Topic: Does anyone else feel like this is more "Switch U" than Switch 2?

@Bolt_Strike
I think you're reaching a bit there with this demo theory. Demos are usually just the initial sections of a game, especially for more narrative heavy games. I don't think the demo still only covering the opening scenes means much of anything

I saw a video today and the Silksong demo they had is apparently the same one they had at E3 2019.

I don't even know how that's possible but uh, I think progress has been made on Silksong since then.

This is probably the best counterargument I've seen so far. They definitely seem to have shifted their marketing strategy for the Switch 2. They seem to be shortening their marketing time between announcement and release to around 3-6 months rather than 6-12 in the past and rather than an entire lineup of games they're focusing more and more on specific games releasing in the near future and giving specific games the spotlight. That being said, I don't think that tells the whole story.

For one, I don't think Nintendo really puts much distinction between Switch 2 exclusives and Switch 2 games that also released on the Switch 1. If they're selling it on Switch 2 and if they have a reason to market the Switch 2 version of the game, I think they consider it a Switch 2 game. I don't think Prime 4 being a cross-gen release matters much to them, they still consider it a Switch 2 game and would probably prefer you buy the Switch 2 Edition. Furthermore, while Metroid is a relatively low selling IP, it seems like they want to try and grow it, they have put a lot of marketing into it already and seem to treat it like a major release (and they're probably extra motivated to do so after the development restart).

But more importantly, we've seen Prime 4's re-reveal before the Switch 2 was even announced and that was the first reveal of the two areas that they've been showing over and over and over again. If this was an intentional marketing strategy I don't think they would've hid quite as much of the later game areas, especially in those March/April Directs which were largely repetitive.

@skywake I swear it's like some of you don't even read what I'm saying. I've said this over and over, but the demo is only a piece of the puzzle. The news drought is only a piece of the puzzle (and also kind of missing the point, news droughts happen all of the time). You're not getting the big picture. The larger issue here is that we just haven't seen much of the game. Less than usual for a game trailer. It's like showing off a Mario game but only the first world or two. And then every time they show it again, it's still the same world or two. Over and over and over again. That is not something I've ever seen them do, I mentioned numerous examples of trailers, even REVEAL trailers showing mid or even late game areas. But this game sticks out like a sore thumb as an exception. The major issue is, where's the rest of the game? No way in hell this is it, that would be one short and boring game if it were true and fans would riot. But for some reason despite repeated announcements, that's all they show us. It's highly unusual. I can't imagine a reason why they would continually refuse to show off those later game areas if they weren't running into development troubles.

@Bolt_Strike You seem pretty insistent, but let‘s look at your argument from another angle: for them only showing the same two worlds/areas and being stuck in development hell would imply that they only finished these two and have NOTHING else to show. Do you think game development is a linear process and they go level by level, got somehow stuck in world 3, but still pretend to get it done this year? They showed a fully polished and playable version of the game and only have to bring one more direct/trailer to flesh it out a bit/generate some hype. And they can drop that at a moments notice (see Air Riders).

@jfp I don't think they're working linearly like that, but I do think the sections we're seeing are the only ones that look polished enough to show. What I think is happening is there's some kind of mechanic that's going to be a key part of the gameplay (maybe it's some additional feature of the psychic abilities, maybe it's a completely new mechanic) that is so ubiquitous to the game that it limits them to only being able to share very specific sections of the game. It's the equivalent of say, showing DK Bananza without showing the signature terrain destruction mechanics. It would be easier to show off early game sections because they might be before that mechanic is introduced, but if this mechanic is heavily utilized in the gameplay it prevents them from showing off anything further.

@Bolt_Strike
There are plenty of games Nintendo (and other companies for that matter) have released without showing much outside of the first few areas. Sure sometimes they go spolier-nuts with it, but often they don't. IIRC, random recent example, with Super Mario Wonder they didn't show much at all outside of the first World pre-launch. And DK Bananza they didn't even reveal Pauline until the DK Direct, and that was only a month before launch

I definitely hear what you're saying. I just think it's a pretty flimsy overreach

But that again would mean they are not only delayed, but still years from release if there was nothing else to show and core mechanics not working properly. Why then still hold on to a 2025 release? Are you looking for some kind of conspiracy in the vein of “They are not showing anything new, so they MUST have something to hide and are not telling us the TRUTH"? Piecing puzzle pieces together? You don't know their overall plan/marketing strategy so you're just fishing in the dark and inferring motive. What do you think their "game" is, why would they try to "deceive" us?

It's just such a weird argument lol

I can't wait to see what @Bolt_Strike says when the 2025 release date is revealed.

If anyone is bored and has nothing to play on Switch 2 (😂), I posted this under the Hogwarts Legacy (S2) thread yesterday: "Just snagged the game up for only 21,99 €! For anyone planning to do the same, the S1 version is currently on sale at it‘s lowest ever price (11,99 €) on the European eShop. After purchase the S2 version is then available for just a tenner." Should keep me busy during fall season and looks and runs great in handheld – same is true for Daemon X Machina which I tried yesterday too. Sonic X Shadows has also recently been on sale for just 34,99 €. Don't know how people complain about a lack of games or are too concerned about overall prices. It's been out two and a half months and I almost feel swamped already.

@Bolt_Strike It only needs to explain late July/August though. We saw in both years of no summer general Direct that Nintendo started their Fall/Holiday season marketing in July/August but naturally you'd want to give DK Bananza some space so that rules out the first 4 weeks of July.

I know the subject of this thread has long since died even while somehow this thread manages to persist but I was kinda thinking about where the Switch 2 kinda sits right now. Not saying this in a positive or negative sense but, I don't really feel the Wii U vibes. At all. If anything Switch 2 kinda feels a bit..... Gamecube....

Maybe it's just that Kirby Air Riders Direct doing stuff to my perception here but hear me out. No Mario at launch but instead we get something interesting from left field (DK/Luigi). Metroid Prime as an early major release. Not much in the way of paint-by-numbers releases. Technology driven philosophy and, generally, an attempt to try and capture more appeal from third parties

Obviously it has already moved like..... a 3rd of the GC's total lifetime sales (and half of the Wii U's). But it does have a bit of a whiff of GC about it the Switch 2. And I think it's probably a good thing. Possibly this "GC feel" about it is a function of the fact that with Switch there was this easy well of Wii U ports and that's not a thing anymore. Not sure. But it's a thing I think

@skywake
I wish I could agree, but I had jumped ship during the GameCube era and was firmly in the Xbox camp during my college years.

I guess I just don’t like drawing comparisons to begin with because things are always different. The system, the people, the world. I also feel like comparisons lead to self-fulfilling prophecies, which frustrate me to no end.

I also tend to just sort of live in the moment… and my memory is terrible haha

So to me, the Switch 2 so far feels like… the next addition to the Switch family. The original Switch still very clearly has a role and is getting lots of games, and the 2 is the place to be for the “bigger” stuff or if you absolutely need to play the highest fps and best resolution. (Anyone who says World and Bonanza aren’t “big” games are straight-up lying lol)

I’ve loved having both so far. I got to experience Cyberpunk for the first time and it was beautiful. Rune Factory ran like a dream on my 2 compared to the original. I’m gonna get to finally play Indiana Jones and the FF VII remake. And I still use my Lite (gasp) - it is possible to enjoy both!

@rallydefault Yeah I feel exactly the same. Feels like quite a pointless exercise trying to compare this to any generation prior as the circumstances are so different. And personally, I'm not seeing the parallels to any previous generations. Certainly not the Gamecube outside a few coincidental factors.

@Bolt_Strike
It just got rated in the US.

How ya feeling about that, bud? lol

@rallydefault Maybe I'm wrong. We'll see. Like I said, I don't care about being wrong here.

@Bolt_Strike
All good. We'll know one way or the other soon, I think.

@rallydefault
That's fair, and these kinds of comparisons are definitely all a bit silly. Especially this early in the piece. I just feel like, to this point, Switch 2 seems to be doing a lot less of the paint by numbers staples. It's a lot less "sequel to this game you just played" and a bit more "we dug into our back catalogue and found this" or "and here's something different"

Even Mario Kart World, maybe they didn't stick the landing but they certainly tried something different. Feels somewhat like the backlash over some of the GC titles at the time for being "not what we wanted". Including Double Dash I'd argue, but certainly stuff like Wind Waker

Obviously there are clear differences and they're not at all the same. But if I had to pick a generation where the "vibes align" it's GC and certainly not Wii U

I guess another side of Switch 2 which is like wii u is poor conversions. I mention that as Elden Ring is reported to have a frame rate as low as 15fps in handheld mode. I guess with wii u the poor frame rates and issues with many games was its technical limitations mainly with poor sales meaning limited optimisations because optimising games can be expensive. We can argue that Elden Ring is terrible because of weak hardware or poor optimisations or we can state its somewhere between the two however it is a very poor conversion. The Xbox One had better frame rates albeit with much lower visual fidelity and that was classed as the worst version. PS4 was pretty decent in frame rates with dips to low 20s I think but mostly stable.

Interestingly docked performs much better than portable so it seems unlikely to be a CPU issue. I've yet to see any reports about battery runtime of the game. Maybe they went for longer battery runtime and therefore lower clocks for the Switch 2 in portable mode?

Game optimisation is expensive as very time consuming. Going through a game engine and working out what you can sacrifice and perhaps optimising specific areas of code that are most used can add weeks maybe months to development time. Third party multi-format games have sold very badly on Switch 2 and maybe they sacrificed optimisation? It feels like they sacrificed optimisation rather than technical weaknesses of the Switch 2. So it was a commercial decision rather than hardware spec issues in my opinion. The only thing that confuses me is why docked runs so much better than portable. Maybe this is evidence that portable gflops for the GPU is well below the peak figures given by Geekerwan (1.3 Teraflops) and without optimisations we are seeing the GPUs real power. Maybe this is what games run like when forced to run at native resolution without DLSS? I'm writing that not knowing if Elden Ring does use DLSS and upscaling.

It will be surprising if they rendered at 360p or 540p and used DLSS to go to 1080p and still get 15 fps.

I'm going to be interested in any DF videos explaining why Elden Ring is the worst version on Switch 2 and what was the story behind it.

Maybe the first unacceptable quality Switch 2 multi-format game?