Here’s my case for why the Switch will become the next Game Boy.
Everyone’s been hyping up the Switch Pro, Switch 2, next Nintendo console, honestly since like 2019. And it’s been imminently coming honestly since like 2020. I’m a little tired of it, even if I made my own Switch 2 ideas post months back.
…
The Game Boy lasted a VERY LONG TIME. Despite being underpowered on release in 1989, it went strong until 1998 (!!!) before the Game Boy Color supplanted it. And backwards-compatible games still got made. The last native Game Boy game came out in 2001, while the last backwards-compatible Game Boy Color game came out in 2002! For reference, the Game Boy Advance came out in 2001. The DS would come out in 2004. And even still, original Game Boy games still kept getting made.
This used to be really common for consoles with gargantuan install bases. The Famicom went from 1983-1994 while the Super Famicom went from 1990 to 2003. The Playstation 2 lasted from 2001-2014, while the Playstation 4 is still going over ten years later. Lots of consoles, especially in Japan, just kept producing more games long after their successors. But Nintendo in particular doesn’t keep its consoles around that much anymore. The Nintendo 64 died before the Gamecube even came out, the Gamecube died just a couple months after the Wii, and the GBA and DS both peetered out just a couple years after their successors.
The Game Boy, though, just kept chugging along, probably because every single gamer in the world had one, or more likely two or three.
That’s a commonality the Switch absolutely has.
And so that’s why I think the Switch will become the next Game Boy.
The next console will be more expensive. The games, too, will probably be $70 a pop. Nintendo loves to surprise, but I find it hard to believe they’ll make this Switch successor an absolute category-busting must-have. The Switch itself already did so fantastically well that I’m not sure what in the world they can even do at this point (although I do have some wild ideas). So I feel pretty confident that it’ll be a bit of a decline.
And that’s fine–plenty of consoles get a slow start. The 3DS had a rough first year, but eventually became a wonderful console. The PS3 was a joke at first but somehow ended up outselling the Xbox 360 in the end. The Switch 2 will probably be a little mild for a while, but pick up over time.
And all along, the Switch will probably still be there.
So, it’ll keep getting games, keep selling lots and lots of consoles. It’ll remain the primary console for parents to buy their children. It’ll keep getting all the major indie releases.
Heck, the PS4 is basically that right now; it’s still actively supported with all but the biggest games, almost eleven years since release. The Switch will definitely be the same way.
And it’ll just keep going, and going, and going… And the Nintendo Switch will become the next Game Boy.
The Gameboy was Nintendo’s main handheld as late as 1998. Superior systems like the Lynx and Game Gear had come and gone, and still this ancient grayscale device reigned supreme. The Switch only has to make it another two years to pass the Game Boy’s nine-year dominance. Unless the Switch successor is an absolute dynamite game changer, which it won’t be, that record is going to be smashed through. And the last original Game Boy game came out in 2001… Are we still going to be seeing major releases on the Switch all the way in 2029? Honestly… I bet we will.
We reached the point where specs no longer matter to the vast majority of games. We reached that point a decade ago, actually, and somehow didn’t really notice. That’s why I believe the Nintendo Switch will become the next Game Boy.
