So, I was in the shower this morning, and while lathering up my neither regions my thoughts naturally turned to the much talked-about Wii U successor, codenamed NX. At that moment I was taken far away, across the Donut Plains, through the Gerudo Valley to the top of a mountain. I looked out and I could see what may have been Death Mountain in the north... but it could also have been the south; I didn't have a second screen to accurately pinpoint my location. It didn't matter, because I was soon visited by the spirit of Gunpei Yokoi flanked on each side by an Ice Climber. I asked the legendary hardware pioneer, "Tell me sensei, what is the NX?" He looked deep into my soul and reponded, "Don't you already know?!?" And with the clarity and depth of two Virtual Boy screens, I knew now he was right.
Thus far, Nintendo has launched 9 families of gaming consoles:
1. NES/Famicom
2. Gameboy Family
3. SNES Super Famicom
4. N64
5. GCN
6. NDS Family
7. Wii
8. 3DS Family
9. Wii U
And now, the tenth Nintendo - or NX - will be upon us in just a few years. But why codename it with the Roman X rather than the numerical 10? Becasue it is also a Cross, of course, the joining of handheld and home console gaming. This time the handheld and console will be in the same family, like brothers. Building on the design of Wii U, the NX will be two consoles in one. One, a traditional console, will be desinged to play in the living room, connected to your TV. The second will be the evolution of the Gamepad, but rather than a shell linked to the home box, this Gamepad will have a mind of its own. The NX Gamepad will be its own system, the next step in the line of Nintendo handhelds. Much to the glee of Gamepad haters everywhere, the NXPad will be sold seperately.
What games will they play? The same ones, of course. When the systems launch in 2017, play games at home with a classically styled controller. Play Super Mario Universe - a day one game being worked on by EAD Tokyo right now - on your television in glorious 1080p. But also play it on the NXPad anywhere, any time. Like the Wii U Gamepad, you'll play it at a lesser resolution than on your TV, but it may even look clearer to your eye thanks to the condensed small screen. The NXPad won't have the same processing power as the main console, but you don't need it on the smaller device, of course. Play Mario Universe with friends too, one on the Pad, one on the TV in local multiplayer. And play it on the pooper without having to worry about losing connection with the console base. And of course, only buy it once since the new account system covers both NX's.
Didn't have a Wii U? Enjoy ports of all the best Wii U games soon after launch, including an updated Zelda U. But you'll need to buy both NX console and Gamepad to have the full Wii U style dual screen experience. Don't worry if you don't want to have both, most Wii U games were designed to play without the second screen.
Is the system powerful? Not especially, but it's no slouch either. And the console uses an APU from AMD in line with what was produced for XBOne and PS4 except more powerful and efficent. Expect the console-only experience to boast power 2-4X a PS4, but the NX Gamepad is no draw on resources, being its own independent system.
Who is NX for? Everyone. The console style will target the console favoring west, while the handheld appeals to the DS-loving Japan. But if you have one, why not have the other?
Will it have lots of games? Sure, with software projects combined, there will more total games in the unified platform. But don't expect double on your NX of choice - many resources have been redirected to mobile initiatives. With respectable power and the opportunity to hit two Nintendo Consoles in one, expect some strong early third party interest as well.
And that's all Gunpei revealed to me at this time. Can't wait to see it in the real world next year!
