parts of it influenced it sure, but it's hard to be the first to do anything.

Nintendo wasn't the first to do a handheld that connected to the tv either, they just improved upon it. Both Sony and Sega did the concept first albeit in limited form with the Nomad and the PSP and I'm sure others have done it as well.

That's basically it. For me, it had nothing. The prospect of OLED PSone games almost swung it, but in the end I just couldn't justify it. It wasn't even a price issue. I couldn't justify having another handheld sitting around because I knew I would rarely be using it.
That's fair but it doesn't mean the library has nothing just nothing that you like.

The Vita had a lot of games, and a lot of games that catered towards certain audiences. Was it the end all be all of handhelds? No but it's a lot of people's favorite handheld still.
 
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Not owning a Vita is still one of my biggest regrets in life. Great example of how I let my Nintendo love blind me to a great piece of hardware. That said the Switch feels like everything the Vita was and then some so maybe the timeline worked out.
Nah. Vita looked better physically, the dpad is high up there on vita, the os is miles better along with the infrastructure. The switch is good but if the vita had switch support? Ay dios mio!
 

MagnesG

Banned
Nintendo could put out a fucking pocket calculator, but as long as it still plays rudimentary Mario or Zelda or Pokemon games, it'll sell its ass off
WiiU didn't sell that well.

I get it you're retarded special needs.
 
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