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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Nintendo killed handheld gaming

Chrizum on 09 May 2017

You couldn't be further from the truth.

There is a huge mobile market people seem to keep forgetting about, and many indie and lower budget games lend themselves perfectly for shorts bursts of handheld gaming.

Many gamers make the mistake that everyone is a hardcore gamer while most people don't have the time for that. In fact, most people only play a game for an hour or less at a time really.



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Rem87919394 on 09 May 2017

Mobile gaming killed handhelds. It was only a matter of time



aikohualda on 09 May 2017

yeah technically nintendo killed it because it is the last company to have a "successful" dedicated hand held gaming device... so the moment they would turn off the support of 3ds they did will kill it....



 

Paperboy_J on 09 May 2017

Nintendo has carried handheld gaming, pretty much single-handedly, since the beginning. I really don't think they're going to throw all of that away, just like that. No, I think Ninty is going to try to keep traditional handhelds going as long as possible.



Daggdroppen on 09 May 2017

Switch mini Please!



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Vini256 on 09 May 2017
mZuzek said:
Vini256 said:

I don't think the Switch merging the two lines is going to impact handheld games that much. If anything it will give us more experimental games/New IP's since Nintendo won't need to make as many "duplicate" games of certain franchises anymore (Aside from MK because I'm pretty sure we'll get MK9 on the Switch in 2-3 years). The next Zelda will likely be a 2D one seeing as Aonuma seemed interested in making more of them, so we won't lose anything really.

Well I'd argue if there was never another 2D Zelda we still wouldn't be losing anything.

...but I know that's quite an unpopular opinion and I'll get hate for it.

I personally think that 2D Zelda is important because it gives us the "classic Zelda" option, which I prefer a lot more than the open-world/sandbox that they're doing with the 3D ones from now on. But I respect your opinion, especially because I honestly think SS is one of the best Zelda games ever. If that's not an unpopular opinion I don't know what is.



zorg1000 on 09 May 2017
morenoingrato said:
Hmh. I never thought about it this way. That is kinda sad. 3DS had small masterpieces like 3D Land and Link Between Worlds which were more handheld suitable but in many ways better than home console experiences.

It's not sad because there is no reason to expect these small-medium sized, "handheld" experiences to disappear.

Hell, that's primarily what Switch has at the moment. Games like Shovel Knight, Blaster Master Zero, Snipperclips, Snake Pass, Tumbleseed, Fast RMX, I Am Setsuna, Kamiko, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Neo Geo Classics, Bomberman, Binding of Isaac, etc. all fit this bill.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

Mandalore76 on 09 May 2017
Kyuu said:
Switch is basically Vita 2 with detachable controllers and a unified Nintendo library. It's clear they killed their home consoles, not handhelds. Which is a step to the right direction given their unwillingness to make a reasonably powerful home console.

Poor analogy.  The Switch is more like a Wii U 2 (weak brand messaging on the Wii U itself would never allow that name to be used again though) where the Gamepad can finally function on it's own without needing to be within 15 feet of the console.



Veknoid_Outcast on 09 May 2017

It's difficult to prove the thesis that Nintendo killed handheld gaming when one of the Switch's selling points is exactly that: handheld gaming. It's literally a handheld gaming device, in addition to a home console.

I get your point that developers might stop offering shorter, "bite-sized" games now that titles like Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are available on the go, but there's no data to back that up. Heck, look at some of the games available on Switch since launch: Snipperclips, Bomberman, Shovel Knight, Blaster Master Zero. A lot of these games can be beaten in an afternoon or over a weekend.

Just because Switch can support software like Breath of the Wild doesn't mean developers will have to use that game as a jumping off point. There will be plenty of smaller games better suited to short play sessions on the bus or train, from Nintendo and from third parties.



Vini256 on 09 May 2017
mZuzek said:
Vini256 said:

I personally think that 2D Zelda is important because it gives us the "classic Zelda" option, which I prefer a lot more than the open-world/sandbox that they're doing with the 3D ones from now on. But I respect your opinion, especially because I honestly think SS is one of the best Zelda games ever. If that's not an unpopular opinion I don't know what is.

Skyward Sword was my favorite Zelda game up until a couple of months ago. It's just that, to me, 2D Zeldas just feel... obsolete. The 3D ones are just better (unlike say, Metroid, where there are vast gameplay differences between 2D and 3D), they have better dungeons and are just way more immersive and exciting - and now with Breath of the Wild, they even have better combat and exploration on top of that.

 

Classic Zelda could still exist in 3D form as a midterm between the formula of the older games and the all-new style of BotW - after all, if they just make every game from now on just like BotW, they would be falling into a formula again.

Having played only one 2D Zelda (That being ALBW), I totally get what you mean. I just want more of them because I think it's unlikely that they'd keep making classic 3D Zelda games now that BotW is a thing, but if they somehow managed to do that I'd love it. I do think that the next 3D Zelda will change a lot of stuff so it doesn't get stuck in a formula again, but we'll see.