| JackHandy said: The Gameboy was a nerfed NES. The GBA was a nerfed SNES. The DS was a nerfed N64 and the 3DS, a nerfed Gamecube. Their handhelds have always been nerfed devices, hence the Switch being a poor-man's PS4. And, likewise, the prices of these handhelds have always reflected as much. I paid under a hundred dollars for a launch GBA. Launch. Not at the end of its lifecycle mind you... this was day one. And that is the sort of price-point we've come to expect from a Nintendo handheld, mostly due to it being so under powered and technologically behind what is currently on the market. But this time, you're talking about something that is only a hundred dollars less than the top of the line launch-PS3, a system that was so expensive, the parent company literally told us we'd get second jobs to afford it... and that machine was cutting edge. The Switch 2 is not. Not even close. |
None of the handheld platforms were "nerfed [home consoles.]" They were platforms with their own advantages and disadvantages with the console analogues you mentioned. For example, the 3DS had a much more capable GPU (with a much more modern feature-set) and overall more memory than the GameCube.
The prices didn't "always reflect as much" either. The 3DS cost more than a GameCube, and had a similar price-drop schedule to the GameCube. Even if you account for inflation, it still cost the same at launch ($250 in 2011 ~ $200 in 2001.) The Switch cost as much as (and often due to stock shortages, even more than) a base PS4. In fact I bought my refurbished Switch in September 2017 for more than I bought my brand new PS4 Pro in April 2018 ($377 vs $355), although the Switch did come with BOTW (a game I already beat on Wii U.)
The Switch (and Switch 2) also isn't a handheld in the sense that the 3DS or GameBoy were anyway. Its power-profile when docked is a tier above handheld platforms (8-15W vs. 0.7-3W at the package level.)
AND AGAIN YOU ARE NOT ADJUSTING FOR INFLATION. The PS3 did NOT cost only about $100 more than the Switch 2 in 2025 dollars. Your whole argument here is based on faulty (and outright false) premises.
Last edited by sc94597 - on 03 April 2025
