Nintendo hardware often has interesting little features that go massively under used, or used only for pointless gimmicks.

As far back as the GBC there was an infra red port, the SNES had the super game boy, the N64 had the expansion port which led to the stillborn DD as well as the GB transfer pak, the DS had its touch screen which became shovelware, card games, menus and name entry after an initial burst of bad features (recall Castlevania ice sections and seals), the Wii had its remote dubbed waggle controls for a reason, the 3d of the 3ds ceased to be mentioned after about a year and "the Wii u".

Now that we have seen a few Switch games, got a feel for the hardware and can look to what is to come what then do you think the Switch will have as its equivalent? Will its joy cons be controls that can be detached to go into another holder, never to experience "HD rumble" or tilt sensors? Will handheld and docked mode be slightly different clocked versions of each other? Will its online services be the domain of score boards and DLC?

Edit. As many have mentioned the infra red camera is most likely to be the main one, if you want to skip that in favour of the second or third place ones then feel free.

 

[Deleted User]

More so than bluetooth and USB2.0? Both allow for almost any control system the dev wants to cook up and bulk storage and while homebrew had a whale of a time with such things their other uses were a bit thin on the ground.


While I am generally of the opinion that any menu system you are not using for itself (like your phone or tablet or something) and in 90% of cases should not spend more than 30 seconds considering does not matter as long as it is readable (though if someone wants to customise then we all have our hobbies), the greyscale one probably is there for those somewhat hard of sight.


When do I not enjoy computer games? Indeed I occasionally get called too soft on them as I managed to enjoy them for what they were -- I still maintain I had a great time with Escape Dead Island.


If you just wanted a TV out for your GB games then sure, however the articles linked on that ( http://loveconquersallgam.es/post/2350461718/fuck-the-super-game-boy-introduction ) enlightened me somewhat on how under utilised it was and were part of the reason for this topic.

People were happier -- hacks to turn it back to the dpad were made I think before the NA/EU releases of the game.
Now said patches but the more refined modern ones
https://gbatemp.net/threads/legend-of-zelda-phantom-hourglass-d-pad-patch.375388/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/legend-of-zelda-spirit-track-d-pad-patch.374773/


Seems we have very different definitions of bloatware, shovelware and such.
Bloatware for me had always been needlessly inflated programs, commonly tied to printer drivers and such like such that you would go clean someone's machine up and every printer they ever owned (which with the price of cartridges could be one a year as it was cheaper to buy a new printer at times) would have such a thing to point them at manufacturer's online shop. Only 25 or so megs a piece but when 512 RAM was just about still doable it posed a problem, especially if they still had factory norton AV or something on there as well as a good one.
That was also before I heard these guys and how they define shovelware (specifically doing the tie in/licensed stuff as opposed to the million and one pet hospital games we got when nintendogs took off).

thanks for the link! I read that article and a few after it, very interesting stuff, but it is still called super gameboy. its not meant to be used as another new console. if you want to make a snes game- go make one. dont put a snes game in a gb cart... it will be way more practical. most of the people played on a real gb rather then sgb so there was no real point in making a lot of improvements to the game just for a few people. did it contain way too much unused features? yes. but is still is cool to have them for the few games that used them...
I always have a feeling ninty is experimenting with their things- they make a lot of weird and awesome fetures then release them in one console, and see what sticks.. then next gen take mostly the used features and make other weird stuff...

 

[FAST6191]

"but it is still called super gameboy. its not meant to be used as another new console. if you want to make a snes game- go make one. dont put a snes game in a gb cart... it will be way more practical. most of the people played on a real gb rather then sgb so there was no real point in making a lot of improvements to the game just for a few people"
I thought the article made the case that the SGB could have been something far more, indeed my spin with multiplayer bomberman on it is what got me to look it all up some years ago, but instead was just used as a glorified adapter for the GB compatible titles.
Back when we were having discussions during the switch pre release people were harping on about it being the first "hybrid console" (which is still a stupid term from where I sit) and the SGB was my counter example. While the offerings you do have for it still make the case (others reading see the article, also bomberman again) I still see wasted potential. It was not all about making GB carts into SNES flash carts of a sort but instead just some really nice perks.

Also "but it is still called super gameboy"
That sounds dangerously close to the line of thought that says the wii u failed because name.

As for the other part I am all for throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks/design by iteration but Nintendo is pretty awful at that if that is what they are going for. Their first party CPR should have showcased a lot more of their efforts than they did.

 

[duffmmann]

"but it is still called super gameboy. its not meant to be used as another new console. if you want to make a snes game- go make one. dont put a snes game in a gb cart... it will be way more practical. most of the people played on a real gb rather then sgb so there was no real point in making a lot of improvements to the game just for a few people"
I thought the article made the case that the SGB could have been something far more, indeed my spin with multiplayer bomberman on it is what got me to look it all up some years ago, but instead was just used as a glorified adapter for the GB compatible titles.
Back when we were having discussions during the switch pre release people were harping on about it being the first "hybrid console" (which is still a stupid term from where I sit) and the SGB was my counter example. While the offerings you do have for it still make the case (others reading see the article, also bomberman again) I still see wasted potential. It was not all about making GB carts into SNES flash carts of a sort but instead just some really nice perks.

Also "but it is still called super gameboy"
That sounds dangerously close to the line of thought that says the wii u failed because name.

As for the other part I am all for throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks/design by iteration but Nintendo is pretty awful at that if that is what they are going for. Their first party CPR should have showcased a lot more of their efforts than they did.

Do you disagree that that was a large part of the Wii U's problem? Hell, Wii 2 would have been a better name at conveying its something brand new and not some sort of peripheral or the like. The name isn't the only reason the Wii U failed, but it by no means helped it at all.

 

[Deleted User]

"but it is still called super gameboy. its not meant to be used as another new console. if you want to make a snes game- go make one. dont put a snes game in a gb cart... it will be way more practical. most of the people played on a real gb rather then sgb so there was no real point in making a lot of improvements to the game just for a few people"
I thought the article made the case that the SGB could have been something far more, indeed my spin with multiplayer bomberman on it is what got me to look it all up some years ago, but instead was just used as a glorified adapter for the GB compatible titles.
Back when we were having discussions during the switch pre release people were harping on about it being the first "hybrid console" (which is still a stupid term from where I sit) and the SGB was my counter example. While the offerings you do have for it still make the case (others reading see the article, also bomberman again) I still see wasted potential. It was not all about making GB carts into SNES flash carts of a sort but instead just some really nice perks.

Also "but it is still called super gameboy"
That sounds dangerously close to the line of thought that says the wii u failed because name.

As for the other part I am all for throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks/design by iteration but Nintendo is pretty awful at that if that is what they are going for. Their first party CPR should have showcased a lot more of their efforts than they did.

wow thats a good point you made about sgb as a sort of the swith's predecessor. (can you suggest a better term then hybrid console?) never thought about that. but it still wasnt the same as a. you didnt get sgb with your gb and b. with only sgb its not really portable. you can say similar stuff about psvita and pstv...
about wiiu - imo it did hurt (at least a little) the console (together with bad marketing) because people who see a ps4 on a shelf know its not a ps3 right away- even if never seen it before. with wii where a lot of things got named (something)wii(something) - you could have mistaken it for an accessory for the wii and not some new console, if you werent a gamer and didnt see it on tv (or didnt pay attention to *that kid advertisement*). of course it wasnt the only or even the major reason for the failure but it was a reason non the less.
and yes, they might be bad at this but thanks to them we got things like tilt sensors on conventional controllers and portable gaming (tho the latter was never super popular, if you dont include gb and the smartphones)

 

[duffmmann]

wow thats a good point you made about sgb as a sort of the swith's predecessor. (can you suggest a better term then hybrid console?) never thought about that. but it still wasnt the same as a. you didnt get sgb with your gb and b. with only sgb its not really portable. you can say similar stuff about psvita and pstv...
about wiiu - imo it did hurt (at least a little) the console (together with bad marketing) because people who see a ps4 on a shelf know its not a ps3 right away- even if never seen it before. with wii where a lot of things got named (something)wii(something) - you could have mistaken it for an accessory for the wii and not some new console, if you werent a gamer and didnt see it on tv (or didnt pay attention to *that kid advertisement*). of course it wasnt the only or even the major reason for the failure but it was a reason non the less.
and yes, they might be bad at this but thanks to them we got things like tilt sensors on conventional controllers and portable gaming (tho the latter was never super popular, if you dont include gb and the smartphones)

SGB and a Gameboy is more of a precursor to what the combination of the Vita and the PS TV do than the Switch. Because you still need two separate devices that will require you to move the cartridge from one to the other. That's why I think the term hybrid console is much more fitting for the Switch which is just one device that just needs to be plugged into the TV. In that respect, the SEGA Nomad is probably the best precursor I can think of to the Switch, a portable genesis that you could plug directly into your TV and then be playing on your TV, again, no separate device required.

 

[Clanver]

Super Gameboy . . unutilized . .???

Me and my friends played Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow together on this thing . .like every day . .
Forget the green tinged Gameboy screen. The super game boy was superb~

 

[Noctosphere]

View attachment 108139​

Nintendo hardware often has interesting little features that go massively under used, or used only for pointless gimmicks.

As far back as the GBC there was an infra red port, the SNES had the super game boy, the N64 had the expansion port which led to the stillborn DD as well as the GB transfer pak, the DS had its touch screen which became shovelware, card games, menus and name entry after an initial burst of bad features (recall Castlevania ice sections and seals), the Wii had its remote dubbed waggle controls for a reason, the 3d of the 3ds ceased to be mentioned after about a year and "the Wii u".

Now that we have seen a few Switch games, got a feel for the hardware and can look to what is to come what then do you think the Switch will have as its equivalent? Will its joy cons be controls that can be detached to go into another holder, never to experience "HD rumble" or tilt sensors? Will handheld and docked mode be slightly different clocked versions of each other? Will its online services be the domain of score boards and DLC?

Edit. As many have mentioned the infra red camera is most likely to be the main one, if you want to skip that in favour of the second or third place ones then feel free.

Am i the only one who misreaded "tits sensor"?

 

[FAST6191]

Super Gameboy . . unutilized . .???

Me and my friends played Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow together on this thing . .like every day . .
Forget the green tinged Gameboy screen. The super game boy was superb~

No doubt you could have a great time with it, however said article and looking at the hardware notes made it seem somewhat like https://xkcd.com/484/ or using the left hand thing to play the right.
... wonder if I could pull off something with a hacking session.

wow thats a good point you made about sgb as a sort of the swith's predecessor. (can you suggest a better term then hybrid console?) never thought about that. but it still wasnt the same as a. you didnt get sgb with your gb and b. with only sgb its not really portable. you can say similar stuff about psvita and pstv...
about wiiu - imo it did hurt (at least a little) the console (together with bad marketing) because people who see a ps4 on a shelf know its not a ps3 right away- even if never seen it before. with wii where a lot of things got named (something)wii(something) - you could have mistaken it for an accessory for the wii and not some new console, if you werent a gamer and didnt see it on tv (or didnt pay attention to *that kid advertisement*). of course it wasnt the only or even the major reason for the failure but it was a reason non the less.
and yes, they might be bad at this but thanks to them we got things like tilt sensors on conventional controllers and portable gaming (tho the latter was never super popular, if you dont include gb and the smartphones)

Would you make the same argument for the xbox, xbox 360 and xbox one? Did the xbone lose its crown because people thought it was the old console?

Nintendo are the one I can hold responsible for waggle controls making it out of the arcades?
*chambers round*

As for portable games there were a thousand portable multi game and LCD game type things out there. Plenty of car adapters*, portable case mods for home consoles and the might laptop on top of it all.

*the switch not lasting equivalent to a GBA or DS or something and people being somewhat OK with that reminds me of people accepting mobile phones not lasting a whole day at work/school despite it not being a problem during the Nokia 3??? era.

Better term? I am sticking with handheld.

Do you disagree that that was a large part of the Wii U's problem? Hell, Wii 2 would have been a better name at conveying its something brand new and not some sort of peripheral or the like. The name isn't the only reason the Wii U failed, but it by no means helped it at all.

I agree there could have been a notable group that thought it was a peripheral, however that would have been cured easily enough with some choice advertising if it was the case.

As for the nomad and cartridges distinctions I am not seeing it. Had it been like the GB player I would have been more inclined to make one but this was processing extras and such. Or to risk a measure of logical dissonance then railing against my PC/phone/whatever because it does not do what I want where what I want is a $50 software purchase away.

 

[GarnetSunset]

The camera on the front of the damn thing

 

[Kioku]

No doubt you could have a great time with it, however said article and looking at the hardware notes made it seem somewhat like https://xkcd.com/484/ or using the left hand thing to play the right.
... wonder if I could pull off something with a hacking session.



Would you make the same argument for the xbox, xbox 360 and xbox one? Did the xbone lose its crown because people thought it was the old console?

Nintendo are the one I can hold responsible for waggle controls making it out of the arcades?
*chambers round*

As for portable games there were a thousand portable multi game and LCD game type things out there. Plenty of car adapters*, portable case mods for home consoles and the might laptop on top of it all.

*the switch not lasting equivalent to a GBA or DS or something and people being somewhat OK with that reminds me of people accepting mobile phones not lasting a whole day at work/school despite it not being a problem during the Nokia 3??? era.

Better term? I am sticking with handheld.


I agree there could have been a notable group that thought it was a peripheral, however that would have been cured easily enough with some choice advertising if it was the case.

As for the nomad and cartridges distinctions I am not seeing it. Had it been like the GB player I would have been more inclined to make one but this was processing extras and such. Or to risk a measure of logical dissonance then railing against my PC/phone/whatever because it does not do what I want where what I want is a $50 software purchase away.

The Switch battery life isn't much worse than the Nvidia Shield tablet equivalent for gaming.. If the Switch were just an android tablet with Nintendo games then the complaints would be few and far between. If anyone expects it to last as long as prior Nintendo handhelds, then that's nothing short of first world problems.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

The camera on the front of the damn thing

There's a camera?

 

[GarnetSunset]

The Switch battery life isn't much worse than the Nvidia Shield tablet equivalent for gaming.. If the Switch were just an android tablet with Nintendo games, would your battery argument stay the same? If anyone expects it to last as long as prior Nintendo handhelds, then that's nothing short of first world problems.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


There's a camera?

Yeah on the tablet lol, never used. AFAIK.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Yeah on the tablet lol, never used. AFAIK.

OR MAYBE IM WRONG AND ITS FOR AUTOBRIGHTNESS OOPS.

 

[Chelsea_Fantasy]

Right JoyCon IR Camera

 

[grossaffe]

The IR camera on the Joycon.

Yeah, I can't see it being anything other than this. Has it done anything beyond eating sandwiches yet?

 

[duffmmann]

I agree there could have been a notable group that thought it was a peripheral, however that would have been cured easily enough with some choice advertising if it was the case.

As for the nomad and cartridges distinctions I am not seeing it. Had it been like the GB player I would have been more inclined to make one but this was processing extras and such. Or to risk a measure of logical dissonance then railing against my PC/phone/whatever because it does not do what I want where what I want is a $50 software purchase away.

Well that's my point though, among many issues, the system's name was one of them, coupled with bad advertising and that only compounded the problem.

The difference between the Nomad and the combination of a Gameboy and Super Gameboy when comparing to the Switch should be clear as day. The Nomad is a single system that could play Genesis games on the go, or if plugged into your TV with it's included cord could be played on your TV just like a Switch all without removing the cartridge, also like the Switch. The combination of Gameboy and Super Gameboy means you need to buy numerous separate devices that can all be purchased and used individually, that also requires you to remove the cartridge to and from one setup to the other in order to play at home or on the go; this setup much more closely resembles the combination of the PS Vita and PS TV than that of the Switch. I think the term for what the Switch does as a hybrid console is appropriate. But I would argue that the term could also be given to the Sega Nomad as well, though they didn't market it that way, it really was the first of the true all-in-one hybrid console like the Switch is.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Yeah, I can't see it being anything other than this. Has it done anything beyond eating sandwiches yet?

You can use it for reloading in Resident Evil Revelations 1 and 2. Actually pretty neat when you're using motion control to point the joy con like a gun.

 

[FAST6191]

An issue but one I would place around the level of "perhaps not as comfortable but not unplayably so as alternative for people with fairly large hands".

They had years of it floundering to issue some corrective advertising. Focus testing would have told them that so early on that it would have been an amusing anecdote on par with sega Nintendo in the 16 bit era. I know they can do good advertising as they did it for the wii not a few years earlier.

Bad/badly designed hardware, bad online, lacking in dev tools, lacking in incentives for devs big and small to support it and fairly weak first party efforts are what I would place the overwhelming majority of its failures on.

 

[duffmmann]

An issue but one I would place around the level of "perhaps not as comfortable but not unplayably so as alternative for people with fairly large hands".

They had years of it floundering to issue some corrective advertising. Focus testing would have told them that so early on that it would have been an amusing anecdote on par with sega Nintendo in the 16 bit era. I know they can do good advertising as they did it for the wii not a few years earlier.

Bad/badly designed hardware, bad online, lacking in dev tools, lacking in incentives for devs big and small to support it and fairly weak first party efforts are what I would place the overwhelming majority of its failures on.

Well I'm not giving them a pass just because they could have done something about it. A problem is a problem, and if it goes unaddressed only continues to forever be a problem. Like I said it only compounded the problem, so yeah the name of the Wii U was definitely part of the reason that it failed.

 

[grossaffe]

You can use it for reloading in Resident Evil Revelations 1 and 2. Actually pretty neat when you're using motion control to point the joy con like a gun.

How did that work?

 

[duffmmann]

How did that work?

Just like this (start at about 50 seconds):
Its pretty neat, completely optional as you can just push the button instead, but it adds an extra level of immersion that I enjoy.

 

[Missing Number]

most under used aspect of the switch? the hardware designer's brain

dock to tv? why not just package a dongle to connect to tv and stream it from your hand so u can use both screens at once; a Wii U where the gamepad IS the console
so u can "switch" without havin to cease touch screen capability

 

[grossaffe]

Just like this (start at about 50 seconds):
Its pretty neat, completely optional as you can just push the button instead, but it adds an extra level of immersion that I enjoy.

Okay, that's pretty neat. I find that usage quite acceptable.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

most under used aspect of the switch? the hardware designer's brain

dock to tv? why not just package a dongle to connect to tv and stream it from your hand so u can use both screens at once; a Wii U where the gamepad IS the console
so u can "switch" without havin to cease touch screen capability

Because then you have to develop games for both single and dual-screen experiences. Not to mention from a technical standpoint that wireless communication isn't that fast; there's a reason why the main Wii U console was hooked up to the HDTV while the tablet wirelessly streamed SD video. Plus with the unit in your hands, it's not in the dock receiving power so it will only be able to handle short gaming sessions being that you want it pumping graphics to a TV rather than running in a lower power mode.

TL;DR: Their engineers are far more knowledgeable than yourself and actually understand how electronics work in the real world.