Shigeru Miyamoto believes Nintendo’s decision not to chase the strongest hardware helped the original Switch connect with a wide audience. Speaking to Famitsu, the Mario and Zelda creator said Nintendo was “really pleased” that the console lasted around eight or nine years.
“I think it’s because, nowadays, customers aren’t always looking for the best specs,” Miyamoto said. His comments point to a strategy Nintendo has followed for years, focusing less on raw power and more on hardware features that change how people play.
Nintendo’s approach became especially clear with the Wii and Switch. Both systems competed successfully without matching the hardware strength of rival consoles, using ideas such as motion controls, portability, and flexible play setups to reach people who might not have been searching for the most powerful machine.
Nintendo wants to offer its own kind of play
“At Nintendo we always offer ‘styles of play that only we can create,’ and this includes the [hardware] interface,” Miyamoto said. For the Switch, that idea centered on a console that could move between a television and handheld play without requiring separate versions of the system.
He also compared Nintendo’s hardware with smartphones. Miyamoto said Nintendo consoles are faster and more flexible to develop for than general-use smart devices, where developers must account for compatibility across many versions of the hardware.
That philosophy also explains why games such as Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons mattered more to many Switch owners than technical specifications. The system could not deliver the same performance as higher-end hardware, but its games and portable design gave players a reason to choose it anyway.
The debate over resolution and frame rates remains loud among dedicated players, but Miyamoto’s point is aimed at a much wider audience. For many customers, the games they can play and the way they can play them matter more than having the strongest specifications on the market.
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