Everyone had a Nintendo DS.

Some had a PS3 or an Xbox 360. But everyone I knew had a version of Nintendo’s ‘dual screened’ handheld. During school trips with a long bus journey everyone brought theirs along.

You could join a chat room on Pictochat or take part in a Mariokart race.

It didn’t matter if you didn’t own the game yourself. Many multiplayer DS games allowed other players to join through wireless feature ‘Download Play’.

Perhaps it’s a slight generalisation to say that everyone had a DS but a lot of people did and the likelihood is that you too had a Nintendo product at some point in your life.

The Gameboy or one of its many iterations, SNES, N64, GameCube, Nintendo Wii.

You may now own a Nintendo Switch, their latest (8th Gen) console. Either that or you enviously watch on as your kid, niece or nephew plays on theirs, hoping you’ll get a go soon.

The thing with the Switch, like many of their previous products, is that it appeals to a very wide audience. It’s not necessarily for the hardcore gamers, the streamers, the PC master race. Although that’s not to say it’s games aren’t hugely entertaining and expertly crafted.

Nintendo consoles in recent times are for those people who love to play games, but who didn’t realise they were invited. Everyone likes to play games; they just don’t necessarily want to sit in front of the TV and shoot people.

This is what Nintendo, the brand, are all about.

The handheld king

The Nintendo DS lite was my first proper gadget. If I remember correctly, I got one before I had a mobile phone (millennial over here). I didn’t have a PS2 or Xbox growing up and often envied the kids who did have one.

Eventually though I had saved up enough pocket money to get Nintendo’s flagship handheld console at the time.

All the Nintendo DS models combined sold 154 million units worldwide making it the best-selling handheld console of all time and the second best-selling console of all time overall.

Its success overshadowed that of its main competitor, the Sony PSP. I knew a few people that had a PSP but just that, a few.

They were all male and used it to play Fifa, Need for Speed, GTA or Star Wars Battlefront. The PSP was sold as a boy’s toy and with its angular shape and dark colour scheme it was hard to see how it would appeal to a much wider audience.

The DS on the other hand with its varying colour options and flagship games, appealed to a much broader set of tastes. 

I still used it to play action, adventure games and I never owned Nintendogs. But my sister did. And we both played Big Brain Academy.

Not always winning

Despite the Japanese company’s historic success and the longevity of their world-famous IP’s it’s not always been a smooth ride for Nintendo and the last decade has held its fair share of ups and downs for the company.

The Wii, their motion control wielding home console, was a roaring success. It sold over 100 million units and was the best-selling home console of its generation beating both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (both of which were still pretty damn popular!)

The target market was clear, the big sell was obvious from the start. But then then they moved onto the next thing – The Wii U.

This didn’t work quite as well. This is partly down to some bad positioning and a lack of clarity as to what purpose it actually served. The Wii U only sold around 14 million units - less than the GameCube. For a while it looked like Nintendo were falling behind in the video game race, unlikely to recover.

Experiencing year after year of losses, many suggested they stop making consoles altogether. And whilst they would refuse to turn their back on something so core to the company – the creation of new technology – they would have to adapt their direction as a company slightly.

It was to many people’s surprise perhaps, that against the odds Nintendo have risen again. With the entrance of the mobile, augmented reality multiplayer phenomenon, Pokémon Go, one of Nintendo’s most popular creations was back in the public consciousness.

This would only be the start of their foray into the mobile market and they’ve also seen success with games like Super Mario Run, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Mario Kart Tour, of which the latter broke the record for first day mobile game launches.

Then came the Switch.

The handheld, home console hybrid has been an overwhelming success, eclipsing Wii U sales in its first year having now sold well over 40 million units. Nintendo’s slump was over. The reasons why point to the fundamental successes at the core of their brand.

Here I talk about their:

A.    Target demographic.

B.    Willingness to try new things and innovate.

X.    Unique and long-lasting IP’s and leveraging of nostalgia.

Y.    Ability to adapt (despite the temptation to do the opposite).

A. Know your audience

Nintendo’s target demographic hasn’t always been the same and they have historically pivoted but for the last 10-15 years, Nintendo has been the console choice of the casual gamer.

The Nintendo Wii particularly, was marketed as something that everyone could join in on and the motion controllers meant playing with others was integral to the enjoyment of a lot of their games.

The marketing for this console won awards by daring to aim it not so much at the typical teenage male gamer but more at his mum or sister. The resultant sales success proved that this wasn’t just a gimmick.

Titles like Wii Sports have become legendary simply because of how accessible they were and the fun they provided to large audiences. Finding an alternative audience to the typical consumer for that industry in this case paid dividends.

B. Think outside the (x)box

Part of the reason the Wii and DS could appeal to wider audiences and also be a bit more affordable than their rivals was that the hardware was generally not as flashy.

The graphics weren’t as good and the games you could play wouldn’t necessarily be carbon copies of those on Sony and Microsoft’s machines. Even with the fairly pricey Switch, there’s still a slightly quirky underdog feel to Nintendo’s tech.

The performance is still smooth and the crisp Japanese design is appealing but you feel like you’re holding something with its own personality.

Often this personality is provided by the fact there is a central interesting feature. The Xbox and PlayStation are usually differentiated on things like how much hard drive space there is or what resolution the games are in.

With Nintendo the interesting features are not iterations of existing technology but some undeniably new idea. They have always been willing to try new things and their innovation has been rewarded. The results haven’t always been the most polished but they have been functional and everyone else has had to follow suit.

They led the way with ergonomic controller shapes (N64 and Gamecube), touch screen (DS), motion control (Wii) and now the successful hybrid of home and handheld (Switch).

The vibrant primary colours of the Switch are emblematic of its slightly ballsy foray into the unknown and Nintendo’s willingness to be unequivocally different.

X. Use what you’ve got. Even if it’s an Italian moustachioed plumber.

Mario. Zelda. Pokémon. These are household names. Mario and Pokémon are the first and second best-selling video game franchises of all time.

This is partly due to the sheer volume of games that have been released under these titles but also the popularity of the characters and games that they have been part of.

Nintendo knows these are some of their best assets along with Animal Crossing, Metroid, Star Fox and other smaller IP’s that they have built games around for the last 40 years.

To build anticipation and excitement around their brand all they need to do is leverage these IP’s. It’s a very powerful tool and though other entertainment companies have their own Mario – Sonic the Hedgehog, Spiderman, Mickey Mouse – Mario is the undisputed king of the gaming world.

Obviously, Nintendo have this tool as a result of their sheer time in the game. Literally. But the wisdom can carry over. Use what you’ve got and use it well.

Y. Be prepared to pivot, double jump and dash

With their central focus on new hardware and bringing out games with the same characters, Nintendo could have been accused of being set in their ways.

Some might have pointed this out as a cause of skating dangerously close to decline. But after a period of struggle they accepted that they needed to adapt.

Nintendo aren’t going anywhere and obviously at some point survival had to come before an idealistic and perhaps outdated desire to sell cool toys. One publication writes, “Nintendo’s overall branding message seems to be, “adapt and live forever.”

The company has always been known for creating new things and it has successfully managed to do that again but even they couldn’t deny the power of mobile.

In 2015 they began investing in mobile games developers and since then have helped release hugely successful mobile games like Pokemon Go.

Not only did this bring a new revenue stream to Nintendo but it also helped warm up consumers for their next big console release. Nintendo were back in the public consciousness and they had used mobile as that way in.

Even if something has historically worked doesn’t mean that it always will and any successful brand must be prepared to find a new course to keep things going. There’s no shame in doing whatever it takes to survive.

It’s admirable when companies not only do this but use it as a springboard to achieve new glories.

Finding new ways to play

When a brand isn’t afraid to be different, embrace fully who they are and tap into an audience that isn’t necessarily taken care of or isn’t being catered for they are on to a winner.

If you build a memorable and lasting brand, content or characters that people latch on to, you can reuse that social currency for a long time. If you want to survive, you’ve got to be prepared to adapt and change. If the end product is good, people won’t care that it’s delivered to them in a different package.

As tech progresses and consumer habits change it is my hope that Nintendo keep providing ways for people of all demographics to play.

Now excuse me whilst I go and dig out my Nintendo DS.

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