Topic: Nintendo Switch 2 Direct

I'm at a 10. I've been a Nintendo fan long enough to know if a game is getting a Direct, then they are doing a deep dive on it and they have still yet to reveal something. Remember Mario Odyssey. They showed that off a couple of times, people lost their minds and thought they'd seen enough THEN they showed off cappy!

I'm at a 5. Interested to see what Nintendo's hiding about the world but at the same time nervous about the monetization side of things.

So now that both the Switch 2 Direct and Mario Kart Direct have aired, there probably won't be another Nintendo Direct until after the Switch 2 launch. This means it's a good time to reflect on the last few months of Switch 2 speculation.

1) As I expected, the Switch 2 doesn't natively support dual screens. The closest thing we saw regarding dual screens was the Zelda Notes feature, which is a mobile app. I suspect all future dual screen features will be similar to this.

2) The "Campus" rumor (i.e. GameChat) ended up being true, and it is 100% tied to the new C button.

3) Nintendo spent much of the Direct highlighting technical specifications (bigger display, 1080p screen, HDR, VRR, 4K when docked, 120FPS, etc). They clearly view the Switch 2 being way more powerful as it's biggest "gimmick" (alongside mouse controls and GameChat).

4) Switch 2 Editions of Switch 1 games are a big deal; heck, Nintendo announced as many Switch 2 Edition games as they did actual Switch 2 exclusives. I expect Switch 2 Editions of Switch 1 games to be released regularly throughout the Switch 2's lifecycle, much like how Wii U ports were handled on Switch.

5) Metroid Prime 4 and Pokemon Legends Z-A launching with both Switch 1 and Switch 2 Editions means Nintendo will adopt a cross-gen release strategy for their future Switch 1/2 games. Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Heaven are definitely getting Switch 2 Editions in 2026.

6) Metroid Prime 4 not being a Switch 2 launch or launch window titles is surprising. I thought it would have been the big July game, not Donkey Kong Bananza.

7) Speaking of Donkey Kong Bananza, it seems the rumor of Nintendo EPD taking back the reigns of Donkey Kong is true. Now we just have to see if Bananza is being developer by EPD Tokyo (the 3D Mario developers), as well as the status of the next 3D Mario game itself.

8) I was convinced the Switch would cost $399 under the assumption that it would use a basic 1080p 60Hz LCD display. Given that the display is much better than that (1080p 120Hz display with HDR/VRR support), I think the $450 price tag is understandable even if not ideal. The Trump tariff situation also makes pricing tricky.

9) As I expected, the Switch 2's UI and eShop are almost identical to that of the Switch 1, and Nintendo didn't really talk about them during the Switch 2 Direct.

@westman98 Have we actually seen much of the eShop? In a Q&A, they said it ran far better and had a new feature called 'Game Finds' but I haven't heard much else. Of course it has to be somewhat reorganized because it now has 3 types of games.

I'm actually kinda keen to see what else they do with Switch 2 editions going forward. There are a number of Switch games that I'd probably be down to return to if they got sizeable DLC expansions along with the visual/performance upgrade.

@Dev-N Thank you, I missed that. Although the video really only shows the new recommendations section and the fact that it looks like they've revamped the wishlist. So it's hard to tell how much has changed. I imagine (hope?) they've also revamped the sales and new releases categories since both of those were dumpster fires on Switch. They've been changing how they deal with new releases on Switch already this year already so I assume they are planning something. And hopefully they've improved search as well which they may have since they renamed it. Overall, there is still a chance the eShop may be changing a fair bit even if the individual game pages are the same (fingers crossed anyways).

I assume best sellers will just come along for the ride, but that section always seemed pointless to me and a bit confusing in terms of what it means (best seller per week? month? Definitely not lifetime).

FYI the Switch 1 UI/eShop were updated to replicate the Switch 2 UI/eShop. Looks like they will be identical in the end.

@westman98 They should have stuck with orange tho, that’s what made the eShop stand out.

So, since the Splatoon Raiders announcement dropped today, fair to assume no Switch 2 Direct for June?

I want to preface this by saying: This is all just my thoughts and opinions.

I imagine that if they saved the Splatoon Raiders announcement for the next direct, it would be a bit more exciting for most people.
If they held the info for the next direct, a lot of fans would be holding their breaths for a new splatoon game, and then would get thrilled when Splatoon Raiders would get announced in the direct.
In my opinion, that would be cooler than waking up to a Nintendo life/Nintendo Today article about it.
I'm not even a huge fan of splatoon, but for the franchises I'm hoping to see in a Nintendo Direct, I hope they don't get revealed on a random Tuesday. (However, this single player splatoon game looks pretty cool.)

So the next Switch 2 Direct was announced.

A Donkey Kong Bonanza focused Direct.

Considering live demo impressions were...not great, I am not enthusiastic. Meh.

@Magician
I'm shocked you're not excited. Shocked, I say!

I wasn't aware the demo impressions weren't "great," as you say. What's the new beef?

@rallydefault

Just the framerate.

All those voxels making the game chug.

I feel like the official impressions were mixed but generally positive, ranging from 'better than Odyssey' to 'impressive and could be fun, but not my type of game'. I guess framerate warriors will always exist regardless.

Personally the treehouse footage looked extremely fun to me. I'm not sure if I care about the direct because I'm already buying the game, but I hope it wins over some more people.

@Magician
Darn voxels.

@FishyS
I'm most interested in the platforming/2D sections they showed a bit of. Not really stoked for the digging stuff, but we'll see.