Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

@gcunit
Congrats! I recommend the auto-applicator glass screen protectors. I nailed it 1st try without a single micro hair or bubble.

Also, you probably already know great 1st party, so allow me to recommend some great 3rd party on NSW2.

3RD PARTY NSW2 GAMES
Cyberpunk 2077
Looks fantastic. Runs smooth (there's a performance mode but honestly, I use the 30fps graphics mode and it feels fine). Gyro aiming. Mouse aiming. It's incredible.

Hogwarts Legacy
Don't underestimate this game. With the new gyro aiming and mouse aiming options, which unlike Cyberpunk can be switched between on the fly like Metroid Prime 4, and the PS4-level graphics and smooth framerate that's not constantly dropping like on Switch, and of course hybrid advantage, this is the definitive version to play.

Star Wars Outlaws
I'm not saying this is the best game ever made, but it's far better than online discourse led me to believe. Particularly because it offers gyro aiming which fundamentally transforms the gameplay to be interesting and fun on a minute to minute basis. Without the gyro and hybrid advantage I wouldn't recommend. And it looks spectacular. Best looking handheld game ever released. Easily. And performance is like a rock. Stable as they come.

Yooka-Replaylee
This game is sooooo dang good. Whatever you thought you knew about it from the original release, throw it out the window. This is not a remaster. This is a reimagining, fixing every single issue with the original release. One of the best 3D platformers ever made, probably only behind Mario and DK.

Street Fighter 6
Man, it's crazy good. Essentially equal to other versions but handheld hybrid. And you can actually easily perform special moves with d-pad buttons, something I struggled with in Ultra Street Fighter II.

Yakuza 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2
First time trying this series and wow, the story is incredibly gripping. Solid beat-em-up gameplay. Start with Yakuza 0 Director's Cut- fully voice acted in English, and its extremely high quality.

Split Fiction
The friend's pass lets you play with anyone else, even if they don't have the game. They will need to download it though. This game rocks.

Trails In The Sky 1st Chapter
New update provides performance mode with stable 60fps. Absolute banger of an RPG.

NSW1 GAMES IMPROVED ON NSW2

Pokemon Scarlet/Violet
4k 60fps. Need I say more. You can actually enjoy a functional game now!

Zelda Link's Awakening
60fps now. No more stuttering.

Zelda Echoes of Wisdom
60fps now. No more stuttering.

Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle
60fps now.

Crysis 1-3
All 3 games now hold stable framerates. So the gyro aiming goodness can be enjoyed.

Dragon Quest Builders 2
No more 20fps stutters. Its 60fps locked. Fantastic game.

Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes
No more stuttering sub-30fps. It's a locked 60fps.

Monster Hunter Stories 2
No more stuttering uncapped framerate. It's a locked 60fps.

Ni No Kuni 2
Again, no more stuttering. It's a locked 60fps.

Resident Evil 5
60fps

Resident Evil Revelations 1/2
60fps

Trials Rising
Finally, a locked 30fps without drops, and no more dynamic resolution drops! One of the best games ever made, now playable in handheld mode with acceptable performance!

Trails of Cold Steel 3/4, Trails Into Reverie, Trails From Daybreak 1/2
Stutters be gone! All these games now run great. No more performance issues.

So many more. But these are off the top of my head. Also, allow me to recommend some accessories.

NSW2 MUST-HAVE ACCESSORIES

JSAUX Joycon 2 Grips
I dont use the middle console shell, just the grips for the Joycon. Makes NSW2 super ergonomic in handheld mode.

Genki Magnetic Portable Battery
Includes adhesive magnetic ring for back of NSW2 and short right angle USB-C cable to plug into system. Expensive but light weight, doesn't block fingers and expands battery life to 5-6 hrs while keeping total weight less than the original stock Steamdeck out of the box.

1 TB Micro SD Express Card
You're gonna need it. I bought 3 of them. One for NSW1 games, one for NSW2 multiplat games, and one for NSW2 exclusives. If you want multiples, Etsy has a 3D printed mSD storage strip with adhesive you can stick to the back of NSW2 below volume buttons that doesn't interfere with dock and holds 3 cards.

Pro Controller or Charge Grip
The rear GL/GR buttons are a game changer. Legit game changer. Each game remembers the buttons assigned on a per game, per profile basis and auto applies whenever you start the game. Will fundamentally transform your experiences.

@rallydefault
I'm sayin. Not only that, I genuinely love the character, the dialog, the humor... all of it. I think it's exactly what this series was missing. I like the isolation but 30 hrs of straight silence can be a bit much. Mixing in a few endearing NPCs with dialog not only spices things up, it can help engage the player to feel more emotional attachment to the story.

@gcunit
If you like Harvest Moon-style games at all, I highly recommend Grand Bazaar and Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. Both have full Switch 2 physical releases, too, and Azuma has a healthy amount of combat on top of the farming.

I’ve put like 100 hours into both of those games.

Maybe I should've done my replays of Prime 2 and 3 earlier on in the year. It just came to mind that the announced Xbox Partner Preview event on Thursday might be where Square Enix shadow drops a FFVII Remake demo on Switch 2 like what they did with Octopath 0 in last week's State of Play.

@JaxonH
Yea, I kinda like those funny characters to ease the tension. Maybe I'm just "uncultured" or whatever lol

The Metroid isolation is too much for me, so I'm down for this sort of thing. I get that die-hard fans are like "this doesn't belong in a Metroid game," but those are also (usually) the people who want the same game over and over. I know because I was like that for the Zelda franchise: I would have been happy as a clam if every game was like Ocarina or Link to the Past over and over again.

Maybe Nintendo is just trying to expand the fanbase a bit? We've said a million times how Metroid games do not sell nearly as well as people make out - a couple million if the game is a massive hit, and Dread did the most at like 3 or 4 and it's the highest selling one?

So yea, maybe Nintendo is trying to shake it up and make it more accessible to get more people.

Well... I honestly wasn't expecting this. Switch 2 is extremely capable but, I wrote off GTA6 as being simply too much. Apparently that's not the case. And while it won't be at launch, it does seem to be coming to NSW2.

@gcunit Mario Kart World is great, I think that you’ll really enjoy it. I think the negativity has been a bit overblown, but you’re going to have to share your thoughts once you’ve spent some time with it. I’ve spent probably the least amount of time on it, out of the initial games that I bought, not because it’s not good…I’ve just really enjoyed some of the other games more. And I’m trying to play a game to completion before moving on to another. With Mario Kart, there’s not really and end point, and I’m waiting/hoping we get more content before I dive back in.
My recommendations:

• Cyberpunk is excellent. It’s my top game for the SW2, I’m just having so much fun with it. I’m trying to complete every quest/sidequest and am currently working through the Dogtown DLC. There’s an amazing amount of content there.
• DK is fantastic, beat the game and post content, not really interested in the DLC, because I had already moved on. Probably the best Nintendo made game so far, for the SW2.
• Hogswarts Legacy is very good on the SW2, and is worth playing, especially if you have the SW1 version.
• SF 6 is very good, if you’re into fighting games
• I echo the Hades 2 recommendation, and Silksong is fantastic. I waited to play Hades 2 until after completing Silksong.
• I played the airriders demo, not really for me, but I think a lot of people are going to enjoy it
• Metroid & RDR +1 for those, can’t wait
• Fortnite is very good on the SW2, and the Simpsons season is a lot of fun
• Split Fiction is great, but you’re going to need someone to play it with

Nothing new there that I’m recommending…the reality is that you can’t really go wrong with what you pick up. There’s already a ton of great games, and if you haven’t played games on more powerful systems (which was my case) you’ll be in for a treat.

@JaxonH wow - this is huge if true. So, if true, this means we should expect every 3rd party game for some time?

@CJD87 Thank you. Yes, Hades 2 is an inevitability, though no rush for me because _{I haven't played Hades yet - sshhh!}

And yes, I have noticed Star Wars Outlaws has gone down well around here, and I have a massive interest in Lucas-era Star Wars, so I will get this eventually, but I plan to maintain some discipline when it comes to digital purchases and wait for low prices. Should they let us have it physically though ...

@JaxonH Man ... your posts should come with a health warning! There was my wallet feeling hollowed out and severely bruised, and you've just come along and driven one of your monster truck posts all over it 😂

Hogwarts Legacy - if it has a Switch 1 upgrade path, I'll consider, otherwise it's not something I'm likely to prioritise. But thanks.

Star Wars Outlaws - see my reply to CJD87 - definitely interested, but not rushing. But thanks.

Yooka-Replaylee - This is a prime example of how you are unsafe. I've already, quite publicly and fairly explicitly, stated I was not going to support what feels a bit of a snub to og Switch buyers (I got the physical at an inflated price), and here you go ... reeling my pathetic ass back in with your "One of the best 3D performers ever made". How can I even ...

Street Fighter 6 - was on my radar even before I decided to jump aboard Sw2, especially because the physical price has come right down. Annoyingly the price has climbed a bit since then, so I'm going to look out for a deal, but it's a definite get.

I don't have stamina to address everything else you've recommended individually, but thank you. It's great to see a number of other games that I own and haven't played much of yet have gotten decent Sw2 boosts. Has Witcher 3 had an update? I played a fair amount on Switch, but have plenty more to play, so a Sw2 update would be mighty nice.

@rallydefault Both Grand Bazaar and Rune Factory have been on my Switch wishlist since release. As I don't intend to collect for Sw2 in anything like the scale I have with Switch, I'm hoping both these have upgrade paths from the Switch version as I'd rather have those for my collection. Not that it really makes much difference, but being able to play on either is a nice feature, given how many Switches I own.

@Lazz
Idk about every game, but for sure it's gonna be the most 3rd party support since the SNES on a Nintendo console.

Switch got a LOT of 3rd party games, but it missed most newer entries of larger franchises (Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, etc). Switch 2 has closed the gap enough that, even less than 6 months in, we have or are waiting on Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Outlaws, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Call of Duty Black Ops 7, Final Fantasy 7 Remake pts. 1-3, Borderlands 4, Street Fighter 6, Resident Evil 7/8/9, seemingly GTA6 at some point, Indiana Jones, 007 First Light, Elden Ring, Fallout 4...

Again, we're only 5 months in. Imagine how many games we're gonna have when we're 2, 3, 4 years into the generation. Will it be every game? No. But will it be the majority of the popular, high selling games? Yes, I think it's more than evident that will be the case.

@JaxonH okay - not EVERY 3rd party game...but the future looks promising. And did I miss something, was COD Black Ops announced, or is it a rumor?

@gcunit I went with a 256gb card from Walmart - it's not the best for storage, but will tide you over until they hopefully come down in price and is the best priced. Ultimately I need to pick up a 1TB card...maybe a Christmas gift to myself. But I've followed @JaxonH's recommendations - he's done his research and has great recommendations (he recommended the screen protector I picked up). I think the bare necessities are the screen protector, Pro controller, case, 256 card.

@JaxonH
I think publishers are also seeing the direction the industry is consolidating: the Xbox hardware scene is tanking quickly, and very soon it's just gonna be PS/Switch as the only console bases with the audience sizes they want to sell to.

So, you have the Switch 2 being powerful enough combined with Xbox most likely bowing out of all this in the next few years, and you have the perfect storm of LOTS of third-party stuff most likely making it to the S2. Devs will be spurred by their publishers to do whatever they can to get this stuff to run on the S2 because they'll effectively be locking out half the console market if it's only on Playstation.

That's why I believe the GTA rumors. It would be pretty dumb to not do a S2 version at some point, even if it's a year or two off, because the initial numbers are in and are looking to mirror the Switch's success.

in regards to things like BC its been nice that certain games have been fixed like klonoa but also the fact that a couple of games (like Pokemon BdSp) seem to be having crash issues does have me a bit paranoid now.

while i imagine things like pokemon would be fine it would be unfortunate to have a game i enjoy end up not working or having issues after a firmware update with no way to revert it and having to either pray that the next firmware update fixes it or the publisher ends up releasing a patch (the latter being a lot less likely)

@Mgalens
All of Nintendo's 1st party games run fine- not only fine but better. Pokemon BD/SP was a simple unintended bug induced by the latest system update. That's not something that should "worry" you or anyone. It's one single game, it's one single unintended bug, and I 100% guarantee they'll patch it. They just fixed Xenoblade X, Tokyo Xanadu, Batman Arkham Knight and a dozen others. The list of games people actually care about with game breaking issues can be counted on one hand atm.

@Lazz
Glad the screen protector worked out for you. Microsoft signed a 10 yr deal with Nintendo to support NSW2 with Call of Duty for at least a decade. Leaks say Black Ops 7 will be the first, but will come later. But even if that proves incorrect, the next one (and every release after) will for sure release on Switch 2. We also received leaks of Doom The Dark Ages, Ninja Gaiden 4, Starfield, and a ton of others that are reportedly being ported over.

@rallydefault
Ya, with the decline of Xbox, and PS/Steam showing no growth generation over generation (you'd think those prior Xbox gamers would be buying PS5s and PCs but, the numbers say otherwise, or if they are, those platforms are bleeding other users that's countering the growth), Switch 2 seems the obvious solution for the industry. You can build games with NSW2 in mind, which once scaled up still look more than satisfactory on dedicated stationary platforms. And, will benefit by ensuring better performance. It's a win all around for everyone.

That's why I think it's actually kinda believable too. Although, I could see them just testing out whether a NSW2 version is viable and that's the NSW2 version being "worked on". At this point, if it doesnt come, it's almost certainly because it's not technically feasible, not because they have no interest. And because it's been in development so long it definitely wasn't designed with NSW2 in mind, meaning it will take significant work to properly optimize. Reduced geometry and polygons, lower resolution textures, etc. But it looks so good that even with some reductions, I bet it would still be one of the best looking handheld games ever created. All they need is to hit 360p handheld and rely on DLSS to upscale to 720p, then hit 540p docked and use DLSS to upscale to 1080p. That should be achievable.

@JaxonH
yeah i imagine its a case of still working out some of the kinks when it comes to the transition layer and that while we may see some updates causing issues it feels like overall said transition layer is being refined and overall is getting better with each update it seems. (was happy to see klonoa collection and Tokyo Xanadu fixed) mentioned something similar to this in the other topic.

i guess it was just a minor case of me getting overly paranoid (ive noticed these things happening from time to time, i imagine its a double mix of being on the spectrum and it currently being late where i am)

@Mgalens
Ya, it won't be long before every game anyone cares about will be working perfectly on NSW2. Tbh, there arent many left that need addressing. Pokemon BD/SP, Nier Automata, and... that's all I'm aware of for games in my library. There's probably a couple more, but the list is shrinking at a rapid pace. Updates sometimes break compatibilities, as we saw with 3rd party docks, but that kinda stuff will be promptly addressed.

@JaxonH
i think for me at this point the main hope is the FMV issues on Trails from Zero/to azure ends up fixed, in general ive been keeping my eyes on them after each firmware update, especially since Klonoa ended up getting fixed which was another big one for me (played through both of them yesterday, still love them) also it feels like now would be a good time to replay Tokyo Xanadu.

but yeah am happy to see the Transition layer is being worked on regularly, (i think thats the right term for it)

EDIT: also the klonoa one was a big thing for me because that was one of those games which had issues despite being listed as "compatible" and not being listed as having issues meaning the fix could have been through general BC improvements rather than a targeted fix which gives me more hope.

@JaxonH yeah - I know about the 10 year deal, just thought maybe I missed something. Appreciate it!

@Lazz
Oh gotcha.

@Mgalens
I forgot about the two Trails games. Been playing Trails In The Sky 1st Chapter (in fact was just playing today), so I haven't thought much about them as I don't intend to play until this one is finished.

But, that's why I keep a chipped NSW OLED and chipped NSW Lite OLED (custom installed OLED touchscreen) for running NSW1 games that have issues on NSW2 and/or don't require the full power of NSW2 to stabilize performance (not just performance issues, but like, handheld mode is sub-720p for example) and can be stabilized with overclocking, and can fix low handheld res by outputting the docked image on the OLED display. Plus space on NSW2 is limited (I have a 1TB mSD express dedicated to NSW1 games on NSW2), so keeping 2TB worth of games on a NSW1 that can address framerate and resolution issues without taking up precious NSW2 space is clutch.

But other games that can jump all the way to 60 frames on NSW2 and display in sufficient handheld resolution out of the box, like Monster Hunter Stories 2 and Dragon Quest Builders 2, those I install on NSW2. The NSW1 Trails releases though- all of them can be ran at a rock solid framerate on an overclocked NSW1.

Do you still have a NSW1?

@Lazz I've got through 8.5 years of Switch ownership only ever using Nintendo joy-cons, so I've no immediate plans to get a pro controller (as good as I read it is). Also in no immediate rush for a storage card, I'll just see how I'm getting on. I can't carry on the pace of amassing games that I've had over the past 10 years, so I really should be able get by with basic storage for a while. I've no immediate plans to retire my Switch, so a lot of the games that run fine on that will probably stay on it.

What's bumming me out a tad is the poor variety of Switch 2 cases available. I'm yet to find one I like the look of