TechTheDay

Nintendo wowed the fanboys with their brand new hybrid console, the Nintendo Switch one year ago. The console, which was supposed to be the replacement for Nintendo’s past console, Nintendo Wii U, was, according to Nintendo, the combination of all the technologies and gimmicks they have experimented on for many years, starting with the Famicom in the late 20th-century. Nintendo has always been a toy company, and as a toy company, they take toys seriously, even electronic gadgets. Their dabbling in electronic toys and their ingenuity soon gave rise to a video game company with a long history and millions of loyal fans worldwide.

But the Switch had a rocky start and investors weren’t all that impressed due to the “lack of surprise.” It was understandable, however, as the Switch was a combination of all known Nintendo tech and gimmick that everyone is familiar with. Now, more than one year after, we take a look at the Nintendo Switch once again.

Filtering What Works And What Doesn’t

As said previously, the console uses all the technology that Nintendo fans are familiar with, from the functions of the controls to the portability of the main console. They have gathered what worked for the company over the years and has created a device that encompasses the unique abilities of all those past devices… except for 3 functions that any Nintendo fan will remember: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and 3D.

So why those functions never made it into the Switch? Because they failed, that’s it. Virtual reality was the main selling point of the Virtual Boy but that machine never sold and it was the biggest disappointment in the video game history of Nintendo. Augmented reality first appeared on the Gameboy, then on the Nintendo DS line of devices. But the games that use it never really caught on and was used in only a few games that people actually liked: In Bravely Default, for instance, it uses the AR tech to show the user’s face during the final boss fight, where it was revealed that you, the gamer, was the “God” of the world and the big bad wants to invade the “real world.” Apart from that, no one really made use of the AR cards or free AR software that is included in the 3DS.

Finally, the 3D function was a novel idea that made many of its users head spin, so they usually turn it off. This is the reason why Nintendo released the 2DS sub-family of the DS line: Nintendo got wind that the 3D gimmick never really caught on. With that in mind, the latest device for the DS line can play all the 3DS and New 3DS games without the 3D.

So How Did That Go For Them?

By playing it safe and using what they know that works, even without any surprise gimmicks, Nintendo Switch made a spectacular first year. 2017 saw Nintendo Switch becoming the fastest-selling device in the US market and in Japan. As for the games Nintendo Switch has already created a library of great games that people love while more great games are still coming over the horizon. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has sold 4.7 million units as of October of last year. According to vgchartz.com, Super Mario Odyssey sold 8.36 million units as of this writing and an article by them suggest that the Switch has sold for 15 million units worldwide as of February 2018. This beats all the other consoles of the current generation: X-Box 360 and PS3 sold 5.9 and 5.6 in their first years, while the PS4 sold for 13.5 million.

A resounding success for Nintendo. They have shown the pessimistic stockholders last year that their worries were unfounded. Will Nintendo’s luck hold out until 2019 too? Probably. The device is already well liked by many, especially by the fans, who have been asking Nintendo for a good game system with decent specs and resolution for years. And this time they finally did it right and the sales show it. Now all they need is to keep churning out games for it.