Topic: Switch Pro Upgrade Disappointment

@SwitchForce Nintendo games sell their consoles, not the specs. I fear you are not appreciating the culture Nintendo has crafted over the years and how problematic entering a spec war would be. Their priority with any new hardware is to make sure they have compelling games. And unlike most western developers, they don't let specs become a barrier for their imagination. We will see, of course. I mean, they haven't decided to stop researching hardware lol. But asking folk to switch (no pun intended) without any new hook is quite the ask (especially at a much high asking price.) Seems folk are too hung up on third parties and making their lives easier lol.

@SwitchForce The lite is an entirely different thing than what a pro would be. The pro would mean a lot of games would be exclusive on the pro, or would run poorly on the base system, literally dividing the playerbase. The lite is literally just the base switch, but can’t be docked, which doesn’t make a difference, given all games are playable in handheld mode.

I'm actually kind of glad that Nintendo didn't make a major upgrade yet. I'm sure a better more advanced system is in the works but now is not the time for it. There is nothing wrong with the Switch and Switch Lite as is for a few more years yet.

@GrailUK
i dont feel many people are expecting nintendo to compete in the spec war when they are looking for a more powerful switch model, as mentioned prior its less a case of matching the other systems and more a case of closing the power gap to the point where multiplatform games dont suffer as much.

First party releases on any system have the advantage of working with hardware in which they are familiar with however some exclusives can still suffer, such as Xenoblade 2 and Hyrule warriors AOC.

the reason people are fixated on a new switch is largely because concept wise the system definitely feels like it has the most mass appeal largely thanks to how it supports multiple control schemes with even first party games now supporting multiple options allowing players to choose the one that is the most intuitive to them (this includes adaptive controllers) , alongside it being the first nintendo handheld to allow playing its games on the tv in over a decade, it truly does feel the closest to being "a console for everyone"

in short if anything the desire for some form of switch successor is a testament to how much they nailed it when it comes to the concept this time.

@Mgalens Oh, the form factor is spot on. But it's probably nieve to think only Valve are trying to get in on it. And once everyone else is 'me too' and it's a standard, then the spec wars will come. They always do, unfortunately.

People should save their energy for complaining when the Switch 2 can't play PS5 games well. Or maybe stop expecting a handheld console from a company that coined phrases like "lateral thinking with withered technology" to become a primary third party machine. Seriously should apply the "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" quote to these forums.

@GrailUK
ah i think i missed a part of the convo, i thought for a second that it was regarding the current consoles.

would be interesting if sony for example put their hat back in the handheld marked. psp and vita were decent systems despite not being the most popular (and vita having those expensive memory cards) since would be nice to have options with dedicated handhelds (i enjoyed the vita and 3ds for different things) though the steam deck is being sold more as a portable pc.

If people listen to the statements from Nintendo, rather than all the internet-roumers, there wouldn't be any disapointments. Why everyone believe, that their dreams come through, if the listen to the ones, saying the Will, is a mystery.

as mentioned before a lot of it wasn't because people believed the rumours were true, but because they wanted the rumours to be true.

it wasn't so much people wanted games to be "60fps 4k" and i feel anyone who was expecting that was setting themselves up for disappointment, but something akin to the jump between 3ds>new3ds, ps4>ps4pro or xbox one>xbox one X would definitely help when it comes to the quality of ports.

first party games on any system will often be well optimized for the hardware but sometimes even those can have issues, BOTW for example had some noticeable choppiness in certain areas.

again its not a "nintendo is doomed without it" situation, nintendo will be perfectly fine, its more the quality (and quantity) of third party releases that would suffer.
Less a case of wanting a high end device and more being able to play something like hyrule warriors AOC at locked 30fps (AOC is an example used a lot because it is a first party ip but a 3rd party dev)

In terms of the future however i do feel like a theoretical fully backwards compatible switch 2 could exist perfectly fine in a post steam-deck world even if it ended up being less powerful than said steam-deck, its more that the current switch hardware's age is definitely starting to catch up to it.

I'm just happy we never got a switch pro, because it would be scalped, and it would make it to where some games run extremely poorly on the original model, forcing people to upgrade if they want to play the games like they were originally meant to be played.

BotW was a port, it was made for the Wii U and then ported to the Switch when they decided to release the Switch in the end.

With the 3DS I didn't mind the new 3DS that much, but with the Switch, I think they made the right choice not to fracture it's hardware line up. The Switch is selling so good still and if it would have gone the DSi and new 3DS way, it wouldn't have been a big success with the low number of special titles released of it.

@Koldur People forget that the game was a Wii U port, and treat it as a sign that BotW 2 won't run on switch, when the original was made for the Wii U in mind, and not the switch hardware.

@VoidofLight
from what i gather breath of the wild ran better on switch than on wiiu at launch, from what i remember the first town (if following the beginning story in order) would commonly run at around 20fps on wiiu giving it some noticeable stuttering, where's on switch that area was a lot smoother. the switch version did hit its limits in certain areas though.

in terms of a theoretical "switch pro" meaning some games would run very poorly on the original system. That is the case currently, i remember people speculating that the reason MHstories 2 ran like it does on original switch was because they were planning updated hardware (which didnt turn out to be the case)

scalping and the chip shortage was my main concern regarding any potential future models though it is largely up to the retailers. it is in theory possible to mitigate the issue as seen with the steam deck situation though it seems not a lot of online retailers are set up in a way which prevents such a situation.

i would say the ps4pro/xbonex situation would be preferable to an outright new3ds one since iirc neither of those systems had games unique to them while the new3ds had a couple, from what i remember that special "only for new 3ds" game box design was only used for two games and i think there was one or two eshop games.

@GrailUK I think Valve are the only ones following a Switch type setup though. Microsoft's focus is getting Game Pass on as many systems as possible so their equivalent is going to be have Game Pass on stationary devices (e.g. Series X, TV, Streaming Stick) and handheld devices (e.g. phones, tablets) with your library shared between them. Meanwhile Sony has absolutely no interest in returning to any sort of handheld device, see how they find new ways to kill off the Vita even recently.

@Grumblevolcano Well, I'm happy for Nintendo to have this console space. It's nice they have found their own nook.

@Snaplocket

. what i was mentioning was more regarding optimization of the games which going by what weve seen can be a very tricky and time consuming process and what a theoretical increase in processing power could do in regard to that. (again since this is a topic regarding a product which doesn't exist).

i imagine the best way to gauge an idea of switch development would be to look at things such as developer blogs on companies who have worked with the switch and potential hurdles regarding porting, one i remember being interesting was discussion about the ori sequel and the various techniques they used in order to get the game running well on switch.

What people forget on here is port isn't just a game switch(pun) but a rewriting of the codes to work on the new chipsets. Alot of people make it sounds so simple but in reality it's a completely new game when it Arrived on the Switch. So let's stop fantasying that a port is something akin to writing a paper to writing on another paper. They are both NIN product but totally different Hardware working on different levels. One no longer made and support ending.