Is Nintendo Switch the company’s next Wii or its next Wii U?

Today Nintendo pulled back some of the veil surrounding its next gaming system, codenamed NX.

We now know it’s called the Nintendo Switch, that it blends home console gaming with on-the-go tablet gaming. That it has controllers that can break apart to be used by two different people, separately in two hands, wrap around a dock to look like a standard controller or even attach to either side of the portable screen. We know when docked the system seems to behave like a standard console and when on the go the tablet can sit upright with a kickstand or slide onto a holder in a car.

Photo: Nintendo of America

There’s plenty more important things we don’t know like the actual release date in March, the price, whether it supports motion gaming or even if it has a touchscreen. But really, none of that matters because today we learned the most important thing that Nintendo developed for the Switch: A clear vision.

The Switch is a gaming system that lets you play the same games on your television or on the go. That’s it, you don’t really need more words to communicate what Nintendo is going for here.

Perhaps the through-line of design and implementation and the clear concept of what it delivers differently isn’t as pure as Nintendo’s greatest success, but it’s certainly better than one of the company’s biggest failures.

The Wii was announced with a 30 second video back in 2006. The video starred the double "i"s of the console’s new name and was, with the exception of a brief glimpse at the controller, completely free of images or video of hardware or games.

People hated it. Gamers mocked the name and its similarity to a bodily function. Newspaper headline writers lost their minds with the pun opportunities. Even brand experts called into question Nintendo’s new console name.

But that simple, straightforward name backed a product just as streamlined. The heart of the Wii was essentially a remote control, its single feature the ability to play a game by moving your hand around.

It was easy to demonstrate and, just as importantly, easy for anyone to play. Nintendo went on to sell more than 100 million of the little white slabs.

On the other hand

Compare that to the Wii’s successor: The Wii U.

Everything about the system seemed confused, even the name. Many people not completely immersed in Nintendo and gaming knowledge thought the device was a Wii accessory.

People who realized that the black console and its screen-toting GamePad was a new system, questioned why you couldn’t just take the GamePad with you and play on it when on the go.

And most importantly, most devastating for the console’s chances, was that Nintendo didn’t seem to have a clear vision for what it was and what it was meant to deliver. It was marketed like the half-step forward it really was.

"Look," the marketing seemed to say, "here’s a Wii, but with a controller that has a screen. Oh, and you still have to be within paces of a TV to use it."

Few games seemed to deliver on the promise of the GamePad; and motion controls, by then almost passé, were widely overlooked or even made the games worse for their inclusion. Famed Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto even personally took on the challenge of trying to prove the power and ability of the GamePad, but without much success.

The end result was a meager 13 million consoles sold (as of June) for a system that was launched in the fall of 2012 and will be surely dead by next year.

Enter the Switch

It’s a solid name for a clear idea: Gaming on the go or in your home on the same system.

"Nintendo Switch allows gamers the freedom to play however they like. It gives game developers new abilities to bring their creative visions to life by opening up the concept of gaming without boundaries."

"Freedom to play" and "gaming without boundaries" — these are strong, clear, easy-to-grasp concepts from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.

Image: Nintendo

Or maybe one could call the Switch what it seems to be: the Wii U done right.

Already, just one three-minute video into the life of the Switch, and it seems to have the sort of killer, early line-up the Wii U never could muster at once. Hints of Mario, Mario Kart, Smash Bros., Splatoon; promises of a new Zelda and a list of nearly 50 publishers, developers and others supporting the console.

Nintendo knows this is it. One more Wii U on its books and no number of Wii can bring it back from disaster. The company’s already taken one step in a direction it said it never would: delivering games on a phone.

The Switch is off to a great start with a clear vision and an interesting design. Now it’s up to Nintendo to see if it can make right everything it got wrong with the Wii U.