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curl-6 on 09 May 2024
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Soundwave said:
curl-6 said:

Switch does inherit a lot of software from Wii U and does feel like the realization of a hybrid concept that the Wii U was a half-baked version of, but I feel their core philosophy is very different.

The Wii U's problem was that its central gimmick added a barrier to entry rather than removing one. It was inconvenient, unnecessary, a solution in search of a problem. It complicated gameplay input, it complicated multiplayer by adding asymmetry and by each console only supporting a single Gamepad, it got in the way of just picking up and playing games.

Switch on the other hand was all about making it easy and painless to pick up and play whether you were at home, at work, on holiday, on the train, whenever and wherever.  

I mean the Switch controller has just as many "hard to use" buttons and analog sticks as the Wii U does. 

I don't think that's it. The details matter more than people think. Half portability versus full portability is a huge difference in functionality which isn't really all Nintendo's fault (Iwata said they tried to make the Wii U fully portable, it simply was not feasible with the technology of the time). 

There's a huge difference too between Breath of the Wild being your showcase title ... what does that communicate to the audience ... it says that not only is this a portable console, it's a portable console that can even deliver that type of epic, Game of the Year, beautiful open world, type experience ... the type of game you would never dream of getting on a Game Boy or DS or 3DS or even PSP or Vita or iPhone ... but here it is, and you can play it in your living room, in your van, at the airport, etc. etc

If you tried to sell this concept with say ... New Super Mario Bros. U ... that doesn't work likely any where near as well, that's just communicating "see this same ol' shit you played a few years ago on your DS and Wii? Well here is again like microwaved left overs". That doesn't really get much excitement going.

It's not that buttons and sticks are hard to use, it's that having a cumbersome mandatory second screen controller that the console only support one of just wasn't an appealing gimmick, it got in the way of straightforward accessible gameplay experiences. 

BOTW, while a technically complex game, was elegantly simple to actually play. Something like Nintendoland was just a convoluted mess of gimmicky nonsense.

Execution absolutely made a world of difference between Wii U and Switch, but their core mentality is deeply different in spite of their superficial similarities.