The Nintendo Way | The Philosophy That Shaped Nintendo's Consoles 

My DS lite has been sitting in my closet for 11 years, and it powered on with a half full charge. My phone dies in an hour.

Another example of a "Nintendo way" that I have always enjoyed is how they are the only first party that still treats video games how they did in the 80s and 90s. Being from the toy business, Nintendo saw their video games as an expansion of that and In an age of bigger, bolder, and more cinematic games, Nintendo still makes games as if they are just toys to play with and enjoy. Today's first party 3DS and Switch games are not that far removed from their SNES ancestors if you really think about it and I think that's really neat.

This is gonna be epic. I love these long well recorded, well cut videos.

One correction, though: The Game Cube wasn't particularly hurt by the mini disk. That's just a myth. Any game that couldn't fit in one disk was stored between multiple disks, and Nintendo, who was the proprietary, gave that second disk for free (provided the developer gave good reasons for it). I was working as a game journalist at the time, and whenever a game was not released on the Game Cube, the lack of storage was NEVER stated to be a reason, not even a secondary one. The reason that ALL third parties said was "our audience is not on the Game Cube", which was code for "only children play on the GameCube, and we don't make games for children". And that's the thing, during the late 90s and early 2000s Nintendo had a very bad reputation of being "a childish company". During those years, the average gamer was a teenager, ie, the era of your life when the last thing you want is to be considered a child. Thus, outside of Nintendo loyalists, gamers didn't want to touch the N64 nor the GameCube with a ten mile pole. Sony and Microsoft, on the other hand, knew how to connect with the teenager and young adult demographic far better than Nintendo could ever hope for in that era, specially in the West. Nintendo tried to fight that image back, thus why they made moves like the "Resident Evil" exclusives, but it wasn't nearly enough. Specially since there were WAAAAAY more "mature" games on PS2 and XBox anyway. And the GameCube toy-like design didn't help. Heck, this reputation was the main reason why "Zelda: The Wind Waker" had such a strong backlash when it was first revealed. OOT and MM were among the few games that even Nintendo haters accepted as "mature", so when Miyamoto and Aonuma pulled that 180 with the art style, Nintendo fans felt betrayed, since they had even less ammo to fight back the "childish console" accusations. The main reason why it's such a beloved game now is because it was championed by people who played it when they were children themselves, and thus were removed from all this toxic narrative.

Nice to see a longer vid from you.

I really enjoyed watching this man! I love the idea of the "Nintendo Way". Making huge strides in innovation with very little gives a gargantuan amount of inspiration for anyone looking to make something brand new and exciting. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this. Your effort was well worth it!!!

Great video. Should also consider Nintendo's pedigree in great game design. Namely technology only a means to an end no at end in itself. I think I recall miyamoto saying they a also deisign controllers early in.a system's development and then games follow. That's why most Nintendo games have such good control.

One thing I like about Nintendo is that they are always looking for new innovations without throwing away old ideas, good or bad. In that respect, I look at the 3DS as the eventual realization Virtual Boy's potential.

11:32 Im happy that to hear someone appreciate the wiiu

I haven't seen a long meaty video like this in awhile. Good stuff! I believe its this 'Nintendo Way' that has allowed Nintendo to stay around for so long and with good management overall. Sony on the other hand could good learn a few things from them. 'Mighty Car mods' and 'Links awakening', is this a foreshadow of future videos?? (>.

One thing I notice about Nintendo too (I'm quoting from a video I saw) is that while the Sony and Microsoft tend to rely on the power of their hardware and multimedia capabilities to help gain success Nintendo tends to focus on how the hardware affects the game play and ultimately how fun a game is. I think maybe that's why Nintendo is mostly unmatched when it comes to first party titles. After all, isn't that the point of video games? To play and have fun?

i love that nintendo doesn't do microtransactions…

Why can't the *_-"Nintendo Way"-_* give us consumer free online like it usually was and how it should be?

How to protect the Switch's screen, get a screen protector, I use a premium thick screen protector on my Switch.

I wish people would stop complaining about the switch "not being powerful enough" and that they "should have used more powerful hardware" :/. The Tegra X1 was literally the most powerful thing (from nvidia) that they could have used

Honestly, between owning a Switch, PC and PS3, I don't see any need to buy a PS4. PS3 has most of the Sony exclusives I want to play, as well as backwards compatibility with their older games (Unlike the PS4 for whatever reason) and the PC has all the modern games I want to play. My Brother owns a PS4, but the only two times I ever got any use on it was when playing the Gravity Rush games, and Bloodborne. Both are great games or game series, but neither are worth buying the console for. As a primarily PC gamer. I can say that the Switch is a well worth buying console.

Great production man!

Like your videos Supe. We should do one together sometime.

This is great. I have always been a more of a Nintendo fan because of their creativity and innovations!

12:00 The PS3 and Xbox 360 were also PowerPC based, but it remained on the same generation processor of the Gamecube. The Wii U actually used the same generation of PowerPC processor which was led to significant CPU bottlenecking on the system.

this video was amazing, a good analisis of the way Nintendo do their things

Wow, this video is great. I have no idea how this only has a thousand views!

This is such an amazing video! Thank you so much for sharing. The topic is close to my heart. 8 years ago, I adopted the "Nintendo Way" in my final year university project. Well done. Great video!

Nice video, giving me nostalgia, tho in my country at the time next to nobody could afford nintendo consoles.

1:54 You use a Nokia Smartphone =D Thanks for the Video =D

People complaining about the switch or switch Oled should all watch this

My favorite Nintendo systems are: The Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and the Super Nintendo.

Nintendo is a always, a generation behind however they're always a generation ahead in terms of innovation.

Truly i love learning about this, hearing about gunpei and nintendo’s approach is always interesting to me, and it always makes me think about what’s to come for nintendo

Another great video I never get bored of hearing you talk about my favorite consoles keep it going.

This is epic

Yo-ko-hee Gon-Pay??? You mean. Gunpei Yokoi... Like every other human says it's name???

Pc > xbox one x Switch > iphone x Better games Better graphics Better gameplay Better control pc+switch is just the way to go

I know I'm largely alone in this, but I would really like to see a new Nintendo handheld. Dirt-cheap, very pocket-able, physical buttons, and maybe stylus enabled screen because I think more can be done with styluses in gaming (although that would ruin the Dirt-cheap price). 2D games, and maybe simple 3D games. Simple hardware to work with for smaller developers. Designed for smaller and simpler games, with an emphasis on its portability. And the Nintendo sensibilities: low power, long battery, simple controls (maybe just D-pad and buttons, and paddles/bumper buttons) Even though I'd like to see this, I understand focusing almost all development efforts on one console is better for Nintendo. And they have decided a dedicated pocket-handheld device is no longer pheasable with the rise of Smartphones.

11:48 I respect your opinion on that, but disk size had nothing to with it. Gamecube had the leading hardware performance of it's generation (the PS2 being the worst hardware - but look at those sales!) The gamecube library simply didn't find a large mainstream audience. For example, do you really think Wii Sports wouldn't be able to fit on a gamecube disc? Or Mario Kart Wii? Or Wii Sports? Or Wii Play? Or literally any of the other games that blasted past 20 million units in sales?

I have my pizza in and am ready to watch this masterpiece. :)

Without counting the Switch (because it's not fair), the 3DS is my favorite handheld of all time. The lineup of games is incredible and each game looks fantastic. You get N64 remakes that are pretty good but also, new games that I wish Nintendo would give sequels to (I'm looking at you A Link Between Worlds). It's a great system and it embodies everything Nintendo is.

I think gimmicks are ultimately irrelevant to purchasing any of the platforms as long as the library is good. As for this gen I prefer the PS4 due to its exclusives, cheaper price for games, and 3rd party support. The Wii u was underrated, and exceeds the Switch in many ways such as more new games, free online, and a great virtual console. I think Switch`s success is rooted in it being a portable.

i remember that nintendo game and watch

This is absolutely 100% fact, Nintendo makes the best hardware. I have a Gameboy micro that hasn't been used in easily 15 years. I pulled it out and Final Fight was still in it. I played for almost 40 minutes before the battery died. Say what you want about Nintendo's slow adoption of modern online gaming their design and quality is unmatched. Hell, only my launch NES, SNES and Genesis have never ever had a single issue in 30 years. Today's hardware is fucking junk.

Some interesting stuff to consider: 1)Wii U Motion controls are infact most advanced than the Switch. 2)Joy-Con are one of Nintendo's most revolutionary and ginmicky controllers and could become a paradign shift in control design. 3)If Nintendo opted for a more standard GBA succesor instead of a DS they would be f*cked. And N64 adopting cartridge was a bad decision at the time that ended up becoming a good one in the long term >;D

I think the main reason why the virtual Boy failed is because Nintendo *_rushed_* it to market before Gunpei Yokoi and his crew could finish developing the thing. It was never supposed to be released in the state that it was in.

When I got Gameboy as kid it was around 150.00 - 199.99 as Christmas gift.

So the Switch makes use of a Arm chipset then? As per the Gamecube, Wii and Wii U making use of the PPC... that was fairly common of game consoles at the time. The Playstation 3 and XBox 360 also made use of a PPC architecture. N64, Playstation 1, Playstation 2 and Arcade Hardware all used the MIPS around the time they came out. With the 6801 chipset variations being all the rage with NES, SNES--and so nearly every console that existed at that time. Either the 6801 or the z80. It should be noted that that the two XBoxes that are not really as noteworthy as the 360 both run on an x86 style Intel chipset. Though, the XBone's is an AMD varient. So yeah... the previous three Nintendo consoles being based upon PPC makes sense... as that is what pretty much everybody else was doing at that time. With the current go to defacto standard still being up in the air. Yes... using an Arm based chipset does look like it will be the thing... but it kind of has been the thing for a bit too, if you get that drift.

the only nintendo console that haven't excited me was the nintendo switch i mean at the start it looked great but when the time was passing the console just started to look very average and when i have finnaly got the oportunity to play on it... i wasn't really happy unlike how i feeled the first time i played on the wii back on the day or just the last year when i upgraded my 2DS to a new 3DS. even the wii u made me smile when i played it in a friend's house(he looked at me like: WTF!?). the console feels too void in comparison with the 3DS the wii or even the gamecube that is why i will not buy one until 2021 the switch does not brings me the magic that most of the nintendo consoles gived me all over the years pd:i personally think that the wii u deserves more succes than the switch like every console it had his mistakes but at the end a great console i regret being unable to buy it on the past and now im planing on buy one maybe next month

N64 and GameCube were also flops. And living only on Nintendo? Are you crazy? It's good but like some good things it gets cloying and don't fill you.

Personally, I see the DS as the downfall of portable gaming for dedicated systems. GBA > DS. Then the games just became mostly ports of the home games and shovelware.

The underpowered Switch is about to cross 116 million systems sold, so I think lateral thinking of withered tech is still treating them quite well Update: over 139+ million systems sold now

Could anyone please tell me what’s the song that starts at 14:03?

Small error in a video. Nintendo didn't stubbornly opted for cartridges. They had a project with Sony where Sony developed a cd drive for Nintendo console. The project failed for various reasons and Nintendo didn't had a luck to find a new partner in time. So they used a cartridges instead and Sony used what they developed for Nintendo for their PS1. Funny thing is that if that failed project didn't exist Sony probably wouldn't enter a console market.

I had a PS3 i bought myself, a Xbox 360 my dad gave me, and a Wii my mother gave me, and honestly the Wii was so fun, i never really thoughts about the graphics of it, it was just pure fun and i only remember owning Mario kart wii and Wii sports, but they could entertain for hours in end, especially if you had friends or elder relatives over that had never tried a Wii before

You're not as good at 3D World as you are at making videos

switch+pc is true master race. sony exclusives are overrated

this was a great video

For all of you that don’t know the Wii U use can play GameCube games almost if not perfectly due to the fact that the Wii backwards compatibility chip aka Wii mode has the game cube baked in the Wiis chip changing a few sys calls for the newer hardware is really all it takes is a couple other tiny modifications

Wow this is probably the first time I've heard Yokoi's name surname-first and it really threw me off

Fun before graphics

wait what? bring up the price?, here the damn switch costs 500usd now, with that you can buy a car, so don't tell me that they also were cheap with the materials.

I felt this video inched too far into console review territory. I guess I was expecting something a little different based on the title. I intend this not to criticise too harshly, for I did find the presentation style pleasant and whilst none of the information was new to me personally there was a wealth of information people may have found illuminating.

Great video man!

So many ad breaks, I thought I was watching the super bowl

Excellent video! Subscribed!

I lost pretty much all of my interest in Nintendo products during the wii/wii U era.

I actually feel like the Virtual Boy strays quite far from the "Nintendo way". Gunpei Yokoi clearly wanted to infuse that philosophy into the system's development early on, but other than that, the project was mishandled in a way that seems uncharacteristic coming from Nintendo: 1. A knee-jerk reaction: The Virtual Boy only existed to chase a trend. The concept of virtual reality was a hot topic in the early to mid 90's, but much of it was entirely conceptual, just a lot of big talk. A bunch of companies were more busy making announcements than actually producing a working a product, just because they were so worried about being left in the dust. Nintendo wanting to enter that conceptual market was more reactionary than based on actual research, a knee-jerk reaction to headlines. That really bit them in the ass once all that talk fizzled out and it became clear that VR wouldn't be happening anytime soon. 2. Unfeasibly ambitious: The hardware couldn't possibly push working virtual reality at the time, at least not on a reasonable budget. Even nowadays, during this second wave of interest in VR, our hardware and software is infinitely more advanced and yet it's all still a giant patchwork of compromises. So they settled on what amounted to a console built into a head-mounted display that could output 2 screens simultaneously. They could display two similar images from slightly different angles to create the illusion of depth, but they usually settled on displaying two completely different images that were essentially different layers of a composite image, which could easily be accomplished by any 16-bit system without the depth effect. To be fair, that depth effect does work quite well (provided that there are only 2 levels of depth), but that's not even what virtual reality is supposed to be in the first place. 3. Too much compromise: Even when they settled on that far more limited scope, they kept having to cut corners to try and make it happen. Producing a working self-contained head-mounted display based console for the general public couldn't be done without a bunch of compromises. Most notably, the red-only display is due to blue LED arrays being far too expensive and ineffective at the time, meaning that they couldn't make full-color displays, so red LEDs were deemed cheaper and less straining for the eyes than green LEDs. Yes, that red mess that people claim gave them headaches (never happened to me though) was the more comfortable option. Even then, it's practically a miracle that it's even able to display clean images, and that's all thanks to incredible mirror-based trickery. On top of that, the Virtual Boy had to be fairly powerful to run those two screens, so it was built as a 32-bit machine with fairly impressive hardware specs for the time. Unfortunately, that meant that it was heavy and bulky, which is obviously not ideal for something that's supposed to sit on your face, and the monochromatic 3 shades of red + black (unlit) couldn't convey that power effectively. 4. Poor marketing: Due to being a system created basically on a whim, its release wasn't properly planned. It had no place in the market, between the enormously successful SNES and the N64 coming out the very next year. Trying to market the Virtual Boy as a stop-gap was a ridiculous idea because there was no gap to stop in the first place. Executives thought it should be marketed as a portable system, but it was enormous, couldn't stay on your head without a tripod, obviously obstructed your vision, required a controller, had poor battery life, and basically required you to sit still. So the system is able to display a convincing depth effect with its 3 shades of red, but that's not exactly a sales pitch. What does it have to offer? Why would customers buy it? The Virtual Boy ended up having no purpose on the market, little to offer, and no room to compete. Nowadays, Nintendo is known for creating trends that its competitors strive to piggyback off of. The Virtual Boy was an example of Nintendo trying to jump on a trend, tripping over its feet all the way throughout, and finally releasing a product when the trend fizzled out.

We don't talk about the virtual boy

Mighty car mods, nice.

The buttons on your game and watch look like the Advil that sits at the bottom of my junk drawer.

15:20 *Looks at my summer job earning money just to get a PS4 to play Spider-Man* Pffffft, yeah man, can’t believe anyone would do that.

Great video. Btw, Gunpei Yokoi’s death wasn’t an accident.

Do people really want a glass screen on the switch? It would be way more fragile with no benefit

If I had to pick my favorite Nintendo consoles they’d be the GameCube, Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo Wii, and the Nintendo Switch. So many memories with the first 3 that this video made me super nostalgic.

Well the switch is already underclocked enough (1Ghz) so that battery life is good enough. Plus, with homebrew, you can overclock it (reduced battery life though) or underclock it ( more battery life. Of course, if something good is only done with homebrew, it isn't totally safe.

What kind of game in the last frame ?

Happy Pokémon day guys, great video to go with it!

14:42 pocketable! Who even carry's a portable console in pockets? I never carried my PSP in my pocket, I used to carry it in my bag.

16:34 whats that song called

i love my pc but i still got a nintendo switch just for super smash bros mario odessey and of course zelda XD

11:33 "I love the Gamecube, it's one of my favorite consoles ever along with the Wii U" Could you explain why exactly, or is there a video from you that already does this?

mighty car mods haha nice

pretty cool video. I've loved my Nintendo consoles and handhelds. The nintendo games are also a huge motivator for me. I feel like they're just executed better more consistently than on other platforms.

I loved the Pokémon black music at the end, It’s one of my favorite Nintendo games

Great video. what was it you liked about Wii U

Always watching your videos! Keep up your interesting and varied great contents!!

Really really good video. I'd say that the Labo is a prime example of this philosophy.

I love this video it's Nintendo way is similar way I do pc builds

The Game and Watch had a stand!? How did I not know that? Did all of them have that or just some?

2:00 It looks like someone chewed on that left button XD

2:28 were you alive in that era? What video-game was tecnologically (kinda cheap) revolutionary that most of the world would have noticed that era than?

Wii emulator on the shield tv, so switch must be getting wii emu Pog

"The Xbox 2" LOL

I still don't understand why you calm the Xbox 360 the "Xbox 2"

Nah I don't think the Gamecube was a poor act for Ninty. It's just that the PS2 was really tough. And it has the best example of withered tech: *the handle*

Mighty Car Mods!....Good video as usual.

cool Video! I never really thought about that tooic 👍

Great video

Thing is, the switch is more than the other consoles, while still lacking in power. The fact that it's portable doesn't help much imo.

Xbox 2?

“If anyone could dethrone Nintendo, It was Sony” video stops and starts a Sony (movie studio) ad of a movie.

What is the game being played at 17:00?

whats the game on 14:35 ?