We Rank Every Nintendo Launch Lineup!

·1 hr 16 min·5 clips

Jordan announces a PlayStation 5 giveaway for five months, offering listeners a chance to win.

This episode of VGC: The Video Game Podcast features hosts Jordan Middler and Chris Scullion ranking every Nintendo console launch lineup. The hosts begin by celebrating their recent award for Media Brand of the Year. They then transition into their main topic of systematically evaluating Nintendo's hardware launches. The ranking covers consoles from the Nintendo Entertainment System to the Nintendo Switch. Specific launch titles discussed include *Super Mario Bros.* for the NES and *Wii Sports* for the Wii. The hosts analyze the Game Boy's launch, which featured *Tetris*. They examine the Nintendo 64's controversial launch, which had only two games in some regions. The discussion includes the GameCube's lineup, highlighting *Luigi's Mansion* and *Super Smash Bros. Melee*. The Wii U's weak launch software is noted as a point of criticism. Finally, the strong launch of the Switch with *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* is evaluated. A surprising claim is that the Virtual Boy is considered to have a technically proficient launch library for its hardware. An interesting insight is that the perceived quality of a console's launch can be heavily swayed by a single landmark title. The hosts note that some consoles launched with ports or lesser-known games that have since become classics. They debate whether a smaller, focused launch lineup is better than a larger, diluted one. A memorable moment involves the hosts joking about the dire situation of the Nintendo 64's two-game launch. Chris Scullion provides specific historical context for each console's release window. The tone is conversational and celebratory, filled with inside jokes and personal anecdotes. The style is informal and opinion-driven, reflecting the hosts' long-time expertise in gaming journalism. Nintendo fans and gaming history enthusiasts would love this detailed retrospective analysis. Listeners seeking hard news or industry interviews might want to skip this opinion-based ranking episode.

As heard by us

A brisk console-future debate that treats platform politics like a business fight, not science fiction.

VGC spends most of its runtime on a familiar but useful question: what happens when Xbox hardware stops feeling like a sealed box and starts looking like a storefront problem.

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Why you'd press play

Listen if you want the Xbox hardware debate to turn into a storefront cage match.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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