By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sales - Is nintendo the winner of the 8th gen or the 9th gen?

 

Is the switch an 8th gen console

Yes its 8th gen 19 41.30%
 
Yes its 9th gen 27 58.70%
 
Total:46
TheRealSamusAran on 08 January 2026
angrypoolman said:
TheRealSamusAran said:

Ok, what is your best justification for the Wii being a different generation than the GameCube?

the time period in which it released.

ive fleshed out this argument extensively throughout this thread, not that many posts ago, even. timing is gold standard. gamecube, xbox, ps2 all released within a year of eachother and were all replaced with their respective consoles within a year of eachother. the releases of these systems were so in sync that the grouping is completely natural. the wii spent its entire lifespan next to these consoles and shared several multiplatform games with them. the more comparable system in either of these two generations to switch is the dreamcast. the dreamcast was kind of an inbetween console in terms of timing, but it fits more with 6th gen in terms of power. if the wii were released in say 2004 or something, it would fit more as a 6th gen console. 

But using that justification, the Switch spent 5 years with gen 9 consoles against only 3 with gen 8 consoles. It's only logical to group it with gen 9 consoles.



Around the Network
Manlytears on 08 January 2026

Nintendo Color TV Game - gen 1.

NES - gen 3. (Winner)

SNES - gen 4. (Winner)

N64 - gen 5.

Game Cube - gen 6.

Wii - gen 7. (Winner)

Wii U - gen 8.

Switch - gen 9. (Ongoing)

Switch 2 - gen 10. (Ongoing)

That's it for Nintendo home consoles.

Edit: i neeed to include Nintendo gen. 1 console, Nintendo Color TV Game.

Last edited by Manlytears - on 09 January 2026

angrypoolman on 08 January 2026
TheRealSamusAran said:
angrypoolman said:

the time period in which it released.

ive fleshed out this argument extensively throughout this thread, not that many posts ago, even. timing is gold standard. gamecube, xbox, ps2 all released within a year of eachother and were all replaced with their respective consoles within a year of eachother. the releases of these systems were so in sync that the grouping is completely natural. the wii spent its entire lifespan next to these consoles and shared several multiplatform games with them. the more comparable system in either of these two generations to switch is the dreamcast. the dreamcast was kind of an inbetween console in terms of timing, but it fits more with 6th gen in terms of power. if the wii were released in say 2004 or something, it would fit more as a 6th gen console. 

But using that justification, the Switch spent 5 years with gen 9 consoles against only 3 with gen 8 consoles. It's only logical to group it with gen 9 consoles.

Using years is misleading. You have to look at months. The switch spent 44 months with gen 8 consoles and 54 months with gen 9 consoles. So indeed, it has spent more time with gen 9 consoles, but not as much as you would think going by calendar years. If you look at the fact that it is closer in power to gen 8 consoles and shares many more games with gen 8 consoles than gen 9 consoles, i think that sways it in favor of being more gen 8. 

Regardless, i really think we are just going to have to let more time pass before the answer becomes more clear



Total Championships: Nintendo - 4, Sony - 2, Atari - 1, Microsoft - 0, Sega - 0

Manlytears on 08 January 2026

Playstation - gen.5 (winner)
Playstation 2 - gen.6 (winner)
Playstation 3 - gen.7
Playstation 4 - gen.8 (winner)
Playstation 5 - gen.9 (ongoing)

That's Playstation for you.



Manlytears on 09 January 2026
angrypoolman said:
TheRealSamusAran said:

But using that justification, the Switch spent 5 years with gen 9 consoles against only 3 with gen 8 consoles. It's only logical to group it with gen 9 consoles.

Using years is misleading. You have to look at months. The switch spent 44 months with gen 8 consoles and 54 months with gen 9 consoles. So indeed, it has spent more time with gen 9 consoles, but not as much as you would think going by calendar years. If you look at the fact that it is closer in power to gen 8 consoles and shares many more games with gen 8 consoles than gen 9 consoles, i think that sways it in favor of being more gen 8. 

Regardless, i really think we are just going to have to let more time pass before the answer becomes more clear

Based on these criteria, Wii should be considered generation 6 and Wii U generation 7.

Wii is much closer to the ps2/xbox/GameCube than the PS360; in fact, Wii is practically identical to GameCube.

The same applies to the Wii U; its performance is in line with the PS360.

Taking this into account, then yes, Switch could be considered Gen 8, considering what was discussed earlier.



Around the Network
angrypoolman on 09 January 2026
Manlytears said:
angrypoolman said:

Using years is misleading. You have to look at months. The switch spent 44 months with gen 8 consoles and 54 months with gen 9 consoles. So indeed, it has spent more time with gen 9 consoles, but not as much as you would think going by calendar years. If you look at the fact that it is closer in power to gen 8 consoles and shares many more games with gen 8 consoles than gen 9 consoles, i think that sways it in favor of being more gen 8. 

Regardless, i really think we are just going to have to let more time pass before the answer becomes more clear

Based on these criteria, Wii should be considered generation 6 and Wii U generation 7.

Wii is much closer to the ps2/xbox/GameCube than the PS360; in fact, Wii is practically identical to GameCube.

The same applies to the Wii U; its performance is in line with the PS360.

Taking this into account, then yes, Switch could be considered Gen 8, considering what was discussed earlier.

Primary criteria is timing, secondary criteria is power. Ive explained this several times. Its not that complicated to understand. Switch time of release makes its classification ambiguous, so you have to look at other criteria. Youre not going to say wii is 6th gen when it spent the entirety of its existence in the 7th gen. Switch spent half its life with 8th gen consoles and the other half with 9th gen. So timing isnt going to work very well here. You have to look at seconday criteria. Do you understand?



Total Championships: Nintendo - 4, Sony - 2, Atari - 1, Microsoft - 0, Sega - 0

MARCUSDJACKSON on 09 January 2026

Ninty isn't in a gen., they sink or swim on their own accord. They were done competing when the Wii-U failed, and the Switch took off. You have to recognize that unless Sony fks up, gens are done with, as Sony and Ninty continue to indirectly compete with each other. MS is done while the other 2 release hardware to sell software.

It's been awhile since i posted in a gaming forum, so keep the grammar police at the station.



 Zarx's unofficial The Witcher 3    

Official Playstation Vita Thread!

write reveiws, articles, share thoughts, and expand on discussion like never before on gamewise.co/brainwaves

Koragg on 09 January 2026

What defines a winner?
Consoles sold? Revenue? Profit?



Leynos on 09 January 2026
MARCUSDJACKSON said:

Ninty isn't in a gen., they sink or swim on their own accord. They were done competing when the Wii-U failed, and the Switch took off. You have to recognize that unless Sony fks up, gens are done with, as Sony and Ninty continue to indirectly compete with each other. MS is done while the other 2 release hardware to sell software.

It's been awhile since i posted in a gaming forum, so keep the grammar police at the station.

In the Did you know gaming YouTube channel they had a video on this. Iwata conceded Sony won the home console war after Gamecube. He just wanted to go with DS and drop consoles. Reggie convinced him to do another one but both agreed it can't be the arms race. Wii was not meant to compete with Sony or MS. 



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

Chrkeller on 09 January 2026

Revenue: Sony's gaming revenues are over $25 billion annually, significantly higher than Nintendo's $15 billion.

Apologies, but we will need to take Nintendo's belts away and give them to Sony. :(

Please update your sig as applicable.  



“Consoles are great… if you like paying extra for features PCs had in 2005.”