Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

As a current Switch 2 outsider, I have conflicted opinions about the Mario Kart World backlash. On one hand, it seems overblown (outside of valid concerns about Nintendo allowing price rises to be normalized, which thankfully has not happened yet I think), at least in the case that day 1 multiplayer Switch releases having issues is not remotely new and that I think Mario Kart is a somewhat overhyped series carried by DS and 8 Deluxe being fantastic. And 8 Deluxe shows a sad, kinda pointlessness to judging Mario Kart day 1 anymore, since that was originally a Wii U game with a bad battle mode that felt a need to give you a free game for buying it, and none of that matters anymore now that its a 96 track game if you just have Nintendo's easy to get a good deal with the family plan Expansion Pass. And with the issues already being fixed apparently with the game, the backlash just feels cute, for a game that is inevitably going to sell millions for years and years.

On the other hand, I feel strong vindication for feeling that the last time Mario Kart competed with Kirby Air Ride and a Sega racing game, it was 3rd place (4th place with Need for Speed Underground also released around that same time), so yes everyone can gladly keep glazing up those games instead, there are usually many better video games than Mario Kart that deserve your money! The idea that Double Dash with its bare minimum content and being obviously worse than the very next game in the series was a highlight of 2003, one of my favorite years in gaming, is insane to me. I could probably name at least 4 licensed video games I prefer to Double Dash from 2003, that's how good that year is (actually Battle for Bikini Bottom only being the 4th best of those licensed games is the real sign of how good that year is). Also Kirby Air Riders is up there with the TTYD remake and Metroid Dread as games where I want it to sell ALL the copies, so talking that game up in particular will always be good.

@Lazz
No problem. I know it's probably overly technical for most, but I still wanted to demonstrate, with actual data, whether or not there's any validity to the claim of bias.

We now have indisputable evidence there is no bias in NintendoLife reviews. So if anyone makes that claim in the future, pull that graph out and say hey, the data suggests otherwise. In fact, it suggests it's more likely to have a bias against the Switch 2 platform than it is to have a bias in favor of the Switch 2 platform. Based on a sample of the top 10 scoring games released on the Switch 2, NintendoLife on average scored them 3 points out of 100 lower than everyone else.

@kkslider5552000 it’s kinda great that we have these 3 racing games in the same year as it means people are more likely to find something that they like, and they all seem to be good games.

That said, I do find it strange when people act like these alternatives absolutely destroy Mario Kart World. I’m having a fantastic time with Kirby but it scratches a very different itch to Mario Kart, and tbh I’m really struggling to get others to enjoy it in the same way I can get people to pick up and play Mario Kart. Which is a shame because I feel City Trial is perfect for local multiplayer.

Sonic Crossworld I don’t own, but I’m honestly quite underwhelmed by the demo and what I’ve seen online. It seems like a fun game - and I’ll certainly pick it up when it’s cheaper - but it seems quite by the numbers as a kart racer and, while seemingly an improvement over Team Sonic Racing…I don’t quite see what it offers over Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed (which is a phenomenal game). And idk even as a Sonic fan of 25+ years the fanservice isn’t quite doing it for me.

I do feel like people use these games as ammunition when attacking Mario Kart World and…tbh I just don’t agree with it.

Sonic Racing Crossworlds is a good game. But I get bored in like 20 minutes. It's better than Team Sonic Racing, that's for sure, but I'd have much rather seen a remaster for Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed.

And to be blunt, it's not even close to Mario Kart World. It's just not. Mario Kart World is a fantastic game. I can just jump into Free Roam and screw around for an hour or two. Finding P-switch challenges and costume meals gives me plenty of incentive to explore.

Will restrain myself from speaking further about Kirby Air Riders. I accept it didn't do it for me yet many others love it, so I don't see anything constructive coming from further putting it on blast. Better to let the fans of the game speak about it.

My point is half serious, beyond the basic, shameless desire for my favs to be given more respect than just the most obvious, popular games in the world, but it is also just awkward because the entire problem with Mario Kart is price apparently, but Double Dash was 50 bucks and it had less content than most of the other Gamecube games I played from that same year but we have to ignore that price point because nostalgia.

Also maybe it would annoy me less if the entire discussion on the game didn't assume that Mario Kart was the most flawless, content rich, fairly priced video game series of all time before now. Or if the endless complaints were going to have such an impact that it will still sell 30X more than Kirby Air Riders, through brand recognition, only partially through merit. I'm tired of annoying complaints that then meant nothing at all, stop buying Pokemon games if you all hate it so much so then maybe the series will improve AND we can stop hearing about it.

@kkslider5552000 tbh although I really like Double Dash I’m kinda with you on it being a bit underwhelming content-wise. I remember thinking this when I first played it in the 00s (it was a rental - I didn’t buy the game until many years later, likely for that reason!)

I never had the fortune of playing the alternatives at the time! But Mario Kart DS absolutely stole my heart just a few years later.

Last minute thought so this post isn’t completely off-topic: wouldn’t MKDS on the switch 2 be a fantastic time…

@kkslider5552000
As someone who's obviously been a fan of Mario Kart for years to me it's just a bit odd that people have this perception that the game is a kind of peak Nintendo. This supposed critical darling franchise and World falls short of those highs. But it's never been that

It has certainly always been the default game purchase for a new Nintendo console. Maybe with the exception of the GC when you could argue that game was Smash. But that was never because it was this critical masterpiece must play game. It has always just been this solid, competent, highly accessible local multiplayer game. It didn't really matter what the critics thought, it was never about that. You didn't play Mario Kart to have your mind blown. It was always just this social gathering glue you dragged out to burn time

Perhaps the amount of DLC on 8 and the gap between releases has kinda skewed people's expectations a bit. There would be 18 year Olds now who were 5 when 8 launched, they would know nothing but Mario Kart 8. They wouldn't be able to grasp the state it launched in and they certainly wouldn't understand the "vibe" of the franchise before then. Maybe there's something to that

Anyways, as I've articulated before, Mario Kart to me was always the game you got with your new Nintendo console. But it was never the game you got a new Nintendo console for

I use the $80 Genki Portable Magnetic Battery with 10,000 mAh at 30W, but this one is 12,800 mAh at 22.5W. Still should be enough to prevent drain while playing or charge slightly, obviously charging when not playing. And it's only $20, has 28% more battery than mine and still comes in around 180 grams, meaning the total weight when attached is still around that of the original Steamdeck out of the box.

Buy a $10 set of Magnetic Rings to adhere one to the back of your NS2, and bam! You're golden. Thing even comes with built in right angle USB-C cable, so for $30 you can be getting 6+ hours playtime on your Switch 2 without the weight being a hindrance to your enjoyment.

12,800 mAh Portable Magnetic Battery $20

Adhesive Magnetic Rings $10

According to the Nintendo Today! App, two new Switch 2 Joy-Con colors are coming out in February 2026.

Saw NS2 performance was lower than NS1 over Christmas in western markets (still higher in Japan). Down around 35% vs NS1 2017 for the last few weeks of December.

So I looked at the numbers and saw that would mean it did around 2m instead of 3m. That's a decline of around 1/3.

But that would still put it on track to hit 19m by March 31st. As long as it's averaging 1.5m globally each month, it should hit its target. I'm estimating around 15m sold as of Dec 31st.

So on the one hand, I think this is a fair indicator NS2 will likely not match the same success of NS1 (which was a fair assumption from the jump). On the other hand, I don't think it's cause for concern. If my estimations are correct, it should still be on track for their FY target. But assuming I'm wrong and it falls short, it would only be by 1-2 million at most. Which would still mean being ahead of NS1 launch-aligned (NS1 only did 17m in its first 12 months, whereas NS2 should be at 19m in 10 months, at worst 17 mil in 10 months).

Expect a lot of doom posting though moving forward. Even after Feb when they confirm Switch 2 reached around 15m as of Dec 31st, I expect there to be a "failure narrarive".

Global Sales (in 10,000s of units sold)
The yellow line is my projection for Q3 global sales based on a conservative estimate of only 5 million sold for Oct, Nov and Dec, which accounts for a 35% shortfall vs NS1 2017 during December in western regions

Here's the basis of my calculations.

Reports indicate sales in US/EU were 35% lower in December vs Switch 1. Let's assume an even worse scenario, and apply a 35% shortfall for the entire quarter in the US/EU (even though we know sales in Oct were higher and Nov were equal).

Add the two regions sales together for Q3 and multiply by 0.65. We get 3.55 million.

Now add in Q3 sales for Japan (had to get sales through 3rd week of December and add the final week manually). We get around 1.5 million.

The grand total is, if calculating precisely, 5.07 million for Q3 globally. With Switch 2 at 10+ million as of Q2, this gives us 15 million as a floor. It's almost certainly higher, since October and November were not 35% shortfalls in the west.

Meaning global sales are at 15-16 million as of Dec. 31st, 2025. Switch 2 only needs to do another 3-4 million in Q4 (Jan - Mar) to hit their 19m target. That's almost certainly a given, since they've averaged around 1.5m per month.

I think the other thing to point out that gets glossed over is that it has, overall, outpaced Switch 1 in 6 months compared to that systems 10 months by this point.

Right.

But if you look at the original graph with yellow line demonstrating the Q3 estimation, you can see Switch 2 doesn't have the same ups and downs as Switch 1. It's not seeing the same holiday bump, but also not seeing the same lows.

It's a pretty straight trajectory, actually. And right on track for 19m estimate. Obviously a $150 price increase vs Switch will have some impact, but even despite that it seems to be plowing ahead at a constant velocity. It's not speeding up, it's not slowing down.

And yes, it's comfortably ahead of Switch 1 overall. Sold 2m less in the Q3 holidays vs Switch 1 but many more millions in the normal months, which more than makes up for it. As long as it keeps its current trajectory, it's on track for 125m minimum.

I wish people would say "I hope Nintendo Switch 2 doesn't sell as well" and not try to manifest a fake reality.

I can't buy a mansion just because I want enough money to buy a mansion.

Honestly I think that's maybe my main issue with all complaints this past year, can we just live in reality for a second? Mario Kart was always going to be better after launch and not made for binge focused hardcore gamers, Mario Kart's open world was not guaranteed to be a beloved, content rich masterpiece, Nintendo has been bad at sales and having their full priced games consistently make sense, 70 dollar games is not a massive shift for Nintendo and greed with that in mind, Switch 1 started earlier in the year and partially relied on ports, Metroid Prime 4's characters are not remotely as annoying as the worst MCU projects, let alone the even more annoying characters that try for Marvel writing outside of Marvel, you can enjoy new Pokemon games while knowing they are kinda bad at this HD gaming thing. (see also: Bethesda)

None of what I said is interesting or unexpected or remotely controversial by any sane logic of people who experience the media that they talk about. And much of them are worthwhile complaints if they didn't ignore all reality to make their points. Do you pay enough attention to gaming to get excited for upcoming Nintendo directs and speculate but did not once consider that a new Mario Kart might rely on the long term, as a series whose previous game got updates up to 9 years later? You don't have to like it, but please stop being shocked that a thing that was likely to happen...happened when you're online enough to have figured this out.

Honorable mention to people who took Kirby Air Ride's dumb reviews as indication of its actual quality to most people and were like "wow this new one is actually good, unlike the last one" lmao ok "No one else has had an opinion on this game since 2003, I know exactly what I'm talking about"

For me, the thing that stands out and makes this comparison dubious is the total sales in dollars, rather than units. All else being equal, you'd expect a more expensive item to sell fewer units, in proportion to how much more expensive it is. And that proportion. . . pretty much exactly matches the changes in sales. So, even with a hilariously cherry picked comparison, its a nothingburger. "People spend same amount of money on new Nintendo console, get fewer total units because higher prices" not being as click-bait a headline as "Nintendo DOOMED!"

Now, does Nintendo want to sell only two-thirds as many consoles? No, they profit greatly from total install base. However, this is almost certainly something Nintendo already realized in advance when deciding on the price of the Switch 2. When they decided on a price point of $450, rather than $400 or $500 or any other amount, they did so concluding that it was the best possible tradeoff between sales rate and cost of goods. Yeah, they'd probably like to sell 2-3x as many consoles. But they also like "not losing several hundred dollars on every console sold", too. And given how rare it is for companies to engage in long term planning that doesn't hinge on gambling the whole business on billions of dollars of loans, I wish the video game consumer base were a little less hostile to the idea.

Sadly, magical thinking aimed at the death of Nintendo has been a reality. . .basically since the Wii. There are a lot of people who never forgave Nintendo for the "crime" of neither dying nor turning into a Playstation "grim games for adults" clone, and instead gaining extraordinary success by making a console all about accessible low-spec games aimed at all audiences.

Kirby Air Riders was like playing a pinball game from the perspective of the ball.

I'm sure there are people who like it, and I'm happy for them, but that demo is the first and last time that particular piece of software will be executed on my Switch 2.

And another Xbox game skips the platform.

They really are wishy washy with this aren't they?

The Switch 2 is going to have the spotlight on it unlike any other console has. Seriously. Every little data point will be scrutinized a thousand ways to Sunday, run through the mill, and given a bad hat every minute of every day.

I’ve never seen a group of people so eager to see a large chunk of their hobby go away.