Power Button Podcast
Tip JarWe Should Have Seen The Revolution Coming
September 16, 2005
I'm still thinking about this whole Nintendo Revolution controller business and it occurs to me that we should have seen the major new form of controller coming. Of course, it's easy to say that once we know the amazing secret, but I think that I (and many others, too) was so blinded by all of the theories that were tossed around that I couldn't see the solution when it was sitting right in front of me. Or rather, behind me.
The Nintendo line of home video game consoles starts at the Nintendo Entertainment System, a console that was a major upgrade from the days of the Atari 2600 and company and that set the new standard in home video gaming. Then came the Super NES, a console that was mainly an update to the NES: more buttons, more colors, more refined ideas from the NES generation. Then word came that another Nintendo console was on the way and we all assumed it would be another extension on the NES and Super NES line, but instead Nintendo mixed everything up with the Nintendo 64, making the jump into 3D gaming and adding the analog stick to the controller. Video games for the Nintendo 64 were not like those found on the NES or Super NES; they were new beasts that included new ways to play games.
When the Nintendo 64's days in the sun came to an end, Nintendo revealed the Nintendo GameCube, a console that was mainly an update to the N64: more buttons, more textures, more refined ideas from the N64 generation. History shows us that Nintendo jumps the tracks every two generations of consoles, leaving convention behind and leaping into new ideas and control methods. We were so busy looking forward to the Nintendo Revolution's amazing secret that nobody was taking the time to look back and see that, with history as our guide, Nintendo was about to make another leap in console development.