Nintendo has behind it many of the great successes in the history of consoles and video games. But to hit the key, you also have to suffer the bitter taste of defeat. In an interview with Reggie Fils-Aimé, the former CEO of Nintendo of America was commenting on some of the products that the Japanese company launched on the market and they did not come to fruition. In this case, he did not refer to consoles or video games in particular, but to devices and software that Nintendo designed with a view to innovation and virtual reality. These are some of the inventions that the company designed and that did not work as expected.
The inventions of the Big N that did not come to fruition
These are the Japanese proposals that were a fiasco for the brand.
nintendo labo
Nintendo Labo was Nintendo’s bet to combine the classic and the modern using video games. Combine the Nintendo Switch with cardboard folds that can be shaped to make peripherals for the console.
It cannot be said that Nintendo Labo has had poor sales. However, Reggie considers that he has not achieved the goal that Nintendo had in mind . According to the former CEO of Nintendo America, Labo was a unique opportunity to introduce consoles in the classroom for STEM education . Also the Labo VR aimed to extend the experience of virtual reality in a different way. And to a certain extent, it is still a pending issue. However, Reggie believes that there is still time for Nintendo to meet that goal.
VirtualBoy
Launched in 1995, Nintendo was too far ahead of virtual reality with this device that was not even on the market for a year. This helmet simulated a depth effect, but did not yet have enough power to move three-dimensional environments.
According to Reggie, even though Virtual Boy was a flop (it sold less than 800,000 units), Nintendo proved it was on the right track soon after, when they turned the market upside down with Super Mario 64. Years later, the Big N was not has yielded in this field, as we have great examples such as augmented reality cards for Nintendo 3DS or the successful Pokémon GO. Virtual Boy was simply too early.
pictochat
On paper, Pictochat looked great. It was an application that was integrated into the Nintendo DS system, and with which you could interact by sending messages or drawings in different rooms. The problem is that it only worked via Wireless, that is, with other consoles that you had less than 10 meters away . And of course, in those cases, it is almost better to talk in person.
When Nintendo 3DS came out, Nintendo pretended Pictochat had never existed. And we know that no one has missed it.
Wii Vitality Sensor
It can be said that Nintendo anticipated activity bracelets and smartwatches. But it didn’t work out for them. The product was introduced by Satoru Iwata at E3 2009. It was like a kind of finger SpO2 sensor that connected to the WiiMote through the connector.
It was never known how it was going to be integrated into video games . According to Reggie, this sensor was one of the many experiments that the company did in order to expand its population of players, although it did not release any more data on this mysterious peripheral.
