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

[Soundwave]

Wyrdness said:

Soundwave said:

It's easy to say after the fact "oh yeah that was always going to happen". 

The fact is people should probably avoid making sweeping generalizations about things they frankly aren't very clued in on. 

I have no idea what Microsoft's game division is doing with the next XBox. I know someone named Sarah Bond I think is running the division (is that even correct?) but I'm not going to make sweeping statements about what they're doing, I don't know who the fuck is in charge of their hardware division or what their priorities are at all and I'm not going to sit here and pretend I would know what their philosophy. 

Nintendo's business model is to make money, period. How they accommodate that radically changes from decade to decade, if you told people here 15 years ago that movies and theme parks would be a core pillar of Nintendo's business and Miyamoto would be working more on movies than games, most people would say "no chance in hell". If you said they'll have a paid online network, people would always "no way, never". Well shit changes, Nintendo has completely different leadership that grew up in a completely different time period of time with completely different ways of looking at things today and the market conditions are completely different from what the market was 10 years ago, let alone 20. 

MS don't even know what they're doing tbh where as Nintendo do as the latter have a core identity and philosophy that they stick to in all their eras of being, nothing has radically changed at Nintendo they've just found a modern way to execute their usual approach, movies have always been a thing it's just until now where they could be executed well unlike the 1993 Mario attempt, media was always a thing with SMB animated series along with Zelda, Pikmin shorts, Kirby etc... People never dismissed them having paid online if anything people said they'd pay for better online I remember that sentiment from the Wii days, Nintendo's current President said in an interview a few days ago that the films, media and theme park are to introduce and increase exposure for their IPs in other words divert more people to their platforms to buy games which is their core philosophy as licenses on the platform are their main income.

BraLoD said:

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.

GBC is a pro model hence why its sales are counted together with the GB it was just handled as a separate platform to fill a massive void as the Atlantis project which was the GB2 was too expensive to proceed with, rumoured that it would have cost more than even consoles if released.

I've followed Nintendo for decades so I've heard it all. 

"Nintendo will never allow blood/violence on their console"

12 months later: Mortal Kombat 2 is allowed on the SNES will all the blood and fatalities and even more than we're even making our own violent fighter with blood called Killer Instinct out in arcades in a few months time. Turns out we never cared if kids were exposed to violence. 

Nintendo says CD-ROM is the future. Then they say CD-ROM is not the future. So then Nintendo will never use discs ... until they then used discs for 3 consoles in a row. 

32-bit is dinky technology, 64-bit bleeding edge Jurassic Park graphics babeee! Wait for the Nintendo 64! Graphics matter!

Wait! Graphics don't matter!

Nintendo doesn't support cinematic games with cutscenes, you'll never see them doing anything about that, they have no interest in the movies! Separate art form. Fast forward to today when Miyamoto is primarily working on and overseeing ... Hollywood movies (lmao). 

Nintendo will never make a controller based console with only a minimal tech leap, no way, no previous Nintendo console has done that (Wrong ... Wii). 

Nintendo is a champion of traditional gaming and will never do DLC!!! Games should arrive 100% on the cartridge/disk day 1!!!!

OK so Nintendo is doing DLC, but they'll never charge money for it like Sony and MS do (okey dokey). 

Smartphone games are the plague on gaming! Nintendo will never, ever make smartphone games (hold my beer). 

Nintendo will never make a portable will less than 6 hours battery life! OK, never less than 5! 4? 3? (runs)

Nintendo will never make a hybrid console!! NX is a separate console and handheld, just like they've always done!! (uh huh)

Etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. there's a ton of other variations of this. Nintendo varies wildly depending on who is actually the president/board of directors and what is happening in the modern market. What applies to 2006 doesn't apply to 2016 or 2026 or 1996 or 1986. Nintendo does whatever they think is advantageous for them in the moment and that changes radically over time. 

The other funny thing is you would think Nintendo's current president must have grown up a Nintendo fanboy with the Famicom, but while he says he had a Super Famicom, he generally didn't play Nintendo games on it, just third party stuff lol.  

Last edited by Soundwave - on 12 January 2026