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Nintendo also has every incentive to play it safe this round. They no doubt want to avoid a third entry in their hit-miss streak:

N64, good sales, but not great. NES and SNES were better.

GameCube, total meltdown (for the time).

Wii, excellent sales.

Wii U, total meltdown.

Switch, excellent sales.

Switch 2, anything but a meltdown.




The GameCube was particularly tragic, because it had a genuinely fantastic game library.


Indeed. Hopefully Nintendo releases more games from it on the Switch, but the rumor mill and message from Dolphin is that GameCube games are often harder to emulate on the Switch than Wii games. Data miners also reported that Super Mario Sunshine had the most tech work done to get it running compared to 64 or Galaxy.

But if you are Nintendo, the Wii and the Switch are about equally successful phenomenons. That didn’t save them from the Wii U; and the success of the Switch certainly won’t save them from a Switch 2 implosion. Even if the games are good (like the Wii U launching with Mario Kart 8, now the bestselling Switch title.)


> like the Wii U launching with Mario Kart 8

It wasn't a launch title, it came like a year and a half after the Wii U's launch. And even though it was pretty good, it was an exception. The Wii U really didn't have much in terms of killer apps. Nintendo was releasing some very bland stuff in the early-to-mid 2010s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxvmrmOHRsU

Plus they botched the marketing horribly between the name "Wii U" and never showing the console itself, only the gamepad, making many consumers believe it was just a Wii accessory they didn't want.




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