i hope people learn from history and realize that a new switch with 4k output or at least being powerful in line with modern tech is extremely unlikely. nintendo focuses on fun, not on specs
@@nutritional_yeet I think it's possible we might get a more power system. Iwata was in charge of making the Switch and when he became CEO of Nintendo in 2002 his reign was defined by consoles and handheld that didn't focus on specs but rather new ways to play games. Think about it before he was CEO Nintendo handhelds and consoles were pretty powerful...if not marred by storage space limitations.
I wish the video didn't end the way it did because if I recall correctly this whole thing went on for a lot longer and dipped into the realm of hyper delusional conspiracy beyond what had come before. It would have been really interesting to see a retrospective on that and the things that people said and believed
absolutely agree, felt like the vid focused more on the insanity of team AMD rather than focusing on the story of the NX, and then just abruptly ended the second the first trailer was announced
Bro frfr once he gave another shout out to the video’s sponsor I was like damn he put a mid video ad read as well? And then it cuts to his patreon list and I checked the vid length to see it was over 😭😭
@@rooky102 I know, but the rumors about the supposed Switch Pro could be as long as this video. I remember people were talking about a Pro version since early 2018, things got pretty heated when the OLED model got revealed. Apparently the specs of a Switch successor have leaked already, mentioning things like it'll as powerful as a Xbox Series S, it'll be in 4K, it has DLSS, upscaling, etc. And just recently a leaker from 4chan, claiming they worked on Pokémon S/V DLC, said that a successor will be announce near the end of this year
@@FTChomp9980 this week seems to have been filled with Switch 2 rumors. There's been a supposed leak from a worker in a Chinese factory, an industry insider has claimed that the console will be a Game Boy Color-type of upgrade, that the console is backwards compatible and that some Switch games will have upgraded versions if played on the new console, etc. Now, I'm certain that this is the year where Nintendo will announce a true Switch successor, but I don't think it'll be as close as powerful as the leaks claim. Just like what happened with the original SW
9:58 I believe this was for a project that I worked on. We were contracted by Nintendo to develop sleep tracking software for a new device they were planning to manufacture that was supposed to be kept on your bedside locker, back when they were still briefly working on Quality of Life products along with gaming. I even got the job of taking it home and putting it beside my bed for gathering data. It got canned though and never ended up being released or had much published about it.
That's why I'll probably never forget the lead up to the announcement of this console. The few people that buy every Nintendo platform no matter what were worried at an all time high, including me. You live through the Wii U generation and the terrible software droughts, clunky UI, dumb controller decisions, and most importantly absolutely horrendous software droughts, and you realize that their hubris seemed to be their undoing. Just slap the Wii name on there, don't make any effort to market, instill confidence, or sell people on a useless concept that they'd already done better on their handheld line, and couple that with all time low hardware sales, and you seriously have no idea whether they're just going to go third party or not. Some how they managed to cut bullshit and actually deliver and popularize a concept actually useful to the hardcore crowd they abandoned for the entirety of the previous two generations, and it was just such a great come back.
The Wii u was a hit for me with Mario kart 8 and Smash. That's all I needed most of the generation. I bought my Wii u shortly before the NX was informally announced by Nintendo I remember feeling betrayed that while I love smash and Mario kart and eagerly awaited Zelda U I tapped out from gaming. It took COVID and animal crossing to reel me back in.
I'd almost forgotten how much drama there was in the NX community back then. So much vitriol was thrown at Rogers specifically, and then when it turned out she was right those people just quietly backed off and acted like it hadn't happened.
@@Entropic_Alloy there is no knowing when a product is in the R&D phase. A leaker could come out, saying that a project is 100% going to produce through nvidia, and its going to have no buttons and be on android. They could be 100% correct, and the next week all of that information could be 100% wrong. I work in R&D. Shit changes on a dime especially in the early phases of development. This is why companies don’t announce anything until the first prototypes have been launched, and all of the major risks have been solved
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 If I had to guess, much of Emily's collected info on stuff like a Female Link was only on the draft stage and mixed with everything else. They might have had it in the card when she saw it, but then got dropped as to focus the pre-production crew.
@@MatthewCobalt Nintendo has confirmed that at one point in development, zelda was going to be the protagonist. However, it didn't work for various reasons. I have always postulated that the game was originally meant to take place in ancient hyrule, but they changed their minds and went with a sequel to botw instead of a very distant prequel with zelda as the protag.
I didn't remember all this, but I did remember buying into the theory that if nintendo didn't go high end, their console would fail. Although reggie said it in a dumb way, he was right. Its all about the content, the games. Nintendo is like the Disney (old Disney) of video games. I don't care about them for their hardware, I buy their hardware so I can play their games. But the mainstream crowd wants to play the newest iteration of the yearly game (cod, battlefield, sports games, etc), so it made sense to go for the high spec strategy so they can attract that mainstream crowd. I don't know how certain that strategy would be now though, people on playstation and xbox are tied to paid accounts, with digital libraries attached to them, seems like that crowd might be married to their choice of console at this point. But I'm terrible at understanding them, I live in that niche that has a huge backlog of games to play and can't justify buying new ones (outside of bundles) most of the time.
I remember what a strange time it was, where I was hearing nonstop that Nintendo was about to die, or at least be out of the hardware business. After the switch was announced, I wrote a college English essay on why it would be a success, owing to its convenient hybrid nature, and big new software coming out - and lo and behold, I was right on all points. 😎
I also believed it was going to be a success; it had crazy momentum during its first year because of the Wii U ports. And Breath of the Wild was the perfect game to showcase the console.
It's funny reading people's reaction to the switch when it was first revealed about how it was going to be another massive failure, with now being the 3rd best selling console of all time
Mostly, they whined and cried for years that Nintendo was doomed, even as sales soared beyond all expectations. But eventually, they stopped entirely and were replaced by the people who, for the last 4 years, have been whining that the Switch Pro NEEDS to happen ASAP (again, despite insane sales figures). I wouldn't be surprised if there's overlap, tbh.
@@JazzyWaffles I find it quite baffling how people can delude themselves when they believe so hard in something to the degree of ignoring all evidence, even when it's undeniable. I've probably done it at one point in time, but not when it's this obvious somebody's wrong lol. (Although to be fair to the Switch Pro argument, according to recent evidence, it seems Nintendo thought the same thing but they didn't release an upgraded version only because of the pandemic and the lack of components to mass-produce it).
@MegaMarkLM Yeah, but I remember being annoyed by rumors of a Pro in 2019, when the Lite came out. I personally have no insight into whether the OLED was always planned as a minor update versus being a compromised version of a planned mid-gen refresh. I pay attention to sales and stuff, but I don't have any insider knowledge about why the OLED happened. For me personally: Since the Lite was announced in 2019, I always said we'd get an upgrade to the Switch in 2021 (we got the OLED) and an upgrade to the Lite this year (like an XL), with a new console being put off until at least late 2024 or early 2025 (to surpass the NES's record of lasting 7 years before the SNES). But given that the console clearly hit its peak hardware sales in the 2020-2021 sales year and is now steadiy declining each year since, I'm now thinking maybe we don't see a Lite XL this year and instead they're gearing up for either a genuine upgrade, or a successor next year. I doubt they'll change much aside from performance either way. They have far too much to lose right now if they were to do their former wacky strategy of something entirely different for each console.
I was "Team AMD" and tbh I stopped being mad about a minute into the reveal trailer when I saw NBA 2K and Skyrim running on the system. My worry was solely that third party support would be Wii U level if the architecture and power weren't like the PS4 or XBone, but that quelled my fears. I knew I'd buy the system no matter what because I wanted to play Zelda and Mario, but I like those big third party releases too. Now in 2023 I rarely play those games on Switch, it succeeded in spite of it and I adore the system. You never know!
@@JazzyWaffles Nintendo will do what nintendo wants to do, either a switch pro or a new console with some wacky gimmick that will either flop or sell hundreds of millions of units
I remember my friend saying "New Nintendo console is announced, they're calling it the NX." I was like "Cool, can't wait!" and then a couple years later I saw the switch and almost forgot that that was the NX. Had no idea there was so much debate.
One major factor of Nintendo's success on NX announcement is that they rebranded/recolored their company again to color RED, a bright, bold, loud RED. The trademark Nintendo colors, and by that move along with the NX announcement trailer, it was over for the competition. The shift in tone and content (making it more adult-friendly too) made the NX trailer leading up to the release day of Nintendo Switch to be a worldwide success upto this day
I mean, at the same time Russian bot farms of people that didn’t speak english swayed the entire 2016 presidential election. Not like journalism was in a great place at the time
43:30 "Nintendo is a content focused comoany. We create entertainment that makes people smile" SO LETS NEVER MAKE ANOTHER CONSOLE AFTER THE SWITCH EVER AGAIN POGGERS
This era was so silly to me. Maybe because I was already well into my late 20s, but it always seemed obvious to me that it’d follow Nintendo’s tried and true formula for the previous 15 years (more if you count the underpowered Game Boy). I guess to me it always felt like they were presenting it more as their successor to the 3DS because of the timing so I always assumed it’d be a handheld you could play on your TV. The fact it was so successful that it became their main platform just felt like a bonus.
They've always been a toy company that liked to experiment. The number of novel idea focused consoles has always well overshadowed the number of consoles made purely for power so the idea that the Wii was some massive deviation for them is so strange. So many of their innovations have become so mainstream now that people forget that Nintendo was trying something wild and new with something as simple as the cross-shaped D-pad.
wish you had all the stuff that led up to the console's release. There was a ton of crazy shenanigans then too. Like Etika's (rest in peace) fake Switch that looked crazy real.
To this day I don't think there was ever a funnier fake leak. I remember watching that stream, seeing him pull that out and lose my fucking mind lmfao. It was actually fucking genius, and I was inspired to do something similar to a few of my friends. There was like a paper craft of the system, so I put it together, took a pic of me holding it and looking down at it and just sent it to them, They were confused as hell lmao. Good times.
I remember being in middle school and constantly asking for my moms phone to google Nintendo NX and go to the news section to read about anything new about the NX, everything was so mysterious and up in the air, and then when the reveal trailed dropped I watched that video religiously until the full reveal in Jan 2017. Now I’m in college searching all over UA-cam Reddit and Google trying to learn about the next gen Switch. I can’t believe it’s been so long
Ooh I remember this wild era of NX rumors. I'm glad you talked about the Fusion DS/Terminal rumor, most Switch development retrospective videos forget or ignore it. Say, can you do a rumor retrospective video for Sonic Frontiers? It has one of the most interesting game dev cycles in recent years, because of how much it was leaked years before the first trailer and how much leakers got right.
@@Sydney_Angelyt For what? The NX? Yeah, but gaming discussion and theories are always fun. We may never know how was the Switch's dev cycle. Who knows? Nintendo might really have toyed with button-less all screen mobile devices and game streaming during the Switch's development cycle. Remember mid 2010's Nintendo's executives were really pushing to invest more in smartphone content, and the Cloud tech was later used for Cloud versions of Switch games (such as the Kingdom Hearts game). For Sonic Frontiers it is cool in retrospect because the earliest leaks are dated from 2018, way before the first 4chan post mentioning "Sonic Rangers", and they got the open world, ghost girl and giant robots part right. They also help paint more clearly how Frontiers' dev cycle was internally, and how Sonic Team conducted all the focus tests and even the different game pitches they made after Forces.
@@bluestar5812 This is always my take on this type of stuff, even now as its starting to seem likely we're going into the next generation of nintendo hardware. I see a lot of people complain about constant rumors and people talking about them, but at the end of the day I just think it's fun. As long as you realize even credible leaks have the chance to not pan out and plans change, it doesn't hurt to join in the speculation conversation in my opinion. I mean, at the end of the day, it's fun to be excited for a future system you're going to own.
I can’t stand when people say there was a lack of games for the Wii U. Yes it lacked AAA third parties but the first party games on the console are some of the best they’ve ever made.
There definitely was for a few years. Major games were months apart, droughts plagued its entire life. I do find it hypocritical that after it’s life people still claimed it had no games… even though they bought a bunch of the Wii U ports on Switch.
@@mrshmuga9 I agree with the people being hypocrites part. However I’d say the only real droughts were 2016 and maybe first half of 2013. Meanwhile the Switch has droughts in 2018, first half 2018, 2020, and first half 2021.
Nah it had jackshit, it was basically my old wii but with smash 4 and no gamecube disc compatibility. Nintendo land was a tech demo, zombiU was mid, and i'm not into splatoon. The only game I really missed out on was xenoblade X.
I was particularly fond of the period after the Switch's reveal when these communities freaked out over the raw power of the device. There was so much hand-wringing over what classified as a "modern, industry leading chipset" or Nvidia's statement about it using the "latest Nvidia technology." This couldn't mean the Tegra X1, one year after its launch and before the next semiconductor manufacturing processes were available (at the time of those reports)! Once again, Digital Foundry came to the rescue with exact specs and that community immediately went into an upset frenzy and started talking about Switch Pro like a month before the Switch's initial launch.
Every time I see that NX reveal tweet/Switch reveal trailer, I can't help but smile! I wish the Switch 2/Pro/Sucessor/Whatever had this degree of hype and divisive rumors....
Although I agree, the months between the NX tease and the reveal felt like an eternity. I wouldn't mind if the next console doesn't overstay its welcome and just delivers.
I’m not sure there really could be. Everyone’s expecting them to basically make a “better Switch” as the successor. So there’s not many exciting details to fight over. Maybe if/what the useless hardware gimmick is (like the IR camera in the right joycon), but even 4K up scaling through DLSS or whatever is kind of expected. The only surprising bit would be if it’s not a handheld or goes back to discs, which seem virtually impossible given their current success.
Personally, the simpler the better in this circumstance imo. They've found a good niche here, and having hardware akin to the nvidia email leak would position them in a great spot to get ports from PS5 and Xbox Series S. Make the joy cons not trash, have these PS4 level specs, and you've got something I'd personally be excited about. I really feel like this time they're going to be looking hard at how and why they failed the Wii to Wii U transition since they are in a very similar spot right now to that. There's also completely different management now than there was then, it could be reasonable to expect they go for a more straight forward upgrade.
I’m definitely happy with the Switch we got. Drift not withstanding. Also I would be happy to have the Switch’s successor get backwards compatibility with 3DS and DS even if it’d be both unlikely and make it more expensive.
When it comes to executives (in general not just gaming), truly one of the greatest ever. Still depresses me that he didn't at least live to see the BoTW and Switch launch.
The NX conversation was so wild in hindsight. Almost every single "leak" was wrong. I think thats part of what made the switch announcement so great. It ended up being something that many didn't quite anticipate.
I remember I asked my dad for a WII U and he told me no. We already had a WII at home. I tried to explain to him it was something completely different, sadly he didn't believe me. Years later he asked me to find him on on ebay because he heard Pikman 3 was on the WII U and I told him to just wait until it comes out on the switch. He almost bought it anyway, I told my mom to stop him, one game isn't worth a WII U. And 8 months later Nintendo announced Pikman 3 for switch.
45:37 122 million Switch units later... Their concerns about power really did not age well, because that means less and less these days, and eventually the hybrid console will offer enough power that most people aren’t going to care about the difference from a home console, especially if they’re not into VR. 23:15 I never even thought about that before! When you look at it in a grand perspective, the entry of Sony and Microsoft to the home console market made Nintendo’s exit inevitable. Edit: Also for every generation where they existed, Nintendo’s handhelds have been more popular than their home consoles, even the Wii. So I’d also say that them essentially fusing their home console library into a more powerful handheld was inevitable, too.
Great video. This gave me a massive Nostalgia hit and really made me smile whenever I knew a rumour was right or wrong. Also, that switch reveal trailer was really something else, I loved it so much, it seemed so magical to me at the time and even now
Fantastic video. Thank you for documenting everything that has been going on in the internet at the time of the NX. I sadly wasn't able to see many arguments at the time, I just heard some of the rumors just a few months before the release. And you also made me feel nostalgia for those days.
I love these videos detailing the events before the system launches, all these leaks, rumors, and credible theories just evaporate into a fine mist the second we get an official reveal, and it's a part of the story that often becomes lost. Would love to see this for other consoles.
Nintendo switched from AMD to NVIDIA between the Wii U and Switch, respectively, while PS5 still uses AMD (i.e. modified) as well as Xbox Series X. Side note: Whoever is naming the different versions of Xbox consoles should be legally forbidden from naming anything else in the future. The naming scheme makes no sense? That would imply there was a naming scheme to begin with.
This video perfectly summed up the phrase, "you just had to be there" moment (like in pop retrospect, Taylor Swift's reputation era). If you didn't lived up to the hype, strangeness & confusions happening around the NX, well, you just missed it. I would definitely say that the Nintendo Fusion/NX rumors leading up to the very 1st teaser trailer last 2016 was the most immersive I've ever been in an online gaming community. The discussion, although a bit far-fetched, added fire to the already burning hot topic at the time ALL THE TIME. "NX" will forever be an icon, a revolution, a testament, a legacy, THE most recognizable codename for a gaming console in all of history. Seeing the massive success of Nintendo Switch made me nostalgic of the times that during 2014-2016, NX was widely talked about than the WiiU (crazy, right?!). Anyways, thank you for the very informative video, it really brought me back in time
Codename NX, a name I have not heard in a long time. I remember the days of watching videos from dudes like ReviewTech and BlackB0nd, them predicting how much of a horrible worthless failure it would be. And to be honest, I believed them, I didn't think Nintendo was going to make it. But they did. Somehow.
This era was so much fun and a core memory for me. It was exciting, exhausting, fun, nerve-wracking, intriguing, and a lotta more adjectives. I would check in every day with Nintendo-centered communities online to keep up to date with all the latest discussion. I don't think I'll ever experience a lead up to a console launch quite like it ever again. It's a memory I really do treasure a lot
Wait! I want to hear the rest of the story. Tell us how team AMD had egg on their face and just looked sullen and told everyone to shut up as they pissed and moaned in the corner.
Funny how Nintendo says dont want to be like other game companies but will leave their "blue ocean" to ad subscription service's for online multiplayer and payed dlc. Seems money is stronger then conviction.
God this was a throwback, I remember all the chaos of the NX and I was barely involved in the discussion threads or divisions, just watching the "leaks" and rumours and getting excited. I remember when Nvidia entered the fold it immediately made sense to me given the Shield and the fact the Wii U was a clear attempt at a Switch-style console whilst working with limitations of the currently available hardware and the success of two screens when played portable
Yeah, especially because it was based on the PowerPC 750 architecture designed in 1995 and released by IBM in 1997. The PowerPC cores in the Xbox 360 and PS3 Cell CPU’s were even based on later designs.. Really didn’t understand this move from Nintendo at this time, even if they wanted to keep backward compatible with the Wii and maybe the GameCube they could have gone with a newer PowerPC design from IBM as the instruction set was backwards compatible…..
Developers have stated how it was impossible to work with this architecture as nobody who wasn't retired in the industry had experience with it. It was definitely one of the bigger reasons why the Wii U didn't take off
@@juannaym8488 yeah, i mean wii u was horribly designed idk why, the switch while its not the strongest console its well designed, 300$ for that perfomance and battery in 2017 was actually a good deal, and it got many ps4 and xb1 games cuz its easy to develop for maxwell unlike wii u with its powerpc arquitecture and its weak ass cpu
@@juannaym8488 The CPU architecture generally does not matter much, as developers have forgotten about assembly and moved onto C since the Nintendo 64 and higher level languages and environments since then. Sounds like skill issue to me.
@@chlorobyte_projectsIt's just not transferable. By the time the Wii U came out the only major platform using PowerPC was the Wii U. No server nor desktop computer nor console were running PPC by then. It's just not worth it to train someone in a completely new architecture just to work on this console that was likely to see end of life in 5 years.
I am an Investor in Nintendo, the Interim CEO of a healthcare group and a gamer. This is the most accurate and insightful analysis of the Nintendo business model over the past 10 years. Well done!
The NX rumors were TAME compared to the Nintendo Revolution rumors! I remember there were so many fake controllers designed for the thing that someone literally made, as a joke, an online "Nintendo Revolution Controller Maker" which was just a drawing program with a bunch of pictures of buttons people could slap onto it. I remember HEAVY rumors that Nintendo was gonna bring back VR. Also there's that name: Nintendo REVOLUTION. People were REALLY attracted to that name. While I didn't engage in ANY of this speculation, I had learned my lesson the last few times people speculated on Nintendo's next console, I was always team portable/console hybrid. Didn't even know that WAS a team but it made a lot of sense and the Switch was pretty close to my dream game console (should have had a clamshell design). At the time I was running a radio show at the local college and everyone thought I was crazy because I was the only person positive about the Nintendo Switch. Heck one of the other shows even called me in for a debate. But a month of two later everyone was like "You were right! How did you know?!" Well, a portable/console hybrid is just a good idea that makes too much sense for Nintendo! And it did. Despite its flaws I love this stupid thing.
If a sequel vid for Nintendo's next console isn't in my subs in a few years, I'll be very disappointed. Fantastic work covering so much of this. I remember following so much of this madness back in college, lurking on NeoGAF and watching people yell at each other.
Hard to believe it was only 5 months from the announcement of the switch to its release. They went from people basically knowing nothing for sure to producing and releasing the fastest selling console in history in only 5 months, the logistics behind such an operation must have been insane, especially when many thought it would flop initially, which likely tempered any calls to really ramp up production early on.
I mean it was right because the Bluetooth was always there for the joycons Nintendo just had to patch it in to enable a second link, works on all the switch variations lol
amazing. this mass of argument was completely missed by me. 1 day the switch just kind of showed up and I thought to myself didn't they just released the U? and then I went back to my day.
I do remember hearing about Nintendo NX as the next Nintendo console and seeing some of the leaked pictures. But I had no idea there was a total war regarding it
These times were so fun, coming off the awful Wii U it was so hard to expect Nintendo to bounce back, but they did and HARD. I have so many memories looking at every leak, talking about how “the hybrid concept was stupid” and how they should have “made a console like Xbox or PS.” So ignorant until I got/saw the thing, and now I hope Nintendo sticks with this (just more power please).
Remember being super skeptical after news dropped that it was based on tegra. Seeing the switch running skyrim was very symbolic though. Showed that Nintendo was playing nicely with third parties.
For real though Tyler I would love more longform content from you in addition to a part 2 to this. We love your humor and storytelling so please give us more! Yes I'm subbed to Whimsu! I just wish you had more 30+ minute videos I could binge
Really hope you do more long form stuff this is great! Also feel like this type of evergreen content is super good as it's now always relevant. UA-cam's algorithm will randomly pull old videos to give views to so I'm curious is stuff like this is a good way to get more stable long term views. Also you get more rewatches since this kinda stuff is good to listen to while going to sleep or just to rewatch in general. Hope to see more!
Thank you, Tyler. This video's such a huge trip down memory lane for me. I remember all of these rumors and the discourse. Such a strange time to be a Nintendo fan. Weirdly nostalgic for it now
God what a throw back man I remember people debating the failure of Nintendo before the switch drop praying they’d be wrong. Being a Nintendo fan back then was rough I genuinely thought the “NX” would of been their last console like the Dreamcast. Glad things where wrong
I should point out that it's pronounced as N Cross and this was made clear in 2016 when Nintendo reps spoke about it and pronounced it as such out loud. Cross because it's a hybrid console, and hearing it officially pronounced as cross made it very clear to me that the leaks of it being a hybrid were likely correct. Pronouncing X as cross is also common in Japan, such as Project X Zone (Cross Zone, a crossover game) and some installments of the Monster Hunter series. The switch code name being N X, aka N Cross, obviously short for "Nintendo Cross" is basically pretty close to the Nintendo Fusion leak codename since the official codename is basically the same idea as the Fusion. But writing it as NX is a very Japanese thing. The Bs Nintendo Cross leak probably caught onto this and just made up some BS that sounded vaguely reasonable based on it.
Man... during this time I was just beginning to go from just being a pokemon fan to becoming a Nintendo fan of their most known franchises like Super smash bros, Zelda, Xenoblade and FE with their 3ds games and New 3ds console in early 2015. Then I got WiiU early that summer for Splatoon, MK8, virtual console games and the games released earlier and later on. Safe to say I got much involved reading the NX speculations that year and it feels weird to think I was only involved in it for less than 2 years before the first switch trailer came out, it literally felt like forever as a 15-17 year-old.
I have one of those video game history books from middle school, and at the end it specifically calls out the NX as the next Nintendo console. Man that was forever ago
48:49 The reveal/ reveal announcement was actually leaked like a day before, I believe it was Emily Rogers who said that it would be happening that week if I recall correctly. I still remember anxiously waiting for something to happen that week, and then the night they tweeted that my friend and i were playing overwatch, and he stopped moving in the middle of the match to type HOLY SHIT THEY JUST SAID THEYRE REVEALING THE NX TOMORROW and I thought he was bullshitting, because both of us had done that to each other on more than one occasion in that lead up lmao. But when I realized that he litterally just went afk and was freaking out in the chat, I knew it was fucking real. So then I went and checked, and sure enough there it was. So we were both losing our minds in this game of Overwatch, and the cherry on top here was that we actually won the game. Sounds pretty stupid and dweeby, but I will always remember the rumors and lead up to that console in the future. Also, this was a really good collection of everything that happened here. Hearing some of those usernames and specific rumors really brought back some good memories of spending all day refreshing neogaf threads lmao.
I think it doesn’t happen until a year or maybe two before it’s revealed/released. Because then more patents start coming out, hardware starts getting finalized, dev kits are produced and there’s ore concrete details to spread. It’s possible things are kept really secretive this time around and won’t find out until much closer… or we’re still a ways away from a new successor. I wouldn’t mind either way. I opted out of buying third party games on Switch because it’s become too much of a downgrade compared to even PS4. And since a Switch 2 wouldn’t compete with a PS5 and I already got a PS5 earlier than I thought, I still wouldn’t buy third party games there. The main benefit would be so Nintendo’s games look/run better.
I was on team smartphone until the bitter end. It really seemed like they were going in that direction, especially with the leaks of a monolithic screen.
The PS4 Pro and Xbox One X mid gen upgrades were particularly unique because there had been a revolutionary advancement in microchip lithography: the FinFET. It made microchips way smaller, cheaper, faster and more power efficient. So much cheaper in fact, that Sony and Microsoft would be wasting money if they *didn't* redesign their current consoles to the Slim and S respectively.
Nintendo NX really was a crazy time for Nintendo with all the rumours about it. It's kind of interesting in a way because the failure of the wii u felt like it depended on the NX to succeed and now with a new Nintendo system it seems like it would be hard to top the Switch's success with just a new more powerful switch.
Excellent video, you really captured the atmosphere of that era for us Nintendo fans. I personally was still a loyal hardcore fan throughout the Wii U's life and I defended Nintendo's decision not to focus on power, but even I could feel that pressure and hope for them to not fuck it up or release a really gimped console. I'm glad to see that they're still going strong.
Watching this feels like looking at a letter "B" under a microscope and very slowly adjusting it to clarify. You know what it is so your brain is desperate to piece everything together as you continue to adjust it.
Damn. I feel so old for being able to remember the switch being called the 'NX'. 2014 was a dark time for Nintendo fans, the Wii U was complete ass and everyone was looking to the future. Before Iwata announced the development of a new console I remember rumours of the 'Nintendo Fusion' circulating which ended up being pretty accurate. I've also realised how much the switch means to me, its the first console I ever delved into when it came to the speculatory side before even its confirmation of conception. Im gonna miss it but bring on switch pro! or whatever the fuck its called.
It's hilarious to think that even AMD crowd seems to mostly dismiss the idea that AMD could create efficient chips. And then a few months later after AMD launched Zen 1 architecture. Although tbf ARM really would mean that it was Nvidia, since they have much more experience with ARMxGraphics, compared to AMD just ARM
Tbf, AMD's arcitecture was horrible before Ryzen and most people thought their only route of survival was to just barely stay afloat from low-profit console sales. Now, they're the obvious choice for cpu/gpu in the midmarket making them ideal for consoles.
Nothing was in favour for AMD pre-Ryzen. Their architecture was bad, even the manufacturing was not in AMD's favour. Now that is not to say ditching their foundry (now GlobalFoundries) was the only thing that saved their company considering how well the Radeon VII fared (that was a TSMC product), but I don't think GlobalFoundries' manufacturing woes actually helped either. Ryzen and RDNA were really a Hail Mary for AMD, and I am totally glad it worked out for them in the end, even if it just meant breaking the stagnation in the market.
Later in the future: "Switch Pro: The Bizarre Feud Over What Nintendo's next gen console Could Be"
After that:
The switch pro deluxe: the bizzare feud over what Nintendo's next gen console could be
@Don't Read My Profile Photo OK, then. I won't.
i hope people learn from history and realize that a new switch with 4k output or at least being powerful in line with modern tech is extremely unlikely. nintendo focuses on fun, not on specs
@@nutritional_yeet I'm imagining a future Switch would use DLSS, though, so it won't be a problem.
@@nutritional_yeet I think it's possible we might get a more power system. Iwata was in charge of making the Switch and when he became CEO of Nintendo in 2002 his reign was defined by consoles and handheld that didn't focus on specs but rather new ways to play games. Think about it before he was CEO Nintendo handhelds and consoles were pretty powerful...if not marred by storage space limitations.
I wish the video didn't end the way it did because if I recall correctly this whole thing went on for a lot longer and dipped into the realm of hyper delusional conspiracy beyond what had come before. It would have been really interesting to see a retrospective on that and the things that people said and believed
absolutely agree, felt like the vid focused more on the insanity of team AMD rather than focusing on the story of the NX, and then just abruptly ended the second the first trailer was announced
Bro frfr once he gave another shout out to the video’s sponsor I was like damn he put a mid video ad read as well? And then it cuts to his patreon list and I checked the vid length to see it was over 😭😭
Part 2 please
@@petersavrides4664 I mean the title of the video is "The most pointless internet argument" which means it was focusing on that side of the story
@@ADreamingTraveler he changed the title of the video after i replied! sneeky
2015 - 2020 really feels like Nintendo rumors became an industry in itself
Considering the constant rumors about the Switch successor, they still are
we were starving :(
@@rooky102 I know, but the rumors about the supposed Switch Pro could be as long as this video. I remember people were talking about a Pro version since early 2018, things got pretty heated when the OLED model got revealed. Apparently the specs of a Switch successor have leaked already, mentioning things like it'll as powerful as a Xbox Series S, it'll be in 4K, it has DLSS, upscaling, etc. And just recently a leaker from 4chan, claiming they worked on Pokémon S/V DLC, said that a successor will be announce near the end of this year
It kinda is due to a lot of Nintendo Channels that milk rumors and leaks all the time.
*cough* SwitchForce *cough*
@@FTChomp9980 this week seems to have been filled with Switch 2 rumors. There's been a supposed leak from a worker in a Chinese factory, an industry insider has claimed that the console will be a Game Boy Color-type of upgrade, that the console is backwards compatible and that some Switch games will have upgraded versions if played on the new console, etc.
Now, I'm certain that this is the year where Nintendo will announce a true Switch successor, but I don't think it'll be as close as powerful as the leaks claim. Just like what happened with the original SW
I remember this era. Watching thousands of videos on UA-cam trying to see what it was.
Ah yes. Good times good times. Thanks god it wasn't that full touchscreen thing without buttons.
@@Tschoii90Yes! That looked atrocious. I’m very pleased with what we have.
@Safwaan >without< buttons
The more things change the more they stay the same.
And it's still isn't out
“All the footage was of existing Wii U games”
The actual Nintendo Switch with Mario Kart 8 and a bunch of other rereleased Wii U titles:
9:58 I believe this was for a project that I worked on. We were contracted by Nintendo to develop sleep tracking software for a new device they were planning to manufacture that was supposed to be kept on your bedside locker, back when they were still briefly working on Quality of Life products along with gaming. I even got the job of taking it home and putting it beside my bed for gathering data. It got canned though and never ended up being released or had much published about it.
That's really cool, Krombopulos Michael!
Is this true? Did you actually work there?
POKÉMON SLEEEEEEEEP
Pretty sure that’s Pokémon Sleep it just got announced yesterday
yeah that definitely sounds like the pokemon go plus + which works with pokemon sleep and was announced just yesterday.
It's still so weird to think that the "NX" was kind of announced just so people knew Nintendo wasn't becoming a mobile game company
That's why I'll probably never forget the lead up to the announcement of this console. The few people that buy every Nintendo platform no matter what were worried at an all time high, including me. You live through the Wii U generation and the terrible software droughts, clunky UI, dumb controller decisions, and most importantly absolutely horrendous software droughts, and you realize that their hubris seemed to be their undoing. Just slap the Wii name on there, don't make any effort to market, instill confidence, or sell people on a useless concept that they'd already done better on their handheld line, and couple that with all time low hardware sales, and you seriously have no idea whether they're just going to go third party or not. Some how they managed to cut bullshit and actually deliver and popularize a concept actually useful to the hardcore crowd they abandoned for the entirety of the previous two generations, and it was just such a great come back.
@@Cheesehead302 As fun as the games where on WiiU and 3DS. It surely was a dark dark era
@@theakiwar9118 Yeah, for sure, The systems definitely have some great games in hindsight.
The Wii u was a hit for me with Mario kart 8 and Smash. That's all I needed most of the generation. I bought my Wii u shortly before the NX was informally announced by Nintendo I remember feeling betrayed that while I love smash and Mario kart and eagerly awaited Zelda U I tapped out from gaming. It took COVID and animal crossing to reel me back in.
I'd almost forgotten how much drama there was in the NX community back then. So much vitriol was thrown at Rogers specifically, and then when it turned out she was right those people just quietly backed off and acted like it hadn't happened.
Emily Rogers had a track record of being wrong as well. Anyone claiming to know anything should be looked at with a high dose of skepticism.
@@Entropic_Alloy there is no knowing when a product is in the R&D phase. A leaker could come out, saying that a project is 100% going to produce through nvidia, and its going to have no buttons and be on android. They could be 100% correct, and the next week all of that information could be 100% wrong.
I work in R&D. Shit changes on a dime especially in the early phases of development. This is why companies don’t announce anything until the first prototypes have been launched, and all of the major risks have been solved
I'm not surprised, humans are incredibly tribalistic and will stick to their side even if it makes absolutely no sense
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 If I had to guess, much of Emily's collected info on stuff like a Female Link was only on the draft stage and mixed with everything else.
They might have had it in the card when she saw it, but then got dropped as to focus the pre-production crew.
@@MatthewCobalt Nintendo has confirmed that at one point in development, zelda was going to be the protagonist. However, it didn't work for various reasons. I have always postulated that the game was originally meant to take place in ancient hyrule, but they changed their minds and went with a sequel to botw instead of a very distant prequel with zelda as the protag.
i remember the mystery and excitement around the NX rumors… good times
Reminds me of the Xbox 720
I didn't remember all this, but I did remember buying into the theory that if nintendo didn't go high end, their console would fail.
Although reggie said it in a dumb way, he was right. Its all about the content, the games. Nintendo is like the Disney (old Disney) of video games. I don't care about them for their hardware, I buy their hardware so I can play their games. But the mainstream crowd wants to play the newest iteration of the yearly game (cod, battlefield, sports games, etc), so it made sense to go for the high spec strategy so they can attract that mainstream crowd.
I don't know how certain that strategy would be now though, people on playstation and xbox are tied to paid accounts, with digital libraries attached to them, seems like that crowd might be married to their choice of console at this point. But I'm terrible at understanding them, I live in that niche that has a huge backlog of games to play and can't justify buying new ones (outside of bundles) most of the time.
I remember what a strange time it was, where I was hearing nonstop that Nintendo was about to die, or at least be out of the hardware business. After the switch was announced, I wrote a college English essay on why it would be a success, owing to its convenient hybrid nature, and big new software coming out - and lo and behold, I was right on all points. 😎
I also believed it was going to be a success; it had crazy momentum during its first year because of the Wii U ports. And Breath of the Wild was the perfect game to showcase the console.
Honestly hats off to the team that crafted the Switch E3 announcement video.
@@SolarArmadillo The one I really loved was the first software line up video cause it had this awesome saxophone track.
I mean, it's not like there wasn't a good reason to think that might happen...
Weren't people also saying that Nintendo could go on for 100 years without making profit? The past is a funny thing.
It's funny reading people's reaction to the switch when it was first revealed about how it was going to be another massive failure, with now being the 3rd best selling console of all time
It's the 3rd best selling? I forgot the switch even existed
@@NovaBoi7 yup it has sold 122 million systems
I remember some people were expecting all the big games to come all at once on launch day. And were saying Nintendo is about to go third party.
@@eddyland1557 It outsold the PlayStation 4.?
@@nitrosherbert888 yes it has
I would have loved to see the "reaction" of team AMD here as well, just to see what people thought when the Switch was finally revealed.
Mostly, they whined and cried for years that Nintendo was doomed, even as sales soared beyond all expectations. But eventually, they stopped entirely and were replaced by the people who, for the last 4 years, have been whining that the Switch Pro NEEDS to happen ASAP (again, despite insane sales figures). I wouldn't be surprised if there's overlap, tbh.
@@JazzyWaffles I find it quite baffling how people can delude themselves when they believe so hard in something to the degree of ignoring all evidence, even when it's undeniable. I've probably done it at one point in time, but not when it's this obvious somebody's wrong lol.
(Although to be fair to the Switch Pro argument, according to recent evidence, it seems Nintendo thought the same thing but they didn't release an upgraded version only because of the pandemic and the lack of components to mass-produce it).
@MegaMarkLM Yeah, but I remember being annoyed by rumors of a Pro in 2019, when the Lite came out. I personally have no insight into whether the OLED was always planned as a minor update versus being a compromised version of a planned mid-gen refresh. I pay attention to sales and stuff, but I don't have any insider knowledge about why the OLED happened.
For me personally: Since the Lite was announced in 2019, I always said we'd get an upgrade to the Switch in 2021 (we got the OLED) and an upgrade to the Lite this year (like an XL), with a new console being put off until at least late 2024 or early 2025 (to surpass the NES's record of lasting 7 years before the SNES). But given that the console clearly hit its peak hardware sales in the 2020-2021 sales year and is now steadiy declining each year since, I'm now thinking maybe we don't see a Lite XL this year and instead they're gearing up for either a genuine upgrade, or a successor next year. I doubt they'll change much aside from performance either way. They have far too much to lose right now if they were to do their former wacky strategy of something entirely different for each console.
I was "Team AMD" and tbh I stopped being mad about a minute into the reveal trailer when I saw NBA 2K and Skyrim running on the system. My worry was solely that third party support would be Wii U level if the architecture and power weren't like the PS4 or XBone, but that quelled my fears. I knew I'd buy the system no matter what because I wanted to play Zelda and Mario, but I like those big third party releases too. Now in 2023 I rarely play those games on Switch, it succeeded in spite of it and I adore the system. You never know!
@@JazzyWaffles Nintendo will do what nintendo wants to do, either a switch pro or a new console with some wacky gimmick that will either flop or sell hundreds of millions of units
I remember my friend saying "New Nintendo console is announced, they're calling it the NX." I was like "Cool, can't wait!" and then a couple years later I saw the switch and almost forgot that that was the NX. Had no idea there was so much debate.
One major factor of Nintendo's success on NX announcement is that they rebranded/recolored their company again to color RED, a bright, bold, loud RED. The trademark Nintendo colors, and by that move along with the NX announcement trailer, it was over for the competition. The shift in tone and content (making it more adult-friendly too) made the NX trailer leading up to the release day of Nintendo Switch to be a worldwide success upto this day
The "better online functionality" rumor really didn't hold up
I like the idea that Geno one of the biggest figures in game leaks was hired by a website to make articles at 12 years old
I mean, at the same time Russian bot farms of people that didn’t speak english swayed the entire 2016 presidential election. Not like journalism was in a great place at the time
lol. I love the idea of people in 2016 being upset at 900p 60fps. Id love to get that in some of my current 2023 switch games.
43:30 "Nintendo is a content focused comoany. We create entertainment that makes people smile" SO LETS NEVER MAKE ANOTHER CONSOLE AFTER THE SWITCH EVER AGAIN POGGERS
The variable resolution is roooooooooooooooooooooough.
@@aturchomicz821 this makes sense, because the xbox 2 and 3 have already come out, so clearly the switch is several generations behind
I really wish consoles stopped going for a target of 30fps. I want smoother and responsive gameplay, not pretty graphics that i'll quickly ignore.
@@cassidy8307 Nintendo: okay, here's 144p at 45fps
jeez this NX talk was when I started getting into my Nintendo fan phase, remember reading speculation and mockup designs like crazy
Emily Rogers was SOOOO right and nobody took her seriously, that must of been one hell of a "I told you so" for her lol
This era was so silly to me. Maybe because I was already well into my late 20s, but it always seemed obvious to me that it’d follow Nintendo’s tried and true formula for the previous 15 years (more if you count the underpowered Game Boy). I guess to me it always felt like they were presenting it more as their successor to the 3DS because of the timing so I always assumed it’d be a handheld you could play on your TV. The fact it was so successful that it became their main platform just felt like a bonus.
They've always been a toy company that liked to experiment. The number of novel idea focused consoles has always well overshadowed the number of consoles made purely for power so the idea that the Wii was some massive deviation for them is so strange. So many of their innovations have become so mainstream now that people forget that Nintendo was trying something wild and new with something as simple as the cross-shaped D-pad.
wish you had all the stuff that led up to the console's release. There was a ton of crazy shenanigans then too. Like Etika's (rest in peace) fake Switch that looked crazy real.
that gag was funny
To this day I don't think there was ever a funnier fake leak. I remember watching that stream, seeing him pull that out and lose my fucking mind lmfao. It was actually fucking genius, and I was inspired to do something similar to a few of my friends. There was like a paper craft of the system, so I put it together, took a pic of me holding it and looking down at it and just sent it to them, They were confused as hell lmao. Good times.
I remember being in middle school and constantly asking for my moms phone to google Nintendo NX and go to the news section to read about anything new about the NX, everything was so mysterious and up in the air, and then when the reveal trailed dropped I watched that video religiously until the full reveal in Jan 2017. Now I’m in college searching all over UA-cam Reddit and Google trying to learn about the next gen Switch. I can’t believe it’s been so long
Ooh I remember this wild era of NX rumors. I'm glad you talked about the Fusion DS/Terminal rumor, most Switch development retrospective videos forget or ignore it.
Say, can you do a rumor retrospective video for Sonic Frontiers? It has one of the most interesting game dev cycles in recent years, because of how much it was leaked years before the first trailer and how much leakers got right.
god, the constant barrage of rumours was painful
@@Sydney_Angelyt For what? The NX? Yeah, but gaming discussion and theories are always fun. We may never know how was the Switch's dev cycle. Who knows? Nintendo might really have toyed with button-less all screen mobile devices and game streaming during the Switch's development cycle. Remember mid 2010's Nintendo's executives were really pushing to invest more in smartphone content, and the Cloud tech was later used for Cloud versions of Switch games (such as the Kingdom Hearts game).
For Sonic Frontiers it is cool in retrospect because the earliest leaks are dated from 2018, way before the first 4chan post mentioning "Sonic Rangers", and they got the open world, ghost girl and giant robots part right. They also help paint more clearly how Frontiers' dev cycle was internally, and how Sonic Team conducted all the focus tests and even the different game pitches they made after Forces.
@@bluestar5812 This is always my take on this type of stuff, even now as its starting to seem likely we're going into the next generation of nintendo hardware. I see a lot of people complain about constant rumors and people talking about them, but at the end of the day I just think it's fun. As long as you realize even credible leaks have the chance to not pan out and plans change, it doesn't hurt to join in the speculation conversation in my opinion. I mean, at the end of the day, it's fun to be excited for a future system you're going to own.
i will always remember that initial ign gameplay reveal and the hell that unleashed (pun unintended) after it
Remember when people thought the game would be called Sonic Rangers?
I can’t stand when people say there was a lack of games for the Wii U. Yes it lacked AAA third parties but the first party games on the console are some of the best they’ve ever made.
There definitely was for a few years. Major games were months apart, droughts plagued its entire life. I do find it hypocritical that after it’s life people still claimed it had no games… even though they bought a bunch of the Wii U ports on Switch.
@@mrshmuga9
I agree with the people being hypocrites part. However I’d say the only real droughts were 2016 and maybe first half of 2013. Meanwhile the Switch has droughts in 2018, first half 2018, 2020, and first half 2021.
@@ianeons9278 Same thing happed to the Vita and like the Wii U many of the games made it to Switch.
Nah it had jackshit, it was basically my old wii but with smash 4 and no gamecube disc compatibility. Nintendo land was a tech demo, zombiU was mid, and i'm not into splatoon. The only game I really missed out on was xenoblade X.
Gamers with anonymous message board source: 😀
Gamers with Emily Rodgers, a known source and established name: 😡
Gamers when they have to listen to a woman
I was particularly fond of the period after the Switch's reveal when these communities freaked out over the raw power of the device. There was so much hand-wringing over what classified as a "modern, industry leading chipset" or Nvidia's statement about it using the "latest Nvidia technology." This couldn't mean the Tegra X1, one year after its launch and before the next semiconductor manufacturing processes were available (at the time of those reports)!
Once again, Digital Foundry came to the rescue with exact specs and that community immediately went into an upset frenzy and started talking about Switch Pro like a month before the Switch's initial launch.
Every time I see that NX reveal tweet/Switch reveal trailer, I can't help but smile! I wish the Switch 2/Pro/Sucessor/Whatever had this degree of hype and divisive rumors....
Although I agree, the months between the NX tease and the reveal felt like an eternity. I wouldn't mind if the next console doesn't overstay its welcome and just delivers.
I’m not sure there really could be. Everyone’s expecting them to basically make a “better Switch” as the successor. So there’s not many exciting details to fight over. Maybe if/what the useless hardware gimmick is (like the IR camera in the right joycon), but even 4K up scaling through DLSS or whatever is kind of expected. The only surprising bit would be if it’s not a handheld or goes back to discs, which seem virtually impossible given their current success.
I mean it kinda does, there's just too many annoying people who complain about "too many leaks" or whatever
Personally, the simpler the better in this circumstance imo. They've found a good niche here, and having hardware akin to the nvidia email leak would position them in a great spot to get ports from PS5 and Xbox Series S. Make the joy cons not trash, have these PS4 level specs, and you've got something I'd personally be excited about. I really feel like this time they're going to be looking hard at how and why they failed the Wii to Wii U transition since they are in a very similar spot right now to that. There's also completely different management now than there was then, it could be reasonable to expect they go for a more straight forward upgrade.
@@Cheesehead302 hope they do that, would be great to have ps4 pots on the go, aswell as just more hardware intensive game on moblie in general.
Wow Tyler you really outdid yourself on this one. Some long content is what I needed from you
I’m definitely happy with the Switch we got. Drift not withstanding.
Also I would be happy to have the Switch’s successor get backwards compatibility with 3DS and DS even if it’d be both unlikely and make it more expensive.
If it lasts 10 years it's worth it
If it weren't for the lack of online features, Joy-Con drift and low power for today's standards, it would be a perfect console imo.
More than likely to have backwards compatibility with the switch not the 3ds
i really wish it had good online and no drift. maybe a boost in specs i guess but mostly the first
@@Yoshizuyuner Actually even less likely, so they can re-release the games like they did with the wii u games.
Satoru Iwata was a good man, hope he continues to Rest In Peace
When it comes to executives (in general not just gaming), truly one of the greatest ever. Still depresses me that he didn't at least live to see the BoTW and Switch launch.
The NX conversation was so wild in hindsight. Almost every single "leak" was wrong. I think thats part of what made the switch announcement so great. It ended up being something that many didn't quite anticipate.
I only realized after 20 minutes of watching that the video is actually 50 minutes long
I love that this video just kept going. This was exhaustive and I enjoyed it a lot.
I remember I asked my dad for a WII U and he told me no. We already had a WII at home. I tried to explain to him it was something completely different, sadly he didn't believe me. Years later he asked me to find him on on ebay because he heard Pikman 3 was on the WII U and I told him to just wait until it comes out on the switch. He almost bought it anyway, I told my mom to stop him, one game isn't worth a WII U. And 8 months later Nintendo announced Pikman 3 for switch.
RIP Etika, still remember his stream where he brought out a really well made mock-up of the NX, and it looked a lot like the switch we got today
Nice to remember the era when people decided mobile gaming would take over consoles and PC. I love how wrong they were.
Kinda
Mobile is where profit really is
45:37 122 million Switch units later...
Their concerns about power really did not age well, because that means less and less these days, and eventually the hybrid console will offer enough power that most people aren’t going to care about the difference from a home console, especially if they’re not into VR.
23:15 I never even thought about that before! When you look at it in a grand perspective, the entry of Sony and Microsoft to the home console market made Nintendo’s exit inevitable.
Edit: Also for every generation where they existed, Nintendo’s handhelds have been more popular than their home consoles, even the Wii. So I’d also say that them essentially fusing their home console library into a more powerful handheld was inevitable, too.
Great video. This gave me a massive Nostalgia hit and really made me smile whenever I knew a rumour was right or wrong.
Also, that switch reveal trailer was really something else, I loved it so much, it seemed so magical to me at the time and even now
I remembered seeing the switch reveal and was like “WTF that’s so cool!” Waiting on the TOTK and am so hyped…
Fantastic video. Thank you for documenting everything that has been going on in the internet at the time of the NX. I sadly wasn't able to see many arguments at the time, I just heard some of the rumors just a few months before the release. And you also made me feel nostalgia for those days.
I love these videos detailing the events before the system launches, all these leaks, rumors, and credible theories just evaporate into a fine mist the second we get an official reveal, and it's a part of the story that often becomes lost. Would love to see this for other consoles.
The timing of this video is great. Moral of the story…. Don’t assume anything about the next Nintendo console…
damn the memories...real OG's were following these rumors as they were spreding real time
Nintendo switched from AMD to NVIDIA between the Wii U and Switch, respectively, while PS5 still uses AMD (i.e. modified) as well as Xbox Series X.
Side note: Whoever is naming the different versions of Xbox consoles should be legally forbidden from naming anything else in the future. The naming scheme makes no sense? That would imply there was a naming scheme to begin with.
Oooooh man the NX days.
@DontReadMyProfilePhoto_3alright
@Don't Read My Profile Photo nutbar
This video perfectly summed up the phrase, "you just had to be there" moment (like in pop retrospect, Taylor Swift's reputation era). If you didn't lived up to the hype, strangeness & confusions happening around the NX, well, you just missed it. I would definitely say that the Nintendo Fusion/NX rumors leading up to the very 1st teaser trailer last 2016 was the most immersive I've ever been in an online gaming community. The discussion, although a bit far-fetched, added fire to the already burning hot topic at the time ALL THE TIME. "NX" will forever be an icon, a revolution, a testament, a legacy, THE most recognizable codename for a gaming console in all of history. Seeing the massive success of Nintendo Switch made me nostalgic of the times that during 2014-2016, NX was widely talked about than the WiiU (crazy, right?!). Anyways, thank you for the very informative video, it really brought me back in time
Codename NX, a name I have not heard in a long time. I remember the days of watching videos from dudes like ReviewTech and BlackB0nd, them predicting how much of a horrible worthless failure it would be. And to be honest, I believed them, I didn't think Nintendo was going to make it. But they did. Somehow.
3rd best selling console of all time and still selling well
This era was so much fun and a core memory for me. It was exciting, exhausting, fun, nerve-wracking, intriguing, and a lotta more adjectives. I would check in every day with Nintendo-centered communities online to keep up to date with all the latest discussion. I don't think I'll ever experience a lead up to a console launch quite like it ever again. It's a memory I really do treasure a lot
“The most pointless Internet argument”
*clicks immediately*
Oh yeah, I remember the NX rumors vividly. It seemed like almost everyday someone somewhere had 'news' on it.
Wait! I want to hear the rest of the story. Tell us how team AMD had egg on their face and just looked sullen and told everyone to shut up as they pissed and moaned in the corner.
Funny how Nintendo says dont want to be like other game companies but will leave their "blue ocean" to ad subscription service's for online multiplayer and payed dlc. Seems money is stronger then conviction.
They gave in to the pressure of investors
I miss the soap dish with 2 analog sticks
“The NX would be a powerhouse” *looks at Switch and laughs uncontrollably*
God this was a throwback, I remember all the chaos of the NX and I was barely involved in the discussion threads or divisions, just watching the "leaks" and rumours and getting excited. I remember when Nvidia entered the fold it immediately made sense to me given the Shield and the fact the Wii U was a clear attempt at a Switch-style console whilst working with limitations of the currently available hardware and the success of two screens when played portable
It's truly insane to me that Nintendo released a home console with the PowerPC architecture in *2013*.
Yeah, especially because it was based on the PowerPC 750 architecture designed in 1995 and released by IBM in 1997. The PowerPC cores in the Xbox 360 and PS3 Cell CPU’s were even based on later designs..
Really didn’t understand this move from Nintendo at this time, even if they wanted to keep backward compatible with the Wii and maybe the GameCube they could have gone with a newer PowerPC design from IBM as the instruction set was backwards compatible…..
Developers have stated how it was impossible to work with this architecture as nobody who wasn't retired in the industry had experience with it. It was definitely one of the bigger reasons why the Wii U didn't take off
@@juannaym8488 yeah, i mean wii u was horribly designed idk why, the switch while its not the strongest console its well designed, 300$ for that perfomance and battery in 2017 was actually a good deal, and it got many ps4 and xb1 games cuz its easy to develop for maxwell unlike wii u with its powerpc arquitecture and its weak ass cpu
@@juannaym8488 The CPU architecture generally does not matter much, as developers have forgotten about assembly and moved onto C since the Nintendo 64 and higher level languages and environments since then. Sounds like skill issue to me.
@@chlorobyte_projectsIt's just not transferable. By the time the Wii U came out the only major platform using PowerPC was the Wii U. No server nor desktop computer nor console were running PPC by then. It's just not worth it to train someone in a completely new architecture just to work on this console that was likely to see end of life in 5 years.
I am an Investor in Nintendo, the Interim CEO of a healthcare group and a gamer. This is the most accurate and insightful analysis of the Nintendo business model over the past 10 years. Well done!
Lmao we are doing this with new "Switch Pro or Switch 2" we never learn out lessons when it comes to Nintendo hardware rumors.
I can’t wait for this type of video again when the “switch 2” actually happens…or doesn’t…
The NX rumors were TAME compared to the Nintendo Revolution rumors! I remember there were so many fake controllers designed for the thing that someone literally made, as a joke, an online "Nintendo Revolution Controller Maker" which was just a drawing program with a bunch of pictures of buttons people could slap onto it. I remember HEAVY rumors that Nintendo was gonna bring back VR. Also there's that name: Nintendo REVOLUTION. People were REALLY attracted to that name.
While I didn't engage in ANY of this speculation, I had learned my lesson the last few times people speculated on Nintendo's next console, I was always team portable/console hybrid. Didn't even know that WAS a team but it made a lot of sense and the Switch was pretty close to my dream game console (should have had a clamshell design). At the time I was running a radio show at the local college and everyone thought I was crazy because I was the only person positive about the Nintendo Switch. Heck one of the other shows even called me in for a debate. But a month of two later everyone was like "You were right! How did you know?!" Well, a portable/console hybrid is just a good idea that makes too much sense for Nintendo! And it did. Despite its flaws I love this stupid thing.
If a sequel vid for Nintendo's next console isn't in my subs in a few years, I'll be very disappointed. Fantastic work covering so much of this. I remember following so much of this madness back in college, lurking on NeoGAF and watching people yell at each other.
Hard to believe it was only 5 months from the announcement of the switch to its release. They went from people basically knowing nothing for sure to producing and releasing the fastest selling console in history in only 5 months, the logistics behind such an operation must have been insane, especially when many thought it would flop initially, which likely tempered any calls to really ramp up production early on.
The title of the most pointless internet argument is like the title of most gluttonous cat. The bar is just so high.
that "nintendo smartphone" idea really reminded me of the wii phone from that one video
The red ocean of single screen consoles... I remember the nintendo XDS rumor...
27:35
LOL that Bluetooth bit we just got too. Hysterical
I mean it was right because the Bluetooth was always there for the joycons Nintendo just had to patch it in to enable a second link, works on all the switch variations lol
@@hurgcat yeah I know, just poking fun at the Bluetooth audio bit is all
@norton man oh yeah it was wild ride haha
amazing.
this mass of argument was completely missed by me.
1 day the switch just kind of showed up and I thought to myself didn't they just released the U?
and then I went back to my day.
I do remember hearing about Nintendo NX as the next Nintendo console and seeing some of the leaked pictures. But I had no idea there was a total war regarding it
And people thought this console probably won't sell that good and it sells like a rocket they can't even keep it in stock sometimes
I remember having seen the Switch through the NX's patents before it got revealed, so I wouldn't say it was pointless.
These times were so fun, coming off the awful Wii U it was so hard to expect Nintendo to bounce back, but they did and HARD. I have so many memories looking at every leak, talking about how “the hybrid concept was stupid” and how they should have “made a console like Xbox or PS.” So ignorant until I got/saw the thing, and now I hope Nintendo sticks with this (just more power please).
Remember being super skeptical after news dropped that it was based on tegra.
Seeing the switch running skyrim was very symbolic though. Showed that Nintendo was playing nicely with third parties.
For real though Tyler I would love more longform content from you in addition to a part 2 to this. We love your humor and storytelling so please give us more! Yes I'm subbed to Whimsu! I just wish you had more 30+ minute videos I could binge
more power! better graphics!
meanwhile most people are playing the same games they always have
"This is not what the community wanted to hear."
_Headphones go flat._
Really hope you do more long form stuff this is great! Also feel like this type of evergreen content is super good as it's now always relevant. UA-cam's algorithm will randomly pull old videos to give views to so I'm curious is stuff like this is a good way to get more stable long term views. Also you get more rewatches since this kinda stuff is good to listen to while going to sleep or just to rewatch in general. Hope to see more!
Thank you, Tyler. This video's such a huge trip down memory lane for me. I remember all of these rumors and the discourse. Such a strange time to be a Nintendo fan. Weirdly nostalgic for it now
That ending was perfect then you cut to a commercial and wiped it from my memory. Nice job.
Like seriously. Well done.
God what a throw back man I remember people debating the failure of Nintendo before the switch drop praying they’d be wrong. Being a Nintendo fan back then was rough I genuinely thought the “NX” would of been their last console like the Dreamcast. Glad things where wrong
I should point out that it's pronounced as N Cross and this was made clear in 2016 when Nintendo reps spoke about it and pronounced it as such out loud. Cross because it's a hybrid console, and hearing it officially pronounced as cross made it very clear to me that the leaks of it being a hybrid were likely correct.
Pronouncing X as cross is also common in Japan, such as Project X Zone (Cross Zone, a crossover game) and some installments of the Monster Hunter series.
The switch code name being N X, aka N Cross, obviously short for "Nintendo Cross" is basically pretty close to the Nintendo Fusion leak codename since the official codename is basically the same idea as the Fusion. But writing it as NX is a very Japanese thing. The Bs Nintendo Cross leak probably caught onto this and just made up some BS that sounded vaguely reasonable based on it.
Was hoping to see the aftermath from all the youtubers, reporters and fan reaction and rants.
Man... during this time I was just beginning to go from just being a pokemon fan to becoming a Nintendo fan of their most known franchises like Super smash bros, Zelda, Xenoblade and FE with their 3ds games and New 3ds console in early 2015. Then I got WiiU early that summer for Splatoon, MK8, virtual console games and the games released earlier and later on. Safe to say I got much involved reading the NX speculations that year and it feels weird to think I was only involved in it for less than 2 years before the first switch trailer came out, it literally felt like forever as a 15-17 year-old.
Can you imagine working at Nintendo watching this play out? Fun.
Nintendo would 10000% go bankrupt before seeing mario run on a playstation
I have one of those video game history books from middle school, and at the end it specifically calls out the NX as the next Nintendo console. Man that was forever ago
48:49 The reveal/ reveal announcement was actually leaked like a day before, I believe it was Emily Rogers who said that it would be happening that week if I recall correctly. I still remember anxiously waiting for something to happen that week, and then the night they tweeted that my friend and i were playing overwatch, and he stopped moving in the middle of the match to type HOLY SHIT THEY JUST SAID THEYRE REVEALING THE NX TOMORROW and I thought he was bullshitting, because both of us had done that to each other on more than one occasion in that lead up lmao. But when I realized that he litterally just went afk and was freaking out in the chat, I knew it was fucking real. So then I went and checked, and sure enough there it was. So we were both losing our minds in this game of Overwatch, and the cherry on top here was that we actually won the game. Sounds pretty stupid and dweeby, but I will always remember the rumors and lead up to that console in the future.
Also, this was a really good collection of everything that happened here. Hearing some of those usernames and specific rumors really brought back some good memories of spending all day refreshing neogaf threads lmao.
the tv control on the wiiu gamepad is the most useful thing ever put on a controller
14:56 which the Switch, for all intents and purposes, is an underclocked version of with a proprietary OS
Makes it so weird that the new upcoming Nintendo console coming after the switch hasn’t been leaked or have any rumors yet.
I think it doesn’t happen until a year or maybe two before it’s revealed/released. Because then more patents start coming out, hardware starts getting finalized, dev kits are produced and there’s ore concrete details to spread. It’s possible things are kept really secretive this time around and won’t find out until much closer… or we’re still a ways away from a new successor. I wouldn’t mind either way. I opted out of buying third party games on Switch because it’s become too much of a downgrade compared to even PS4. And since a Switch 2 wouldn’t compete with a PS5 and I already got a PS5 earlier than I thought, I still wouldn’t buy third party games there. The main benefit would be so Nintendo’s games look/run better.
I was on team smartphone until the bitter end. It really seemed like they were going in that direction, especially with the leaks of a monolithic screen.
I remember the saga and was fun to relive in the video. I wish the video was a bit longer. I still didn't finished to wash the dishes...
And this is the origin of my favorite video game system ever made that I play every single day along with my gaming PC.
Great video
Wow, a 50 minute knowledgeHusk video. Sick
The PS4 Pro and Xbox One X mid gen upgrades were particularly unique because there had been a revolutionary advancement in microchip lithography: the FinFET. It made microchips way smaller, cheaper, faster and more power efficient. So much cheaper in fact, that Sony and Microsoft would be wasting money if they *didn't* redesign their current consoles to the Slim and S respectively.
When these people will be on their death beds, will they say to themselves : "Man, I wish I spent more time arguing with strangers on the Internet."?
Nintendo NX really was a crazy time for Nintendo with all the rumours about it.
It's kind of interesting in a way because the failure of the wii u felt like it depended on the NX to succeed and now with a new Nintendo system it seems like it would be hard to top the Switch's success with just a new more powerful switch.
I think my roommate in college was following all of this, but I didn't pay any attention until the Nintendo announcement.
Excellent video, you really captured the atmosphere of that era for us Nintendo fans. I personally was still a loyal hardcore fan throughout the Wii U's life and I defended Nintendo's decision not to focus on power, but even I could feel that pressure and hope for them to not fuck it up or release a really gimped console. I'm glad to see that they're still going strong.
Watching this feels like looking at a letter "B" under a microscope and very slowly adjusting it to clarify. You know what it is so your brain is desperate to piece everything together as you continue to adjust it.
Damn. I feel so old for being able to remember the switch being called the 'NX'. 2014 was a dark time for Nintendo fans, the Wii U was complete ass and everyone was looking to the future. Before Iwata announced the development of a new console I remember rumours of the 'Nintendo Fusion' circulating which ended up being pretty accurate. I've also realised how much the switch means to me, its the first console I ever delved into when it came to the speculatory side before even its confirmation of conception. Im gonna miss it but bring on switch pro! or whatever the fuck its called.
I was 20 when the NES launched you’re not old.
It's hilarious to think that even AMD crowd seems to mostly dismiss the idea that AMD could create efficient chips.
And then a few months later after AMD launched Zen 1 architecture.
Although tbf ARM really would mean that it was Nvidia, since they have much more experience with ARMxGraphics, compared to AMD just ARM
Tbf, AMD's arcitecture was horrible before Ryzen and most people thought their only route of survival was to just barely stay afloat from low-profit console sales. Now, they're the obvious choice for cpu/gpu in the midmarket making them ideal for consoles.
Nothing was in favour for AMD pre-Ryzen. Their architecture was bad, even the manufacturing was not in AMD's favour. Now that is not to say ditching their foundry (now GlobalFoundries) was the only thing that saved their company considering how well the Radeon VII fared (that was a TSMC product), but I don't think GlobalFoundries' manufacturing woes actually helped either.
Ryzen and RDNA were really a Hail Mary for AMD, and I am totally glad it worked out for them in the end, even if it just meant breaking the stagnation in the market.
Also, I wonder what happened to Team AMD after the Switch was revealed?