Growing up with the 3DS and Wii U I really miss those times of the highly immersive systems. For me this was what made Nintendo so great.
I know that nowadays everything seems to be optimized for efficiency and practicality in this highly connected world where everyone has a smartphone and is seeking this quick pleasure.
But I’m craving these small things that made life so great. I miss these times so much of collecting StreetPass points, finding strangers Mii’s in Mii Plaza when going to a mall or connecting with friends, having all these mini games like Camera, AR games and even the immersive Mii makers where I spend hours creating Mii’s and watching them walking around. And of course, the customizable home menu with music and all these responsive animations.
It was like there was an entire world inside the 3DS and Wii U that could suck you in where you could spend your lifetime in without a sense of time and it was amazing. It gave you a home environment where you could feel comfortable, secure and relaxed. And I’m wondering where this went.
My thought is that Nintendo in a way might’ve intentionally made the Switch’s UI so soulless and depressing to have a bigger differentiator with the Switch 2 since they can only do this much in terms of hardware. Cause they didn’t even give us something as simple as an internet browser with some update which even the DSi had (and I think even the DS with some cartridge expansion. And not forgetting that the Wii U had YouTube and Netflix etc.). Because so far all we’ve seen is a slightly bigger Switch with magnet Joy Cons and a new Mario Kart.
I’m really hoping that they will go back in that direction cause this really was Nintendos DNA and I miss it so much. What are your thoughts on this?
I would not mind if they kept the quick, efficient UI but still included all of the fun bundled software. I love transferring my Miis from one system to the next and seeing all the friends I played with (shame more Switch games don’t use them). I fondly remember commuting by light rail and collecting Miis in Street Pass Plaza.
With the Switch, I assume that the development cycle was rushed and the software devs churned out the OS but did not have a chance to develop any fun apps. It is a shame that they never went back and added them. With how well the system was selling, there was no need for them. Hopefully with the S2 having plenty of development time, they will do better.
While I didn’t hate the menus on those older systems, I’m happy they went with what we have in the switch right now - speed.
That said, the newer switch probably has enough horsepower to add a little bit of they wanted to. But I’d rather the menus simply be fast. Perhaps they can strike a good middle ground.
I love the style of the 3DS and Wii U menus. I certainly wouldn’t mind more fun elements like those, especially StreetPass—I loved StreetPass, though it’d be impractical on a device even bigger than the already not-pocket-sized Switch.
But try using them side by side, and it’s immediately obvious how sluggish and unresponsive those older consoles’ menus were. The 3DS’s OS feels to me like it’s constantly screaming in pain, barely able to run at all—moving between icons takes something like a half-second, switching modes takes three to five and a full loading screen…
I do miss the style, but I definitely wouldn’t want them to go that far in the opposite direction again. Just a little more flair and fun, maybe one gimmick.
Have you used the switch eshop? It takes seconds for some things to load on that.
Extremely true! It definitely feels like the 3DS did—really straining and struggling constantly, like it’s perpetually just one wrong move away from crashing.
Navigating options and switching between game tiles for stuff that’s already installed is pleasantly responsive, though, and that’s probably a solid 70% of what I do in an OS like this.
Nintendo has definitely fallen victim to the corporate trend of minimalism. The system UI like you said is one example, another is the fonts they use in first party games. Nintendo used to love using blocky fonts, especially in Mario games, but now they prefer super boring, simplistic fonts
My thought is that Nintendo in a way might’ve intentionally made the Switch’s UI so soulless and depressing to have a bigger differentiator with the Switch 2
The UI has been largely static since launch in 2017.
If anything they would have been differentiating from 3ds/WiiU.
True, maybe they had already considered a potential Switch successor if the platform became successful, and they mainly experimented with the hardware first to see if it has ground. I think now is the best time to integrate immersive software again. I think the Switch 2 already kind of gives off Wii U looks and could be the perfect solution of combining the Wii U and Switch and give us the perfect solution that the previous iterations never fully lived up to. Maybe it will not be the case but I will be optimistic and hope for the best.
they will probably add more stability… like they do on the switch 😏
Not even a little bit. After the way nintendo has acted in the recent past, i won’t be buying anything nintendo.
