And that's still the case, so it was never their expectation with 3DS, Switch, or any other portable by Nintendo. I never heard of a single person who was expecting it to compete with PS4 or PS5. Such a person may exist but they're not the average gamer.
It can't compete with the PS5 pound for pound, no. But it can play many of the exact same games as the PS5, just with lower graphical settings, and maybe worse FPS. Past Nintendo handhelds couldn't even be expected to do that much. They basically had to have their own completely separate libraries made for them alone; the Switch is getting direct ports of PS5 and Xbox games.
If they were making a regular home console it'd be stronger
While that would (probably) be true, it wouldn't really be relevant to my point. You're just dodging the question.
Switch is the 3DS' successor regardless of whatever Nintendo calls it.
The Switch is the successor of the 3DS
and the Wii U. Its actually a more direct successor to the latter because the Wii U was outright replaced and discontinued immediately, while the 3DS limped on a little while longer. But its effectively a successor to both.
No, it literally is just a Switch, it has the same internal components, just no way to connect to a TV because they removed the port. They didn't diminish its internals, they removed a feature. It's the same as if your regular Switch had a faulty port abd couldn't connect to a TV anymore.
Removing the TV connection also meant sacrificing its power and permanently downclocking the processor. It performs comparable to a Switch in handheld mode, but loses out on the dock based performance enhancement.
No, Wii is very close to GC's graphical ability as it is, which 3DS was comparable to. I'm not sure which is stronger between Wii & 3DS, probably Wii by a tad bit, but they are comparable and that would not be enough to be considered a next gen portable.
No, it would have had around a 360/PS3 level of graphics.
GB: equal to 3rd gen
GBA: 4th gen
DS: 5th gen
3DS: 6th gen
3DS successor (hint: Switch): Big mystery!
I mean, we're probably splitting hairs here about a hypothetical console that doesn't even exist. We're just guestimating what it might have looked like based real roughly on what Nintendo did in the past, but its all guess work. We could argue till we're blue in the face and come to no real conclusion.
PSP wasn't just playing "mobile" games. It shared many games with PS2 with very few concessions, and its comparable games like God of War: Ghost of Sparta looked nearly as good as the home console ones.
Remember, PSP launched before PS3, so PSP looked nearly identical to the latest available PlayStation, the PS2.
The PSP launched in late 2004 (Japan), early 2005 (everywhere else). The PS3 launched in late 2006 (most of the world), early 2007 (Europe). We are talking a difference of 1 year and some change, depending on the region. The PS2 was on the way out by the time the PSP launched. For most of its life, the PSP was contemporary with the PS3, considering that it wasn't discontinued till 2014, while the PS3 lasted till 2017. Most of its better games didn't come out till after the PS3 launched, so no, its games didn't look as good as the home console ones for most of its existence.
Talk about a "distinction without a difference", that's one if there's ever been. Those are literally the same thing, just saying them in reverse.
Wrong. Within that statement, you must recognize a difference in design philosophy, a difference in expectations that would be felt by the audience, and a difference in priorities. There is a lot locked up in that statement that would be very different if stated in the reverse.
I mean, it'll still be in the same boat. Switch was weaker than PS4. Then Sony dropped PS5, now Switch 2 will be weaker than PS5.
The difference is that the Switch 2 will be more capable of playing the same games the PS5 does. This will, ideally, lead to more parity in their libraries and allow releases that would have come regardless to look and better and perform better. The point isn't to match or surpass the PS5, but close the gap and make porting easier.
Then Sony will launch PS6 abd Nintendo will release some type of portable, likely Switch 3, which will be weaker than that.
The PS5 isn't coming for a while yet, judging by everything currently going on with Sony. The Switch 2 will have plenty of time to breath. By the time the Switch 3 comes out, handheld technology will have improved once again and the gaps between the Switch and Playstation will only get smaller. Meanwhile, there really hasn't been any meaningful improvement in console/desktop PC tech, and even if there is, Sony's need to sell their consoles as more reasonable prices since they can't really afford another PS3 scenario, means that Sony will only make incremental improvements regardless. Time is on Nintendo's side, in other words, not Sony's. The more time passes, the more the tech gaps will close.
So they're not addressing anything in a special way, they're just making the next gen jump as they always have, and naturally their portables will never match home console competition (nor even portable competition for that matter; each generation they were behind something else in power, so if Sony dropped Vita 2 it would've in all likelihood been stronger than Switch).
Any handheld attempting to chase power would have to raise its pricing proportionally, like the Steam Deck. Sony attempted that in the past, twice, and it failed both times. Sony would never produce a hybrid like the Switch because it would essentially be seen as copying Nintendo, except without Nintendo's games or popularity, and would only undermine their own home consoles. In other words, Nintendo won't face any competition in the hybrid space from Sony or Microsoft because they know they can't really compete, and Steam Deck already controls the premium handheld market, effectively shutting out competition, while Nintendo are producing "strong enough" capable systems that could undercut any opponent on price and familiarity. Its really a perfect situation for Nintendo.
Doesn't matter what they call it, matters what it is. As for what they emphasized, they emphasized neither mode of play in the commercial, what they did was show a portable console that can connect to a TV. That's what it is, that's what they showed.
You can try to emphasize it as a home console, Nintendo themselves technically do by calling it a "home console", but it doesn't interfere with reality.
Reality is Nintendo considers it a home console. Everybody else calls it a hybrid which means they consider it at least as much of a home console as it is a portable, if not more, since not everybody uses it as a handheld. It is what is, so we are just going to have to agree to disagree here.
Flat out disagree with this. The library on the Switch is markedly different from the PS5/XB and that's what gives it its advantage.
Not really. I mean, other than the obvious presence of Nintendo games, its basically the less demanding games of the PS5/Xbox/PC libraries. Only games the Switch doesn't get are the ones it can't handle. Maybe in indie games, the Switch has a truly unique library, but its third party library isn't really unique, barring maybe a few scattered exclusives, like Shin Megami Tensei.