The Nintendo Switch was a masterstroke in a decade of ups and downs

Could Nintendo be having its heyday? There have certainly been ups and downs in the past few years, but the success of the Nintendo Switch console has truly put the House of Mario back on the map, and offered a viable and portable alternative to the encumbering home consoles offered by Sony and Microsoft. The secret to this success may be in quantity: Nintendo has released far more console iterations in the last decade than competing console makers, with a medley of handheld and home hardware models releasing in relatively quick succession. While this offered a lot of chances to get things wrong – which certainly happened at points – it also provided the opportunity to turn things around. And the willingness to experiment and innovate in the form factor of its gaming hardware has been crucial to get Nintendo to where it is today.