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[Trimesh]

Gamecube, the Wii/WiiU hardware, already worked perfectly out of the box, aside the splitted memory, unified on Wii. It was a highly reliable hardware, like Wii or WiiU.

Switch's Tegra T210 was already included in a few devices (like the Google Pixel-C tablet) way before Switch release. So it was a fully tested and probably cheap solution. It wasn't the best idea of the day in the long term, since T210 delivered 20 million of Fusee Gelee vulnerable units to the market. But oh well.

I think the last genuinely bleeding edge product that Nintendo had was the N64 - and that honestly ended up biting them on the ass due to the combination of development delays and high initial cost for the parts. Everything since then has been designed around stuff that was already well characterized, which typically means it's going to be at least somewhat old.

 

[bender]

I expected this to decimate the DS. How wrong I was.

To be fair, the original DS hardware was trash, overpriced and the launch lineup was atrocious.

 

[cireza]

I expected this to decimate the DS. How wrong I was.

Maybe because inferior home console ports are not the reason people buy a handheld to begin with ? Sony never really understood this. They still managed to make a few nice games like LocoRoco or Patapon. On Vita, they really lost it : it was home console port again and again.

 

[deriks]

PSP got announced
Nintendo rushes the DS, but more for visual than hardware
Nintendo finishes Wii look and "that's how the DS will look now"

 

[Dane]

Maybe because inferior home console ports are not the reason people buy a handheld to begin with ? Sony never really understood this. They still managed to make a few nice games like LocoRoco or Patapon. On Vita, they really lost it : it was home console port again and again.

Actually, it was one of the main points, even for the Nintendo Switch.

So what happened that the PSP didn't win over DS? Price, public and marketing, DS was cheaper and it's dual screen with touch gameplay really attracted people, it attracted many curious casual gamers into it.

The PSP was a huge success, it happens that the DS almost overtook the PS2 as the best selling console, but it's aiming for the hardcore gamers with a powerful hardware, console ports and spin off of PS2 games at almost same quality was the strongest point, allied with it's media features as video and music player.

Vita was a shitstorm of decisions, too expensive, proprietary memory cards that were waaay more expensive tham memory sticks, and the portable market as whole was being engulfed by mobile gaming. One thing that some may not have noticed, Nintendo made the price cut not only because the 3DS wasn't selling well, but also it was about to be the same price as Vita.

 

[Daniel Thomas MacInnes]

To be fair, the original DS hardware was trash, overpriced and the launch lineup was atrocious.

I would agree that the DS software library took a little while to pick up steam. From the early titles, Yoshi Touch & Go is probably my favorite, and Advance Wars: Dual Strike was terrific fun, even though I was still deeply annoyed about the shoddy treatment of the user-created maps (only three save slots, no online trading). Meteos felt like the first true blockbuster for the system, the first true example of what Nintendo could really achieve with touch controls. By the time the DS Lite appeared on the scene, it was firing on all cylinders and was unstoppable.

This is often true of videogame systems. The first wave of videogames are little more than tech demos and promises for the future. If you're lucky, you'll find two or three good ones to tide you over until the real smash hits arrive.

 

[cireza]

Actually, it was one of the main points, even for the Nintendo Switch.

Switch offers a proper home console experience.

 

[Mistershine.]

I expected this to decimate the DS. How wrong I was.

Technically decimate means take 1 in 10, so...

 

[Beer Baelly]

That og DS is a real piece of shit. My gawd.

 

[Bodomism]

Technically decimate means take 1 in 10, so...

In term of revanue and profits not only in hardware and software sales.

PS3 and PSP burnt Sony profits from PS1 and PS2.

 

[Zero7]

Sony announced the PSP too early, giving Nintendo almost 2 years to come up with a counter attack. I believe they really wanted to hold off the DS until 06,but they needed to rush ahead. Hence the cheap trashy design of the original.

Regardless DS and PSP were awesome systems in their own right.

 

[Diddy X]

The popular consensus in 2004 was that Nintendo was heading for the exits, just like Sega. It was only a matter of time before they quit the hardware market and either returned to making playing cards or became a Playstation developer.

That will always be the "popular consensus" on Nintendo no matter what.