Why do you think Nintendo has survived so long as a platform holder?

[RedKingXIII]

Alex_The_Hedgehog said:

RedKingXIII said:

It's the combination of great games and their handhelds.

Their games alone didn't do shit to save any of their failed home consoles, but their handhelds always are consistent sellers.

I think innovation helps too.

Yeah, the N64, the GameCube and specially the Wii U failed against it's competitors, but the Wii had unique gameplay features, and it outsold both the PS3 and the 360 while being a home console only.

That really helped the Wii and DS but innovating for the sake of innovating was fatal for the Wii U. And the 3DS... I'm not sure many bought it for the 3D effect lol.

curl-6 said:

RedKingXIII said:

It's the combination of great games and their handhelds.

Their games alone didn't do shit to save any of their failed home consoles, but their handhelds always are consistent sellers.

What specifically about their handheld systems has kept them successful though, in your view? 

Sony, Sega, Atari, etc made handhelds as well, but their handheld lines died out.

They always know how to balance power and price with their handhelds very well. The competition mainly focused on power, and even in general, the most powerful console of the generation selling the best is a rare occurrence.

That and their software works really well on handhelds. Until the Switch there wasn't nothing that screams 'wow, I need to play this on my big TV', like Alex said. And with the Switch... well, you have that option.