The Nintendo Switch has been one of, if not, the most popular and successful consoles Nintendo has ever created; currently on its way to becoming their best-selling console sicne the acclaimed Nintendo DS.
All of this success doesn't come with a few failures, however, sicne Nintendo has seen its fair amount of failures over the years — with the Virtual Boy and the Wii U amongst the most disappointing consoles ever made. The problem? Mainly how gimmicky they were and how poorly executed this gimmick was.
Anyone familiar with Nintendo knows that the company always strives to innovate. In fact, was it not for Nintendo, other consoles wouldn't even have a proper controller, as most of the ideas in current-gen controllers have come, in one way or the other, from The Big N.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Nintendo's Shinya Takahashi and Hisashi Nogami have revealed some of the challenges they've had to face every time they unveil a new console; especially the reactions they got from the people that played on said consoles for the first time.
"We are now living in the age of the internet and social media, so whenever we release a new game or console, we can get a read on people’s reactions immediately – but in the past we could not. What we used to do was look at people’s faces while they are playing", reveals Takahashi while also mentioning that people's faces were very telling when it came to know whether their product was good.
"When I was younger, when the games I was involved with were eventually released, I would go to some of the toy stores and sneak a look at people’s faces while they played. If people looked surprised or happy, if they laughed, I’d think: yes, we did it!"
As mentioned earlier, the Wii U was a fail for the company — which made them doubt the concept of the Nintendo Switch at first — but they were soon relieved to find out that people were loving their experience with Nintendo's handheld hybrid console.
"Before the Switch came out, it was very difficult to explain something unprecedented - a game console that you can play in your house and also carry around with you to play anywhere. But after people started experiencing that, they started talking among themselves. That was when the Switch was flipped, so to speak."
Hisashi Nogami — who has been with Nintendo since 1994, and has even worked on the critically acclaimed Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, as well as producing the Animal Crossing and Splatoon series — adds to Takahashi's sayings by jokingly revealing that "It never gets any easier. With anything new it’s the unknown, and people don’t like trying unknown things – they’re always going to be a bit hesitant."
It is really interesting to see that even the developers themselves have always had their fair share of doubts regarding the unveiling of new, and innovative consoles. Thankfully, the Nintendo Switch has proven to be a massive hit, and hopefully they'll continue to deliver the same quality that fans have come to expect from the company in future consoles.