Nintendo has never topped their first console launch.
Neither has anyone else.
There are few concepts average consumers fear more than new.
To them, new is just some marketing buzzword for unproven.
The average gamer is no different.
Theres a risk that goes along with supporting an unproven concept that goes well beyond financial loss.
Remarkably, video game consoles feel immune from the full brunt of this fear and hesitation.
The fear that usually accompanies new items is replaced with a refreshing sense of hope.
They are seen as the gateway to a new era.
The best era yet.
This same sense of hope is what is currently fueling the Nintendo Switchs hype train.
Its the same promise that has sold every console before it.
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Well, almost every console.
Nintendo did not enjoy this same level of anticipation when they launched the Nintendo Entertainment System.
The video game industry crashed in 1983 just as it seemed to be flourishing.
Video game consoles had been a luxury purchase for some time before that.
The trouble was that they lost the mystique that once made them appealing regardless of price.
Imagine if that mentality existed now.
What if modern consumers looked at a console like the Nintendo Switch and said, Eh.
Ive got a smartphone/computer/tablet that can also play games.
Seems kind of silly to spend that much on something that only does that.
It would be almost impossible to justify making video game consoles at all.
Truth be told, Nintendo had no business making a video game console in 1983.
Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi felt that this setup would be too intimidating and cost too much.
Their initial plan was to team up with Atari and let them market the console to Western gamers.
This meant that Nintendo would need to market the game in America by themselves.
Thats not an entirely inaccurate interpretation of the event.
Nintendo did devote a sizeable portion of their advertising to R.O.B.
the robot in an attempt to present the NES as a more sophisticated and advanced unit.
He was their infamous Trojan Horse.
It started with the price.
To compensate for this, they offered a few different versions of the console at launch.
In the current era, a move like this would be unthinkable.
Certainly more than Nintendo has offered on day one for many of their later consoles, including the Switch.
The same company that brought you the brilliantSuper Mario Bros., mind you.
Of course, that part of the arrangement was mostly window dressing.
Many gamers have played poor titles bearing that little seal.
Yes, the perfect launch.
How many consoles can you heap such praise on?
The gaming world is different now.
The need to blow everyone away from the start isnt there.
In its place is hope and faith in the new for the sake of it being new.
Gamers understand that the day one offerings of a console are just the beginning.
Matthew Byrd is a staff writer.
