Koizumi

Amongst the many things that make Nintendo truly stand out in the gaming world, perhaps the most obvious is its approach to hardware design. Where others aim to offer the most powerful systems on the planet, serving as a one-stop platform for all of one's entertainment needs, Nintendo has taken a different path, opting to explore innovative and fresh ways of gaming that are all about having a fun experience.

In an interview with The Guardian, Nintendo's Shinya Takahashi and Hisashi Nogami have discussed the process of introducing these new consoles, noting the struggles that come with explaining something that has never been done before. Perhaps the most famous case of a non-traditional Nintendo console is the Wii, something which caused confusion even amongst Nintendo's developers at first, as explained by Takahashi.

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube764k
Watch on YouTube

“Even among our developers there are often doubts! When the Wii remote was first introduced as a concept, the reaction was: what is that? Is it real? Will it actually work? But once we’d all tried it, we were surprised and delighted by it, and that made us realise that it was going to work out."

After the failures of Nintendo's next home console, the Wii U, which appeared to be linked somewhat to miscommunication with consumers about what the product actually was, Nintendo's efforts moved onto the Switch. You likely don't need us to tell you that the new console is doing wonderfully well for itself, perhaps thanks to how impressive and easy-to-understand it is when first picked up.

"With the Nintendo Switch, we all knew the concept, but when we picked up the prototype for the first time and saw Mario Kart running perfectly on the smaller screen, we were flabbergasted. Even people who are well aware of the concept and design can’t always tell if something’s going to work.”

Nogami agrees, saying that "it’s not good enough to put your idea into words; you have to give people a concrete example to show them how it works. It’s on us to create things that allow players to experience that ‘wow’ moment.”

If you want to check out the interview in full (and we'd urge you to as it's an interesting read) you can check it out over at The Guardian right here.

Do you think Nintendo provides that 'wow' moment with its consoles? Is that what draws you to Nintendo's products, and why we're all here together on this very site? Share your thoughts and any 'wow' moments with us in the comments below.

[source theguardian.com]