Topic: Switch 2 Startup/Setup/UI Prediction

I was thinking of the Switch 2 setup process, and then I thought of something that would be similar but different from the original Switch’s setup process. Here’s what I thought of:

After you turn it on, a red background with the Nintendo logo fades in and the logo then fades out. The Switch 2 startup animation plays, and music starts playing afterwards, prompting you to either insert the Joy-Cons and/or take the Switch 2 out of the dock while showing 3D animations of either or. Once you do them or if the Joy-Cons were already inserted before turning it, the setup process starts, from prompting you to choose your language to asking if you want to transfer data from your Nintendo Switch. Once the setup is complete, it asks you to press the HOME button to get you to the HOME Menu, where the Switch 2 HOME Menu music starts playing as a background is seen while it asks you for a few more settings like Auto-Sleep and Notifications before having the dashboard comes up.

Imma get to something for the Switch language selection: On Switch, the versions of English, French, Spanish and Portuguese you use were determined based on your region. For Switch 2, they should instead be split up into their own regional variants as followed (based on alphabetical order):

1. English (United Kingdom)
2. English (United States)
3. Español (España)
4. Español (Latinoamérica)
5. Français (Canada)
6. Français (France)
7. Português (Brasil)
8. Português (Portugal)

I hope they have some cute setup music. It would really set the stage for a return to form. I imagine there may be some online setup involved as well. I think they'll push Nintendo Switch Online even more aggressively on the new system with how much investment it has gotten since launch.
I wonder how they'll manage transferring content between switch 1 and switch 2. I hope we get to see a cute Pikmin theme animation like they had for the DS to 3DS and Wii to Wii U transfers.

Music will make it more lively, as well as with a dynamic background during setup. I think they’ll ask you about Online after setting up or transferring.

It will probably ask you if you want to transfer just one of your accounts or transfer everything (although this method won’t factory reset your Switch 1 afterwards. You’ll have to reset it yourself after the transfer). There was also a Wii U to Wii U transfer animation similar to the Wii to Wii U one, except there other characters I am not familiar with. Either way, better than just a progress bar and the icon(s) of the account(s) being transferred.

@MrCarlos46 I did not know about the Wii U to Wii U animation! I'll have to look that up it'll be fun to check out.

@Mothertroid Here’s the animation I’m talking about.

On the UI side, I found some Switch 2 HOME Menu UI concepts on Reddit and Twitter. These look as if they keep the simplicity of the Switch UI but also allow other themes aside from just black and white.

Hopefully one of those 2 becomes the Switch 2’s UI (I somehow lean more towards the one from Twitter. Close to PS4/PS5 but looks more lively than the original Switch’s UI), along with some cute UI music to go along with themes (and also game-related music). Game backgrounds as themes are also great idea, which should be a feature on Switch 2 and great additions alongside the default theme (which may likely be a dynamic one).

Maybe we’ll also get some sort of Theme Shop to not only get the themes we want, but also choosing the music we want to have playing in the HOME Menu regardless of theme being used. In fact, if they bring themes to Switch 2, they should also allow us to get some with My Nintendo Platinum Points.

Just because the Switch 2 is gonna use the Switch’s base OS doesn’t mean they’ll also straight up reuse the same UI (Microsoft did this between Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S). They’ll probably go more of the PlayStation route and redesign the Switch 2 UI like in those links I put up to differentiate it from the Switch.

Possible reason the Switch didn’t have themes or UI music could be because of its limited power. With the extra power the Switch 2 is rumored to get, the return of themes and UI music are a possibility.

There’s one issue people still talk about, which is how laggy the Switch’s eShop gets. Even if it continues to be a web browser on Switch 2, maybe the extra power will help it run better and smoother. Does need a redesign and new features tho, like a shopping cart feature, as well as rating/review, gifting, and filtering features, as well as music like with the UI (assuming Switch 2 brings back UI music).

All great ideas. I always just play the games to even notice startups or ui, it’ll be the same for the next gen switch. I’m most excited about is the software.

Let’s just see where they go with that direction, because it’s the software that will also sell the Switch 2.

Finally got around to watching this and wow is it surreal. I wonder why they decided to replace the pikmin with these robots? Makes me wonder if they were supposed to appear in a game at some point. Thanks for sharing!

Anyways, regarding the Switch’s themes, here’s what I thought happened: Nintendo initially wanted to bring more themes to the Switch apart from black and white, so they named those Basic Black and Basic White. However that plan never came to fruition and the Switch was just stuck with those. Part of it could be due to the Switch’s limited power and RAM.

With the Switch 2 set to be more powerful and also have more RAM, who knows, maybe with that they can actually add more themes to the Switch 2 and bring back UI music. If we’re lucky, they might also add animated themes and allow use to use our own images as backgrounds.

@MrCarlos46 There were definitely more themes planned but I will never understand why they wouldn't at least let us add different colors to the UI (Basic Blue, Bright Red, etc). A lot of early 3DS themes were just color swaps. Nintendo really left a lot behind this generation.

@Mothertroid We’ll see if the extra power allows Nintendo to actually consider bringing themes and UI music back for Switch 2. With the extra power, it appears to be less of a chance of lag or performance issues with other themes.

@MrCarlos46 @Mothertroid I have never understood the importance of themes, as long as the UI is clean, simple, functional etc, who cares?! I spend most of the time I spend on my Switch playing games...

@MarioBrickLayer I think it’s also to do with how people have been saying the Switch UI feels soulless without customizable options or UI music.

I'm hopeful everything is kept the same.

If there is going to be dashboard music, I hope we can toggle it to off.

@Magician One thing they should let us do: Use our own screenshots as backgrounds

@MarioBrickLayer I grew up with the Wii and I always found the menu music to be calming and memorable. It's just an emotional thing for me tbh ,but one that I liked enough that I want it to come back.

Same here. I was pretty young during the Wii era, and its quirky and cozy UX left a big impression. I appreciate having options for people who don't want a busy/noisy UI, but I definitely feel like the Switch UI lost a lot of Nintendo's personality that I grew up with.

I guess you could make an argument that the later Nintendo consoles containing more bells and whistles was due to Iwata's influence, and without him we may go back to simpler Game Boy or V1 NDS designs.

Still, I'm definitely one of the Nintendo fans who would prefer a return to a cuter, more cozy UX design.

Regarding specifics, I like the rumor floating around that the C button stands for Campus, a Twitch-like communication function.

If there's one thing I dislike about the Nintendo Switch, it's the ever-present need to leave the ecosystem and access other devices to find social media groups dedicated to each game. Not only does it disrupt the experience of using the console directly, but also those groups are comprised of very few people, just tens or hundreds of active users compared to communicating with player directly on the original platform. If the Switch 2 adds a Twitch-like chat function to the Switch 2 OS, then that would be greatly appreciated to help find and coordinate with others.

Or continuing to do something like what the Switch also did if I’m reading this right, except with other improvements?

@MrCarlos46 Right. All these years with the Switch, I assuaged myself with the presumption that the OS was only simplistic because the Switch 1 wasn't powerful enough.

But recently I've accepted that perhaps another reason is because Nintendo made a deliberate decision to go that route. The Wii U was struggling, and Nintendo needed a major pivot. At the same time, they also needed to play it safe, for maximum mainstream appeal. And at the end of the day, a simple, bare-bones UI is generally acceptable for most people.

It's actually because of that reason why I'm worried the Switch 2 will contain a similarly basic UX. Nintendo will be concerned about recreating the success of the Switch 1, and may not want to deviate too far from it.