Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

Wonder what are the chances of Ninja Gaiden Ragebound getting shadow dropped at SGF? It doesn't have a native Switch 2 version but as long as there's no BC issues it would be a new game the day after the Switch 2 launch

@Quantumz00
It's a very good game, even a great game I would say if you don't try to 100% everything.

My big complaint (and the common one) is that is gets pretty repetitive and long in the tooth after about hour 20, but if you're not trying to be a completionist, you only have like another 10 hours at that point. If you're scraping everything in the barrel, though... it was a long 30 hours on the back stretch for me haha

Solid mechanics, great animations and soul. Just... repetitive. Even for a turn-based rpg.

@Quantumz00 It's a decent game, but pales in comparison to the best of Mario and Luigi. The music would've been so much better if they brought back Yoko Shimomura instead of the guy they brought in.

@alexwolf Not saying that it replaces 3D Mario, but I'm saying that the new DK game is making it less likely that Nintendo will need a new 3D Mario within the first few years of the system's life, as it fills the same exact niche. Same with Mario Kart World, which has more platforming elements due to the new tricks they introduced.

@rallydefault Nintendo still counts it as a 3D Platformer. The game literally plays like the ending of Mario Odyssey.

Interestingly, Nintendo has Bananza marked as Action/Adventure in the NA eShop. Odyssey is marked Platformer/Action.

Edit: I was told by someone it is labeled Platformer in the UK eShop. So I have no idea what Nintendo is thinking.

@FishyS in the direct they refer to it as a ‘3D platforming action game’. I guess they’re trying to establish that while the game is similar to Odyssey in a lot of ways, in reality the moment to moment gameplay feels a lot more different as DK. I could see the game having much more in-depth combat with potentially new moves to learn

@Dev-N A lot of people were surprised that Wonder never got DLC, so I feel like saving an update for a Switch 2 edition this year seems pretty likely.

@VoidofLight
Hey, whatever floats your proverbial boat, but I'm going off what the people who have actually played it at these Experience events have been saying. But hey, what would they know, right?

And with the fact that the CCP censors so many games or some not releasing there at all, resulting in a limited library, it leads Chinese citizens to just import from the gray market or other places (like Hong Kong, not sure about Japan this time tho) to enjoy everything and get access to Nintendo’s online services, not to mention imported units also come with Simplified Chinese support.

Speaking of which, Nintendo Switch services in China are ending next year, which could add to uncertainty about if they’ll find someone else or Tencent again to partner with releasing the Switch 2.

With all this in mind is there a chance they choose to not release the Switch 2 in mainland China and just leave the market?

@VoidofLight

It's not about filling a niche or anything like that, it's about making money. Mario odyssey sold 30 million copies, and it's been 8 years since its release, it is almost certain that Nintendo has a new 3D Mario tittle almost ready, and they are waiting for the perfect timing to release it.

DK is spare change compared to Mario, let's please stop comparing them when it comes to release schedules and not gameplay.

@alexwolf I doubt they have a new 3D Mario at the ready. The team that makes 3D Mario is making this new DK game. Unless they've been sitting on that 3D Mario for 8 whole years, or DK for a good few years, there's no chance we're getting a new 3D mario any time soon.

@VoidofLight Probably not until the middle or near the end of the Switch 2…

Do you really think Nintendo's organisation works in a way that they have only team available to handle 3D platformers? And that they, as a business, would rather wait for 10+ years to release the next entry in one of their biggest cash-cow franchises just so the can make a Donkey Kong game (which is guaranteed to sell less than the next 3D Mario) in the meanwhile? Instead of, you know, reshuffling teams or appointing different teams to different projects?

@Polvasti I just don't think they're going to shuffle teams. A lot of the people working on the DK game are probably massive key members for Odyssey- at least if what we saw means anything.

They also aren't starving for cash. Mario Kart World is going to sell extremely well, and more people are bound to check out the new DK given how it's coming out close to the system's life. I think this is one of the few moments Nintendo took a risk on not having a 3D Mario game at launch.

@VoidofLight There's a new rumour that DK Bonanza is co-developed by Monolith Soft and a smaller group of EPD developers with the rest of EPD working on a new 3D Mario

Source is Nash Weedle who's been right about quite a lot of things in the past: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtYI8yqKL7Q

@VoidofLight Yes, Mario Kart World will inevitably sell very well, and the new Donkey Kong will probably too, but it's not like most people who will buy one or two of those games wouldn't buy a new 3D Mario as well. Having a new 3D Mario come out, say, in spring 2026 would guarantee more people will buy the Switch 2, on top of the millions of copies the game itself will sell. Nintendo is a capitalist business and they know this, so it'd be absurd to think they can afford to have only one team making one 3D platformer at a time.

If one of their teams can make Splatoon, then Splatoon 2 with updates for years and DLC, then Animal Crossing, then back to Splatoon 3, I'm sure another team can make two 3D platforms in a short span.

We now know the Mario Kart team was working on 8 Deluxe, ARMS, World and the booster course pass pretty much simultaneously.

@Polvasti Games take longer to make nowadays so wouldn’t it be more effective to spread the mega hits over the generation so that momentum isn’t lost?

It depends... Nintendo did well with evergreen titles this gen and it matters less when they come out because they keep selling consoles for years. 3 out of 5 top selling Switch games were 2017 games afterall and another was 2018. Plus, if they manage to have 3D mario in 2026, that would be a great first two years momentum. And with queued Animal Crossing, Splatoon, eventually Zelda, new Switch Sports or a Fit game, Smash, it's not like they're low on heavy hitters to spread out. Plus periodic Pokemon.

I think the true question besides the unknown Nintendo team re-organization question is whether Nintendo expects Bananza to be a mega hit or merely a normal hit which gets a boost as a release window game.

@Grumblevolcano think it depends to a degree. Zelda’s next mainline 3D open world game won’t be for at least 3 more years but they need ideally 4 big games a year - one per quarter. Think the main issue is can Nintendo make sure they have enough games coming out to fill the gaps between the big hitters. I’m still skeptical that Nintendo even with outsourcing can get even half the games out the door that they managed with the Switch. In part because there’s no easy ports to do anymore and also due to higher costs and longer development times needed.