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Comment by bloodorange | Hacker News Reader

Nintendo made so many brilliant games in the Mario franchise. Likewise with Zelda (and Metroid and there will be more if you look closely). Their consoles are typically robustly made. The controller-drift issue with Switch being a notable recent exception.

As for their systems being "behind", the xbox and playstation motion sensing controllers came _after_ the Nintendo Wii made them popular. The Switch came with a new idea of a console which is both a handheld and one connected to a television. The 3DS came with a lenticular 3D display. Unless you measure being ahead/behind in the sole axis of computational power, they are setting trends and taking gaming to new places.

They are a serious pain when it comes to how they hound fanmade products which might feature any of their IP, have a substandard system for online play, or a poor developer experience but being of sub-par quality is definitely more in microsoft's department than Nintendo's.

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It's not good for a platform developer to be the only one making killer games. This is a lack of diversity that is a weakness. The titles you mention are the only good franchises on Switch, third party titles have not had the same success. Meanwhile, Microsoft has had huge third party success for their platform with Call of Duty and other publisher titles.

No doubt Nintendo has been innovative with the control schemes for their systems, but nothing has really stuck. The 3D display was a gimmick, they even released a second version without it because it was so gimmicky.

I'm not impressed with making a robust console in 2020 as a selling point. I have an iPhone, my expectations for robustness are higher now. The Switch is cheap and clunky and the screen is low res. Great, it can handle falls - welcome to 2005 electronics.

> It's not good for a platform developer to be the only one making killer games.

[Citation Needed]. Nintendo has clearly earned a reputation for first party games above any other manufacturer. Nothing really competes with their first party games like BotW, Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, and so on.

I can get Call of Duty on PC, Xbox, Playstation. I don't really see how that's a compelling case for the Microsoft platform. The latest Xbox seems better than the PS5 in my opinion on hardware and price, but the PS5 still seems like a better buy because they have exclusive games and the Xbox Series s/x does not.

I'd say among gamers it's pretty universally agreed that the Switch is not a competing console with PC/Xbox/Playstation. It's an "And" console. You don't get a switch as an alternative to one of the above consoles, you get it as a supplement to the others. Unless you're a casual gamer, in which case you probably just get the Switch.

> "[Citation Needed] Nintendo has clearly earned a reputation for first party games above any other manufacturer."

https://www.businessinsider.com/nintendo-reliance-on-first-p...

I mean this isn't controversial within the games industry. Having diverse sources of revenue matter to support themselves if their first party games take a stumble for whatever reason is critical. It's not like Nintendo hasn't had downturns in the past, e.g. the Wii U era.

Fully agreed. Nintendo has a very differentiated market of game offerings on their platforms, and that's the reason people buy it. They don't buy Switch for the (underpowered compared to competitors) hardware, or something else.

That's imo the biggest problem Xbox console is facing. Does it have good third party games? Plenty. Does it make sense to buy Xbox if you already own a PS4/PS5 or a gaming PC? Not really, since the overlap of third party games available on all of them is giant. The only game I know people care about that is Xbox exclusive is Halo series. I don't know a single person who owns a PS4/PS5+Xbox or even gaming PC+Xbox. I know tons of people owning a PC+PS4/PS5, and I know a ton of people who own either a PS4/PS5+Switch or gaming PC+Switch (or all 3 of them). And that's Nintendo's unique offering, being an incredible complement to other consoles, not a direct competitor, while also being a great product of its own that doesn't just function as an add-on.

Mind you, I am not saying that Nintendo shouldn't increase the number of third party games present on their platform, quite the opposite. The increase of third party games on Switch is a really welcome development. However, under no circumstances should they decrease the number of first party games, otherwise they would end up in a losing position.

Right, but casual gamers are a large market and Nintendo does well catering almost exclusively to them.

Maybe it handles falls so your phone doesn't have to?

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