What an odd article to see when this has been well known for years.
this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
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Hah, literally 20 years since they've abandoned the spec wars.
Writers nintendo knowledge starts and ends with the switch I guess
Actually read the article, it covers everything since the NES
Nintendo's been saying this for decades, though this particular message is ridiculous.
But I still love playing my old SNES games. The Switch was laughably under-powered, but I still sank hundreds of hours into dozens and dozens of games... Because Nintendo values gameplay over spectacle. They're not the only ones, of course, but I think they consistently do it better than most.
I wouldn't say the Switch was laughably underpowered, it was a very solid step up from its actual predecessor, the 3DS.
Very true, though I think for many it is still a home console in their head because on the surface it appears like a direct continuation of the Wii U. It's actually the opposite - a portable console that can optionally be used as a home console with, in some cases, improvements to the visuals when doing so. Some people still see Nintendo as being in direct competition with Sony and Microsoft when they really haven't been for a long time now.
Meanwhile Nintendo in the 1980s:
Yokoi’s most enduring contribution may have been his product philosophy, often translated to the almost luddite-sounding ‘lateral thinking with withered technology.’
The genius behind this concept is that for product development, you’re better off picking a cheap-o technology (‘withered’) and using it in a new way (‘lateral’) rather than going for the predictable, cutting-edge next-step.
Honestly I think they have a point. A lot of gamers who live for specs (myself included) have started scratching that itch with a PC instead of a console. I have a switch almost exclusively for the first party titles and for its versatility. Any graphics intensive games I play are going on the PC. I actually bought a series X right in the heart of the COVID restrictions, and it almost never gets used.
Same here, it's part of the reason why I've never bothered to own a Sony or Microsoft console. Their first party titles are not radically different to anything I could play on my PC, and often I can actually play them on my PC with significantly better visuals/performance/input. Meanwhile, Nintendo is still puting out first party titles that are quite unique to their systems. It's actually so good that they've become a portable-focused company now because their systems and games have become the perfect accompaniments for PC gamers.
When your main target audience are younger children, the elderly, and non-gamers, you don't need fancy specs.
The vast majority of gamers in general don't necessarily know what the specs mean anyway, so using them to market your product likely doesn't help in any way with most customers.
Exactly. There's zero things that interest me in the other consoles when I'm a casual / non gamer. I wouldn't even spend the amount of crazy money those consoles ask.
Idk if it makes me elderly, a child, or a non-gamer, but I fucking loved BOTW/TOTK. Nintendo, through those games and countless more, have repeatedly proven frame rates and fidelity aren't what make games great. Sure, some games (especially competitive ones) benefit from better performance, but just as many get by on their creativity, story, etc.
I'm not saying those are the only groups that enjoy their games, just who Nintendo aims to sell to primarily, and what they do with marketing more than what they do in the games themselves.
While they do make games that are generally simple to understand, pick up and enjoy by all, they really show this in their ads for the games and the systems they make. They focus on accessibility, family time, etc. Not necessarily graphics, computing power, or anything of a technical nature.
Hmm I'm not sure I follow the author's argument here. Nintendo hasn't been trying to keep up with the power of Xbox or PS consoles for years, that's nothing new. But the Switch 2 is essentially a Switch with some upgrades and... better specs. If they'd 'moved beyond specs' then they'd have no need for a new Switch model.
They moved beyond talking about them and marketing them. Their competitors have not. That's the point being made, not that specs don't matter in any way.
But is that anything new either? I'm not sure I've ever seen Nintendo promoting specs since the N64.
The article is a commentary on the Switch 2 launch raffirming it, it talks about the shift happening with the Wii.
Yeah like the closest Nintendo has got to mentioning specs is just a bigger OLED screen, which is so obvious it could barely be considered a spec drop.