The Nintendo Switch 2

it is time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itpcsQQvgAQ

very surprised the mouse thing turned out to be true!

time to first look at it

time to wait until april 2 for the important part (video games)

slick to oh btw new mario cart

I guess 3rd parties can start announcing games now?

Looks good! Sightly bigger. Better attachment mechanism for the joy cons

xp unless they want to be in the Direct, which they probably do

roll on 4 february

time for 3 months of frenzied speculation about the 'c' button

So, when I was really little, single-digits, we had a ColecoVision, but I don't remember what games we had for it. A tiny bit later we had an Atari 7800, and I remember playing ... Pole Position? Something like that. Both consoles I recall winning in a contest or something, or getting them for opening a bank account, back when that was a thing that happened. But the original NES, I know we got that when I was in my early teens, so like a lot of people my age (old) it was a cultural touchstone. I played the hell out of OG Super Mario Bros., OG Zelda, MegaMan, Contra, OG Castlevania, etc.. Those games and Nintendo in general were formative. Secrets, guides, codes, the whole thing, tons of fun.

For some reason, though, that was the end of the line for me, and I never got another console (from any company) until the GameCube. I played it a little, but don't remember spending much time with it. Same for the original Wii, which I know we owned but which I don't recall playing too much, for some reason. Fast forward again until I had kids and we bought a used Wii, which I hacked and stuffed full of easy-to-rip games, but besides Wii sports and the kids doing Just Dance or Animal Crossing, I don't recall much of what I played on it, either.

Long story short (but still long), I bought the Switch when it came out, making it for all purposes the first system I owned since the original NES that I spent any time with. I was excited, and played the hell out of Breath of the Wild and Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, plus a bunch of compelling new or new to me indies like Hollow Knight and Shovel Knight and Ori, but often times the system just felt kind of lacking, especially Nintendo titles; even my formerly Animal Crossing obsessed kid was disappointed by the Switch's Animal Crossing. Me, I'd missed out on decades of great games, and either the system was not capable of playing them, the games were not being ported, or when they were ported there were problems or delays; I recall Doom 2016 on the Switch being particularly disappointing, as was the delayed port rollout of Dark Souls Remastered. Once I bought the PS4, with its deeeeep bench of often deep discounted games, it was hard to go back to the premium-priced but (imo) often kinda disappointing or relatively slim-pickings must-have Nintendo titles, not to mention all the novelties, like the cardboard stuff or the remote control car stuff.

I still have the Switch, which is mostly used for Mario Kart, but other than that it hasn't really held my attention. I never really used it handheld, either, which kinda missed the point! Which is to say, Switch 2 is the epitome of a wait and see console. I suspect it will be a lot like the PS5 and feature tons of remasters, but few "exclusives," as such. I guess we'll see what an 8-year gap between consoles/designs allows Nintendo to do or offer.

Maybe now I'll finally get a cheap Switch 1.

The male controller ports on the sides of the console look... very breakable. Surprising design for a Nintendo product

roll on 4 february

I thought this too until seeing well afterwards that it's 2 April

I just skimmed past a rumor that the Switch 2 joysticks may be "hall effect," which I had never heard of but which sound super cool, whether or not this is the console that gets them. For sure I've had drift issues on both the Switch and Playstation but especially the Switch.

you can already get 3rd party controllers with those for current consoles. some of the newer 8bitdos have them

can also buy hall sensor sticks and replace them yourself, did that to my launch joycons for £20 and it was pretty easy to do

mm/dd, reggie?! I’m out

gta 6 gonna debut on dis ting?

prob not powerful enough

depends how scalable it is, prob wouldnt happen before the pc version anyhow

hope this thing has an OLED screen. after having been spoiled with the steam deck, i can't go back

good chance they'll save that for a revision, but i hope so too

I can never figure out why some games were or could be ported to the Switch but not others. Doom and Doom Eternal and Wolfenstein 2, but not Wolfenstein: New Order. Dark Souls 1, but not 2 or 3. Witcher 3 and Skyrim and Bioshock 1-3, but not GTAV or Mass Effect. Super Mario Galaxy, but not Super Mario Galaxy 2. Ori games looked great, but the Batman games were reportedly a mess.

I think part is money and time or rights, what is worth it, but I suspect it has to do with power and sometimes simply how the code is written; I don't know anything about code, but I understand Nintendo can be tricky to write? I've seen a couple of vids, one on Wolfenstein 2 and one on Ori, about porting to the Switch, and sometimes it seems it takes a certain degree of ingenuity to figure out a way to make it work without making the console work too hard. Curious how much power this new one will or can pack.

Grand theft Mario when

My main question is will it be uncomfortable to hold like the regular Switch

are they going to forza horizon mario kart ? seems likely

doubt it since it would detract from the pick up and play identity of it but they could do more dynamic stuff with the tracks changing lap to lap etc, i know they dabbled with that in the last one

i guess i could imagine how it would work like if each cup was its own map that had all 4 tracks on it and then a horizon mode where you can use it as a sandbox

maybe theyll have wonder flowers that make the tracks go all loony

how fast can nintendo switch 2 go? does nintendo switch 2 have automatic transmission? does nintendo switch 2 have four-wheel drive?

hope this thing has an OLED screen.

The leaks say it doesn’t. And they got literally everything else right, so chances are they’re right about that too.

Mariokart as a launch title obviously makes sense and it’s odd they haven’t done it before (it’s consistently their biggest or almost biggest selling game in each generation) but it’s hard to get excited about it. MK8 was sort of perfect already? It’s not a game that’ll benefit from better resolution or whatever and it’s already 60fps. And 8 had 96 courses by the end! Some of which came out recently enough that I’ve still only played them 3-4 times.

maybe they could add more to Kart than just more tracks and drivers
loved the missions/minigames in Kart DS, bring those back!

one must assume they understand the challenges of following up MK8 after all those expansions and are going to have some big new gameplay hook in this one, even if it's not apparent from those 10 seconds of footage

there will be other launch titles as well, presumably including ones that show off the new gpu more (metroid prime 4?)

They frequently add gimmicks here or there (two characters per kart in Double Dash or the upside down driving in 8 or whatever) but the games are generally good in spite of those, not because of them.

realistic mortal injuries from shells

Double lol.

1) Inevitable Digital Foundry analysis, an hour long based on that 2-minute "reveal"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pdx4GK4PSw

2) The first question/comment from a viewer named "Abadaba-Pling Boink Weeeee U," a name so ridiculous the hosts can't even keep a straight face.

(This, btw, is a trend I find endlessly hilarious from any channel that takes questions or comments from chats or texts or whatever. "Stinkybum420king asks a very good question ... "

does USB-C mean we can maybe output to TV while still using the touch screen to allow wii U and NDS games on virtual console

feel like it would be against Nintendo's MO for switch to have games that only work with a tv

also they've rereleased almost all the good wii u games on switch already, whats even left?

ds is more compelling but you can do most of them on one screen since the second screen is often just a status/map screen and can be put as an inset, e.g. see that castlevania ds collection thats on switch

i think on switch 2 you'll even have the vertical resolution to be able to stack the two screens vertically at 2x scale

what if you can attach 2 switch 2s together and make a giant ds

switch 4

snake should be a launch game and it should be the definitive version of it - meaning, with a high score list that persists from gaming session to gaming session using save technology

you can already access the global high score list by walking your Mii to Snakelist Cave on Wuhu Island

(you'll need to touch your Tingle Amiibo to open the gate)

I just played Mario Wonder for the first time and noticed that my controller plays musical notes when Mario steps on a keyboard – has it always done that and been able to play sound??? I think I’ve played lots of games that rumble but never any that actually make noises. Maybe I’ve just been playing the wrong games

the switch's "HD rumble" is essentially just passing a sound wave through an actuator in the controller so you can do stuff like that with the right sound wave yeah

very few games use it in that way though

https://i.imgur.com/CzrgLag.png

does anyone know if there’s a resource to check how a given game performs on nintendo switch 2? I’ve just been searching e.g. “nier automata switch 2 reddit” but lots of results are out of date. I just want to check simple things like current status on compatibility, whether they’ve been patched to allow 4k or 60fps, whether framerate locked to 30fps or variable if unpatched etc

there's a youtube channel called SwitchUp which does decent videos about patches or just performance of Switch 1 games on Switch 2, I use it a lot to see how games perform

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8K3Z75ZnCo

you should be able to tell from the nintendo store info page whether a game's been patched, there will either be a nintendo switch 2 version listed or else some fine print at the bottom about a switch 2 patch

natural improvements to switch 1 versions just from the system being faster, you'll have to look up 3rd party videos for those yeah

there is this but it only covers compatibility not performance
https://switch-software-compatibility.nintendo.com/en-US

new firmware update adds the ability to run Switch 1 games at their TV mode spec in handheld mode. nice visual upgrade for a lot of games if you play handheld

direct tomorrow morning. dunno what to expect, they have a slate of unreleased games that sound fine (splatoon raiders, rhythm heaven, fire emblem) but feels like they haven't hit a home run in a while. the rumored ocarina of time remake is pretty dire stuff imo, would be some real evidence that the era of nintendo zagging is over

If the OoT remake is real, I just hope that it's not like the new Star Fox where it's 1-to-1 with the original game. That would be boring indeed

nintendo remake oot as a roguelike deckbuilder u cowards

couldn't be less interested in an OoT remake, just give me a Fire Emblem date that's soon thx

Star Fox being a remake is so disappointing. I feel like Nintendo has weird priorities lately

they went all in on movies?

just hoping this is typical Nintendo radio silence and they've been developing all heavy hitters and will finally announce them like three months before release. kinda weird that nothing seems to be scheduled for Christmas?

this not-E3 direct is usually when they announce their holiday game(s)

but yeah it feels like nintendo's no longer immune to the production struggles afflicting the rest of the industry, and their 'lateral thinking' stuff has gotten increasingly half-baked (drag x drive...) or separate from the actual games (alarmo?)

what they do well is the core gameplay - Donkey Kong feels really good to control in Bananza, for instance, but the game doesn't actually get "good" until the very end, and the insistence on having a chatty assistant character guide you through everything drives me crazy (can't believe they did this in Metroid Prime 4)

Does feel like there's a bit of a creative lull going on there. Anyone here have a Switch 2? Is it even worth picking up?

I feel like I have like 20 indie games in the queue I can get for the OG Switch still (thanks mostly to you all) that I've not yet played that will give it another 3-4 years of life for me.

switch 2 is like upgrading your pc it just feels really fast and responsive compared to the old one and everything works a bit better

but i could easily have waited until the next 3d mario or monolithsoft game came out, if i hadn't already set aside the $ for it

kinda weird that nothing seems to be scheduled for Christmas?

nintendo doesn't often announce stuff more than 6 months out and they're going to announce what's coming for the rest of the year in 12 hours. there's rumours about a reasonably heavy hitting big holiday title out there already

i have a switch 2 and i kinda regret the purchase (because prime 4 was sooooooooo bad) but there's a big price increase coming soon so i'm at least happy to have avoided that and i would have wanted to get one eventually. i don't think there's anything that's really been a must-play yet but there's still been a fair few decent releases even if i haven't bought many yet. donkey kong bananza was very well-received, pokopia seems like it's very good at what it does, and i like what i've seen of the new yoshi game a lot and will probably pick it up on sale eventually.

I'm still perfectly satisfied with my OLED Switch 1, and I haven't seen anything so far that would convince me to upgrade

praying for mario 3d please mario hear my prayers

tears of the kingdom load times far more bearable on switch 2. opened up the game for me and my roommate

i know that game is ancient or whatever but it’s just nice to replay games and notice the hardware improvements

praying for mario 3d please mario hear my prayers

mario has answered your prayers! now you can pick up the remastered super mario galaxy 2 without having to buy it alongside the original game! let's-a go!

totk in 60 fps is worth the entry price alone imo

yeah, i got a switch 2 a couple of months ago and uprezzed, silky-smooth, fast-loading zelda is remarkable

the bigger, brighter handheld screen is a major improvement over the lcd original, and it's just a much nicer experience all round than the original

LOL at Ivy calling TOTK ancient...I've been playing The Adventure of Link lately, which must be prehistoric

they have preroll for these now apparently. i tuned in right as they were playing the dk rap. not sure if that's a good or bad premonition

halfway through and no new announcements yet unless those licensed anime games are new. kinda what i was afraid of

muramasa getting rescued from vita is good though as are the xenoblade switch 2 patches, was waiting for those to finally play 1 and 3

ok i spoke too soon

only orbitals and rhythm heaven of interest to me so far halfway through - both prev announced titles too

I don’t think I get xenoblade. is it good

giant thumb wrestling is peak Nintendo

xp how do you feel about like, final fantasy 7-10? its the modern torch carrier for spectacle-y 90s jrpgs like that

or obviously xenogears is the more direct predecessor from that era if you've played it

I think giant thumb wrestling is more my speed

HD 2D FF?!!

whoa lol what was that, did they listen to all the people who wanted FF17 to be a HD2D game?

ff resonance looks kinda cool (as does pikuniku)

new atelier game announced via the sizzle reel lol

Vampire Survivors: Jujutsu Kaisen Edition is a hilarious idea

not a super strong showing but i got my xenoblade stuff and one thing i didnt know i wanted in FF resonance so i'm happy. splatoon raiders looks pretty fun too

spending so much time on a thumbwrestling match was some classic Nintendo bullshit
happy for new Xeno & been wanting to replay Xeno 3 so upgrades good
FF Resonance feels like a repurposed mobile game

reading up Resonance is a remake of a gacha mobile game not a straight port, similar to Octopath 0

oh i missed tales of eternia remastered in the sizzle reel too, thats a good one

ok after watching the IGN (lol) video about Resonance I'm fully on board, just hope you can turn off the CG "vision" attack animations. hope they do the Nier mobile game next.

the OOT teaser looked horrendous. what a disappointing Direct

wow yeah i don't need a robert zemeckis polar express zelda

oh man it is kinda giving Polar Express isn't it. but also we really haven't even seen anything except sleeping Link model.

otoh the eldritch folk horror Deku Tree in the tapestry is cool

Anyone here have a Switch 2? Is it even worth picking up?

Yes. No. Although, since the price is going up, so if you're thinking about getting it, it would make sense to do it before then.

Pretty much. Don't see the price really going back down any time soon, and those games we all want will eventually come.
At least we got a date for the new Fire Emblem. I have zero enthusiasm for Ocarina of Time remake.

As someone who has not played any of the Xeno games... are they really worth $70 each for the Switch 2 versions?? I mean these games keep getting re-released...

they really chugged on switch 1 and ran at like 540p so these are bigger technical upgrades than even the zeldas. that said, as with any $70 game, you'll eventually be able to snag it for $40-50 on some sale somewhere