When I was a kid, I just looked at numbers. I knew that the PlayStation was a 32-bit console and that the Nintendo 64 was a 64-bit console. 64 is two times 32, therefore the N64 was twice as powerful; twice as capable. Of course, I knew nothing of the memory limitations of cartridges versus CDs, and was completely ignorant of the fact that that’s the main reason my favorite game of all time ( Final Fantasy VII) ended up on Sony’s console instead of Nintendo’s. That was the last time I remember feeling like Nintendo had a technically or graphically superior console compared to the competition. The GameCube had its advantages over the PS2 but obviously couldn’t hold a candle to the Xbox, which weighed about as much as 10 GameCubes.
After that the Wii was grossly under-powered compared to the Xbox 360 and PS3, and the Wii U, while capable of powering some beautiful games, is the clear underdog for this current generation. Be that as it may, from generation to generation I’ve always made a point to own Nintendo’s console. For my wallet’s sake I’ve always made trade-offs. Last generation I didn’t buy a PS3 (until much later), and this generation I left the Xbox One behind. Nintendo’s consoles were never negotiable; its first-party offerings are too good to miss out on. I’m okay with missing out on the latest Halo , but I’ll be damned if I have to miss out on a Mario Kart .
I don’t mind rooting for the underdog, I really don’t. I owned and loved a Dreamcast, after all, and that’s a purchase I’ll stand by until the day that I die. I’ve come to accept Nintendo simultaneously as the producer of some of the best games in the world, and the most underrated, niche-oriented hardware in the world. That all may be about to change with the NX, though. Of course, nobody can say anything for certain – Nintendo remains silent and is enforcing one of the most notorious NDAs in the industry – but we keep hearing whispers about the NX’s supposed power.
NeoGAF is my go-to hub for NX rumors. I like it there because members in good standing can be permanently banned for nonchalantly posting rumors and supposed leaks if not verified. That doesn’t mean that what you hear there is true, but it does mean that the leakers are getting their information either from Nintendo employees or developers working with NX dev kits. Supposedly, the NX is considerably more powerful than the PS4. The CPU is rumored to be about 15-30% stronger, and we could be working with 12 gigs of RAM (3 of which would be reserved for the OS).
That makes for an incredibly powerful machine, and this would be the first time that Nintendo put out the most powerful console on the market since the SNES days. That is, of course, unless Sony decides that they have to one-up Nintendo with a PS4K. I’ve been trying to spread my conspiracy theory for a month now that Sony only decided to produce a more powerful console after it learned that Nintendo was working on something that outperforms the PS4. While that may or may not be true, I have a good feeling that this holiday season, we’ll be discussing Nintendo’s new hardware as the sleekest and more capable machine around.
If Nintendo also confirms that it opted for x86 architecture, then we’re in serious business. We’re pretty sure that’s the case as we’ve heard tell that porting existing third-party titles to the NX would be a piece of cake. If all of this information turns out to be more than just hearsay, Nintendo really will be putting out a dream machine; a super-powerful console capable of outputting ultra high-def video, powering all of the current generation games more capably than the competition and then some, supported by the likes of EA, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Activision, with powerhouse first-party IPs and a rewards program worth participating in.
I can’t think of anything more exciting to look forward to this holiday season – not even VR. I’d love for Nintendo to rise to power once again, not only because I love Nintendo, but because it’d be great for competition. Microsoft and Sony would scramble to remain relevant and in the end it’s we who would benefit from that struggle. Here’s hoping an NX reveal comes soon, and that it’s better than we hoped it’d be!