Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

They won't drop support. It will just be like the New 3DS: a very minor upgrade. Nearly all games will then work on both systems, but the Pro will offer a range of upgrades. Higher resolution. Possibly higher framerate if the base game is 30fps.

@sixrings Bowser said the momentum of the switch is strong and nintendo is looking to disrupt the typical 4 year cycle. Perhaps they are seeing comparable numbers to the Wii. If nintendo is looking into only pump up resolution with every hardware refresh, by the 7th year the switch will be a total bottle neck for any port except Indies.
I fear the trend of streaming for triple A titles, which is something I don't particularly like, but the bright side could be we'll finally have a good WiFi antenna inside the switch. I really like your idea of the switch basically becoming a stable 1080 60 of itself (with DLSS up to 4k).

@Euler Honestly it was never really an argument of power at all. At least not nowadays

The PS2 won its generation and it was far less powerful than the first Xbox and even the GameCube

The PS4 was initially more powerful than the Xbox One but mostly won due to its price and the fact that it wasn't doing any of the practices that Microsoft was doing like having the console always be online, or restricting the usage of used games etc.

The PS5 is also marginally less powerful than the Series X and it's probably still going to sell more just due to how much more positive Sony's brand image is when it comes to consoles worldwide compared to Xbox. Even the Switch has so far sold considerably more than the Xbox One and it's way newer than that system and way less powerful

At this point leaps in tech don't define consoles because they're getting smaller and more indistinguishable each console generation anyway. The biggest leap of this new gen is probably the integration of SSDs on home consoles but graphically the jump to PS5/Series X from PS4/Xbox One is probably the smallest it's been in a long time despite the innovations in stuff like real time ray tracing and making 60fps standard across the majority of games

It was always going to be about the games. People buying these consoles these days aren't as much power junkies as you might think they are. Consoles like Switch still make great companion systems to platforms like PlayStation and Xbox due to its unique library of games, particularly the Nintendo ones. A lot of people on this site like myself own both a Switch and another platform, in my case a PS4 for the Sony first party and third party exclusives, and a PC for multiplats

@teo_o No perhaps, the numbers on Switch are definitely comparable to the Wii.

Take a look at the wii sales plotted over time (insert obligatory disclaimer that the second link to VGChartz is only an estimate when it comes to the data outside of quarterly results, since not all regions publish hardware results)

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/446857/switch-vs-wii-sales-c...
https://www.vgchartz.com/article/446715/switch-vs-wii-sales-c...

By this point in its life cycle, the Wii was already on the decline, having soaked up the majority of it's market. Switch is a bit behind in raw numbers, but it's still growing in hardware sales year over year. At this point, it's likely that the Switch is going to outsell not just the Wii, but even the PS4 and Gameboy/GBC lifetime (though prooobably not the DS or PS2). Since the Wii is heavily frontloaded in sales, keeping it up with it for this long is amazing.

@TheFrenchiestFry Exactly. The specs stopped mattering right about when everyone stopped putting the number of bits on the front of the console, and people that want the newest AAA games already own at least one of the other systems.

If there's 1 lesson Nintendo should've learned from the Wii era it should be that if you stop supporting a system with games, interest in the system will eventually drop irrelevant of how popular the system is before dropping support. The Wii lineup from 2009 onwards was very rough and Wii sales did eventually plummet.

@Grumblevolcano

Yeah Skyward Sword sold really badly for a Zelda game. For saying it used the Wiimote in a better way than most games on the system, and was also a really great game in its own right, there was clearly something amiss there. It was obviously that people had just moved on to other consoles at that point. Same reason why Metroid Samus Returns sold so badly on the 3DS. Another incredible game that just got ignored.

@Bolt_Strike but that imo is not a fair comparison as a pro model still won't be that much better in performance to go against next gen consoles

@Dezzy although a fair comparison on games that sold very poorly on the back end of its consoles life I have to disagree that SS is a good game

@Balta666

It's incredibly safe and conservative, but it's definitely a really well made game. I really don't think you could say it's a bad game.

@Dezzy I player the game for the first time in 2019 and apart from the story I did not find the game very enjoyable. The dungeons revolve too much around the motion control plus and the lack of world map seriously hurt the game for me. On the other hand I also played Twilight princess for the first time and I loved it

@Balta666

I think the motion controls are definitely the main negative with the game. They've never really been as good for gameplay as Nintendo wanted them to be. Except maybe for stationary shooting mechanics, where they're brilliant (e.g RE4 Wii)

On the whole, I like the game just as much as Twilight Princess though. I enjoyed its world a lot more, and I find the art style much nicer. Twilight Princess has to be my least favourite Zelda art style. I think it's aged really badly.

@Dezzy it is kind of muddy for sure but I loved Midna and the combat is the best in the series imo

I'd have to agree with Balta666. I played Twilight Princess in 2019 und liked it (best dungeons of any 3D Zelda), and I played Skyward Sword in 2020 and didn't even finish it. TP's art style might not have aged well, but SS hasn't aged well as a whole. It relies so heavily on motion controls, that it is basically unplayable today.

@korosanbo
That's exactly my point. I know people who played back when it came out and liked it, because motion controls were still new and exciting. But today, where the hype around motion controls is gone, it's not an interesting game anymore. It relied so heavily on one single gimmick, that the whole game depends on it too much and it can't be separated from it. I didn't enjoy the at all in 2020.

I found there was a lot more to Skyward Sword than just the motion controls like it's amazing art style, a decent attempt of a "story", some cool dungeons etc.

At the end of the day even if it's a disappointing Zelda (for some) it's still better than the average game, which is true for most Zelda games, apart from Tri Force Heroes which was just plain rubbish ;p

@link3710 wow this is impressive. Just imagine 2020 with supply meeting the demand. Speaking of quarantine, and the plans Nintendo has for this year, i'm wondering if they are expecting an overall drop in sales once COVID normalizes and people can go outside for activities, traveling, etc.
...well i would totally bring the switch with me on the next bikepacking holiday if i have to be honest

@teo_o It depends on the country but most wont be normalized til the summer at least due to how long it takes the vaccine to roll out and then Ninty will have their traditional big game release in the second half of the year.

It's a shame that Skyward Sword's actual issues are ignored so people can pretend "motion controls bad" is an interesting opinion.

Apparently the direct archive has been updated. Video by a youtuber called ike reviews. Youtuber shows any and all kinds of direct leaks, so hard to say if valid. I have heard from other reports that direct archive has been updated as well.https://youtu.be/Fpb6LYjwbq8