Piggy backing off of Eviltwins article, is it accurate to say the Switch 2 is Nintendo’s first Sony console?  I’m going to push back on this.  The premise here is that Sony’s consoles have always been very evolutionary rather than revolutionary.  Their consoles have been fairly straight forward iterative upgrades.  I actually do not disagree with the notion that the Switch 2 is an iterative system or that it is very similar to how Sony has approached new hardware.  My contention is that this isn’t actually all that unique for Nintendo.  Nintendo has a long history of building upon a preestablished product.  The NES to the SNES is very straight forward.  The NES is a cartridge based console with a controller that has a D-pad and buttons.  The SNES is very much an improved NES.  Improved for sure, but hardly revolutionary compared to the NES.  The move to the 3D graphics was revolutionary and Nintendo jumped in head first.  For the first time established IP’s like Mario and Zelda were transitioned into the 3D world.  This marked a monumental shift in gaming to the point where games like Mario 64 offered radically different gameplay experiences from its predecessors. 

The move from N64 to GameCube was once again pretty straight forward, not to dissimilar from the transition from NES to SNES.  Nintendo does finally ditch cartridges and moves on to optical media with propriety mini DVD’s, but this is really just Nintendo playing catch up and modernizing their media.  GameCube by in large was a direct evolution of the N64.  3D gaming was still very much the focus and Nintendo’s IP’s that moved into the 3D space with the N64 were simply improvements over what they could do with the more limited N64 hardware.  Nintendo was creative with the button layout, but it was still primarily an improved N64 gamepad.  Most of the features are exactly the same albeit with the C button being replaced by a C stick and with a few additional buttons added.  

I’m not going to spend too much time on GameBoy, but this was probably the most iterative product Nintendo ever produced.  GameBoy Color is a unique platform over the original GameBoy seeing as how it had exclusive games that were not playable on the original GameBoy.  Hard to be more iterative than a revision of the GameBoy pocket that is equipped with a color screen and slightly more performance.  GameBoy Advance adds a couple of shoulder buttons and far more performance, but is otherwise a straightforward improvement over the GameBoy Color.   

As a result of waning success of Nintendo hardware over the years, Nintendo pivoted and took some chances on some very unique hardware.  The Nintendo DS and the Wii shifted focus and set out to deliver novel gaming experiences.  DS with its dual screen gameplay and Wii with its motion controls.  Even though Nintendo did bring themselves into the HD era with the Wii U, the focus of the console was still on asymmetrical gameplay and motion controls.  In a way, blending the ideas of the DS and Wii.  Ultimately this resulted in one of Nintendo’s biggest failures, but I believe it was a bridge to the hybrid console setup with Switch.  In 2017, Switch took the world by storm offering AAA gaming that could be played anywhere.   

Is the Switch 2 a very iterative and “safe” console release for Nintendo?  Yes, without question.  Is it unprecedented for Nintendo to roll out new hardware in this fashion?  Not at all.  The NES to SNES has far more in common with Switch to Switch 2 than it does with GameCube to Wii.