Topic: The Nintendo Switch Rumor and Speculation Thread

@skywake

I might argue Link's Awakening feels a lot like a series of levels despite the 'plot' since it is a pretty linear game.

Regardless, there is precedence for remaking Mario games both with art and/or physics changes and new levels. GBA version of smb3 added 38 levels, all-stars changed the art and tweaked the physics, 3D world tweaked things and added a whole new world, New Super Luigi was technically DLC but similar idea and the Switch port also added Toadette to the main game and made other changes.

The main issue with Mario Land 2 is it is incredibly short so a remake would have to either take insane liberties (3D version with big open levels??) or else add a ton of content as well as improving graphics and gameplay. Since Nintendo likes to remake games where they can both sell off nostalgia and don't quite have to start ideas from scratch,.I would think it's at least a possibility (this is the speculation thread).

As for smm3, I really hope they make it someday but my personal guess is they will make a truly new 2D game first (something post-new sup) and then add that as a theme in smm3, as well as potentially other themes they skipped.

As long as they have BC and allow the v2 to dock on the New Switch Dock that would be a good but there is no way a v2 can match performance if that is the next gen Switch but if the pokemon leaks DLC2 that would me at least a boost in performance hardware/software would help v2 Switches. When time comes I will still keep my v2 Pokemon and Splatoon3 Switches are those are unique and the TOTK leak Switch well we will see when that comes around but considering that was the last of the leak from that person and Ninja are taking over well they close off any good leaks.

Just as one never-ending rumour leaves the room in Metroid Prime Remastered....another one takes it's place immediately afterwards.

I'd trust them though "¯(ツ)¯"

As much as I'd love to see a F-Zero GX remaster, I don't see it happening. F-Zero's that one franchise that you can reliably assume Nintendo will ignore and MK8 seemed to be treated as the franchise's replacement (Wii U DLC had Mute City and Big Blue, the game's gimmick is antigravity, Blue Falcon vehicle playable, etc.).

So let me get this straight, Nintendo has decided to for some reason to bring back F-Zero and give it to a developer that has no prior experience in Nintendo racing games to remaster F-Zero GX, a game initially by Sega? Yeah I call BS on that rumour.

It's not even a good fake rumour. Why would you bother to do a remaster of a racing game? If you're going to go and completely re-do all the visuals you could probably just do some more tracks and call it a new thing. Which you would do because an entirely new thing is going to have more perceived value

In any case, Fast RMX is a thing so I wouldn't be that interested even if they did do it

I'd have thought a racing game was the ideal genre to give an inexperienced studio to remaster. Barely have to touch the code (assuming you can drop it into a GameCube emulator wrapper), just add online and control options and make it look purdy, simples.

Not putting any stock in the rumour, but the idea seems plausible enough to me.

I was rather hoping that NLG would've been tasked with porting their Wii Punch-Out to the Switch.

Why Nintendo has not tapped the Fast RMX devs to make an F-Zero reboot is completely mind boggling. Not really sure why they're funding Platinum Games to make so many Bayonetta entries when they could be tapping talented devs who all have the experience to make an amazing F-Zero/Star Fox/etc.

I believe F-Zero at this points needs an angle to stand out. It can't simply be a racing game, because that would compete with Mario Kart, in Nintendo's eyes at least. It needs its own identity, both thematically and with content features. It can't just function like a Mario Kart game where you browse a similar menu and load up a Grand Prix.

F-Zero could lean into a JoJo-esque tone to stand out among Nintendo's other IP. I also would love an ARMS mashup, where you can race with ARMS characters. Not sure why, but I always felt like the two IP would go well together after watching the Smash Ultimate character reveal video.

Mechanically F-Zero really isn't that much different from MK8D. You drive, drift, and boost like every other racer on the planet. F-Zero did have antigrav racing as a unique hook, but 8 stole that so what's left?

Honestly I feel like this is a problem with the racing genre in general, most of them just play the same. There's no variety. If Nintendo is going to have a second racing IP, they'd be better off bringing back something like Wave Race, 1080 Snowboarding, or Excitebike. Because those aren't the typical drive/boost/drift racing games.

The "we need a new gimmick" statement is just a PR excuse. They don't actually need a new gimmick. NSMB and Splatoon 2 and 3 didn't, they were largely similar games and they still pumped them out. I think what they really mean when they're saying "F-Zero needs a new gimmick" is "we need a reason to believe that F-Zero will sell better than it has". F-Zero has never really done well in sales. Aside from the first entry on the SNES, it barely cracks 1 million and the last few games didn't even hit that much. Meanwhile Metroid has usually sold about 1-2 million (and just cracked 3 million with Dread) and Sunshine, while controversial among fans, sold over 6 million copies. That is why F-Zero has been dormant. They want it to reach a wider audience (they probably want sales to be more in the 3+ million range) and they're not confident that it can.

Honestly if they want to pick another niche IP to sell to a wider audience I think Star Fox would be a better choice. It already sells 1+ million and has sold 3-4 million in the past, and they could bring in new fans by making a game more along the lines of Starlink or No Man's Sky, so that would be a more worthwhile risk.

And the difference between those is...? Hard to tell the difference when they're both drive/boost/drift racing games.

Well, 2023 and folk are so jaded they are claiming F-Zero plays like Mario Kart. Bonkers.

The simple answer would be to flip F-Zero into being a simulation racer.

Lets see Nintendo make a futuristic F1 racer.

Can someone please explain the terminology such as "arcade racer", "simulation racer", and "competitive high-speed racer"? I'm not familiar with any of these terms. Frankly, most racing games feel the same to me, I can only really tell a difference when it's different vehicles that can perform different actions. And when 90% of racers involve cars or go-karts (and both of those perform similar actions), it does kind of feel like the whole genre blends together.

IMO it'd be better if they look towards board/other extreme sports racers where you can add in actions such as tricking and grinding (Mario Kart does have tricking, but it's fairly simplified) or footracers which could hybridize racing and platforming elements (think something like Sonic R), that would be a much better complement to Mario Kart, Mario Kart can't really be those things without completely ruining its identity.

To be fair, if Nintendo wants another racer that won’t outright compete in any way with Mario Kart, like @Bolt_Strike said it needs to be either Wave Race or 1080 Snowboarding. Out of the two, 1080 Snowboarding seems to me to be the better option but I don’t see either coming back unfortunately. There’s no doubt in my mind Nintendo wants Mario Kart to be the only racer of any type they publish on their consoles.

I think they should make an F-Zero 99 game. After every lap the last 20 places gets eliminated.

I would prefer 99 racers all on the same track. And give them all bombs. 😃

@FishyS raaar!

@TheBigBlue I think a sim racer is one that tries to be as accurate to real racing as possible. Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsports is perhaps the best examples of that.

I'm not entirely sure the third is even a genre. But an arcade racer is any racing game that takes its queues from the arcade. Daytona would be the classic example, the Need for Speed series is probably the most recognisable example. These games forgo realistic physics in an attempt to make the game more accessible. They'll omit things like the need for breaking, loss of grip and car damage and do things like make cars far more response than physics would allow. Also they'll often make you race in fantastical tracks

Sim racers are, well, attempting to be simulations. So they'll go all in on the physical realism. Assetto Corsa and iRacing are probably the two main ones. These games are more about actually emulating what it's like to actually race, to the point where they're used as training for people who race real cars competitively. And because they're sims the idea is that you'd play them with a wheel + pedals rather than a controller, and often fairly bespoke setups at the high end. Which is why "proper" sim racers pretty much live on PC

F-Zero, almost by definition, could never be a proper sim racer. The entire point of the series is that you're in a futuristic vehicle that has basically instant acceleration and you race on tracks in a way that ignores entirely physics. F-Zero is an arcade racer turned up to 11.

More broadly on the F-Zero discussion, I think people are overthinking this a bit. Why would a new F-Zero have to be something different? Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Kirby and Wario can co-exist with a fair amount of overlap between, why can't Mario Kart and F-Zero? I don't think I'd care at all if an F-Zero game was just a whole game of those 2 F-Zero Mario Kart 8 tracks but faster and with F-Zero characters. That's actually pretty much exactly what I'd want out of an F-Zero game really. Make it flashy, make it fast. But in the mean time? I'll just pretend Fast Racing RMX is F-Zero, because it more or less is

@skywake Yeah, that's somewhat of a subtle difference gameplay wise. And quite frankly, if sim racers by definition handcuff themselves to real world driving mechanics and physics, there's not really much room for creativity and innovation which is probably why they all feel like the same freaking game. So that's probably a subgenre Nintendo would want to steer clear of.

Not sure if you read my response on the last page, but as I said there I think the "F-Zero needs a unique gimmick" comment is just PR speak for "F-Zero needs something that would help it sell to a wider audience" for the exact reason you pointed out. Nintendo doesn't actually care about unique mechanics each game if it sells well enough to justify making it. But F-Zero and other futuristic high speed racers like Fast RMX are struggling to even crack the 1 million mark, so that audience is unfortunately very niche and Nintendo likely doesn't feel it's worth the risk. The internet echo chamber fans are upset, but it seems like the vast majority of gamers simply aren't interested in this style of racer so Nintendo probably isn't feeling the void left by F-Zero's absence.