I should probably start off by answering the question posed in the title of the article:
It’s pretty unlikely.
Okay, thanks for reading, folks! See ‘ya next time!
Honestly, though…maybe it could. And not just because of its early sales success. Let’s evaluate.
Nintendo already owns bragging rights to some of the most successful consoles ever, and they are likely not the ones you might expect. The Nintendo Wii and the DS (yes, it’s a handheld, but it’s also the best selling unit of all time) are both top tier on the all time list. Only the Playstation 2 competes up there. And also those 1990’s Bulls teams with Jordan. They compete with everything.
What’s different now is that Nintendo again did something brilliant when they merged their home console with something portable. No one expected this, just like nobody expected Kanye West to wear a MAGA hat. Nobody thought this could work when they read about it. It sounded like a gimmick.
But it has worked. Not only have they shocked the gaming world with 2017 Game of the Year, Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its partner Super Mario Odyssey — they are porting amazing games like Super Mario Kart 8 from the mostly ignored Wii U. In only a year, the system has an overload of original software that would make Bill Gates turn his head and do jumping jacks. In short: Nintendo is killing it again.
In just over a year, the console has bypassed the Wii U in terms of total sales. And while the Wii U was widely considered to be a market failure, that is still an impressive feat in such a short time. It might be on pace to catch both the PS4 and XBox One, including their updated versions — two and a half years after they released. And it’s portable.
I grew up loving the original Nintendo and the Super Nintendo even more. But this is an era of gaming that reaches far beyond the audience of children, which was the market 30 years ago. Considering the first year that the Switch has had, I see no reason that it couldn’t take over the gaming market in record fashion.
Nintendo has the luxury of the most famous independent properties in all of gaming. Yes, Halo and Tomb Raider are both well-known, but they are barely blips on the radar when discussing Mario, Zelda, Pokémon and Kirby. They’ve already scored touchdowns with Zelda and Mario, so what happens when Metroid and Pokémon jump into the mix?
My guess is that this hybrid system keeps selling and keeps becoming home to more all-time classics. Greatest console ever? That’s too subjective — personally, I’ll always love the SNES.
But you can bet your buttcheeks that it’ll be more memorable than Sony and Microsoft this generation. Nintendo just understands how to grab casual gamers, and that always makes the difference.