I agree with the title of this thread, but I don't think it goes far enough.  I wouldn't call 2011-2017 the "Nintendo Dark Ages".  Instead 2011-2017 is the "Gaming Dark Ages".  Every single home console and handheld from this period is pathetic.  Every...single...one!

Just compare this set of consoles to their predecessors:

Wii  vs. Wii U - Nintendo's best selling home console is followed by it's worst.  Obviously a huge decline.
DS vs.  3DS - Same story.  Best selling handheld of all time vs Nintendo's worst (omitting Virtual Boy).
PSP vs. Vita - The PSP has sold about 4.5 times what the Vita has.  An epic failure!  This sort of colossal failure would be talked about more if it weren't for the Wii U screwing up even worse.
XB360 vs. XB1 - Obviously sales have dropped.  What's more, is Microsoft even trying to support the XB1 anymore?  It's like they gave up.  The XB360 was a whole different story.  It came out of the gate swinging.  It released a year before the other home consoles, and seemed to be fighting hard at every step.  I remember Microsoft paying third parties money just so their games would get an earlier release than the PS3.  Microsoft was fighting tooth and nail during those days.  What happened to that Microsoft? 

That just leaves 
PS3 vs. PS4 - Obviously the PS4 is selling better.  This means that at first glance the PS4 looks so much better than PS3 right?  But look deeper.  The main reason the PS4 is pathetic is that it is just like the PS3.  The PS3 is Sony's biggest financial failure in gaming.  Sure the PS3 sold more than the Vita, but it also caused the a whole lot more red on their balance sheet too.  The PS3 is their biggest failure and the PS4 is just like it. 


Just consider all of the ways that people praise the PS4:
"It has great first party IP like Uncharted and The Last of Us".
Are you talking about PS4 or PS3?  It sounds like you are talking about PS3.

"PS4 launched as the most powerful console this generation."
I think you are talking about PS3, right?

"It has all the Western AAA third party games like Assassin's Creed, CoD, FIFA, etc...."
Yeah, the PS3 had that.  You're talking about the PS3.

"Say what you want about the PS4, but at least it's not that underpowered crap from Nintendo."
Hey!  That's what they said about the PS3!

"It's impossible to criticize any console that has GTA5!"
Just like the PS3!

Face it, the PS4 is just living in the shadow of PS3, which was Sony's biggest financial blunder.  The only advantage that the PS4 has over the PS3 is that it launched at a more reasonable price.  The PS3 hardware was too ambitious.  Meanwhile the PS4 hardware was safe, bland and boring.  That is the PS4's main selling point: it's boring.  

Sure the PS4 has sold great, but just look how pathetic the competition was.  How could it not sell great?  Sure, it was the winner, but PS4 was the winner of the special olympics.  That's not really much of an accomplishment.  "Way to go PS4.  You trounced all over the other consoles that were doomed to fail from the get go."  I mean, we already looked at how pathetic every single other console was.  Being boring and safe was the winning strategy.

Thankfully the "Gaming Dark Ages" are over.  Nintendo has put out a much better system, and soon the PS4 and XB1 will be replaced too.  Good riddance!  The sooner we can forget the 2011-2017 years of gaming, the better.

1 didn't pay off at all and only served to hurt Nintendo I the end.

2 You are right that the one and only price drop did happen, my bad I thought it was 2014 it happened, still didn't help hey done nothing until what, 5 days after the PS4 released. As far as 8t being sold out, I can't post links in this on my phone, but a quick search shows the deluxe preorders were sold out, and they are always slow to replenish. I'll post when I get home from work.

3 We agree, but only as far as some third parties half assed support, not Wii U didn't have it.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/nov/19/wii-u-launch-us-problems

Ah there's one link, way to hard for it being 2018. Android phones do not like this site. Lol

Pretty good thread

I'd also like to point out that the concept of the WiiU was also horrible. Having to look at two screens at a time to play a game is a broken concept that proved its failure, so the WiiU was hindered right from the start with its broken desgin.

Another thing is the rise of mobile. The types of games that Nintendo were pushing with the WiiU, the asymmetrical games they pushed like warioware or Nintendo land, are similar games that found success on the DS like brain age, they were also pushed to the same demographic that a lot of Wii games were sold to. These type of games were now easily apps on mobile, free apps. And no matter what Nintendo would do, they lost that demographic. Even on switch that demographic is gone, they tried with 1-2 switch, and they tried with labo, the latter now bombed completely (even though it's technically a bit different). Without a doubt the rise of mobile clearly hurt the WiiU

Another thing being it's crappy hardware specs. It was basically the same level as a PS360 machine, and while people can keep changing "graphics don't matter" chant, the fact is people like their purchases to have quality hardware, the WiiU was certainly a disappointment on that front. Specially at its price point. While the switch is not much stronger, as a handheld and mobile device it's a huge upgrade from the 3ds and even a big upgrade from the vita.

It was a great read! I feel your pain.

It's not. 1-2 Switch did solid numbers (will likely do 3-5 million in the end), and Super Mario Party is a huge hit, along with Pokemon Let's Go! attracting a good portion of Pokemon Go players. Labo's a weird case, because it's more of a niche product than either of those, but I also wouldn't say it outright bombed either since all Kits combined are over One million in sales at the moment. We'll have to see what it's fate is When Nintendo gives its post Holiday sales reports. 

I'd say the problem is more that the Wii U didn't have anything that made it clear why they should care about it over a phone. The dual screen gamepad gimmick was confusing and un-intuitive, and doesn't have the same appeal as passing a Joy-Con to a friend for Multiplayer. Wii U failed because it was badly designed, not because of mobile. 

A lot of those sales are from bundles and the core nintendo fanbase. Also compare it's numbers to brain age and and Wii fit and it's clear that demographic is gone. 

And take into consideration that 1-2 switch was a launch title, which lack of software during release helps it's sales

I wouldn't consider Mario party to be in the same category as those games to be honest, the game has always had its fanbase from way back to the (awesome) N64 games, and it appeals to the Nintendo fanbase a lot. 

And Pokémon is well... Pokémon, it will always be huge. 

1-2 Switch didn't get bundled until just recently, and Nintendo fans hate this game with most not bothering to buy it. Yet, it still sold almost 3 million copies, showing there's still an audience for these types of games. You could argue that it was a launch title and that it would've always done that much regardless because of it, which is somewhat true, but the fact that it and similar games like it are doing well on Switch shows that there are a lot of casual gamers who are interested in it. 

Super Mario Party is becoming the fastest selling entry in the Mario Party series since Mario Party 8, previous Mario Party games did okay, but this game is really doing numbers. If the Switch really was strictly a core gamer system, it wouldn't have sold this much in a short time frame. 

And while it's true Pokemon Let's Go! would've always done well, the fact that it managed to convert a good percentage of Pokemon Go players to buy a Switch is impressive. 

Simply put, Switch isn't just selling to core gamers, it's selling to a wide range of consumers for different reasons. A mainstream consumer electronics device can't survive on just hardcore buyers alone. 

Rol has already said basically what he should. Just want to say that it is important to note Nintendo in 2010 and 2011 that almost abandoned the Wii, the video game was dependent on Metroid Other M and Skyward Sword, which are not even a good version of their respective franchises. At the end of the revolution that was the generation, Nintendo stopped releasing games to stationary console to focus on 3DS and this also contributed to the later period. The couch arcades games that were at the heart of the Wii system were abandoned by games more like Gamecube games, like Other M and Skyward Sword, so the console had low sales as had the Gamecube.

But Nintendo sold 85M+ consoles with the 3DS and the Wii U combined. What is the reason to say that the Switch ended the "dark ages of Nintendo"? Do you think the Switch will top 85M+?

While yes I do think the Switch will sell around 80-85 M. the title mostly refers to terrible state of the company during these years. I wanted to get into Nintendo's stock prices and the mundane business decisions they were making during this period but I felt as if I was already going on too long.