The Nintendo Switch 2 marks the end of the ‘toy’ video game console

digitaltrends.com:

I still have a clear memory of Christmas Day 2001. After a morning of eagerly unwrapping my gifts, my parents rolled out one more surprise that I’d been so desperately anticipating. I tore off the wrapping paper and there it was: the Nintendo GameCube. Without a second of hesitation, I pulled it out of the box and started poking and prodding every button on the little box. It wasn’t just a fancy new electronic device; it was a toy.

That used to be the dual function of a video game console. Each one was unpredictable, bringing entirely new innovations or gimmicks that begged to be played with as much as the games. The ones that didn’t at least got playful with their design. That’s slowed with each passing generation. Vibrant colors has been replaced with black and white plastic. Xbox console designs now border on brutalist. Everything is slowly converging to one unified vision of what a video game console looks like.

With the Nintendo Switch 2, it looks as though the era of “fun” game console designs is over for now. That’s not a bad thing by any means, though its just a little bittersweet.

• The Nintendo Switch 2 could sell 15 million consoles its first year, analysts say
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• The Nintendo Switch 2 gets its official reveal, but no release date

End of an era

The early days of home consoles were a true wild west. With so many companies trying to break into the market, manufacturers had to find ways for their systems to stand out. That translated to a lot of experimentation with what a console looks like, but also how games controlled. There’s a tactile joy to something like the Atari 2600’s big rubber joysticks or spinning paddle controllers. They console was a toy, one that even the most hardened of adults couldn’t help but fool around with.

This spirit held strong throughout early console generations, especially as newcomers like Sega and Microsoft entered the race, offering their own unique variations