What happened to the company that used to surprise us?

For as long as I can remember, Nintendo has done its own thing.

Except, it wasn’t.

A product image of the Switch 2 with a sad face emoji superimposed over the middle of the screen.

The console, unveiled as the Wii, was something else.

Games like Wii Fit sold in the tens of millions and spawned entire fitness franchises.

Nintendo hadn’t just created a new console, it had created a whole new way to play.

Cover image for YouTube video

And no one expected it.

Again, it was a Nintendo competing with imagination and finding novel ways to play.

Generation after generation, Nintendo surprised us with new ideas, even when the ideas themselves seemed slight.

Magic - or, well, maybe a headache.

Wii U to Switch: a concept nailed.

Switch toSwitch 2…

Huh?

A Miyamoto up its sleeve.

As the trailer wore on, I readied myself for it, for something unexpected, for something unforeseen.

All I saw was a design I know very well already.

Where’s the imagination in it all?

Where’s the Nintendo in it all, the toy maker?

I’ll tell you what it reminds me of: it reminds me of Apple.

Here’s an iPhone!

Or, here’s an iPad!

And the world would gasp at the imagination of it all.

He seemed unable to do anything wrong.

But now I don’t feel any excitement watching Apple.

It’s just similar-looking iPhone after similar looking iPhone.

Nintendo represented the unpredictable in gaming for so many years.

The focus was so holistic I began thinking less of Nintendo consoles as devices and more of toys.

Two things worry me.

One is that this might be the final form of Nintendo games machines now forever more.

There has been a change in leadership in recent years, of course.

Does that have something to do with it - has he instilled a more cautious approach?

That’s not to say it’s a wrong approach, by the way.

A feeling of meh-ness.

A neutral reaction to something I ought to be excitedly talking about with colleagues and Eurogamer readers.

Worse still is a realisation that’s probably it for Nintendo hardware for the next handful of years.

And so I’ll wonder it again: what happened to the Nintendo that used to surprise people?