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

Great games.

/thread



Sony want to make money by selling art, Nintendo want to make money by selling fun, Microsoft want to make money.

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Quality games that stood the test of time.

The amount of people who still go back to SNES, N64, GC and Wii games is a testament to that. The focus on tight gameplay and evergreen titles has kept people engaged, till now Nintendo games are the ones that dominate the speedrun scene.

I could go on about this, but simply I have returned to Nintendo many times purely because of nostalgia. I can go back and play Mario 64, Windwaker or Wii Sports and get immense value from it. They have rarely followed trends (making a shooter in the CoD era, or going for flashy graphics), and over time I think their games just stick out among look-alike games.

They kept those games exclusive for their hardware, and I think that association of needing to buy a Nintendo console to play a Nintendo game is inherently engrained in the customers / fans. There are obviously other factors but I think that's the main one



JRPGfan said:

Strong IP, cheaply made games, that sell millions?

They ignore alot of story telling, graphics, mocap, voice acting, ect ect compared to others.
Just focused on fun cartoony art style characters, and fun gameplay loop (at the cost of everything else).

You are right. The cartoony characters and movements are just fun. It doesn't get boring, and Mario never gets repetitive.



Check this Game  DropBall Sort 3d

SvennoJ said:
Phenomajp13 said:

Wasn't going to respond but you have made two post based off your preference/comfort as if that is relevant. What you find comfortable is nothing more than your opinion, your opinion doesn't determine whether Switch is hybrid or not. 

Imagine me saying the Wii isn't a home console or PS consoles aren't home consoles because I find their controllers "uncomfortable"? That's a silly argument. Just like you find them uncomfortable others find them comfortable enough to do the job they do. The job they do, is to be as versatile as possible to support a hybrid platform. What controller offers everything the Joycons offer? It offers the convenience of attaching to the console for handheld play and detaching for tabletop and TV play including motion control games, multiplayer, and dual analog lol. Switch 2 joycons improved the technology and added mouse support so now I can play shooters properly (The PC way). I agree the joycons aren't perfect but neither are all the other controllers and the other controllers lack the versatility a hybrid platform needs. 

At some point we have to admit only pure nonsense can continue to push the agenda of Switch was made to be a mobile platform first and foremost because everything about the console was clearly designed to be accommodating for both forms of play (portable and home) besides the actual Switch model made to be only a handheld (Switch Lite). Nintendo Switch is just as much a home console from Nintendo as Wii and WiiU. Funny enough, Switch Oled is the first Nintendo home console to include a lan port lol. How does that happen if Nintendo isnt clearly designing Switch to accommodate both forms of play? What relevant Nintendo home console franchise hasn't made its way to Switch? What has Nintendo lost since Switch due them going full mobile as some of you claim? If power is your argument then Wii and WiiU aren't home consoles either because they also were weaker than the competition. Switch sales all of the same accessories as you expect from a home console (extra controllers and storage) and handheld console (screen protectors, cases, and storage). Why didn't Nintendo design any of their other handhelds with fully detachable controllers?

Obviously it's a hybrid platform in every facet imaginable and neither Nintendo nor consumers care about some made up rules individuals bendover backwards to make because they have something to complain about. Me complaining about PS consoles doesn't make them all a sudden not home consoles.

They lost me, no longer day 1 purchasing Nintendo systems, and hardly having used Switch beyond Mario and Zelda. (Part of that was joycon drift, next to my kids misplacing the thing / always leaving it out of charge)

If you add a controller to a phone, does it become a console? Are phones hybrids since they can mirror cast to TV?
An iPhone is a hybrid too, mobile device first.
A laptop is a hybrid too, mobile device first.
Steamdeck is a hybrid too, mobile device first.

It's all about convenience for intended purpose. Switching the tiny cards is inconvenient when the dock is sitting in an AV cabinet, have to take the whole dock out to slide the Switch out to change the card. (And if it's not back in its box, goodluck finding it in a kids room ugh)

You pay extra for the tiny cards that now frequently don't hold all the data anyway, besides playing loading slower from card vs digital install. Discs are simply more convenient for storage, keeping track of, cheaper and more storage space. The tiny cards are purely for mobile use, inconvenient for console use.

Switch is a mobile device first, designed for mobile use first. None of the conveniences of a discreet flat box under the TV like Wii. Sacrificing BC for mobile play, no disc add-on. Wii plays GC discs and the original model has ports for GC controllers. Wii U plays Wii discs and supports Wii controllers. Switch sacrificed BC for mobile play first.

Switch enhances mobile play with console like features (easy dock) but sacrifices console like features for mobile purposes. It's focused on mobile play first, and that's where Nintendo's strength lies. 

I don't care about the lower power, but I do care about convenience in form factor and usage. Hence I play on consoles rather than gaming PCs or mobile phones.


Fact is, I have played way more games on N64, GC, Wii and Wii U than on Switch and Switch 2 is the first Nintendo 'console' I haven't bought at launch.

And if we take the best selling Nintendo console and mobile hardware, Wii + DS = (101 + 154) 255 million sales. Switch sits at 153 million. So by adding the console crowd to the mobile crowd, Switch hasn't managed to surpass DS sales yet...


All cementing the theory that Nintendo survived this long because of their mobile strategy. You see the same in BotW and TotK, shifting from long dungeon crawls to bite sized gameplay more suited to short bursts mobile play.

You are objectively 100% wrong. It is a hybrid end of story, no argument, it is specifically designed to be both. All you are doing is cherry picking points. 

There are games specifically designed to be played on a tv that are not playable in handheld. Which is game over for all of your arguments.

Botw was designed for a home console first. Totk has more long dungeons than botw. Generally large open world games are made for home consoles not handhelds. Both of these games show nintendos focus on the hybrid nature of the console being great for both long and short play sessions. Mario odyssey is another example of this with larger scale worlds filled with smaller challenges, you can either spend hours exploring an area or jump in for a quick fix and be satisfied either way. 



As others have said, they could weather the storms of failed home consoles thanks to their cash reserves and continued handheld success. But I'd say the main reason they haven't been forced to go 3rd party like Sega is their ability to switch tactics after a console fails. They did it with the Wii and again with the Switch. The Gamecube 'failed' because it was the console the N64 should have been and was fighting a war that was already lost. The same thing happened with Sega and the Dreamcast, which was what the Saturn should have been and too little, too late. and a similar thing is happening with Microsoft now, which continues to release direct competitors to Playstation in terms of power and features even though they know that's a failed strategy after the XBox 1 lost the momentum the 360 had built up. They are not adapting like Nintendo has done multiple times now.



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pikashoe said:
SvennoJ said:

They lost me, no longer day 1 purchasing Nintendo systems, and hardly having used Switch beyond Mario and Zelda. (Part of that was joycon drift, next to my kids misplacing the thing / always leaving it out of charge)

If you add a controller to a phone, does it become a console? Are phones hybrids since they can mirror cast to TV?
An iPhone is a hybrid too, mobile device first.
A laptop is a hybrid too, mobile device first.
Steamdeck is a hybrid too, mobile device first.

It's all about convenience for intended purpose. Switching the tiny cards is inconvenient when the dock is sitting in an AV cabinet, have to take the whole dock out to slide the Switch out to change the card. (And if it's not back in its box, goodluck finding it in a kids room ugh)

You pay extra for the tiny cards that now frequently don't hold all the data anyway, besides playing loading slower from card vs digital install. Discs are simply more convenient for storage, keeping track of, cheaper and more storage space. The tiny cards are purely for mobile use, inconvenient for console use.

Switch is a mobile device first, designed for mobile use first. None of the conveniences of a discreet flat box under the TV like Wii. Sacrificing BC for mobile play, no disc add-on. Wii plays GC discs and the original model has ports for GC controllers. Wii U plays Wii discs and supports Wii controllers. Switch sacrificed BC for mobile play first.

Switch enhances mobile play with console like features (easy dock) but sacrifices console like features for mobile purposes. It's focused on mobile play first, and that's where Nintendo's strength lies. 

I don't care about the lower power, but I do care about convenience in form factor and usage. Hence I play on consoles rather than gaming PCs or mobile phones.


Fact is, I have played way more games on N64, GC, Wii and Wii U than on Switch and Switch 2 is the first Nintendo 'console' I haven't bought at launch.

And if we take the best selling Nintendo console and mobile hardware, Wii + DS = (101 + 154) 255 million sales. Switch sits at 153 million. So by adding the console crowd to the mobile crowd, Switch hasn't managed to surpass DS sales yet...


All cementing the theory that Nintendo survived this long because of their mobile strategy. You see the same in BotW and TotK, shifting from long dungeon crawls to bite sized gameplay more suited to short bursts mobile play.

You are objectively 100% wrong. It is a hybrid end of story, no argument, it is specifically designed to be both. All you are doing is cherry picking points. 

There are games specifically designed to be played on a tv that are not playable in handheld. Which is game over for all of your arguments.

Botw was designed for a home console first. Totk has more long dungeons than botw. Generally large open world games are made for home consoles not handhelds. Both of these games show nintendos focus on the hybrid nature of the console being great for both long and short play sessions. Mario odyssey is another example of this with larger scale worlds filled with smaller challenges, you can either spend hours exploring an area or jump in for a quick fix and be satisfied either way. 

Whether you think I'm wrong or not is irrelevant. 

As a customer I see a handheld, I don't play on handhelds (tried, just don't like the small screen experience) and see extra inconvenience as someone who just wants to play on TV (or rather in VR). 

Switch I bought day one for BotW, which I played on my projector with the Switch awkwardly in the middle of the room on a box at the end of its hdmi cable since the left controller was losing connection with the Switch all the time. The dock was awkward to use, the controllers were awkward to use (I got the Zelda themed controller to play TotK, much better) and switching games was awkward with my aging hands disagreeing with the postage stamp carts. 

The perception is, it's a handheld first. Nintendo never released a Switch home console version, they did release a handheld only version. (Bought one hoping my kids would use that instead of 'disappearing' the og Switch, thing still ended up lost out of charge when I wanted to play something)

So since I have PC, PS5, Series X anyway to play any non Nintendo games, I have no incentive to buy the Switch 2 until the next Zelda / main line Mario comes out. There's literally no benefit to play on Switch 2 for me over any other platform.  

And that's what keeps Nintendo alive, great franchises you don't want to miss. There are Mario and Zelda versions I haven't played all the way through (64, Sunshine, Twilight, Skyward) yet still enjoyed them much more than the average game. That's Nintendo's strength, keeping you in with familiar characters, aesthetic and fun gameplay. Not because of the hardware, which can be more detrimental to the games than beneficial. (Waggle Zelda)

The only 'Hybrid' feature of the Switch to me is the ability to use a normal controller. Does that make it a true Hybrid? 

In the end it doesn't matter, I don't care about the handheld functionality, hence I don't care about it being a hybrid either, rather have a version made for the task I want it for.

So if Nintendo wants me to buy a Switch 2 before the next Zelda and possibly play more than just Mario/Zelda on it, release a Switch 2 home version. It's that simple. Don't need a battery or screen, do want the convenience of ports / game slot on the front, av connections on the back, sturdy little box for under the tv in its cabinet next to my other consoles. 



SvennoJ said:
pikashoe said:

You are objectively 100% wrong. It is a hybrid end of story, no argument, it is specifically designed to be both. All you are doing is cherry picking points. 

There are games specifically designed to be played on a tv that are not playable in handheld. Which is game over for all of your arguments.

Botw was designed for a home console first. Totk has more long dungeons than botw. Generally large open world games are made for home consoles not handhelds. Both of these games show nintendos focus on the hybrid nature of the console being great for both long and short play sessions. Mario odyssey is another example of this with larger scale worlds filled with smaller challenges, you can either spend hours exploring an area or jump in for a quick fix and be satisfied either way. 

Whether you think I'm wrong or not is irrelevant. 

You being objectively wrong is pretty relevant


As a customer I see a handheld, I don't play on handhelds (tried, just don't like the small screen experience) and see extra inconvenience as someone who just wants to play on TV (or rather in VR). 

It doesn't matter what you think you see. It is a hybrid. End of story.

Switch I bought day one for BotW, which I played on my projector with the Switch awkwardly in the middle of the room on a box at the end of its hdmi cable since the left controller was losing connection with the Switch all the time. The dock was awkward to use, the controllers were awkward to use (I got the Zelda themed controller to play TotK, much better) and switching games was awkward with my aging hands disagreeing with the postage stamp carts. 

You being very awkward doesn't have any relevance to the facts.

The perception is, it's a handheld first. Nintendo never released a Switch home console version, they did release a handheld only version. (Bought one hoping my kids would use that instead of 'disappearing' the og Switch, thing still ended up lost out of charge when I wanted to play something)

The switch lite is by far the worst selling version of the Switch. This shows that tge majority of consumers value the hybrid nature of the console.

So since I have PC, PS5, Series X anyway to play any non Nintendo games, I have no incentive to buy the Switch 2 until the next Zelda / main line Mario comes out. There's literally no benefit to play on Switch 2 for me over any other platform.  

And that's what keeps Nintendo alive, great franchises you don't want to miss. There are Mario and Zelda versions I haven't played all the way through (64, Sunshine, Twilight, Skyward) yet still enjoyed them much more than the average game. That's Nintendo's strength, keeping you in with familiar characters, aesthetic and fun gameplay. Not because of the hardware, which can be more detrimental to the games than beneficial. (Waggle Zelda)

The only 'Hybrid' feature of the Switch to me is the ability to use a normal controller. Does that make it a true Hybrid? 

Being able to change almsot instantly from portable to home and back is very much part of the hybrid nature of the console. Being able to detach and reattach controllers makes it a hybrid, playing game in higher resolutions and with added graphical capabilities in home vs portable makes it a hybrid. Having a mixture of games that focus either on portable or at home play make it a hybrid. The whole selling point of the console is the fact that it is a hybrid.

In the end it doesn't matter, I don't care about the handheld functionality, hence I don't care about it being a hybrid either, rather have a version made for the task I want it for.

It's completely fine if you don't value the portable aspects of the console and feel the drawbacks of it being hybrid are not worth it for you.

So if Nintendo wants me to buy a Switch 2 before the next Zelda and possibly play more than just Mario/Zelda on it, release a Switch 2 home version. It's that simple. Don't need a battery or screen, do want the convenience of ports / game slot on the front, av connections on the back, sturdy little box for under the tv in its cabinet next to my other consoles. 

That's fair and completely understandable. Again absolutely nothing that you've said here in any way whatsoever disproves that the console is a hybrid. Stop treating your feelings as facts.



@SvennoJ Are you interested in any ip Nintendo offers besides Mario and Zelda? Metroid maybe? I agree with you on Nintendo's strength, it isn't haldhelds or home consoles or hybrids. It's flatout their first party ip. They lose those ip or they lose their appeal and it's gameover. That's the funny part about all of this whether it's a handheld or hybrid, both would fail without Nintendo games, ask PS.



Phenomajp13 said:

@SvennoJ Are you interested in any ip Nintendo offers besides Mario and Zelda? Metroid maybe? I agree with you on Nintendo's strength, it isn't haldhelds or home consoles or hybrids. It's flatout their first party ip. They lose those ip or they lose their appeal and it's gameover. That's the funny part about all of this whether it's a handheld or hybrid, both would fail without Nintendo games, ask PS.

Zack & Wiki was great, was that first party? Oh Capcom.

Metroid, never played, doesn't feel enticing to me.
I've bought and tried to get into Xenoblade Chronicles but that was just too slow for me. (didn't get far)

I've played Pikmin 3, enjoyed it, but one was enough. I bought Pikmin 4 but not played :/

Yeah it's mostly Mario, the platformers, Mario Maker, Paper Mario, and Zelda. Zelda just the mainline games.

Donkey Kong Country is also fun but not enough to buy a Switch 2 for DKB.


And yes, Mario and Zelda are why I buy Nintendo consoles. Although Wave Race convinced me at first on N64.



It's not weird. They make games that people REALLY want to play, and they only release them on their own systems.