Wikipedia community debates whether Switch belongs in the 8th or 9th generation. What do you think?

[D.Lo]

Not saying I disagree, but this isn't a valid argument since by this logic the Master System would be a 4th gen system considering it's a successor to the SG-1000 which itself is a 3rd gen system.

Click to shrink...

Because fixed, shared, numbered generations are a false re-writing of history by Wikipedia. Nobody used these numbers at the time, or at all until Wikipedia.

The Mark III was absolutely a new generation for Sega. A huge leap in graphical ability from a Creativision/Colecovision clone to beyond the Famicom.

 

[turbobrick]

I voted 9th gen. To me generations are a time period thing only. Power/features/games really don't matter.

 

[Antipode]

I guess the key question here is whether or not you think each company should be given its own separate lineage of generations to define each of its consoles, or if each generation is defined by the multiple consoles within it at that time. I'm of the mind that it should be the latter, and that multiple consoles can exist within each generation. If PS4 and PS4 Pro can both be eighth gen consoles, the Wii U and the Switch certainly can. Also, what gen do you consider the 3DS? Is 3DS part of the same numbered home console generation as Wii U, PS4 and Xbox One despite releasing in early 2011? The Switch is a successor to both the 3DS and the Wii U, but I consider it to be more the successor to the 3DS.

 

[Pyro]

I say eighth. To me the Switch just feels like it fits there perfectly.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

With stuff like PS4 Pro, Xbox Gamepass, Saudia, Xcloud, Steam and EGS generations are becoming irrelevant.

Previously generations used to mark a big jump and a restart to the library.

 

[Another]

Because fixed, shared, numbered generations are a false re-writing of history by Wikipedia. Nobody used these numbers at the time, or at all until Wikipedia.

The Mark III was absolutely a new generation for Sega. A huge leap in graphical ability from a Creativision/Colecovision clone to beyond the Famicom.

Click to shrink...

Like I said, I don't disagree.

Can't agree with the "false re-writing of history" bit, though... Nothing's being re-written, like you yourself said nobody used such numbers at the time, this concept of console generations postdates the actual generations in case, they're merely trying to retroactively accommodate older systems into something that is legible and clearly/easily understandable for those familiar with the modern concepts and perception of the industry, nobody's trying to rewrite history.

 

[D.Lo]

Like I said, I don't disagree.

Can't agree with the "false re-writing of history" bit, though... Nothing's being re-written, like you yourself said nobody used such numbers at the time, this concept of console generations postdates the actual generations in case, they're merely trying to retroactively accommodate older systems into something that is legible and clearly/easily understandable for those familiar with the modern concepts and perception of the industry, nobody's trying to rewrite history.

Click to shrink...

That was what they were trying to do yes. It was a bad idea and has been badly done. You just said "by this logic the Master System would be a 4th gen system" when that's a meaningless statement when no contemporary source would ever have called it that and shared generations were simply not used at all in Japan in that era. Their crappy system is shoving older generations into a post 2000s paradigm.

Their system is also contradictory and broken. Sometimes it's time, sometimes it's power. The Dreamcast and Gamecube were never on the market together, and the whole of the Dreamcast's life its main competitors were the PS1 and N64, it had only one year against PS2. There's really no way to justify calling it the same generation based on time, so it must be power? But then why would the Mark III not be a new generation over the SG1000, being signifigantly more powerful?

 

[KtSlime]

That was what they were trying to do yes. It was a bad idea and has been badly done. You just said "by this logic the Master System would be a 4th gen system" when that's a meaningless statement when no contemporary source would ever have called it that and shared generations were simply not used at all in Japan in that era. Their crappy system is shoving older generations into a post 2000s paradigm.

Their system is also contradictory and broken. Sometimes it's time, sometimes it's power. The Dreamcast and Gamecube were never on the market together, and the whole of the Dreamcast's life its main competitors were the PS1 and N64, it had only one year against PS2. There's really no way to justify calling it the same generation based on time, so it must be power? But then why would the Mark III not be a new generation over the SG1000, being signifigantly more powerful?

Click to shrink...

Yeah, it's a bunch of mixed criteria to classify the 30 years of gaming hardware just because the term "next generation" started getting used. It's broken in the ways you mentioned, but all the way at "gen 1" as well. Gen 1 and gen 2 are split based of hardware design paradigm, and then gen 3 exists which is identical to gen 2 except for it is post "video game crash", which was an American phenomenon, which causes strange inconsistencies such as Nintendo having a gen 1 system followed by a gen 3 system...

The classificatory system of "generations" has been trash from the beginning (which was the early/mid 2000s).

 

[petethepanda]

Gut vote was 8th gen, but changed it to "we should stop." Nintendo platforms have been their own separate thing for a while now.

 

[unicornKnight]

The traditional gens are over but I'd classify it 8th gen too. Sorry. Look at the software, nothing that would be classified next gen there, the Switch can hardly play all the games that pre existed its launch. When I think of Next Gen I think of new games that weren't possible in the current gen. SNES classic released in 2017, is that next gen too?

 

[Hybrid Rainbow]

Rereading this thread, yeah the Switch definitely should be put with 8th Gen. The PS5/XSX are about to be a huge leap from this gen and Switch isn't a part of that.

 

[Mewzard]

The traditional gens are over but I'd classify it 8th gen too. Sorry. Look at the software, nothing that would be classified next gen there, the Switch can hardly play all the games that pre existed its launch. When I think of Next Gen I think of new games that weren't possible in the current gen. SNES classic released in 2017, is that next gen too?

Click to shrink...

Yet, the Wii was similar to Gen 6 in terms of power, and yet was Gen 7. The WiiU was comparable to the Gen 7 consoles in terms of power, yet kicked off Gen 8.

Why is the Switch the exception here? Because the WiiU sold bad? Because Sony and Microsoft dragged out their Gen 8 consoles? The PS4 Pro and Xbox One X weren't new consoles, but powered up old consoles. They got more out of their respective games, but weren't new ones. But the Switch? Everything about it was vastly different from the WiiU. Games only it could play, new controller type, new eShop, zero backwards compatability, actual portability, an entirely different game medium (cartridge vs disc). It's an entirely different world.

The SNES Classic is a plug and play of an old console, of course it's not next gen.

 

[The Artisan]

I say eighth. To me the Switch just feels like it fits there perfectly.

Click to shrink...

Nice and simple.

 

[The Artisan]

Cutting the legs off your last console that flopped and putting a new more viable product out does not make the change of a generation.

The same way human population generations are not defined by the first or last offspring from a member of a given prior generation.

The 9th generation probably is best described as Stadia/Xbox Series X/PlayStation 5/Nintendo Switch successor

Click to shrink...

Agree with this as well

 

[chromatic9]

Another 8th gen product to me.

 

[tenderbrew]

when you try to squeeze something into a framework that never really made sense anyway of course its going to be confusing

who cares

you only have so much time on this planet, stop worrying about this

 

[SeanMN]

I think the Switch is an 8th gen console.

To me generations are a time period thing only. Power/features/games really don't matter.

Click to shrink...

Totally disagree. I think there are several factors that contribute to our thinking of a generation:

• Release time period - contemporary competitors
• Status of prior released console
• Technical advancements and capability

I think it's likely the switch will have existed longer in the current gen than it will have for next gen. I also think the power gap will be so massive "next gen / gen 9" exclusive games won't be possible on the switch. Even now we see the limits of capability for the Switch to run current gen games.

When I look back at past generations, I think about how the technology evolved at each stage to allow for new games and experiences. I think we're going to see a maybe leap with gen 9 that is not reflective of the Switch.

 

[LegendofLex]

The theme of last generation was "trying to control the living room."

By all indications so far from Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Google, the theme of this generation will be "playing your game library anywhere."

Which of those themes does Switch fall into? That's the answer.

 

[Amin_Parker]

Switch is a handheld also you are missing Color TV-Game

Click to shrink...

The Color TV-Game console was Nintendo entering the very first generation of game consoles. So in fact Nintendo has been in every single generation as a console maker but not all of their consoles released in America. I really do wish that historians would include all of these systems that Nintendo created into their overall history. Then people would really realize that the Switch is a 9th generation system and Nintendo had released systems in all generations.

 

[mclem]

The entire concept of gens is pretty obsolete now that we have PS4 Pros and all this shit. Gaming doesn't work to solid gens anymore and Nintendo were arguably never in the same generation structure as Microsoft and Sony anyway.

Click to shrink...

If anything we should probably shift to referencing in terms of time periods these days anyhow; go from 'release date' to 'end of official manufacture'. Then you could potentially break revisions down even further within that span.

 

[Necron]

8th gen to me.

 

[ZSeibar]

8th Gen. Wikipedia is right on this one

 

[ShinobiBk]

I knew the last option would not be winning this poll but was hoping against hope it would be

 

[Hilarious_Bearious]

This thread: