Topic: Launch games: What do you want?

• new 3D Mario (for launch)
• Mario Kart 9 (a few months later)
• Zelda will take a while I feel. They might attempt full-on remakes of OoT and MM this time around. But no Zelda first year I'm afraid.
• Indiana Jones and the whatsitcalledagain - I mean the new one.
• Paper Mario is going to take a while, too. There's been a lot of Mario RPG lately. Not first year.
• ah yeah Metroit Prime 4 is a given. Didn't previously enjoy FPS Metroid, but I'll give this one a try regardless.
• there'll be Animal Crossing, Mario Party, Pokémon, Smash Bros, Splatoon in year one or two
• and for the rest: Surprises!

@NintendoWife I like your picks but in reality, I think we’re getting:
Mario Kart on launch and 3D Mario later.
A Zelda remaster that was not on NSO (wind waker I think is likely because it was added to Nintendo Music)
Paper Mario I think will be pushed back a couple years because there will be a lot of new Mario things coming out and they don’t want to flood us
Metroid Prime 4 on Switch but Metroid Prime 4 Deluxe for Switch 2 with mouse compatibility
Animal crossing probably Jan of Feb of 2026
Mario Party year 2
Pokémon will essentially be every year with something
Smash Bros on year 2
Splatoon is coming much later because it shares a team with Animal Crossing, we might be looking at 2027 or even 2028

@Xenoblade-Fan Ah, you think MK9 straight away, and 3D Mario later? Somehow I don't see MK as a launch game, because it can make for such a big second impact on its own. 3D Mario is more of an "identity" title to me, something that can define the new system. MK is going to be MK and sell like crazy no matter what, but it won't be perceived as drastically different or new. But who knows, they did use it for the teaser.

Re-release of the Wii U Zelda remasters: These two feel more like stopgap material to me, not something to show off your new system. Surely Nintendo is not in the mood to revamp them again, which means they would be 2 generations behind graphically (and 3-4 generations in all other respects).

Many people think Mario Kart will be the launch game purely because there were rumours it would be the launch game and then it felt like Nintendo was confirming those rumours by putting Mario Kart in the trailer. And there have been rumours for a year that the reason Switch 2 might have been delayed is because one or more of their main games wasn't close enough to finished yet (which could have easily been 3D Mario).

That said, it's mostly speculation based on the trailer, so April 2nd could easily prove us wrong. And if Switch 2 ends up being a Fall release, maybe 3D Mario and Mario Kart will be two months in a row.

Mario Kart has never been a Nintendo release day game before but then again Mario Kart was never a system best seller before it was on 3DS, Wii U, and Switch all in a row. Mario Kart has really rocketed to main IP status in the last 10-15 years.

@Xenoblade-Fan I agree in that 'Switch2' exclusive first party titles will be slim at launch. MK9 is a banker, but I just hope/pray it is not held back my cross-generation specs (eg it works on Switch1 as well as 2). I adore Switch(1) but the tech is so old now that I hope we are not beholden to new 1st party titles needing to be cross-gen, thus holding back the new power of S2.

I think S2 launch might lean v heavily into 3rd party ports to generate excitement also... Elden Ring, RedDead2, Tekken8 etc

There are several games I’d like to see. In no specific order:

1) Halo The Master Chief Collection
2) Metroid Prime 4, or another 2D Metroid game
3) Mario Kart 9
4) The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess
5) A Donkey Kong game in the same vein as Mario Odyssey
6) A new Fire Emblem game with a more mature setting

That’s about it for me, unless you want to add second and third party games to the mix.

I can’t see them do that. Nintendo knows they need strong pull-factors to establish a big userbase for any new console, and quickly. That’s a goal you completely undermine by supporting your previous system.

@NintendoWife I really sincerely hope you're right. I die a little inside when I remember that Prime4 was essentially 'promised' for Switch1.... just imagine what it could have been with S2 power behind it.

@NeonPizza I doubt too many first party games will go back and add optimization. Maybe one or two as showcases (e.g BotW). And perhaps a couple recent games like Zelda Echoes will get smaller performance patches, but I am very doubtful games like Forgotten Land which sold well and had almost no complaints about performance will be touched.

As for some of the bigger third party games? I assume there will be a combination of free patches, paid patches, and seperate Switch 2 versions.

@NeonPizza I can't see Nintendo making special Switch 2 versions of Switch games at full price or nearly. I would imagine they would want to make all-new games for the Switch 2, which I would prefer anyway. Maybe some performance patches for Switch games like @FishyS mentioned, but I think that's it.

There's going to be such a flood of eighth gen ports to this thing lol

You Nintendo-only folks are about to enjoy an entire generation's worth of decent third-party software.

But I can play all of them on PC/Deck.

I'm pretty happy with my SWOLED, so they're gonna have to roll out an open-world 3D Mario or Xenoblade Chronicles 4 or something to entice me. MAYBE Mario Kart 9, although there's already a ton of content in MK8D with the booster pass, so they're going to need to upsell me on it pretty hard at this point.

I think you'd have to count Wii as well, because there MKWii came in second after only Wii Sports which obviously was bundled. So MK has been THE juggernaut for quite some time, almost 20 years.

Oh and MKDD came in second after Melee, MK64 came in second after (pack-in) Mario 64... so yeah pretty much every MK game has been one of the main events of a generation.

@NintendoWife I definitely agree Mario Kart has always been one of the main IPs, but it was 4th on snes, 4th on GBA, 3rd on DS. The main recent change with Wii U and Switch is that it was both first and first by a massive margin — like 30-40% more sales than all other games. It has changed from one of the main games to arguably the main game at least for those two consoles. That is enough of a shift I can see why Nintendo might think of using it for the launch game.

I've heard people in recent years think the Mario platformers are spinoffs of Mario Kart which hurts my heart 😆

@NintendoWife Nintendo likes to line up a Mario platformer for the September SMB anniversary like Mario Maker came in September 2015 and 3D All Stars came in September 2020 so I figure 3D Mario will be September 2025.

That's part of the reason I think Switch 2 will release in September 2025, you could have a very strong fall/holiday season of:

• September - 3D Mario (Switch 2)
• October - Mario Kart (Switch 2)
• November - Legends Z-A (crossgen)

If Switch 2 releases before September, that would explain Mario Kart being a launch day game. Metroid isn't big enough to carry a system launch by itself so you'd end up with Mario Kart being the focus and hope people check out Prime 4 while they're there. Maybe even add in Samus and her gunship as playable in Mario Kart alongside a Prime themed track.

@Ralizah
I just have to ask, because when people say the kind of stuff you just said, I get super confused:

So you're saying Mario Kart 9 sounds nice, but because MK8 Deluxe has a ton of tracks... you're not enticed to upgrade? You don't want to play the new game? Like, the game that everyone else will move to almost instantly? MK8 Deluxe is massive, yes, but I doubt you're spending dozens and dozens of hours replaying the cups on your own - you're probably playing online, and the MK8 online scene is gonna dwindle super-fast once MK9 is out. And you would stick around in a ghost town because... why exactly?

I just don't understand how that process works in someone's brain lol You also mentioned you have a Steam Deck, so you clearly have no issue spending big bucks on technology, and the Switch 2 is likely to cost half that of most Steam Deck models.

I'm in a similar boat as Ralizah. I'm still satisfied with MK8 and don't have an urgent need for a new mario kart unless there are some super interesting things in the new game.

People have been slowly upgrading to MK8 for a decade so I don't thing there is a particular hurry moving to the new game --those 70 million people are definitely not going to all upgrade at once.

Personally I'll probably get Switch 2 this year assuming there are some games I want which I think there will be, but I will probably sit on Mario Kart for a later year.

For me, I don't have a steam deck, so I'll probably get a couple of those last-gen AAA ports I never got to play. As well as 3D Mario presumably.

Yeah I'm sorry, but Mario Kart has way too much potential to upgrade that I'm ready to move on. Hell, I've been ready to move on since 2020, that's when it felt like we needed a new Mario Kart, now MK8D feels almost ancient compared to what it could and should be now. If they do things right and take advantage, then I definitely feel like MK9 can blow MK8D out of the water and make it worth the upgrade.

As for what, well the trailer itself shows larger, potentially more open tracks. That's one way. Another is to fold in some of the non-gacha mechanics from Tour. Tour does a lot of things that the console Mario Kart games feel like they need, an actual shop system, track variants (R, T, R/T, and RMX versions of older tracks), bringing back Mission Mode and special items, a Score Attack mode based on Tour's points system, rotating cups like Tour's namesake. They could also make a course creator. Hell, you could pick like, 2 or 3 of these things at it would already feel like a dramatic improvement over 8D. In terms of quantity of courses, IDK that anything is ever going to beat 8D. But in terms of mechanics and variety of content, I definitely think there's tons of room to build on 8D. Hell, they could probably squeeze out like, 3 more games before we start wondering if there's nowhere else for it to go. I'm not worried. Nintendo will decide on something to make it feel worth the upgrade.

@FishyS
I'm still satisfied with MK8, sure, but as soon as MK9 comes out, you bet your pet raven I'm getting it and not looking back until MK8 is retro years from now.

Not everyone will get 9 at once, obviously, but I have a hard time believing you and @Ralizah are gonna be sitting around playing MK8 once Switch 2 is out and everyone is on 9. In fact, I'm gonna guarantee you won't be. So I'm just wondering why you guys say stuff like this when you know it's not gonna be true.

@rallydefault @FishyS I'm not saying I won't grab it. Just that it's not an auto-purchase. The Booster Pass courses did a lot to satiate my hunger for new MK content, so it's really just down to what's added to the game, what's available when I buy the system, etc.

Personally, for me, I need a compelling single-player mode, I think, to really be sold. MK8D has about a million cool levels to play competitively, and people will be on that game for years, so if there's not a reasonably decent SP campaign, what's the incentive to upgrade?

@Ralizah I'm with you on this. I always remember feeling that Diddy Kong Racing (N64) had a much more compelling Single Player campaign, whereas MK64 was the multi-player king.