@TrashyMG : Sure, the N64 is a remarkable console in its own right, but it mainly comes from its power. What I meant is that when it came to actual use cases, the main thing differing from previous Nintendo products was its analogue stick. Now this was advanced for its time (although it was a bit clunky and unreliable as early tech can be). 3D games were already available on the SNES thanks to SuperFX chips. Super Mario 64 is said by Miyamoto to have been first considered for the SuperFX 2, and it was not the lack of 3D capabilities but the few buttons which justified waiting for the Ultra64. Of course Super Mario FX levels would've been more akin to Bowser in the Sky than to Bob-omb Battlefield, but it could have been a thing.
Also while cartridges saved the day for its near-instant access times and high bandwidth compared to the poor 2x speed CD drives found in the Saturn and PlayStation, I'd rather have traded approximated bilinear filtering for more texture cache, because boy did the 4KB result in blurry everythings. And using RAMBUS is the epitome of "not such a good idea" when you have to wait forever everytime you transfer anything regardless of the speed.
@λ the β-Redex Reducer : No, the DS isn't much like the GameCube, neither in hardware nor in spirit. In hardware it shared with the Wii (and later so did the WiiU and 3DS) the idea of "taking the same hardware and beef it up a little, so we keep backwards compatibility", but it's the intent that it shares.
Of course I agree with you on the hardware side of things, and the DS is indeed a successor in everything but name. The latter is the point I'm trying to make : for the layperson, a Game Boy is the same as another. Even more if it can play the same games (GB>GBC>GBA>DS>3DS). Breaking the name legacy shines a light on what is new : it is not about what it does better, it's about what it can do that nothing else can.
The same goes with the Pyra after all; most of its purposes are covered, and often better, by other devices. It's the idea of combining all of them in one handheld that's the spirit. You don't have to carry a smartphone, a laptop and a gamepad and try to cram it all in your pants. If the Pyra covers all your use cases, you only need one and nothing else. And it might even bring new uses along.
@levi : indeed I was more of the DS generation, as I was born in 1995, but my brothers and I were more PS2 and PC oriented. They have had every Nintendo console up to and including the N64 though. But these I mostly discovered through emulation until I started collecting. I love hardware as much as the next guy, but when it comes to what made history it isn't only a matter of performance. The GC is awesome and it's on my list, but there's a reason the Wii sold so well. I remember my brother and I introducing our dad to Wii Sports (bowling), and it's just more accessible than even Bomberman. Plus I'm sure we all remember not caring so much about visuals when we were kids, we cared more about the games themselves.
When it comes to great Nintendo hardware from a "good design meets actual performance" standpoint, the GameCube is only topped by the NES. Everything else had major flaws, apart from the Switch maybe. But if anything sold on pure performance alone, the Pyra would be doomed from the start... and yet it isn't.
By the way, I mentioned the Typhoon because it used the same Motorola 68020 as the Macintosh II and A1200, so it's a bad joke that actually makes sense
