Topic: The Super Nintendo Switch Launch Games Speculation Thread

Updating my list to add these things:
1. 4k, not 1440p
2. 256GB
3. new launch line-up predictions:
— Metroid Prime 4 (Same as last time, open world and stuff)
— 3D Mario: Super Mario Parallels
|||| This will be a game features around Mario traveling through parallel universes and pocket dimensions to navigate big worlds
— Mario Party: STARSTRUCK! (12)
|||| Themed around space

Switch Sports 2 will come later in 2025 now in my opinion.

Same small titles as mentioned before too, but they obviously won’t all be at launch just to clarify
I got a new small one to add though:
SNES Remix Pack
— Genuinely surprised they have never done this, like at all.

I also got a prediction for a big game that’ll release in the launch window:
A new 2D Zelda, moderately open-world game called “The Legend of Zelda: The Midnight Bridge”
Basically, a bridge brings together 2 pieces of land; Hyrule, and some sort of place called something like “Nightfalls”, When the clock strikes midnight; you can walk on the bridge to each land; but afterwards you cannot go back until the next midnight. So you must evaluate the pros and cons of staying at each land for the day
Hyrule will be the land filled with quests, the land filled with miscellaneous loot, etc and Nightfalls will be the land filled with tough monsters and loot. While also having quests and a unique town to get unique items from.
Basically you get the gist of it

@DiamondCore Yeah, more likely the 3D Mario game is something original like the Parallels idea (although more likely I think it'll be a big open world game, not just something like Odyssey). They never seem to revisit old games on new consoles aside from ports/remakes of the originals, it seems like they like using the new hardware to come up with completely new ideas. So Galaxy 3... probably won't be a thing.

I do want to see a continuation of the Galaxy series myself, the gameplay is very fun and creative and there's room for tons of wacky ideas. But I don't think Nintendo wants Mario limited to that style. If they can build an extra team to do so though, I would like to see the Galaxy series continue as a Rosalina spinoff. That's probably the best chance the Galaxy series has of getting a continuation, if they think Rosalina is popular enough to star in a Galaxy style game.

I’m just gonna come out and say it and in doing so, jinx it forever more. I hope Nintendo’s found a developer both willing and capable of remaking Eternal Darkness which they reveal alongside NG Switch.

Galaxy 3 won’t happen just because 2 happened. 3D Mario? Of course that’s happening. It will probably be a brand new Mario however, not a continuation of odyssey or galaxy. Port of Galaxy 2 is likely but a trilogy is not

Do we get Cyberpunk 2077 on the Switch 2 and if so, does it come at launch/year 1 or later?

@MarioBrickLayer It's anyone's guess, my gut tells me Q1 2025. Nintendo's IPs will be the stars during the holidays, with some solid, but not stellar third party titles. Stuff like Cyberpunk I could imagine to pad out the spring in the following year.

That said, my gut also tells me I need to see the bathroom more often than I'd like...

I'm a bit curious as to the timing of Pokemon. One thing seems fairly obvious, the Gen 10 games will most likely be on Switch 2 (especially if the 2024 rumors are correct), but when Gen 10 is coming and if there will be any Switch 2 Pokemon games before then is a bit more questionable. Now in the past it's been pretty cut and dry, there'd be a Gen 9 Switch game in 2024 and then Gen 10 in 2025, but now? Not so much.

First of all, they broke the pattern of the next gen game being the first game on new hardware with LGPE. This opens the door for them to transition to Switch 2 whenever they want. Could they do something similar again this gen? Now I don't think they'll do another Let's Go game, that series was made when they thought the Switch would fail and mobile was the end all be all of gaming and their philosophy is different now, but perhaps something like another Legends game or something new that's a spiritual successor to Legends Arceus could work here.

Second, while they have unfailingly kept generations to a 3 year cycle every gen sine 5th gen, between the complaints about Game Freak not spending enough time on the games and the 30th anniversary falling on Year 4 after Gen 9 (and unlike most Nintendo developers, Game Freak does seem to care about anniversaries as DP and SM released on anniversary years), there's enough to question that maybe Gen 9 would last 4 years this time and Gen 10 releases in 2026 instead of 2025.

So that does open up questions, exactly how and when will they transition to new hardware this time? I do think they are doing something relatively unexpected, Game Freak loves breaking patterns and surprising people so there's probably something in the next few years we're not expecting, but what?

@Bolt_Strike One of the major complaints back when Scarlet/Violet was announced was 3 mainline games in the space of a year (BDSP, Legends Arceus, Scarlet/Violet) so if they were to save Gen 10 for the 30th anniversary, it may be:

• 2022 - Scarlet/Violet
• 2023 - Scarlet/Violet Expansion Pass
• 2024 - Gen 5 remakes
• 2025 - a Legends game set in Unova
• 2026 - Gen 10

Alternatively as Winter 2023 includes part of 2024, they may use 2024 as a second wind for Scarlet/Violet. Have Indigo Disk release in February and then have a Switch 2 enhanced version of Scarlet/Violet at launch (free update for those who own the Switch 1 version but also physical available for those who don't own it). Scarlet/Violet sold well but it probably damaged some trust much like Cyberpunk 2077 did back in 2020. As 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty has shown, trust can be won back.

In that outcome:

• 2022 - Scarlet/Violet
• 2023 - Teal Mask DLC
• 2024 - Indigo Disk DLC, Switch 2 enhanced port
• 2025 - Gen 5 remakes
• 2026 - Gen 10

I saw the words “free upgrade” and immediately started to ask myself, would Nintendo do free upgrades? Would Pokemon do free upgrades? If both Sony and Microsoft had done free upgrades then it would have been difficult to justify making people pay. But since Sony not only charged to upgrade first party games, they were also successful in getting a lot of people to do so which opens the door for Nintendo to also charge. I wouldn’t put it past Nintendo to try it.

@Grumblevolcano A Switch 2 port of SV? That's certainly novel, Game Freak's never done a next gen port of a game before. Although if they don't spend more time on bug fixes on the Switch 2 version a lot of Pokemon fans are going to be very angry that they're giving a game that was so buggy so much attention and marketing. They would have to be VERY careful with how they handle this one or it could end up causing even more controversy.

I agree with @FragRed though, I don't think the Switch 1 version SV would see a major update like that for free. Nintendo's a business, they're not going to include a major update that's supposed to be a selling point for an enhanced port for free on the older version of the game. That removes incentive to buy the Switch 2 port. Most likely whatever they would add to a Switch 2 port would just be absent completely from the original Switch 1 version.

I'd argue "free upgrade" is the only route to go if they're going to do something like that. It's less of a port and more of just backwards compatibility with the restraints taken off

And for SV in particular I think they want to have a PR win for the series. You don't do that by nickel and diming an update to get the game into a state many people think you should have shipped it in in the first place. Leveraging new hardware or otherwise

@skywake Again, it would have to include bug fixes for that to be a PR win. The fanbase just finds the state that SV launched in so disgusting and offensive that they can't not do it, they're not going to care about anything else they add if the game is still buggy (in fact, the fans in general are relatively indifferent to the current DLC for that very reason). And I'm skeptical if they can do that for not one, but two versions of the game. If it was that easy they would've fixed it already.

As is, Game Freak is more likely to just add in new content, like new areas/Pokemon, to a port. I don't think they can handle fixing the bugs, that's something they're probably not going to figure out until the next game at the earliest (potentially later or even never, they seem heavily resistant to lengthening the dev times to where they would need to be to get a AAA open world game in an acceptable state). And if they want the port to sell they'll need SOMETHING exclusive to the port to get people to buy it.

Really the more I'm thinking about this the more I think a SV port isn't such a good idea. If they can get console open world game development right some day, the idea of next gen ports is certainly something to circle back to, but right now with Game Freak failing the basics with SV a port just doesn't seem to be the right idea at this time.

Seeing more retailers stop selling physical games makes me think there may be some truth to the digital only Switch 2 rumour, this time it's Best Buy:

The Activision acquisition probably plays a big role in the death of physical games as CoD is a huge source of physical games sold but with it eventually being day 1 on Game Pass Ultimate from next year (the acquisition itself is apparently closing today), a larger proportion of people will probably just get CoD via Game Pass Ultimate instead.

I think Best Buy continues to strive for a reason to exist. They have been closing a fair amount of stores, so I wouldn't necessarily try to predict the game market based on Best Buy remodeling.

That said, the game industry currently has around 50% digital sales for Nintendo, 72% for PlayStation, 99% for PC, and of course 100% for mobile. I don't really see that trend upwards changing.

@Bolt_Strike
To be fair I'm talking about how companies will be able to approach this gap between platforms not Pokemon specifically. I suspect BC will be common if not universal and beyond that many titles will get quick and dirty "now with higher framerate/DLSS/more pixels/higher settings" upgrades. I'm not talking about ports because, frankly, I don't think the idea of a port makes sense here

@Grumblevolcano
Physical sales are down just generally. There have been several stores in Australia that have dropped physical game sales in the last few years. And even EBGames has shifted focus to pop-culture nick-nacks. None of this was as a result of one company or another going digital only

I forgot Best Buy even existed lmao.

@Grumblevolcano Apparently this only applies to Blu-rays and DVDs; they'll continue physical game sales for the time being.