Ninten Don't Get It: Partying Like It's 1999

Nintendo Is Stuck In The Past
 
Between handhelds and cheap conferences held outside of E3, Nintendo is stuck in the past. Sure they're launching Nintendo Switch, but it's really just a compromise, isn't it? It's a console, it's a tabletop and surprise, it's a handheld. They haven't gone third-party, and at this point, it's kind of safe to assume that won't happen anytime soon, if at all. 
 
But let's dive into the specifics here, and see what Nintendo is currently doing, as well as what they should do moving forward. 
 
Nostalgic Or Curated?
 
N64 gave us all good times. Super Nintendo did too. Nintendo games are known for transporting 20-something and 30-something players to a better, simpler time. And yet, it's only until now that they really tried to target their niche audience again. For a while there, it was the Wii, marketed specifically for the non-gaming crowd. By the time they came back to roots, players had moved on. Sony and Microsoft had been launching games and technology to keep everyone busy. 
 
When the Wii U launched, it was a no-brainer: in less than five years it was dubbed a commercial and creative failure. It wasn't a surprise. They had alienated their market, and come back with something that most didn't want to try out, let alone purchase.
 

 
History Repeats Itself
 
Polygon recently released an article, "Nintendo Is Already Repeating the Wii U's Mistakes With Switch," by Christopher Grant, and let's just say the man has several points here. Much like with the Wii U, we haven't seen Nintendo Switch's console menu system. Will the friends-code system make a comeback? Will future digital purchases continue being tied to hardware, or will it shift to a profile?  
 
When the Wii U launched, these questions weren't answered until after launch, and that proved to be a failure. These days, with the Switch, it's already headed in that direction. Whether Nintendo learned from its mistakes remains to be seen, but what is for sure is that the level of detail given prior to launch remains lacking.  
 
Talking Specs
 
Players don't want table top mode—that's what PC's are for. Handhelds are dead in America, and didn't even kick off in the first place. And in terms of the console mode, well, it won't offer 4k, and Zelda: Breath of the Wild runs at 900p, 30 fps. When compared to the specs on the PS4 Pro, or Xbox One Scorpio, the Switch ends up looking more like circa 2013.  
 

 
For a whopping $299.99 players are getting a 720p screen and up to six hours of battery life. The fact that it has expandable storage can pretty much be overlooked, considering there's nothing else as an incentive. 
 
Can Nintendo Be Saved?
 
To reiterate, Nintendo is a nostalgic company, and it's behind the games that 20 and 30-something players grew up with. Super Mario World and Metroid will forever be some of the most beloved games of their time. But notice, video games have evolved since then, and so have the players. We now live in a world where VR is actually something you can not only purchase, but add your phone into it. The PS4 Pro works with 4k TV's. Xbox Scorpio is boasting about this being the end of console generations for Microsoft, claiming the following: 
 

"We think the future is without console generations... We think that the ability to build a library, a community, to be able to iterate with the hardware—we're making a pretty big bet on that with Project Scorpio."

 
Meanwhile, Nintendo just scrapped Project Giant Robot, a Wii U game that's been in development since 2014, all unsurprisingly due to Wii U's hardware production ending. The Switch is the primary focus now, but it seems a lot like a lifesaver attempt at getting back in the good graces of players. 
 
The only way Nintendo can really be saved is if they stop being exclusive. Going third party would automatically solve many of their problems. They could have exclusives, but opt for games that could be played on other consoles as well, to expand their customer base. Because if we're being honest, Nintendo's consoles have never been great, especially compared to Sony and Microsoft counterparts. Having to purchase one of these consoles just to play Nintendo games is a hassle most players despise. Sales have declined over the years for a reason: when push comes to shove, Nintendo consoles aren't worth the investment.