Was Nintendo right to opt out of the graphics arms race?

[Soundwave]

BraLoD said:

Wyrdness said:

While the GBC is counted as a GB model that scenario is unique in that the new model was essentially a new platform to succeed the old model which is different from the context of a Pro model here in the execution of the PS4 and PS5 which have to coincide with the base model where as GBC was to fill the void left by the failure to release the GB2 project which eventually was inherited by the GBA.

DSi is no different to the 3DS example as the changes were very inconsequential to the big picture that few games required them especially as it came in the last two years of the DS' life and it certainly did nothing in regards to closing the gap in the power difference between the DS and the PSP that job went to the 3DS which ironically all of this backs the point being highlighted in that no Pro model like the PS5 Pro is coming because Nintendo would rather just release a successor instead even back with the GBC and different people in charge the same philosophy was present as it is now.

GBC is a separate system with BC, not a "pro" model of the GB, it has many exclusives, as many games as the Nintendo 64 had in Japan, if I recall it right. It just had a crossgen period which was new back then, but it's like other systems have since some time now.

Devs wanted to support the old system with games because of its existing userbase, just the same as they want now. It's even the same with Switch 2 where Switch 2 games carts that are crossgen can be used on Switch 1 physically, as were the black carts for Gameboy Color back then.

Even the best game on GBC, Pokémon Crystal, can't run on a GB, people that say both are the same say because Nintendo combined both system sales, but they are definitely two separate systems, like the Switch 1 and 2 are now.

Game Boy Color was doing the Pro model thing decades before Sony and Microsoft did it and no it's not a distinct hardware system, Nintendo does not list it as such or even show what the GBC alone sold, its sales are included with the Game Boy, just like PS4 Pro sales are included with the PS4. 

There wasn't even any deep thought process in making the Game Boy Color anyway, Yamauchi basically just insisted on having for the holidays (lol) rather quickly. The Game Boy successor at the time (Atlantis) stuck in development shit and they quickly just created a different Game Boy model and gave zero fucks that it could run its own games or not. It's whatever Yamauchi felt like that week. 

Not that any of that means shit today. Nintendo's hardware designers of today were in high school or college when the Game Boy Color came out, they're not going to make hardware decisions because of arbitrary rules from 1998, lol. That means nothing to them.

Last edited by Soundwave - on 12 January 2026