Rating Nintendo’s names for its home gaming consoles

What’s in a name? If you’re trying to a sell home video game console, a lot.

The name is the most important marketing tool a product can have. It needs to tell consumers something about the device, hopefully enough to entice them to buy one. This is something Nintendo has utilized with varying degrees of success. Some of the names of its systems have become cultural icons, while others did more to confuse consumers than inform them.