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Actually Nintendo consoles used to be powerhouses until recently. The NES, SNES, N64 and GameCube were all considered state-of-the-art in terms of performance.

Actually Nintendo consoles used to be powerhouses until recently. The NES, SNES, N64 and GameCube were all considered state-of-the-art in terms of performance. It wasn't until the Wii when they began cutting down on performance in favor of fun features like they had been doing in the handheld space.

Keyframe 2y ago
Especially N64 - SGI indy in a small box. They did change the narrative after they couldn't or wouldn't compete on those numbers (rightfully so it turned out), however, they were always experimenting with controls and were highly influential in doing so. appropriate username, btw, but that console is for another topic!
Frenchgeek 2y ago
Pretty sure the NES was designed to a price point first and foremost. Especially after the video game crash. Hence the dirt-cheap 6502 derivative in it.
- einr 2y ago
  The NES -- as far as its basic hardware architecture -- was not designed for a market where the video game crash had even occurred. It was designed for release in Japan in 1983 as the Famicom, undoubtedly the most powerful console in the market at the time -- a time where by the way I'm not sure what else you would even put in a console other than a 6502 or Z80. If you wanted cheap above all, you could have gone for a plain 6502 or a cut-down variant (like the 6507 in the Atari VCS), but they also didn't do that -- the Ricoh 2A03 is a custom part that includes custom sound hardware.
  - monocasa 2y ago
    > If you wanted cheap above all, you could have gone for a plain 6502 or a cut-down variant (like the 6507 in the Atari VCS), but they also didn't do that -- the Ricoh 2A03 is a custom part that includes custom sound hardware. The higher integration on a single chip for the 2A03 was absolutely a cost saving move.
Laremere 2y ago
That doesn't match my recollection. The Gameboy is a early counter example: it was black and white during a time where the game gear had color, yet the Gameboy was far more popular. Also I believe the Xbox was more powerful than the GameCube.
- mejutoco 2y ago
  I remember kids with the game gear. Hardly ever saw them playing because of the batteries. For a portable console I think it was a choice on battery life.
  - tadbit 2y ago
    The game gear was extremely lousy to use. Too small of a screen, ate through batteries incredibly quickly, the original, external battery pack (not included) was poorly made and didn't help that much either. And the game selection early on was pretty lousy too. Sonic was only fun for a while. People are doing amazing things with game gear hardware as of late, though. All of that addressed spectacularly.
    - stavros 2y ago
      And it only took thirty-five years!
    - barbecue_sauce 2y ago
      Also huge in size compared to the screen dimensions. Could barely get my hands around it as a little kid. Then the Nomad was even bigger!
  - imp0cat 2y ago
    A "wall wart" power source was a necessity.
- einr 2y ago
  The Game Gear didn't come out until one and a half year later. It's easy to see how it wasn't even remotely practical to release a color handheld system in 1989, and it's easy to argue that it wasn't practical in 1990 either, but Sega did it anyway. So when the Game Boy came out it was easily the most powerful handheld system on the market (admittedly by virtue of being essentially the only one worth mentioning)
blkhp19 2y ago
"recently" as in nearly 25 years ago
- Andrex 2y ago
  Yes, in terms of their video game history, Nintendo has been blue ocean (2004-2024+) longer than they were red (1983-2003).
to11mtm 2y ago
NES? Yes. SNES... Somewhat? I think there were tradeoffs here between that and the genesis; You got more colors and could get better sound out of the SNES... On the flip side people did -amazing- things with the YM2612 and for all the SNES RPG Soundtracks I love, they don't slap like the Streets of Rage series or Sanic. N64 had pretty good perf but the Cartridge format made it -very- expensive to do anything very fancy; this is one of the reasons that lots of folks feel PS1 had better looking games despite N64's superior specs. GameCube... Sits in a very weird spot IMO, but that whole generation was a bit Zany due to how everyone was experimenting with different 'paths to faster/better 3d'. Dreamcast had lots of 'special' stuff, GC was unique in it's own right, PS2's biggest stumble IIRC was too little ram for the GS... To me, the bigger 'paradigm shift' that Nintendo made with the Wii was preferring more COTS-y stuff versus more special custom things... NES had the Special Ricoh 6502 variant. SNES had the SPC. N64... TBH was mostly SGI based so possibly the exception. Gamecube had a custom GPU (Flipper)... Wii is for the most part an 'incremental' upgrade from GC Hardware, and the Switch uses a not-that-special Tegra AFAIK.
ekianjo 2y ago
the Gamecube certainly not. it was on par with other consoles of the time but released later so nothing that you could call SOTA
andrepd 2y ago
Nintendo's first example of this is probably the most famous: the Gameboy was very underpowered compared to its competitor and absolutely trounced them on its way to become a household name and one of the most popular consoles of all time.
ssl-3 2y ago
Recently? My dude, the GameCube was released nearly 23 years ago. There is a wider time delta betwixt the GameCube's release and today than there is between the NES and the GameCube.

Keyframe 2y ago

Especially N64 - SGI indy in a small box. They did change the narrative after they couldn't or wouldn't compete on those numbers (rightfully so it turned out), however, they were always experimenting with controls and were highly influential in doing so. appropriate username, btw, but that console is for another topic!

Frenchgeek 2y ago

Pretty sure the NES was designed to a price point first and foremost. Especially after the video game crash. Hence the dirt-cheap 6502 derivative in it.

einr 2y ago
The NES -- as far as its basic hardware architecture -- was not designed for a market where the video game crash had even occurred. It was designed for release in Japan in 1983 as the Famicom, undoubtedly the most powerful console in the market at the time -- a time where by the way I'm not sure what else you would even put in a console other than a 6502 or Z80. If you wanted cheap above all, you could have gone for a plain 6502 or a cut-down variant (like the 6507 in the Atari VCS), but they also didn't do that -- the Ricoh 2A03 is a custom part that includes custom sound hardware.
- monocasa 2y ago
  > If you wanted cheap above all, you could have gone for a plain 6502 or a cut-down variant (like the 6507 in the Atari VCS), but they also didn't do that -- the Ricoh 2A03 is a custom part that includes custom sound hardware. The higher integration on a single chip for the 2A03 was absolutely a cost saving move.

Laremere 2y ago

That doesn't match my recollection. The Gameboy is a early counter example: it was black and white during a time where the game gear had color, yet the Gameboy was far more popular. Also I believe the Xbox was more powerful than the GameCube.

mejutoco 2y ago
I remember kids with the game gear. Hardly ever saw them playing because of the batteries. For a portable console I think it was a choice on battery life.
- tadbit 2y ago
  The game gear was extremely lousy to use. Too small of a screen, ate through batteries incredibly quickly, the original, external battery pack (not included) was poorly made and didn't help that much either. And the game selection early on was pretty lousy too. Sonic was only fun for a while. People are doing amazing things with game gear hardware as of late, though. All of that addressed spectacularly.
  - stavros 2y ago
    And it only took thirty-five years!
  - barbecue_sauce 2y ago
    Also huge in size compared to the screen dimensions. Could barely get my hands around it as a little kid. Then the Nomad was even bigger!
- imp0cat 2y ago
  A "wall wart" power source was a necessity.
einr 2y ago
The Game Gear didn't come out until one and a half year later. It's easy to see how it wasn't even remotely practical to release a color handheld system in 1989, and it's easy to argue that it wasn't practical in 1990 either, but Sega did it anyway. So when the Game Boy came out it was easily the most powerful handheld system on the market (admittedly by virtue of being essentially the only one worth mentioning)

blkhp19 2y ago

"recently" as in nearly 25 years ago

Andrex 2y ago
Yes, in terms of their video game history, Nintendo has been blue ocean (2004-2024+) longer than they were red (1983-2003).

to11mtm 2y ago

NES? Yes. SNES... Somewhat? I think there were tradeoffs here between that and the genesis; You got more colors and could get better sound out of the SNES... On the flip side people did -amazing- things with the YM2612 and for all the SNES RPG Soundtracks I love, they don't slap like the Streets of Rage series or Sanic. N64 had pretty good perf but the Cartridge format made it -very- expensive to do anything very fancy; this is one of the reasons that lots of folks feel PS1 had better looking games despite N64's superior specs. GameCube... Sits in a very weird spot IMO, but that whole generation was a bit Zany due to how everyone was experimenting with different 'paths to faster/better 3d'. Dreamcast had lots of 'special' stuff, GC was unique in it's own right, PS2's biggest stumble IIRC was too little ram for the GS... To me, the bigger 'paradigm shift' that Nintendo made with the Wii was preferring more COTS-y stuff versus more special custom things... NES had the Special Ricoh 6502 variant. SNES had the SPC. N64... TBH was mostly SGI based so possibly the exception. Gamecube had a custom GPU (Flipper)... Wii is for the most part an 'incremental' upgrade from GC Hardware, and the Switch uses a not-that-special Tegra AFAIK.

ekianjo 2y ago

the Gamecube certainly not. it was on par with other consoles of the time but released later so nothing that you could call SOTA

andrepd 2y ago

Nintendo's first example of this is probably the most famous: the Gameboy was very underpowered compared to its competitor and absolutely trounced them on its way to become a household name and one of the most popular consoles of all time.

ssl-3 2y ago

Recently? My dude, the GameCube was released nearly 23 years ago. There is a wider time delta betwixt the GameCube's release and today than there is between the NES and the GameCube.