Topic: Nintendo Switch 2: Your biggest fears and concerns!!

Weren’t there also reports about many T239 chips being shipped to a Nintendo-affiliated facility in Vietnam?

@MrCarlos46
Yeah, in the order of hundreds of 1000s a month. In shipments alongside ram, storage, 8" screens, circuit boards and plastics. Some of them labelled with the product code that has since appeared in the Switch OS legal documentation pages. Which you can actually access and see if you a Switch updated to the current firmware (BEE)

At this point with all this info, especially within mass-production, a fast Switch 2 release is pretty inevitable.

I did find this article on how the Switch 2 eShop could be changed (apart from running better) and then I noticed one part caught my eye: "a universal store that operates almost akin to the AppStore in that titles displayed will run on the hardware you’re navigating the store on"

When I saw that, I asked myself this: Wouldn’t such Switch 2 universal store already be the My Nintendo Store (as well as having extra selections like purchasing hardware, accessories, other merchandise, and even the My Nintendo Rewards)? Nintendo could use that as the Switch 2 storefront if they wanted to put a universal storefront and add some extra features if they wanted to, unless the universal store part was to something else.

They are still far behind when it comes to online functionality. They always have annoying roadblocks for what should simple tasks. I’ll give them a bit of credit as things have improved gradually with each new console release. I think the hybrid nature has given Nintendo huge glimpse into how important portability is. My hope is they plan to improve ways to keep that massive install base of 140M+ connected , we recently saw Nintendo launch that massive global gaming project. Now this could be to test the online infrastructure of a massive online game they’re working on…or perhaps the next UI is a global hub , something akin to the Wii menu hub? They won’t fix all their online issues and loopholes but I do see an improvement in online and multiplayer features. They are so far behind Nintendo fans are still looking forward to basic online features smh! In 2025 they can’t be lagging anymore , there are zero excuses now.

It will be a better console specs wise but the challenge they face is capturing the newness , the 1st time the hybrid concept clicked for gamers …that potential sense of awe might not be there with a simple upgrade in hardware. The idea might not be new but the games will look and run better. It’s the sales pitch Sony, MS live and die by but will it be enough for Nintendo. Ppl expect forward thinking innovation with Nintendo consoles not lateral moves. They’ll need something enticing to convince ppl why they need a Switch 2, they’ll also need to future proof it for when PS6, or next Xbox launch which is likely 2-3yrs away.

All valid concerns. These are some of the trade offs Nintendo gamers endure. If they can carry over most of the Switch massive install base to the Switch 2 it should really help ease those gaps between 1st party releases. They cannot have another fiasco as crippling as Joycon Drift. We can only hope they’re really learning lessons from Switch 1. It won’t be perfect, they’ll still baffle us by omitting some basic features but we have to keep in mind their a family entertainment company so we just won’t get the full online functionality of Xbox/PS5. They did fairly well with new franchises on Switch. Both Peach and Zelda got their own mainline games. Even franchises like ARMS and Astral Chain brought something completely new to the catalog. I’d expect a new franchise here and there but nothing crazy as new franchises carry risk and are costly. The cardboard VR comment cracked me up but your right VR is still an area of opportunity, perhaps this is the console they dedicate to a true VR peripheral?

I doubt it. The Wii U had more issues than just the name and marketing. The game lineup simply wasn't compelling and had the same issues @Rainz mentioned about not capturing the "newness". Even if it was clear that the Wii U was a new console and not an add on, what was the game lineup really doing to sell the console? They didn't really use the Gamepad in any interesting or compelling way and they didn't really have much in terms of original game ideas, most of what they did on Wii U was just recycling ideas they had on the DS, Wii, or 3DS. I mean how many people are going to be interested in what's essentially a Home console version of a DS/3DS to play NSMB: Wii U Edition, Super Mario 3D Land: Wii U Edition, Donkey Kong Country Returns: Wii U Edition, Kirby's Epic Yarn: Yoshi Edition, etc.? Marketing wasn't going to do much to help that, the games didn't really scream innovative, next gen upgrade either. They really did need to go back to the drawing board the way they did after the Wii U, there's little they did in any aspect of the Wii U that felt well planned and worthwhile.

As for the Switch 2, I am very concerned about the lack of "newness" hardware wise, it feels like the leaks imply that there's nothing new. But software wise? There might be a few IPs here and there that I struggle to imagine how they could follow up with an innovative, original entry (Zelda comes to mind, where do they go from here that doesn't just feel like a BotW clone?), but there's a lot of IPs that have room to grow (3D Mario, Mario Kart, 3D Kirby, DK, and Splatoon). And I do think they could introduce new IPs. In particular, I suspect we'll see them experiment with new spinoffs for popular characters, basically continuing what they've done with games like Princess Peach Showtime and Echoes of Wisdom. So I'm not worried about the games feeling like rehashes of Switch games. Not yet at least.

You know who could really deserve a spin-off game of their own? Deep Cut, especially considering they got shafted in Splatoon 3

Not sure about Deep Cut getting a spinoff. For one, I'm not sure how popular they would be, I would think the Squid Sisters or Off the Hook would be better choices. Second, what would the gameplay be? What would make them unique? I could see a Splatoon spinoff happening, but not this. At best I'm thinking a Squid Sisters game if they find some kind of Splatoon spin on a music/rhythm game, but I'm not sure if they could come up with an angle for that.

My thoughts on who else could get spinoffs:
Rosalina- She's popular, and we keep seeing fans saying they want Galaxy 3. It feels too limiting to shackle 3D Mario to the Galaxy formula, but Rosalina originated from Galaxy and would be popular enough to continue it, so this would probably be the best way to resurrect the Galaxy formula.
Bowser- You can't go wrong with another Mario spinoff and Bowser is iconic, so I could see this happening at some point. Not exactly sure what Bowser would do differently, but I'm sure they'll come up with some kind of new experience. Probably something where Bowser can go ham on enemies crushing them and burning them with his fire breath.
Tom Nook- There's definitely room for Nintendo to have a business management sim and Tom Nook would be a good fit for this.
Isabelle- Isabelle is a pretty popular character and I'm sure fans would love to play as her. Office management sim perhaps?
Some kind of Space Pirate character- This one is more of a wish and I'm not sure it'll ever happen, but can you imagine using Space Pirate tech? Energy Scythes, EMP Grenades, and the Jetpacks from the Prime games would be so fun to use.

There's also a few dormant spinoffs that they should consider reviving like Wario Land and Captain Toad.

An open world Splatoon spin off, with a giant Inkopolis city to explore, would be amazing. It could be Nintendo's GTA.

Maybe also include Splatsville as another map?

@MrCarlos46 Sounds good to me.

You could probably write a book about what the Wii U got wrong. Some of it would be right, most of it is probably just a case of shoving biases and preferences into some narrative after the fact. It's the kind of thing that you can bend your view on it to tell whatever story you want about the why

What I tend to think is that the Wii brand was already in rapid decline. I don't think naming the Wii U the Wii 2 would've helped at all because even by around 2010 the market was already moving on. I still think that Wii HD would've communicated something useful and a Wii U minus the GamePad and with HD visuals at a low price? I think that'd do better than the Wii U did. Obviously the Wii sold well and had some brand value, but as far as consoles go and how the market generally viewed it? It was a bit of a fad. It burnt brightly.... but only for a couple of years

Switch isn't like that. Switch as a brand I would argue is about as powerful and as stable as GameBoy was. Switch 2 is, IMO, as powerful as GameBoy 2 might have been if they had named the GBA that instead of calling it Advanced. It works, but it works because people know what "Switch" is, intuitively understand what an improved version of it might bring and most importantly they want one

@Bolt_Strike
Software wise it shouldn’t be an issue for the Switch 2. The Switch name carries big brand power right now and is an enticing console for 3rd party and indie devs as well. The console will be supported unlike the Wii U. There’s an opportunity for “newness” with the console as there are still a ton of AAA 3rd party games that didn’t make it to the Switch 1 and could be given new life on Switch 2. If the system gets titles like Baldurs Gate 3, Elden Ring etc….on top of the Nintendo 1st party games , indie games….there should be a steady flow of releases. If it’s a large incremental increase in power, perhaps we see a few remasters/remakes (Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 2-3…) to give Nintendo teams time to acclimate themselves with the new hardware and features before we see new material. There are a lot of dormant franchises they can revive, we’ve seen an uptick in F-Zero, Donkey Kong games, we know Sakurai is working on a mystery game. There’s the mystery online playtest they recently ran, perhaps they’re preparing for a massive MMO type game ?

It really is a compelling question. Where does Nintendo software go from here? We got 3 major mainline Zelda games on the Switch, the entire Xenoblade series is on Switch, where does the Smash Bros franchise go from here ?? Smash Bros Ultimate is such a ridiculously high bar, can it be topped? There’s lots of spinoff potential from their franchises, and they will always milk us with nostalgia so I’d expect they’ll be some old mixed in with a good batch of fresh new takes.

My biggest fear is devs continue to develop for PS5 Pro levels of performance, prioritizing graphics and then downscaling or 'making sacrifices' for it to work on other consoles in a purely cynical money grab. It flies in the face of convention where you develop something for the most popular console, typically the least powerful I might add, (making it as good as can be) then adding stuff for the more powerful consoles (like 8K and 1000 frames per second.) Day and date with other consoles would be great, but hopefully we see either more 'miracle ports due to iit being easier, or developers prioritise the gameplay and develop for the Switch 2. (Yeah, I know it won't happen.)

Now that would be an interesting concept! There’s enough lore and culture to expand it into a full open world game. In all honesty I could see them doing a smaller spinoff , maybe expand something like Tableturf Battle into its very own puzzler game? I imagine with GTA6 on the horizon, most devs will simply steer clear of major open world concepts in 2025. You could argue the BOWT/TOTK formula is their GTA

If Nintendo does implement new features then perhaps we do see unique Switch 2 ports or games built from the ground up. Devs focused on graphical fidelity don’t prioritize Nintendo consoles anyway, if there’s something compelling gameplay wise we could see more creative efforts or ports with exclusive content on Switch 2. I think the industry is really starting to see the diminishing returns on graphics and rising development costs. Take Astro Bot on PS5, it’s pretty much the GOTY and this marks a clear departure from the graphic intense M rated games typically found on the system. Devs will take note and I’m sure we’ll see more Nintendo like rip offs moving forward. With its massive install base and what will likely be a very developer friendly console , I could see Switch 2 being a high priority console to develop for.

@Rainz I would have thought so. I would have thought it more cost effective too.

Yeah, I feel like an open world Splatoon game is a better direction for a spinoff. Splatoon's mechanics would lend themselves well to a more exploration focused game, I mean everyone was begging to explore the Splatlands in 3 and was disappointed when it was just background. I feel like there's a large appetite to expand on that.

I completely forgot about this. Not sure what they're planning for this but they don't really have anything like it, so it would be a great addition to the lineup.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Smash 6 is not happening this gen actually. I think they might want extra time to think about where to go from Ultimate, we usually see them do so in those situations. Maybe give Ultimate the MK8D treatment and then we see Smash 6 on the Switch 3/whatever's after the Switch 2.