Every Time A Nintendo Console Failed
Nintendo recently revealed the Nintendo Switch 2, and its fan reception has been anything but controversial. Due to its egregious $70/$80 video games, its $10 pack-in tech demo, its costly upgrades for Switch 1 titles and its underwhelming online features, many longtime Nintendo fans legitimately believe that the Switch 2 is going to fail tremendously. Of course, it’s highly unlikely that this is going to happen… but it’s not entirely impossible.
Throughout its extensive 136-year-old run, Nintendo has created and released many different video game consoles and, unfortunately, some of them were a huge failure, in both terms of sales and critical reception. Whether it happened because of bad timing, experimental technology and/or questionable business decisions, the truth is that the Big N is not completely immune to failure, and this article contains a detailed retrospective on every single instance in which its this legendary company was unable to live up to its name.
The Experimental SNES Accessories Nobody Remembers
Let’s be honest: the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was an incredible console and the undisputed winner of the 16-bit console wars (sorry in advance to all Sega Genesis fans). But the fourth generation of video game consoles was also one of the industry’s most experimental times, as companies were rushing to release accessories and games with brand-new innovative technology, like 3D graphics, online connectivity and/or compact discs. As impressive as all of these products were, very few of them actually left a mark in history and are now seen as weird experiments that were too ahead of their time.
The most egregious example of this practice was the Sega Genesis, seeing as Sega released multiple peripherals for this system, in a feeble attempt to artificially extend its lifespan, but Nintendo was not completely innocent either. In the late 90s, the Big N experimented with a lot of weird and unexpected SNES accessories, or rather, Super Famicom accessories, because very few of them actually ever released outside of Japan. Yes, there was the Super Scope and the SNES Mouse, but those were made with familiar technology and were well-received, whereas these other accessories tried to innovate in weird but fascinating ways, even if they have already been forgotten by most Nintendo fans.
For starters, there’s the Satellaview, a cartridge-shaped satellite receiver that allowed users to download games on their Super Famicom and play them in new and unique ways, like by listening to a radio broadcast that would simultaneously play music and voice lines and/or by comparing their scores to other players around the country. This was definitely an interesting attempt to extend the Super Famicom’s shelf life from Nintendo and, while it had its fair share of fans, it didn’t make the impact the company intended. Nevertheless, it was released in 1995 and discontinued in 2000, so it did have a relatively long lifespan.
There was also the Nintendo Power (no relation with the iconic American magazine of the same name), a game distribution service that allowed Japanese gamers to download video games to special rewritable cartridges via specific kiosks that were placed all around Japan. This was a unique gimmick to say the least, especially because it allowed gamers to try out more games at a cheaper price. However, it was not particularly successful either, not only because of how unconventional the idea of downloading a game in a physical place was at the time, but also because it was released in 1997, one year into the Nintendo 64’s lifespan, so Nintendo fans were naturally more invested in the SNES’ 3D successor by that point.
Both the Satellaview and the Nintendo Power are a typical case of Nintendo experimenting with new technology that was way too ahead of its time in order to bring more attention to its product and extend their lifespan. But they unfortunately ended up failing due to a multitude of reasons, like releasing them way too late, being way too cumbersome and hard to understand or relying too much on time-sensitive conditions, like the open hours of a store with a Nintendo Power kiosk or the specific times of the day in which a Satellaview program would be broadcasted. Furthermore, this also explains why neither them ever left Japan.
Needless to say, the Super Famicom/NES not only still is a particularly popular and successful console that sold 50 million units in its entire lifespan, but it did have a few accessories and peripherals that were well received. While this fortunately means that the failure of accessories like the Satellaview and the Nintendo Power (and even the unreleased 32-bit Nintendo PlayStation, which accidentally led to the creation of their biggest competitor, Sony’s PlayStation) were not enough to do permanent harm the Big N, it still was clear first sign that, despite the huge success and impact it had during the 80s and early 90s, Nintendo was struggling to catch up to new technologies and highlighted how this was not a perfect company that could very easily make questionable decisions that lead to huge mistakes and monumental failures (which was almost unheard of at the time).
The Virtual Boy Was An Eye-Hurting Atrocity
During the late 80s and early 90s, Nintendo changed the gaming industry forever when it released the original Game Boy, an accessible and affordable handheld with a collection of excellent video games that took advantage of its specific features, like Tetris, Super Mario Land, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Pokemon Red & Blue and more. Designed by the legendary Gunpei Yokoi, the Game Boy is still highly regarded by many people as one of Nintendo’s best and most important creations, including the company itself.
By the mid-90s, The Big N realized that it was time to make a worthy successor to their revolutionary handheld. Looking to innovate with this new device, Gunpei Yokoi decided to experiment with stereoscopic 3D graphics and virtual reality, both of which were brand-new and growing in popularity during that time. The final result was a portable video game console simply known as the Virtual Boy, but it ended up becoming one of Nintendo’s most unusual and controversial products.
For starters, Nintendo marketed the Virtual Boy as another handheld, seeing as it was supposed to be their follow-up to the Game Boy, but it lacked the easy and accessible portability of its predecessor. Instead of being a small device with a small screen and a few buttons, the Virtual Boy was a behemoth of a system, as it was more like an archaic VR headset, complete with a stand and its own controller. The idea was interesting, to say the least, but it was nowhere near as appealing or easy to use as the Game Boy, which contributed to its inevitable failure.
But the Virtual Boy’s cumbersome portability was the least of its problems, because it’s (at the time) revolutionary 3D technology was not resonating with people, neither gamers nor critics. For starters, all of its games were exclusively played in black and red, which looked ugly and didn’t leave much room for imagination, especially in comparison to the Game Boy’s black and white or black and green color schemes. But to make things even worse, its primitive stereoscopic technology made it quite uncomfortable and downright damaging to look at, especially during extended periods of play.
Many people at time heavily criticized the Virtual Boy for its lackluster gimmick, boring games and weird VR capabilities, which were reportedly causing eye strain, dizziness and migraines. Since it was recommended that people should take 15 to 30 minute breaks when playing, some games even came with a built-in option to pause after a certain amount of time just so players could properly rest their eyes, which nowadays sounds both absurd and egregious.
Unfortunately for Nintendo, the Virtual Boy’s catalog was lackluster and uninteresting, not to mention that it was also shockingly small, with only 22 official video games being released for it. The only standout was Virtual Boy Wario Land, while all of its other games were gimmicky and boring. Not even Mario got his chance to shine in this system, since his only two games, Mario's Tennis and Mario Clash, failed to make an impression on audiences.
Always the innovators, Nintendo threw its hat the ring and tried to make a revolutionary virtual reality device with mind-blowing 3D graphics at a time in which the technology just wasn’t ready yet, and the company’s reputation greatly suffered for it. After months of heavy criticism and abysmal sales, Nintendo discontinued the Virtual Boy in December 1995, just six months after its initial release. Nowadays, the Big N almost never mentions or even acknowledges the Virtual Boy (with the exception of a few small appearance, like in the 2013 game, Tomodachi Life) which proves that this was such a monumental failure that it wants to pretend that it never existed in the first place.
The Nintendo 64DD Was An Unusual Experiment
There’s no denying that the Nintendo 64 - the company’s first foray into the impressive world of 3D graphics - is one of Nintendo’s most beloved and nostalgic creations, especially since it was the console where many legendary titles, like Super Mario 64, Super Smash Bros and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, were released. However, the Big N arrived way too late to the fifth generation, and other systems (like Sony’s PlayStation) had already done a much better job at showcasing what 3D graphics were truly capable of. To compare: The N64 came out in 1996, while the PS1 came out in 1994, meaning that Sony had a two-year head start in one of the most crucial periods of the gaming industry and the Console Wars.
Another element that hurt the Nintendo 64 was its cartridges, especially when compared to the PlayStation CD-ROMs, which allowed for bigger games that could have pre-rendered cutscenes and music made outside of their in-game engine. This was such a questionable decision from Nintendo that even Squaresoft decided to abandon the N64 and make Final Fantasy VII for the PS1 instead, after having released all previous mainline entries exclusively on Nintendo systems.
While Nintendo was sure of its decision, it was also very much aware of this setback, and as a result, decided to work on a peripheral that would let the N64 play discs. This wouldn’t be the company’s first time making a device like this, since the Famicom already had a Japan-exclusive Disk System and the PlayStation was born by accident, after Nintendo tried to make a 32-bit CD peripheral for the SNES alongside Sony. Nevertheless, the result of this idea was the Nintendo 64DD, a fascinating N64 peripheral with some solid ideas that sadly failed to make the impact Nintendo was hoping for.
The main concept of the Nintendo 64DD in and of itself wasn’t bad at all, as it allowed the company to release bigger games on rewritable magnetic disks that could have new and more ambitious features, including online connectivity. On top of that its catalog was not too bad either, with some solid releases like Mario Artist: Paint Studio, Doshin the Giant, and F-Zero X Expansion Kit.
But that’s the thing with the 64DD: it always felt more like a gimmick. Most of its games felt more like creative software rather than actual video games and it lacked a serious system seller like Ocarina of Time or Super Mario 64. On top of that, the 64DD came out at the very end of the fifth-generation of video game consoles, in December 1999, over a year after the Sega Dreamcast had already been released and a few months before the launch of PlayStation 2. At that point, gamers were way more likely to pay attention to the brand-new and innovative systems of the competition instead of buying an expensive peripheral for a three-year-old console.
The Nintendo 64DD was such a critical and commercial failure for Nintendo that it didn’t even bother releasing it outside of Japan, which was completely unprecedented for the company. The only silver lining in this story is that some of Nintendo’s most iconic features and mechanics began their life on the 64DD, like personal in-game avatars (Miis) or the idea of creative video games with user-made content and online connectivity, like Mario Maker or Game Builder Garage.
The GameCube Paled In Comparison To The PS2 And Xbox
Let’s get something out of the way: The Nintendo GameCube was an incredible video game console, there’s no doubt about that. After all, Nintendo’s foray into the sixth generation was the home to some of the company’s best and most influential releases, with a collection of incredible titles like Luigi’s Mansion, Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Super Smash Bros Melee, Pikmin, and many more.
But, of course, hindsight is 20/20 because most Nintendo fans nowadays see the GameCube as a major success for the company and one of its best creations, when it was actually a failure (relatively speaking) that originally got quite a mixed reception and it definitely affected its business model in the next generation. Back in the day, reviewers praised the overall quality of the GameCube’s games but also criticized its childish design and its lackluster launch lineup. However, the “purple lunch box” had two major flaws that made it look primitive and outdated, especially in comparison to its two main competitors, the PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox.
For starters, the GameCube games were released on small optical discs that were exclusively used on the console. Finally! Nintendo made the jump from cartridges to CDs! The only problem is that the company arrived way too late to this party, as the PS2 and the Xbox could already play brand-new rewritable DVDs, meaning that both systems could be used as both a video game console and a cheap DVD player.
On top of that, Xbox pretty much revolutionized gaming forever with the introduction of Xbox Live, an online service that allowed players to play with each other through the internet, something that was completely mind-blowing and unprecedented for the time. The PS2 also had online connectivity that, while it was nowhere near as good or accessible as Xbox Live (especially because it needed a special adapter to function), at least it was something. On the other hand, the GameCube had no online connectivity at all, meaning that Nintendo had accidentally left itself behind in one of the most important advancements in the history of the gaming industry. That being said, the GameCube was also 100 dollars less expensive than its competition, so there was a silver lining to its lack of features.
At the end of the day, a brief look at the total sales numbers of the three main sixth generation consoles is enough to properly convey how the Nintendo GameCube underperformed a lot more than most of its fans would like to admit. According to Nintendo itself, the GameCube sold a total of 21.74 million units in its entire lifetime, which is a decent number, but it still pales in comparison to its competition. Microsoft sold approximately 24 million Xbox units worldwide and Sony claims that the PlayStation 2 has sold over 160 million units around the world since 2000, making it the highest-selling video game console of all time.
Seeing Nintendo coming out in third and last place in a console generation for the first time was definitely quite shocking at the time, and it was the first sign that the company needed to embrace innovation and switch things up in the next generation if it wanted to make a true impact, which is why it eventually created the Nintendo Wii. Of course, now nobody needs to worry about the GameCube’s sales, meaning that Nintendo fans can (and should) remember it fondly for its many positive features, instead of criticizing it for a few negatives that don’t even really matter anymore.
The Wii U Led To The Worst Era In Nintendo’s History
Everybody can agree that the Virtual Boy was the biggest failure in Nintendo’s history, but the company also made another huge mistake in recent times that can still be felt to this day. During the seventh console generation, the Nintendo Wii became a critical and commercial success, due to its revolutionary motion-controls, accessible social games that the whole family could enjoy together and a collection of high-quality first party releases, like Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and more.
For many gamers, Nintendo was the undisputed “winner” of the generation and the company was definitely in an excellent position to keep breathing new life into the industry with their innovative next system. So, the Big N eventually revealed the Wii’s successor in 2011 and its name was the Nintendo Wii U. Naturally, it didn’t take much time for people to realize the #1 biggest issue with this console: What kind of name was that? Was it an accessory/expansion for the Wii? Or was it an entirely new device?
The Wii U’s main gimmick was its controller, called the GamePad, which had a huge touchscreen in which specific parts of the game could be displayed, allowing developers to use it for special features and even implement asymmetrical gameplay (in which the player using the GamePad has a different role from everybody else). Considering it’s similarity to the Nintendo DS’s second screen, this special controller was definitely brimming with potential.
But there was one huge problem: Nintendo was infamous for releasing many peripherals and accessories for the Wii during the previous generation, most of which had names that consisted of the word “Wii” followed by a noun (e.g. Wii Balance Board, Wii Wheel, Wii Zapper, etc.). Because of this, many people initially believed that the Wii U was just another Nintendo Wii peripheral, instead of being an entirely different video game console. The name and branding of the Nintendo Wii U remains one of the company’s biggest blunders, and even if it was eventually able to clarify what the console actually was, many consumers remained confused by it, especially those that may not be too knowledgeable about new gaming releases (like parents and grandparents who buy consoles for their children).
But, of course, the name was not the only thing that contributed to the Wii U’s failure, since it also had a lackluster catalog of games. It was not bad per se, but it was a lot more underwhelming than the exclusives Nintendo had released on some of its previous consoles. For example: Its flagship Mario game, New Super Mario Bros U failed to make an impact because it was the fourth entry in the New Super Mario Bros subseries, which most gamers were already very tired of at that point. And while Super Mario 3D World was a lot better received, it was not the semi-open world 3D adventure (like Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine or Super Mario Galaxy) that fans were truly asking for.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was a solid crossover fighting game, but it also had a port made for the highly more popular Nintendo 3DS handheld, which gave gamers less and less reasons to pick up a Wii U just for it. The Legend of Zelda didn’t even have a mainline entry on the Wii U until Breath of the Wild came out in 2017. Before that, Nintendo tried to keep the franchise alive by releasing spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors or HD remasters of old titles, like The Wind Waker or Twilight Princess. These were all admittedly great products, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy all the passionate Zelda fans who were desperate to try something completely new on their Wii U systems.
To make things even worse, the Wii U entries of many other popular Nintendo series ended up becoming some of the worst received ones in their entire history, like Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, Star Fox Zero, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash or Mario Party 10. Needless to say, this console still had some very good exclusives (like Nintendo Land, Mario Kart 8, Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101 and many more) but this wasn’t enough to keep the Wii U alive and relevant during that era, especially considering that most developers (including Nintendo itself!) failed to take advantage of the GamePad and implement it into fun and creative ways.
Unfortunately, the Wii U’s much-needed third party support ended up being a major disappointment as well. Some companies released ports of previous generation games that didn’t add much to the experience nor made good use of the GamePad, like Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition or Mass Effect 3: Special Edition, while others made gimmicky games that were interesting for just a few minutes but couldn’t really be considered system-sellers, like Ubisoft’s ZombiU.
While the Wii U obviously had its fans, it was a monumental commercial failure for Nintendo. For comparison: it sold almost 14 million units in its entire lifetime, while its predecessor, the Nintendo Wii, sold over 100 million units in total. And it gets even worse when taking a look at its two main competitors during the eight generation of consoles, both of which came out almost a year after it: There was Sony’s PlayStation 4, which sold over 117 million units, and Microsoft’s Xbox One, which sold over 21 million units. The Wii U era is one of the worst periods in Nintendo’s history according to most fans, and for very good reason. Things had eventually gotten so bad that in 2014 the company’s CEO, the great late Satoru Iwata, cut his own salary in half in order to both prevent layoffs and to apologize to his peers for the huge losses of the Wii U.
Fortunately, Nintendo was eventually able to get back on its feet when it made the difficult decision of leaving the Wii U behind and prioritizing the production of its next console, the Nintendo Switch. Thanks to its revolutionary hybrid format and its extensive and diverse catalog of high-quality video games, the Switch quickly became one of the most popular and best-selling video game consoles of all time. As previously mentioned, Nintendo is 136 years old and it already made an enormous impact on the history of video games, so it’s going to take a lot more than some terrible decisions and a few years of low-selling products to take down this cultural titan. Truth be told, the Nintendo Switch 2 will most likely not fail, but it’s also very important for this beloved and influential company to learn from its mistakes if it really wants to avoid another Virtual Boy or Wii U situation.
Julián is an Argentinian journalist, writer, and researcher with a love for retro gaming, anime, and manga. Julián is always eager to share interesting stories about the fascinating video game industry.
