GameChap

I did not intend for this post to read like a Star Wars opening crawl.

Driven by the constant pursuit of ever-better graphics and gameplay, a large sector of video gaming is increasingly becoming an absurdly overpriced luxury. Meanwhile, many studios buckle under the strain (and cost) of meeting enormous and constantly rising customer expectations.

Necessity is the mother of invention. The innovative Nintendo DS was a boon to the business after the GameCube placed 3rd against Xbox and the mighty PS2. Simple graphics by today's standards, but titles such as New Super Mario Bros form a crucial part of Nintendo's legacy.

Developer loyalty to specific consoles has all but evaporated. I think there's a certain sense of denial about this in the industry. It seems PlayStation and Xbox can no longer count on exclusives to attract new players and have begun to rely on their established customer bases.

The problem is that console exclusivity is essentially a thing of the past. Steam has been wildly successful in attracting developers to the PC platform. The old days of excellent system-selling exclusives ("killer apps") are gone. The one exception, of course, is Nintendo.

@Kesbo450 That's a fair criticism of the 3DS and older handhelds. I agree that Switch and Switch 2 are perfect in terms of handheld comfort.

@GameChap I’m not gonna lie it’s worth it. The switch and switch 2 feel so good to hold unlike the 3ds.

The Game Boy and Nintendo DS (and their successors) represented, I feel, the golden and silver ages of handheld gaming respectively. It's easy to forget that Switch and Switch 2's massive successes have come at a cost. Those pocket consoles are what we lost. At least, for now.

@selStreams Sometimes the classics are the way to go!

@GameChap 100%. recently started carrying my DS Lite with me again and it’s genuinely rekindled my love of gaming. I was starting to get burn out on traveling with my Switch but the actually portability of a DS is just perfect.

The Wii U did some things really well: - Its backward compatibility was second to none among Nintendo consoles - Smash Bros U, Mario Maker, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon were all great - It paved the way for the massive success of Switch; essentially an untethered, dockable GamePad

I believe the Wii U's mistakes were: - The name (a Wii variant...?) - GamePad felt clunky, didn't impress like the Wii Remote - Nintendo Land didn't have the same broad, intuitive appeal as Wii Sports - New Super Mario Bros U was good but not an outstanding Mario game But...

@DeeDos1418 Nintendo's recent game pricing no doubt factors in some of that hardware cost, allowing them to keep the price of the Switch 2 "low" (in the most relative of senses). Customers may not be the biggest fans of software price tags above $70, though.

@GameChap Don't forget the game prices

Valve is a sensible, down-to-earth company, so I do trust and believe that this rather dramatic price rise is necessary given the current industry conditions. But I have a question. How on Earth is Nintendo paying the bills with just a $50 increase on the Switch 2?

@YoruReijiVT Nintendo's software offerings are indeed first rate but if they really are selling the Switch 2 at a loss on the hardware itself, then I'm somewhat concerned for the long term.

@GameChap By offering up a steady feed of bangers that out-earn expenses. That used to be the entire industry's business model.

@publiusthegreat Nintendo has historically attempted to keep hardware prices low. $500 is a major milestone for them - going higher may seem simultaneously unthinkable and inevitable. If software pricing alone can keep them in profit then that will be nice, but I have my concerns.

@GameChap Different business model. The Steam Deck is a handheld PC, thus open source, while a Switch 2 is a walled garden and Nintendo makes most of its money off software sales.

It's finally here, performing for us! If you know the words, don't make a fuss! Now that we are back on the scene, I'm gonna beat that stupid arcade machine! HUH!

@BillsandBach Double Dash and Melee were undoubtedly superb, but I feel the lack of a main series Mario game at launch hurt initial sales.

@GameChap Shame about the GameCube because that era had maybe the best first party lineup for any Nintendo console

Nintendo's decisions. Smart: - Donkey Kong 🏗️ - NES 🍄 - Game Boy 📻 - Wii 🪄 - Wii Sports 🏓 - Switch 🗓️ Rather smart: - SNES 🦖 - N64 📦 - Switch 2 2⃣ - Switch 2 Editions ⬆️ Not so smart: - Virtual Boy 😎 - GameCube 🧊 - Wii U 🗒️ - Nintendo Land 📺 - Switch 2 Welcome Tour 🔍

@xGENEXTx In fairness, some of the Switch 2 Editions have rather nice new features. I believe the decision makes sense from a business standpoint considering the current circumstances of a successor console. It'll hopefully help tide Nintendo over until their next big innovation.

@GameChap I would be fine with Switch 2 editions if it wasn’t $10-$20 and upgrade and all that mostly changed was resolution bump and 60 FPS…

Yoshi characters, ranked: 1 - Yoshi 2 - Yoshi 3 - Yoshi 4 - Baby Bowser 5 - Yoshi 6 - Yoshi 7 - Yoshi 8 - Yoshi (...) 998 - Kamek 999 - Baby Mario

Nintendo characters would be extremely popular in Fortnite. Merely an observation.

@nicktehwalrus Maybe I should have put it under "somewhat smart".

@GameChap Rude to lump GameCube in with the Virtual Boy and Wii U