What should Nintendo have done instead of Wii U?

[Otter]

Mnementh said:

shikamaru317 said:

I personally would have liked to see them try their hand at an actual, proper next-gen console; no silly tablet controller gimmicks, no cheesy name, just a standard controller and a console, Gamecube 2.0 essentially. About 1 tflop should have been possible for $350 in 2012, considering PS4 was 1.8 tflop for $400 just a year later. Sure it wouldn't have been a huge success like Switch, being the weakest 8th gen system, but taking into account the 1 year headstart over Sony and MS, the fact that the specs would have been high enough for 720p on the same games that XB1 played at 900p and PS4 at 1080p, and the price advantage over PS4 and XB1, I think it would have sold a respectable amount, more than Gamecube at least, and alot more than Wii U.

Actually, history shows 3rd-parties don't trust Nintendo when they do somethign similar to the others. They flock with their standard games to Playstation and maybe Xbox. So to succeed Nintendo must draw in the userbase on their own (and if they are successful some 3rd-parties may come). And Nintendo usually isn't played for the same games as PS and XB. So Nintendo need to do different games. And how to differentiate better than with a different input scheme. So no, if Nintendo had made just a powerful console with standard input, they had failed as bad as WiiU, maybe worse. They need to offer something different, so users see value in getting the device.

This isn't really true.

N64 starts with great 3rd Party Support in spite of horrible cartdrigde situation. Eventually dies down as Playstation is the clear winner of the gen and both systems have vastly different architecture and storage mediums

Gamecube. Still has good support (receievces most Ubisoft/EA/Activision games) in spite of limitations of mini-disc & arriving a year after PS2 but most important titles of the generation are Playstation is exclusive (i.e they're not availble on Xbox Either- GTA (for most of the generation) Tekken, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid). All the meanwhile the Xbox starts recieving it own consoles exclusives thanks to its similarity to PC developement & this led to it getting GTA (half life, elderscrolls, doom etc).

Wii- Literally a gamecube repackaged.

Wii U- Literally a last gen system arriving at the end of the generation, has nothing to offer PS3/360 owners who 3rd parties sold all their games to, branded with the Wii brand which is not only was dying in the casual space but also considered poison in the "core" gamer space. Did I mention that it wouldn't be able to run any game released just 2 years from its launch without a seperate team dedicated to porting to its hardware?

Nintendo 1st party content is far bigger seller than either sony or microsofts. If Ninetndo released a console that ticked all boxes and wasn't marketed as a gimmick, they would obviously perform better than what we saw with Wii U. It would of course require them to put their best foot forward software wise and face the inevitable upwill battle to gain traction on franchises which have previously been home on Xbox/PS2, but Xbox 360 went through that exact same uphill battle. 

Last edited by Otter - on 30 December 2019