Intro
I have just bought every single Nintendo home console ever. We've got a TV from the time of each one's release, and even the main Super Mario game for every single one. So let's see how much better the gaming experience has become. Nintendo's first home console, the NES, couldn't have come at a worse time in the West. The company had had huge success with their arcade machines, but when it finally came to entering the living room in the early 1980s, the entire video game market just so happened to be experiencing what's still known as the Great Video Game Crash of 1983.
Put simply, everyone was making games consoles. There had become far too many to choose from, and every single one had their own separate, confusing selection of rushed, poor quality games. The entire reputation of a video game console was the worst that it had ever been, to the point where critics were even saying that gaming is a fad and that the entire concept would actually die out in a couple of years. But this didn't put Nintendo off, and in fact they did something very clever to try and spin it to their advantage. They created a games console that looked nothing like a games console, and they called it the Nintendo Entertainment System to avoid the stigma that came with the term video game. They even bundled two controllers in the box to make it more of a family living room item than something just for the solo gamer. This was a calculated move. This entire package is so unbelievably old that it almost just looks alien, doesn't it? The controllers, the types of cables and the adapters you find here, none of it even resembles what we use today.
I can't believe I'm about to switch on a console from 1985. And this TV, I've never seen anything like it. And apparently it turns on by... No. Let's try that again. Now we turn the console on. Wait, what? The game is booted up the second you turn the power button on. And you've actually got physical dials to be able to adjust the picture profile on the screen. This entire thing is just so satisfying. This is gonna sound ridiculous, but bear with me here.
Because with a 1.7 megahertz processor, a whole two kilobytes of RAM and a maximum resolution of 240p, the NES was actually specced like a next gen machine when compared to the Atari 2600s that people were playing before that. And as a huge fan of just video games in general, the craziest part of this for me is that this console is the console where Nintendo launched the first ever Zelda game. And more importantly, the first ever Mario game. Let's plug the player one controller in. Oh my gosh.
This feels like such a moment in gaming history. Like imagine if you could have taken the small group of developers that made this and showed them what Mario would actually become today. You can hear that same jump sound even in today's games. And it's crazy that the entire game basically works with one face button. The text itself is kind of hard to read 'cause of how low the resolution is, but the game is very playable even today. Regardless, this little red plumber was an instant hit. And when you combine Mario with the console's beautiful clean graphics, its branding as a must have toy instead of a games console, as well as its rock bottom price of $250 in today's money, you can probably see how it became the most popular console in history, selling 61.9 million units, which was enough that Nintendo had arguably saved the entire video game industry. By the time they decided to release the NES's successor, they didn't even have to worry about a dying market anymore.
SNES
And what a successor it was. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, released about five years later at a much higher price tag of $450 in today's money, was basically an NES with every aspect dialed up to the max. For starters, the controller was probably the single most important controller ever made, bringing in a smoother, more hand-friendly design, two extra face buttons, X and Y, that set the standard for how all future controllers would be made, and also shoulder buttons. All controllers up until this point relied almost entirely on your thumbs as the only input. But this controller is what made gamers realize that actually every single finger could be an input. And this would allow for games with a new tier of complexity. Whether it be drifting in Super Mario Kart or aiming your arm cannon diagonally in Super Metroid. Yeah, Nintendo loved using the word super. It was basically their way of saying next gen. There's a similarly enormous set of cables and adapters to last time, and then the SNES itself, which is actually lighter than I expected for something that's an absolute beast in performance. And I'm not exaggerating when I use the term beast. The way to calculate graphics power is a little complex for these early consoles, but just to give you an idea of how much more capable it could be, the SNES came with 64 times the amount of RAM versus their last machine. What is it with the pull tabs on these old TVs? I love the clickiness of everything. It's also so crazy that this is what the games used to look like. And then to turn the console on, there is a switch.
Nintendo Switch. Nintendo presents. Ah, that's so much better! The music in this video is giving me chills. And it's also noticeably higher resolution music than the last console. In a way, the SNES was the pinnacle of 2D gaming, just before the 3D era. With this much power, developers could basically make any 2D game they wanted to. So if we compare Super Mario World on the SNES versus Super Mario Bros on the NES, the backgrounds feel so much more alive, with multiple layers moving at different speeds as you walk to simulate things being closer and further away from you. It's also a shocking amount sharper. Like, text on this is barely readable. This one has like no problems at all. And objects also have proper lighting and shadows for the first time ever. Now that that has become my benchmark, I can almost feel the wonder that people must have felt when stepping into this game for the first time. Why am I excited by the fact that Mario has a new spinny jump? The SNES didn't quite trounce the sales figures of the original NES. But for a console released only a few years later, the fact that it still sold 49 million units is nothing to be scoffed at. But with consoles like Sony's first PlayStation leading the charge into 3D gaming very shortly after, Nintendo had to find a way to keep up.
N64
Enter the Nintendo 64. Named after its new 64-bit chip that could now process data in larger chunks at a time, making it perfect for 3D. Man, this box is so wacky. Love it. And the controller, equally so. But as much as it does look like something Batman might throw at a villain's face, this was just as big of a deal as the SNES controller.
Thanks to the invention of the analog stick by a Nintendo employee. You're going to start to notice a theme in this video. That even more so than the machines themselves, the key to Nintendo's console success is all about controller innovation. And then we've got the console, which is almost as weird looking as the controller. Now here's the thing. The Nintendo 64 had all the ingredients for a slam-dunk console. Firstly, as you might have guessed by how it's literally named after its new processor, this was the most powerful console in the world. The fact that we had a 64-bit processor in a machine that was literally $300 in today's money, this was almost science fiction. And it made this thing approximately 30 times more powerful than the SNES. Or, what's even harder to grasp, 1920 times more powerful than the NES. Why is there a button here? That makes no sense. But the analog stick was a game changer. The analog stick made the Nintendo 64 the most natural way to traverse 3D environments. Plus, the biggest thing that separated Nintendo from other console titans like Sony and Microsoft was the fact that they weren't just console designers, they were game developers. So they never just made the box and then hoped lots of great games were made for it, they made the box and the main games that you'd want to buy with it. I'm just now realizing this has four controller ports compared to two on every past console. The N64 was home to truly legendary games like Zelda Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye, and Super Mario 64. You bet we're gonna test it. Thankfully a TV, I understand.
I love these switches. The other upside is that your pet can no longer turn your gaming console off.
You can actually see it take a minute to get to the right level of brightness. Oh my gosh, I can't even begin to describe the difference here. Mario 64 might just be the most influential video game ever. You can see how Mario 64 was the proof of concept for how future 3D worlds would work. How you'd be able to move within them, how the camera would follow you, and how you'd be able to interact with objects inside of it. Remember, this is all new. You could argue that SNES games have actually aged better, because 2D games that look like that are still a thing now, whereas 3D games that look like this are not. But putting myself in the shoes of someone whose best gaming experience so far was that, and handing them this, I would have paid to see their reactions. So why didn't it do better? Even with all of this going for it, the N64 only managed to sell 32.9 million units in its lifetime, which almost makes it seem like Nintendo is trying so hard for nothing. And to put it simply, it's because they now had a major competitor in the form of PlayStation. The PS1, while not as capable on paper, beat Nintendo to market with a 3D capable machine by a full two years. Which was enough of a lead that all the pioneers who really wanted a 3D console, they already had one.
GameCube
This was no doubt extremely frustrating for Nintendo. So when it came time for their follow-up console, the GameCube, they made sure that they released closer to the next PlayStation, the PS2. And they made sure that they used a similar disc-based format, and they made sure that when it came to power, they beat it. And that with the machine itself, they outdid them completely. This is a very meaty console. Everything in this box is just much denser than before. The wiring, the controller that looks like it's from another planet, and of course the machine itself. It genuinely gives off the vibe of a mini supercomputer, apart from the cute little handle on top that also makes it look like a lunchbox. But the console does send a very clear message. You want to play 3D games with incredible graphics? This is the box you need. And it has the specs to back it up too. Compared to the N64, it was approximately five times more powerful. You ready for yet another nostalgia hit? Oh my gosh, it's the GameCube screen. You can instantly tell it's higher resolution. Gotta say, Nintendo was definitely playing the weird card here. Nothing about this controller makes any sense.
Like only one side of the controller has two shoulder buttons. The second analog stick is so tiny and strange. And the face buttons too. What is this arrangement? The shoulder buttons travel so far. And then when you get to the bottom, they have this click. That's so nice. I can see why people still use this thing today. Right, Simba is behind the consoles. Please don't unplug anything. There we go. This is an enormous jump. Like the amount of effects on display here is a world above. The water looks amazing. And you can even feel how hot it is in the game because of how heat distorts things that are further away. The resolution is 480p, or 4.5 times the number of pixels versus the N64, which is an enormous jump. But I wouldn't say it looks 4.5 times as sharp, which is at least in part due to the fact that the N64 was designed with CRT TVs in mind. And also the fact that with later consoles, Nintendo has opted for a smoother, more refined look. I almost feel bad for Nintendo. Because even with the intense focus on trying to make the best console they possibly could, even with an exceptional controller and a pretty reasonable price of $330 in today's money, the GameCube sold even worse than the N64, with a total of 21.75 million units. And you could point to the lack of online gaming as a reason, or maybe the fact that the GameCube focused too much on Nintendo's own games and lacked third-party support. But I think the crux of it is just the competition. The PS2 it was up against sold like nothing we've ever seen before, at 158 million units.
Not to mention, Xbox had just joined the battle too, with huge games like Halo and Fable further squeezing Nintendo's share of the gaming pie. But this failure taught Nintendo their most important lesson yet. It's time to talk about the Wii. And if you're enjoying this video, then a sub to the channel would be... ...Wiili good.
Wii
It took until this point, 2006, for Nintendo to realise that they didn't want to compete with PlayStation and Xbox anymore. But more importantly, that they didn't need to.
That the joy of gaming didn't require the most chonky, extreme-powered machine. And so with this console, there was a complete paradigm shift in thinking. This is when Nintendo started focusing on fun, and in doing so, created their most successful, widely appealing console ever. In fact, without even unboxing the console, you can already see how they managed to appeal to the everyday person, who might not even call themselves a gamer. This is the most organised console package I've ever seen, with two drawers to separate the different sets of parts. And it comes with literally everything. An enormous operations manual, a stand to keep the console upright. There's yet another controller that had never been seen before, and arguably the craziest one yet, even a case to protect the controller. Who does that? These companies make so much money off players breaking their controllers and then having to buy new ones. But there's more. You've got the sensor bar to detect motion from your controllers, a couple of cables for power and connection to the TV, and then the machine itself. And this is also very different. You can probably tell by how it only takes up a small part of the overall package, the console's tiny size, or its simple design, that's far less about trying to look like a high-end gaming rig like most consoles, more about trying to blend in. That the promise of the Wii isn't really about the console. The hardware itself is only a 1.27 times improvement over the Gamecube, which by gaming console standards is completely unheard of. And this must have been a very scary move for Nintendo to make, because each generation up until this point was all about power. More power was the entire way that you could offer gamers more possibilities within your games. And while Nintendo was sat here making 1.27 times improvements, Sony and Microsoft were making 20, 30x improvements to their hardware. But what it all came down to was this. This was when Nintendo's continuous focus on controller innovation finally paid off. You'll notice it looks a lot like a TV remote, and that even the Wii's interface looks like a TV's interface.
With each app being a channel that you had to point your remote at. None of this was an accident. Given that Nintendo was now purposefully giving up on the traditional hardcore console gamer, they needed to make sure that this console was as simple as possible for the new, more casual audience they were now going after. People who may never have used a game's console before. How do you do that? Well, make it as similar as possible to what they already used to. Genius. We've got my own personalized me ready to go. Love this music. Such a headbanger.
It's so weird, like to play this game you also have to attach what they call the " Nunchuck accessory" just really to give you a joystick. Okay, so you can definitely tell that the game objects have stepped up in complexity. The game is also a little bit sharper, but it definitely doesn't feel next-gen. To be honest, I'd say the biggest change as far as the gameplay is concerned is more the ambition of the title itself. Nintendo's gone from exploring an island to exploring galaxies. But do you know what actually sealed the deal for this console?
It was the fact that every single Wii at launch came bundled with a free copy of Wii Sports. Which was little more than a mini-gaming concept. Five different sports that you can play with these almost comically low-budget looking characters. Gamers laughed at it, but their grandmas didn't. For a casual gamer, this was the most seamless, organic gaming experience they'd ever had before. You could have your entire family playing at the same time, you could customize these characters to look like the people playing, and the gameplay itself required no joke, zero explanation.
All leading the Wii to shatter everyone's sales expectations at 102 million units. But the best part of this is that they did this not by stealing Sony and Xbox's market share, but instead bringing a whole new audience into the world of gaming. So, Nintendo finally got that big break they'd worked so hard for. But where do you go from there?
Wii U
Well, the Wii U.
- You!
- No, not me, you!
- Yes, I am you! And I gotta say, this is the least Nintendo-feeling unboxing experience.
Very much a weighty, premium, more mature package than the more toy-like appearance of past consoles. Another enormous manual pack, again, a free game in the box, perhaps trying to replicate the success of Wii Sports with the Wii. And being the premium pack, this box is absolutely rammed with all manner of peripherals. And we haven't even got to the second part of the package, which has the console. Oh my gosh, this is the best peel I've ever experienced. It's peely good.
And then, yet another completely new type of controller. So here's what I think happened with the Wii U. Nintendo thought, " OK, we've got the casual gamer". The Wii brand is so strong and uncontested that when we release the next-gen Wii, all those casual gamers are obviously gonna buy it. But how do we make this also appeal to traditional gamers? Because remember, that's where the major money is. While the original Wii proved that casual gamers will buy consoles, they tend to be far less interested in buying lots of games for them.
This is why I think Nintendo's gone for such mature packaging. This is why they've offered the console in both a casual basic version as well as the slick black premium version. This is why Nintendo's gone back to making big power jumps, with the Wii U's graphics processing unit being slated as 20 times more powerful than the Wii's, making it approximately 240,000 times more powerful than the original NES. And this is why they came up with the Wii U GamePad. This was the key selling point in Nintendo's marketing, a gamepad that can connect to the console over Wi-Fi and stream the game running on the console onto the screen of your handheld, which had two major implications. That you could A) play the majority of your games entirely on the gamepad, providing you were in range, which meant that even if someone else wanted to use the TV to watch the sports game, you could still carry on using your console in its entirety, which is actually wildly impressive to look at. This is so much slicker and sharper and faster than the Wii's interface. But also, it allows you to have a dual-screen experience. Nintendo had already found with their handheld DS consoles that there was an appetite for one screen that showed you the main gameplay, and then a secondary screen that you could interact with. And the Wii U basically brought that same concept into the home console realm. The gamepad truly feels like it was designed for the " real nerd gamer". So... me. While Nintendo made sure that the Wii U also still worked with their old Wii motion controllers to capture that same magic for the casual player. Oh wow, this is true next generation compared to that. This immediately makes the Nintendo Wii look old school.
Ah, it's got real-time shadows too. So you can see as I hop under this tree, the shade is also present on my character. As far as graphics are concerned, this is an everything upgrade. This is textures, lighting, shadows, effects. This is 720p gaming running at 60 frames per second. The jump is literally the difference between feeling retro and feeling modern day. The problem, though, is that I think in trying to appeal to both serious and casuals, they've actually appealed to neither. They've tried to make the console look and sound similar to the Wii to signal to the casual fans that this is the new Wii. But in doing so have made it thoroughly unexciting for the serious gamers who dismissed it out the gate as just more simple minigames. This new gamepad wasn't enough to satisfy the serious gamers who wanted big screen experiences, not small screen experiences. And at the same time, it was just confusing to the more casual players, making the Wii U seem like an add-on for the Wii as opposed to a new console entirely. And three, it wasn't powerful enough to take on the PS4, but it was powerful enough that when paired with all the other sensors that you need to make this work, it was very expensive, with the deluxe pack that I've got here starting at $450 in today's money. As someone who was a handheld gamer first, I actually loved the Wii U, and I was so unbelievably jealous of those who could pre-order it and actually hold one of these in their hands. But it didn't take long to find out that commercially, this was a complete and utter failure, selling less than any other Nintendo home console in history. Oh, no!
But it's funny how these things work, because for the second time, right after Nintendo's biggest failure, they were about to have their biggest success.
Switch
The Nintendo Switch was actually a very similar idea to the Wii U before it, but it's just the extra five years of tech advancements that had happened since then allowed Nintendu-- Nintendu?
a funny joke, Nintendo-do. No. But it's just the extra five years of tech advancement that have happened since then allowed Nintendo to actually execute the concept properly. It's a smaller, lighter box than before. You get a power cable and then a bunch of accessories for, would you believe it, a completely new type of controller. The Joy-Cons. And then the console, which is a little different. Right, I'm just gonna say it now. I think the Nintendo Switch is the most intelligently designed console on this planet. The idea is the same as the Wii U, of being able to play your games either on the big screen or in handheld, but because the power is located in the handheld itself, as opposed to having to stream it over Wi-Fi, you can take this console anywhere and instant resume your game from where you left off. All while it charges up your Joy-Cons automatically. But it gets better, because the way these Joy-Cons are able to separate from the console and can work independently by just flipping them sideways means that you can have multiplayer gaming. And then the cherry on top is that by embedding them with gyro sensors, they've even managed to recreate the motion controls of the Wii and Wii U without needing to stick a fiddly sensor on top of your TV. Now the Switch is not super impressive to the nerd within me, with a pretty crummy display by smartphone standards, and occasional issues with the Joy-Con joysticks drifting even when you're not touching them, and also just the simple fact that this is not a big power upgrade, being only about 1.5 times the power of the Wii U. Or about 370,000 times the power of the NES. Which when you put it that way actually sounds really impressive. But the key thing is that in the exact same way that Nintendo managed to separate themselves from Sony and Xbox with the Wii, by targeting a completely new type of gamer, the Switch has also been separated, by being a legitimate handheld console in its own right. Now all that stuff about power said, this is still a definitively better gaming experience than the Wii U. It's a combination of modern graphical techniques, of more advanced ways to interact with the environment, more complex game mechanics, better control over the camera, just all the kind of modern quality of life improvements that you expect with a game today. Like the way that I can spin the hat on my head by using motion controls is really immersive. The best compliment I could give it is that I play games on a PlayStation 5, and coming from that, this is good enough that it doesn't feel jarring. And when you pair the frankly genius design of the console itself, with a games lineup that includes all the main series Pokemon games, Zelda Breath of the Wild, and Animal Crossing and Super Smash Bros Ultimate, I'm not even surprised that this thing has already sold 111 million units, and we're only part way through its life cycle. I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful sight than what I'm looking at right now.
Honeygain
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