Gadgetory

ask any parent twenty-something or a long time videogame fan with the most coveted gadget of the holiday season is and the Nintendo Swift will be high on that list probably at the top it's been almost a year since the hybrid handheld launched and it's still pretty hard to get your hands on one and for good reason the switch is the most innovative console in nearly a decade basically since the original week besides being immensely popular the switch also saves Nintendo it's easy to forget how dire the company's console business was in the wake of the Wii U's failure Nintendo found success with the 3d S&M sequel but the hand held is not enough to keep the company's biggest franchises afloat and sales of the Wii U painted a bleak picture of the company's future in the living room critics were telling Nintendo to exit the console hardware market move everything to mobile and call it a day so when the switch was first unveiled fans were skeptical some fun Nintendo had made another gimmicky device with funky detachable controller as an unorthodox docking system and a mobile processor that can never match Playstation or Xbox despite these initial concerns the switch proved to be a massive hit this month after only nine months on the market Nintendo said have sold 10 million units and many times that in software sales it stole the show this year as the fastest selling home console in Nintendo's history setting the course for the company's resurgence back to the forefront of the gaming market so how did Nintendo pull this off it's important to think of the switch is the evolution of the company's previous hardware it's always made wacky devices using nascent technologies like 3d and motion control while an eye for innovation hasn't always paid off anyone remember the Virtual Boy the company has a history of success in handheld starting with the Game Boy and more recently with the Nintendo DS and the 3ds for the switch Nintendo put portability above all else and the company struck gold you can play it on an airplane or in bed or even on the subway the device truly is a hybrid solution that transforms to enjoy games in a number of different ways whether Doc's handheld or kickstand out using the detachable joi con there's versatility to choose how you want to play and where it takes the concept of console gaming and turns it into an on-the-go social experience that gets you off your couch yes you can play at home alone but there are plenty of options for multiplayer using both split-screen play or local co-op this has always been a part of Nintendo's DNA who doesn't love to play a friend in Super Smash Brothers or Mario Kart and that's where the switches success story becomes so heavily tied to its games Nintendo made sure the first year of the switch included The Legend of Zelda breath of the wild and Super Mario Odyssey two incredible entries in two of its most prolific franchises it's unheard of for a console to launch with a game of the Year contender and it's even less likely for a console to get two of them in a first year but Nintendo was smart and I had a new Mario and a new Zelda game in the works for the Wii U it move development to its new console and it shuffled its release schedule to make them must own switch titles out of the gate those two games have gone on to sell millions and win multiple awards they also reestablished Nintendo as the influential and innovative developer we've always known them to be you can easily argue that the switch would have never taken off without Nintendo's pre-built cachet the companies behind some of the longest-running most beloved series since the beginning of gaming characters like Kirby Yoshi Donkey Kong they've become cultural icons like a way beyond the core gaming demographic but when Nintendo's Hardware fails fans have nowhere to play its games and the company's reputation suffers if people aren't buying its software its entire business model depends on its cultural significance so fans were desperately looking for a reason to share Nintendo on hoping it wouldn't just fade away and peddle nostalgia they found that in the switch the switch is a Frankenstein of all the best ideas Nintendo's ever had the 3ds showed Nintendo how a well made handheld gaming machine with great games could thrive in a mobile dominated landscape much like the switch the Wii shied away from top-tier graphics and realism in favor of motion control local multiplayer in antennas well-tested game design the Wii U was definitely flawed but it was an important stepping stone because it first introduced the idea of merging mobile with the home console where the Wii U was a tablet powered by a console that sat plugged into your TV the switch was the inverse a console powered by a tablet so while the Wii U's tablet screen was clunky and poorly designed and the device was a huge flop it did pave the way for Nintendo to incorporate these ideas well inside the benefits of the Wii and the 3ds all into the switch the switch is a proper portable console in all the ways the Wii U failed to be it's still too early to judge the overall impact of the switch consumers have been more than happy to excuse it's bigger flaws because the first few games have been so amazing but there's the online service that won't launch until next year there's the perpetual supply problems that make just getting the thing and I'm noxious struggle Nintendo fans will be less forgiving next year when Zelda and Mario are old news and it has to rely on other developers to help its platform succeed but that's where the secret to the switches long-term success might be since launch we've seen a bunch of interest from indie game makers and even big-name developers some really great games like stardew valley axiom verge the Elder Scrolls Skyrim even the new doom reboot have all made their way to the switch there's only gonna be more to come as it stands right now antenna was the only player in the portable gaming market and consumers have shown that they're really willing to buy into its vision Sony already tried with its PSP and Vita handheld and the company says it has no plans to make another one anytime soon Microsoft has also toyed with the idea of portable gaming with handheld Xbox prototypes in the past but it's never taken the plunge Apple and other makers of set-top box is running Android they've all tried to bridge the smart phone game market with a TV ecosystem but mobile games on big screens have never really taken off but without a constant stream of hot new games to play amazing hardware becomes pretty much useless so it's up to the developers to cement the switches future sure Nintendo is planning a bunch of new games in its own franchises like a new kirby and new Pokemon a much anticipated reboot of Metroid Prime but those taking years to make in the meantime the company needs to quench first of players by working with dad's to bring premium titles that are fun innovative but also complex enough to keep the switch in the hands of consumers at least until the next Elda game comes out luckily with all the consumer success of the switch Nintendo should have plenty of cash to do just that you