Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

'No loading times' is not a problem in my gamer's rule book. Nothing to do with storage, CDs won because they were cheap as air to produce.

Calling the N64 a failure because it sold less than the PS1 isn't relevant. Sony was a huge megacorp before entering the console market and they bought a large part of the industry by getting exclusivities with the trendsetters of that time: Square, Namco, the Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Wipeout sequels, which is totally normal. When you're stronger than competitors you use that advantage. A tiny company like Nintendo or any other companies on the consoles market at that time couldn't compete with that. And it went really bad for Sega. When Sony sell more than Nintendo it's normal. When Nintendo sell more than Sony something is going weird. Nintendo can't compete with Sony on the budget field so they have to play the wise guy.
The N64 sold less than the Snes but they sold much more Nintendo games on it. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo considered the N64 as a biggest success than the Snes. With the N64 they took a step above being a publisher, they became a universe. And the symbol of that is probably the Smash Bros series that started on this console.
That and being able to make playable 3D games for that time when cameras in videogames were a huge plague, saved them from the megacorps like Sony and Microsoft. Not sure how long it will last.

The N64 was still successful for Nintendo's bottom line, but it did "lose" pretty handily to the Playstation. But I'm like many of you guys: I owned an N64 and loved it, so I understand people getting prickly when it is called a "failure."

However, if you can step back and try to look at things objectively, the N64 was the beginning of Nintendo's downward swing in terms of proliferation AND perception. This is about the time that the "kiddie" moniker was applied to Nintendo, and with the success of the PS1 and its grittier games like Metal Gear as well as its close relationship with Square that brought classics like FF7, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story, etc., Nintendo was being pushed more and more into a corner and wasn't getting the games people were used to with the NES and SNES (GameBoy/handheld brand would always be strong, as we're still seeing).

But yea, the N64 heralded a swing in the industry. Part of it was Nintendo's fault, but really it was due to Sony's pretty genius marketing and developer relationships with the first Playstation. Losing the mainline Final Fantasy entries alone was a big blow, and I still can't believe Nintendo let that happen (Square says it was due 100% to technical limitations of the cartridges on N64). And then we all know what happened with Gamecube, and then Wii ("success" on paper, but no change in messaging for future growth), and then rock bottom with the Wii U.

Fanboy judgments are always funny. A console is only a "failure" if it ultimately lost money and eroded player trust for the company who manufactured it. Only Nintendo consoles I can think of that could possibly qualify are the Virtual Boy (which they cut loose pretty quickly) and the Wii U. And I say this as someone who dislikes the N64 and considers the PS1 to be the best home console ever made.

I would expect the Switch to sell at least as well as the SNES, if not better, thanks to the fact that it's also going to also be Nintendo's handheld console this gen. Nintendo portables, even the least appealing ones, still tend to sell better than their home consoles. Pokemon is going to bring in millions of new users on its own once it releases.

Personally I think the Switch will sell between 30 and 40 million in its lifetime. Yes that's low but after the disaster that was the Wii U, that's also impressive.

The Switch is selling well this year because of the hype that surrounds it but as a lot of people have stated across the internet, what of 2018? That's the big question? Can Nintendo keep this momentum going? Nintendo haven't even announced what's actually coming next year outside of 2 short previews and a name (Kirby, Yoshi and Fire Emblem) and if you want people to buy into a system, they need to know what the future holds.

@bitleman I don't think they bought any exclusive rights back in the day. That didn't start with Microsoft last generation; the entire concept of paying a publisher for exclusive rights.

The N64 cartridges were expensive to produce, up to $20 a piece in some cases. The result was that N64 games were up to $30 more expensive than most PS1 games. I think that was the biggest reason why people preferred the PS1 over the N64 at the time, gaming on a PS1 was just a lot cheaper.

@Octane Here in the UK it was partly due to how easy the PS1 was to hack. I think most people over here hacked the console and illegally copied games. In fact I just bought one for £40 on eBay able to play copied games from any region.

We need to accept that Nintendo will always have the smallest market share now. Now that can be many 10s of millions but they will always be a distant 5th behind Microsoft, Sony, PC and Mobile.

@BLP_Software Give up. Far too early to call that!

@GrailUK Well no console will catch mobile. PC is on par eith PSN in terms of Steam users alone.

Then we have the PS4 doubling the Xbox One and the new Switch waaaay behind because its new.

Im not saying thats how it is going to be. But realistically Nintendo will surely be behind Sony at all times. Microsoft is up for debate but Xbox has 3 years on Switch.

@FragRed I agree. the Switch started well but there are big trends about handhelds systems dying in the west and consoles in general dying in Japan. I think Nintendo is too small to stop these trends in the long run.

@Octane Well it's pretty much admitted that Squaresoft had a deal with Nintendo during the Snes era so it's not hard to believe Sony did the same later especially when the Saturn didn't get any Squaresoft game despite having a CD driver and selling fairly well in Japan. But Sony is very secret and very powerful so it's hard to get genuine interviews about their story. Of course it didn't start with Sony but it went on another level with them since they really had the wallet of a megacorp to crush the competition and get a monopoly compared to the pre-Sony era when the market was a bunch of toys companies. That's why it's funny for anyone who lived that era to read the narrative of Sony being a little David beating the Goliath Nintendo and Sega. Things were very different.

Yeah, in Latin America Sony and Microsoft have far better market share due to having official support and, in the case of PS, the fact that PS1 was so easy to use with illegally copied game helped them a lot.
Nintendo handhelds are popular, but because people buy them and then use these cards, like R4, to get access to the games.

@FragRed
I disagree.

People don't need to know what's in store, they only need a reason to want one. Most people buying Switches aren't asking what's in store, they just want to play Zelda. They just want to play Splatoon 2 and Arms. They just want Mario Kart. The fact Mario Odyssey and Pokemon is in store is just a bonus.

Nintendo typically doesn't reveal much of the following year until it's close at hand, and some of the later releases don't get announced til Spring or e3.

The reason there's hype now is because the system has a very appealing hybrid concept and there's games people want to play. In 2018, those games will be just as appealing. In fact, Zelda, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Mario Odyssey will ensure people keep buying Switches all generation. Those games don't lose appeal. Obviously once Pokemon drops that'll help pull people in all generation, and even Metroid Prime 4.

And this is assuming Nintendo is just gonna throw in the towel after Odyssey, which is the furthest thing from the truth. We're gonna continue to see heavy hitters and games which appeal to certain audiences pile up all of 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021... Fire Emblem, Dragon Quest XI, Monster Hunter, Animal Crossing, Mario Maker, Kirby, etc etc etc

Alot of people predicted 3DS was going to fail because handhelds were dying. Yet here we are now as it approaches 70 million, and will likely catch the Gameboy Advance before its done. Switch is likewise going to buck the predictions. Even more so. People just love it- the appeal of the system itself is really all it needs, provided it has a few evergreen titles (which is does- and once Odyssey and Pokemon release it'll pretty much guarantee Switch stays a hot ticket item all generation).

That was definitely the case where I lived (which may be more of a reflection of the estate I grew up in than anything else! ) ..a lot of my friends had 'chipped' PSX's, allowing them to play a whole host of counterfeit games on the cheap - definitely a big selling point! ..although, I do agree that the third-parties and the successful ultra-modern (for the time) advertising campaign(s) also had a huge impact.

I still think that the N64 held its own though - sure, it was a pretty distant second place to the PSX, but it wasn't exactly a huge flop or anything...both systems had great games - and I think there was mutual jealousy between my friends and I for the games that our systems didn't have I know I certainly didn't have to be asked twice to pop around to one of my friends' houses for some Crash Team Racing, Destruction Derby, WipeOut etc ..and I never really struggled to get a crowd together for some multiplayer GoldenEye/F-Zero/Mario Kart!

2 great consoles - and a great era for gaming in general!

@NaviAndMii Its weird.

People also consider the Xbox One a flop when it actually seems to be doing just fine. Thing is its just the PS4 is doing better by a large margin.

People call the PSP a flop, but 80 million is an incredible number. Its just the DS did better by a large margin.

The only real flops are ones that get thoroughly demolished by competition, lose support fast, never really take off. Wii U, Gamecube, Vita, Saturn.

UnEpic and Ghost are coming to Switch from an indie Spanish developer. I believe the former has also been on Wii U.

Let's be honest here, 3DS became a success because Nintendo realized they overpriced the system and were willing to have a large permanent price cut. It was that price cut combined with the support from holiday 2011 onwards that saved the 3DS.

With Switch, Nintendo learned from their experience during the early 3DS days and the Wii U era realizing that a strong first party lineup is needed early on for their systems to be a success. They did exactly that and the only thing stopping Switch from being a massive success is the stock issue. There's only so much patience people have and stuff like the lottery nonsense in Japan may backfire if it goes on for too long.

@NaviAndMii I was also the only kid in my year group, nay probably the whole school, to own a N64!

I think the same goes for the GameCube too, despite having a bunch of friends who played many happy hours on Mario Kart: Double Dash and Super Smash Bros. Melee round my house during the school holidays.

Even though I have spent these past couple of years playing on my PlayStation 4 more so than my 3DS and Wii U, to the point that I have been bizarrely labelled a Sony ‘white knight’ on here, I have spent the vast majority of my life playing on nothing but Nintendo systems, both the home and portable kind, to the point that I more or less became a Nintendo fanboy.

I am so very glad I broadened my horizons when I soon got tired of missing out on all those third party games on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 though, due to being a lone Wii owner for three rather uninspiring years. The Wii is by far and away my least favourite Nintendo system outside of Wii Sports and Super Mario Galaxy.

p.s. Out of all those consoles you have mentioned, only Ouya is symbolic with the word ‘failure’.

@JaxonH The 3DS is pretty much a failure in USA and Europe compared to any other Nintendo handheld. It did well in Japan but mostly because it was supported by the local industry. I think that's why the Switch was marketed as a home console system in the west. They know handhelds have been replaced by smartphones. But when the Switch launch momentum will be over the average consumer will know it has a the hardware of a handheld. As usual with Nintendo it's a bet and it's hard to predict what will happen.

Oh my poor little thing. Can you please show me where did it happen?