The Nintendo brand has become really important for gamers, as has their competition with Xbox and Playstation. Without Nintendo taking a leap of faith after the video game crash of 1983, players wouldn't have these great games that they play today. Thanks to Nintendo's success, the gaming industry has advanced and allowed their peers to take the reins for a time. Even though Nintendo isn't on top anymore, their impact is still important. Their biggest achievement was allowing players to have a console in their living room that it is accessible for everyone.
However, Nintendo hasn't had a consistent track record when selling consoles, as their experiments don't always work. But on the other hand, because Nintendo has a legacy, the reveals for their consoles have become a sight to see not just for Nintendo fans, but fans of other consoles as well. This list goes through how Nintendo handled each reveal event, even in the pre-internet era. There's a lot of history here.
7 Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo revealed their first home console during the CES event in 1985, following the video game crash two years prior. The NES made players excited all over again. Not only could they play their favorite arcade games at home, but they could do it with friends as well. Originally the NES was supposed to have a keyboard as an input; however, that changed to those iconic gamepads that still hold up today. Even though the NES ranks lower for its reveal, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Even without the internet, the console became so successful that the NES has some very rare and expensive games today.
Furthering the success of the reveal and the surprise it brought to fans, the console was revealed with a bunch of games alongside it, like Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt. Players could use it right away, which led to its success post-reveal. Many game makers recall the event's impeccable timing right after the video game crash, because its arrival at this important time helped the NES become an important piece of technology.
6 Nintendo GameCube
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From the console's shape to the reveal, everything about the GameCube is much centered around what players want most: to play games. Nintendo made an aggressive point about this, with the sheer number of games announced alongside the console reveal event at E3. In the early 2000s, the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox allowed players to do more than just play games; they had capabilities for DVDs and CDs. The GameCube, though, was centered around games, and Nintendo made a huge deal about that at E3. One of the best things about the reveal was that the console became home to some iconic first-party games that still hold up today.
At that time, consoles were becoming home entertainment systems that could do it all. The GameCube's status as just a game console may have somewhat hurt the reception. Players were starting to want more from their consoles, and because the GameCube had mini disks, it was impossible to use the console for any other media. Aesthetically, though, players were pleased. A lot of cool variations came out of the cubic design.
5 Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The SNES had the same features that made its predecessor reveal successful and then some, like having to push 16-bit technology and being able to survive the 32-bit era of gaming. All these things made the SNES a big deal for its time. Much like all Nintendo reveals, games and players were at the front and center of the SNES's reveal. Like the NES, the SNES reveal had a wide variety of games ready for player to try out at launch. This made the console a juggernaut not only for the time, but in today's world as well, with the re-release Nintendo did for the console.
Most things that the NES reveal successful also made SNES reveal also successful. This includes not just demonstrating games, but making the consoles affordable to many. Although the Playstation 2 became go-to console for RPGs, the SNES pioneered the genre, putting more expansive and bigger games on the system.
4 Nintendo 64
3D gaming was already in full swing by the time Nintendo's third console came out, but it wasn't perfected just yet. When the N64 was announced, players were wowed by the graphical jump, and for the first time at E3, Nintendo actually showed their games being played live onstage, demonstrating that they were still easy to play even though games were getting more complicated. Both of Nintendo's previous consoles had changed gaming in their own right, and the N64 did the same thing.
Players were excited how deep games were getting at the reveal, and that is clear because the N64 is home to amazing top quality games. Keeping players in mind, the reveal event showed how games can get more engaging and more demanding, but still keep players entertained.
3 Wii
As gaming continued to evolve, Nintendo company continued pushing the boundaries of gaming. That can be seen during the 2006 reveal of the Wii. Players didn't have stay in one place when gaming, which fans saw in the reveal where players moved around with the Wiimote. This console allowed for many people who don't typically play games to get into the hobby. Nintendo made easy, accessible games for the Wii, which allowed the console to sell a huge number of units throughout its life.
Because of these controllers, people could play games in a very differently way. Even non-gamers used the console to exercise. What made the Wii one the best consoles of that generation is the wide amount of first party games, not just at launch but also throughout its life. Many players call back to the Wii fondly, and still use the console today.
2 Wii U
Usually when a console is revealed, the reaction dictates how the console may perform over the next few years. In the case of the Wii U, this could have been one of the best consoles Nintendo ever made. The reveal of the Wii U, like that of the Wii, again pushed the boundaries of what players could do and how they could play games. With the Wii U, players could simply use gamepad, meaning they didn't need to be playing on TV. Players could just use the screen on the gamepad, provided the console was still on.
All these things made the Wii U one of the most revolutionary consoles at the time. The reveal once more showed Nintendo pushing the boundaries of gaming, adding something new to the home console. However, even though the reveal of the Wii U excited fans and non-fans alike, the performance of the console suffered a lot due to lack games in general.
1 Switch
Taking what the Wii U created by having a second screen, Nintendo later decided to make the console itself the second screen. That was one of the focuses of the reveal event for the Switch. The plethora of first and third party games announced at the reveal made the Wii U a distant memory. But it really worked because players were excited to take their favorite games on the go, which was another focus of the E3 event for the Switch.
The fact that players could take massive games like The Witcher 3 and Skyrim on the go made players want to get the Switch. On top of that, the reveal showed off how multipurpose the console could be, with the joycons coming off and being used for something completely different. The reveal event of the Switch blew many players expectations out the water, returned Nintendo to its status as to being a major player in gaming.