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

In sitting here enjoying my switch to the fullest! Love it!, but also feel abit sad that we dont Get switch 2 for christmas. Starting to feel abit impatient. 😅

@FishyS Yeah, that's another good point. This year has been the first break year Game Freak's taken since 2015, and only the second in the last 15 years. It's kind of weird that they announced Z-A in February for a 2025 release. I'm guessing Z-A might've been internally delayed because the Switch 2 was, which might point to a cross-gen release.

One thing to note RE the power of Switch 2 relative to these other platforms is that in many ways Switch 2 will be more advanced. They all, including Steam Deck, have hardware RT but Switch 2 uses NVidia hardware so is far more efficient. Not enough to overcome the raw horsepower of PS5 but it will definitely outclass Steam Deck and XB Series S

Also hardware acceleration for file decompression. Steam Deck lacks this entirely and with Switch 2 likely to support MicroSD express the performance gap in the storage subsystem will be vast. Will Switch 2 beat PS5/XB Series here? Probably not. But it'll be close, close enough that nobody should really worry about it

Then there's DLSS. Yes, again, Switch 2 won't have the raw power here the PS5 does. PS5 will run natively games at resolutions Switch 2 needs DLSS to achieve. But DLSS is by far the most impressive hardware based accelerated upscaling that exists. It'll smoke the Steam Deck, comprehensively, and any other PC handheld on the market currently

I think people are being a tad too pessimistic about how the hardware comparison game will play out. And from most of the usual suspects who are just generally stuck in the Wii vs 360 era console wars still. But I don't think there's reason to be. Nintendo has a strong hand here, especially given Switch 2 will be backed by one of the few game publishers these days who has any real interest in optimisation, polish, creative use of hardware features, interesting art styles etc.

Which is why the only real concern I have, personally, is that the great games they have for the first year don't land. Or are delayed. Or are held back by a desire to further milk the Switch userbase

There will probably be a mix of first party and third party games at launch

@FishyS I was just thinking about how Nintendo 1st party games easily more than makes up for gaps in 3rd party. For example, GTA6 is the biggest 3rd party game of the decade so if that skips Switch 2, it may give the perception that the hardware is weak (see Wii U not getting games like GTAV and Skyrim despite the Wii U being more powerful than 360/PS3) taking into consideration that GTA6 is being forced to run on Series S due to Microsoft's parity clause (all Series X games must run with Series S feature parity).

But I think Nintendo having a very strong 1st party lineup around that point in time would make the 3rd party absence completely irrelevant.

@Grumblevolcano
Worth remembering it's not just about performance parity but it's also about technology parity. Especially given the gap in power these days is more about how many pixels you can push beyond 1080p/60fps rather than if it's possible to achieve 720p/30 at all with specific optimisations. As I was saying above, in a lot of ways the Switch 2 is more advanced than its competition not less. So support should generally flow

But even if it doesn't, it kinda feels like gaming in general is in a bit of a rut. Especially with larger publishers. Something NIntendo has largely managed to sidestep by living in their own world as they tend to do. Between first party Nintendo stuff and interesting indie content..... what more would you actually want on Switch 2 anyways? Probably not that much

@skywake That is what I was trying to say with my comment. If you have a really strong 1st party lineup for Switch 2, I don't think people are going to mind if it's missing out on the big 3rd party support. It's the outcome of a weaker 1st party lineup that I think other absences may be brought up more.

I gave GTA6 as an example of a potential big 3rd party game that could skip Switch 2 because even though GTAV is a 7th gen game that got ported to many platforms, it still skipped Switch 1.

If it turned out both 1st party and 3rd party ended up being strong, you'd get a major situation where more people can treat Switch 2 as the only current console they need which is a big deal.

My only real concern is that Nintendo will make most of their games cross gen for the first few years. This would not only cripple the switch 2 from a sales perspective, but it would mean most of the new games don't really look like next gen games.

@Sigran102 If making cross-gen games, they might probably put the enhancements for when it’s played on Switch 2

@MrCarlos46 yeah, but enhancements can only do so much. The switch 2 looks like a substantial upgrade, not like PS4 to PS5. A game built for it from the ground up will look miles better than an enhanced version of a switch 1 game.

@skywake
I definitely think ppl are underestimating the Nvidia and Nintendo partnership. I’m not expecting Switch 2 to be some technical powerhouse but I do think Nintendo and Nvidia engineers will create an innovative system for developers. For those concerned about the games, my hope is the Switch 2 will have unique enough features and be engineered to promote more creativity from its developers. I honestly think that making it a “fun” system to develop for will create enough energy and momentum to where it will reduce the major lapses between software releases, and lack of innovative titles this gen has been a victim of. Whatever they do cook up though I do believe it’ll find a nice balance between a respectable boost in power and balance in efficiency

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So what are we saying here? With the Switch being a hybrid console is it fair to compare it to home console performance or a that of PC Handheld system or both in this case? What are the thresholds for a next gen Nintendo console these days? Are we content with PS4 quality visuals or does it have to be more capable than a SteamDeck to be considered a “next gen” console. Are we disappointed if it’s simply closer to par with a SteamDeck/Asus Rog ? Are we counting Teraflops on a Nintendo console ? Realistically what’s an acceptable leap in performance? How do we feel if developers word gets out and we start hearing whispers of the word “underpowered”? 😬

@Rainz For me personally - I just want a more powerful version of 'Switch1'... at a minimum, on Steamdeck level (but ideally Switch2>Steamdeck).

The ability to (competantly) run games from PS4 era would be ideal and realistic I feel.

Fully re-mappable controls, and also this per game. Better UI customisation. Better eshop. Fully backward-compat.

Solid offering of 1st party titles at release, alongside some killer 3rd party ports (Elden Ring etc)

I'd be very happy with all above, which IMO isn't too big an ask

@CJD87

It really does seem like a simple approach for a successor, more power! Nintendo doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel but Nintendo never focuses on power to define its consoles. I’m thinking Switch 2 will be a capable console but if we’re asking for base SteamDeck power as the minimum…we should expect SteamDeck prices. Nintendo won’t set that high of a price point but that’s where we get cost cutting measures like less RAM, storage, LCD screen etc.

Features like fully re-mappable buttons would be such a huge boost, and I’m sure they will completely revamp the UI and Eshop. It seems like an easy winning formula so long as there’s enough power for those 3rd party devs with AAA titles. I just get the feeling Nintendo will somehow get in its own way and will hinder the Switch 2’s potential for cost cutting measures instead. It is a business at the end of the day, and I’d love them to prove me wrong.

@Rainz
At the end of the day what matters is whether or not the software that releases on it is compelling or not. And I think any significant leap in performance and technology will make Nintendo more competitive. Because it'll open up new opportunities to developers which in turn will allow new ideas and ultimately new titles

In terms of what the leap in performance will be? It's hard to measure. TFLOPs comparisons with the PS4 would be kinda meaningless because there are so many other things that have advanced since the PS4 launched 10 years ago. Pretty much all of which Switch 2 will have and PS4 doesn't. Ray Tracing, DLSS, Fast Storage etc. Also Switch 2 will have more memory and significantly more raw CPU performance. It also will definitely beat it in raw GPU performance docked, undocked is a bit trickier but it'll at least be competitive and other technologies it can use will surely let it overtake

It's a similar deal with comparisons to the Steam Deck. Probably less raw power but more modern features (although Steam Deck has hardware accelerated RT unlike PS4 even if Nvidia's hardware is far more advanced). But I think most importantly with comparisons to Steam Deck, as much as I love the thing, Switch 2 will be a consumer friendly, cost competitive and retail available device. So there's no contest

But again..... at the end of the day the thing that'll matter is "can I play GTA on this, can I play Street Fighter 6 on this, does it have a new Mario Kart". And in that sense it can't be a step backwards from Switch

And with all that extra power, it comes down to how long the Switch 2 battery will last

"Your biggest fears and concerns!!"

The people who start up speculating on Switch 3.

@MrCarlos46 that's ma biggest concern too.
I would like Switch 2 will remain on the OLED battery life level, and not go back to the V1 level.

My brother got Nintendo Switch Sports for Christmas and, while we've only briefly started it up so far, it's brought to mind what is, in my opinion, a major shortcoming of the Switch: the lack of intuitiveness to non-gamers. Famously, anyone can get to grips with using a Wii Remote in seconds; just point it at the screen and press A to select stuff. Joy-Cons, on the other hand, don't have pointer controls (unless it's a game with a gyro pointer, which has to be recentred all the time), you have to move the cursor with the tiny, fiddly control stick. Worse, the button layout is really confusing if you're not used to it. It's not easy to tell someone what button they need to press if they're using a left Joy-Con where the buttons aren't even named, and even with a right Joy-Con it's hard to keep track of which button is which if it's being held sideways.

On top of that, if you want to add a player as more than just a guest in Switch Sports or Ring Fit, you have to actually add them as a user on your Switch. My dad and I don't have user pages on my brother's Switch, so when we spent a few minutes making our Switch Sports characters for a game of golf that we ended up abandoning pretty quickly to go back to peeling vegetables for Christmas dinner, we were just playing as guests; I'm assuming that when we next go on the game we'll have to set up our characters again, and whatever scores we get won't be saved unless we make proper user accounts. Why can't we just save progress to Miis like on the Wii?

(Edit: We've now been back to it and it does in fact save the characters you've made, so that's not as bad as I thought, but the fact it doesn't let you earn any outfits as a guest (not sure if it saves your scores) still means anyone just dipping in and out without making a full account is missing out on a small part of the game. I suppose that's a fault of the game rather than the console, but it is a Nintendo game...)

So one thing I'd like to see from the Switch 2 is more user-friendliness in the controls and interfaces. I want to be able to play games with my family without all these barriers to entry. It clearly hasn't affected sales though, so I don't have much confidence that Nintendo will make many improvements in this regard, which is a shame after they nailed accessibility to casual players with the Wii and DS.

I just want unique backgrounds and backwards games.