Topic: The Super Nintendo Switch Launch Games Speculation Thread

VR is a step up, in a certain sense at least, from the 3D on the 3DS.

Anyone who's played any Astro Bot on PSVR would likely tell you that it's a more immersive experience than the 3D on 3DS. The trade-off being you have to wear something that excludes other people around you, but so long as you actually make a good game (ideally that can be enjoyed in VR or non-VR) and don't get trapped just making shovelware based on the novelty of VR, then it's got more mileage in it than the 3D had for me. They just have to keep it cheap and optional and it will do well.

I had and have enough fun with my LABO VR goggles, and PSVR, to know that I want to try Mario Kart VR, Animal Crossing VR, Mario Galaxy/Odyssey VR etc. etc.

It really depends IMO on what support Nintendo want to give to the Switch 1. Assuming there is backwards compatibility, I can see a port of F-Zero GX coming to the Switch 1 next year (hopefully with enhanced graphics) which would also be playable on Switch 2.

If a brand new F-Zero game is in development, I could see that being a Switch 2 exclusive.

As Mario Kart is also a racing game, but different in style etc, could a new F-Zero and a new Mario Kart launch within the same year? I'm not so sure Nintendo would do that.

They 'had' to add some new '99 game since Pacman is going away. I'm half convinced they tried to do Mario Kart '99, decided it was impossibly chaotic with all the items and then were like 'what's similar to Mario Kart but without 99 shells bouncing around'. F-Zero could simply be what happened to work rather than part of a grand plan.

As for Switch 2 names, I'm not convinced there will be a new ''standout' feature. Sure they'll add a gimmick (AR or whatever) to help differentiate the new system and it will be used in a few games, but the main selling point will be 'Switch but better'. They could call it Switch Power 😝. I'm hoping that they will do Switch 2 then Switch 3. If they change something more fundamental after that they can change the name.

@Scollurio Hmm, it's a possibility, sine they've done it with Switch, DS (duals screen) 3DS (3D-dual screen), Gameboy Color, etc.

@FishyS I wasn't aware PacMan 99 was going away!

The offline part will exist but the online part is ending October 8th (in a week ish). F-Zero 99 was clearly lined up to replace it.

@FishyS The offline part got delisted on September 8th:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/05/nintendo-switch-onl...

I'm thinking the following:

At or near launch in late 2024:
-Some type of gimmicky party game to show off the console's features. Something like Nintendo Land or 1-2 Switch. Probably won't be either of those IPs but it will be something similar.
-3D Mario. We've gone 6 years without a new, main series 3D Mario game, one of the longer gaps in the series. It's time.
-Metroid Prime 4. Even with the restart we should be seeing it about this time, but Metroid Prime tends to push the graphics of their consoles so making this game cross gen makes a lot of sense.

Spring 2025:
-Smash Ultimate Deluxe. Smash Ultimate is going to be hard to top and Sakurai's retiring. The remaining members of the Smash team are probably going to need a LOT of time to figure out what SSB6 looks like. So I think Smash gets the MK8D treatment this gen, Ultimate + both Fighters passes for $60, probably even more Fighters passes later.
-Animal Crossing. It will have been 4 years since New Horizons by this point, so this is about when Animal Crossing should start to pop up again.
-DK. Another IP that's been quiet for a while, DK hasn't had a new entry since 2014 and while there's been rumors about Nintendo's internal teams working on this while Retro works on Prime 4, nothing's materialized yet.

Fall 2025:
-Mario Kart 9. Similar to 3D Mario, we haven't had a main series console Mario Kart in 6 years and no original one in 9 years. We're well overdue for the next Mario Kart game.
-Metroid 6. Dread was a tremendous success (or at least by Metroid standards) so no doubt MercurySteam is working on Metroid 6 for next gen as we speak. This would be 4 years after Dread and a year after Prime 4, so about this time would be great to keep the momentum going for Metroid without cannibalizing Prime 4.

@Bolt_Strike There is no way we don't see Splatoon during the launch window. It's crazy popular in Japan.

@GrailUK We just got 3 and DLC is still going through 2024. At the earliest I could see Holiday 2025 but even that feels too soon. 2026/2027 feels more right.

@Bolt_Strike We also got 2 games during a console's lifespan. I don't think they sleep on this ip lol.

@GrailUK Yes, but they can only put out so many games, those 2 Splatoon games on Switch were 5 years apart which gave them plenty of time to work on 3. A 1 or 2 year turnaround for Splatoon 4 is far too soon, especially when they've been working on significant DLC in the interim. They're not going to be able to come out with a big new Splatoon game so soon after. At best maybe we get a Splatoon spinoff early, possibly one developed by a completely different team, but Splatoon 4 is almost certainly not coming early next gen when they've been doing a lot of development on 3 so recently. 2025/2026 is far more reasonable an expectation for when they can finish 4.

@Bolt_Strike Gotta have mario maker 3 in 2025 also for the Mario 40th anniversary. And maybe 3D all stars deluxe with Galaxy 2.

@FishyS Same issue with Splatoon 4, will they be able to turn around MM3 in 2 years with Mario Wonder coming out in a few weeks? Also not sure they care about 3D All Stars omitting Galaxy 2, they've had plenty of opportunities to add onto it and they refused, I feel like they just wanted something for the 40th and they don't really care about it anymore. They might be doing something different for the 40th, anniversary celebrations usually aren't this predictably iterative.

@Bolt_Strike I assume there has been at least some continual work on mario maker 3 ever since the last update of mario maker 2 in 2020. 2 years after Wonder to add a Wonder theme and a few other bits and bobs seems plausible. And it would be 6 years between 2 and 3 as opposed to 4 years between 1 and 2. However I agree with your general point that they won't force it for the anniversary; they will want it on the new console but it could also be 2026. It may also depend whether Wonder has DLC

I do think they will 100% use the 40th anniversary as an excuse to re-release 3D all stars on the new console. Galaxy 2 DLC is more of a hope than an assumption, although it would be a relatively easy way to sell to both people who bought it 5 years ago and to new people.

Here are my predictions for the switch 2s’ launch titles, and specs/features while I’m at it because why not?

TL;DR:
Holy crap am I excited for this thing to come out lol

Specs:
DLSS 2
Some level of basic raytracing
HDR Support for TVs
1440p Docked (it’s not 4k, don’t get your hopes up lmao)
60 FPS but with capacity for 60-90FPS for certain games
1080p Handheld
60 FPS
Smaller Dock with a mild tilt leaning back, front cover gone except for bottom, where the switch 2 logo is.
Back has HDMI, Charging Port and Ethernet, and exterior has 3 USB ports and 1 USB-C port
USB-C again with 30V charging
128GB of default system storage space
$400, launches November 7th 2024, and Alex CND will camp the Nintendo NY starting Oct 7th to be the first to buy the switch 2

New Modes:

• VR Mode which is basically labo but good, not full VR like PSVR2 but vr that uses something like this
  
• Mobile Mode
  Turn the console on its side and you can play the Nintendo mobile games like Mario Kart Tour and some third party ones (THIS IS THE MOST NINTENDO THING THEY WOULD DO, WHY HAS NOBODY MENTIONED THIS)

(UI stuff)

• absolutely embraces rounded edges
• has BGM in home menu
• eShop has dedicated app again (but with web browser elements) and uses unused switch eShop music finally
• UI looks like if the Wii UI (not Wii U) and PS5 UI had a baby without the trait of hypersimplification
• Has messaging thing like PS4/Xbox
• Miiverse returns

Now onto the launch titles:
Big Ones:

• Metroid Prime 4
  For all the chads who like the Metroid franchise of course, and for those seeking a more mature experience to have it at launch
  This game will be Open World, im calling it.
  having the ability to fight the final boss immediately, but also having the ability to go out and regain your strength completely like normal would be so cool. Imagine the speedruns
• Super Mario Galaxy 3
  Will play into the story more like the first one, while keeping the formula whilst evolving it
  The story will specifically relate to peach’s origin (as hinted at in the Mario Movie, related to Galaxy)
  Rosalina will actually be cool again
  New power-up will be here called “Slingshot Mario”, which is basically the slingshot from Galaxy 1 as a powerup and better, you’ll be able to press y/shake the controller to make a slingshot appear and automatically get in it, and by moving the joystick or pointing the cursor, you can aim where to go and then press Y again to launch yourself
• Switch Sports: Shake-up! (actual title)
  Miis will be the main characters again, with an explorable hub and 8 fine-tuned games
• Golf
• Bowling
• Boxing
• Tennis/Badminton
• Basketball
• Baseball
• Hockey
• Skiing
  Skiing in particular will feature the player(s) sliding down a snowy mountain, dodging obstacles and performing tricks

Online will be optional, and not required (well it’s not required but it’s needed to unlock costumes in NSS), but it will be easier unlocking cosmetics online because you’ll gain more points towards your catalogue because you’re fighting actual players

Small Titles:

• Port of Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD with some refinements
• Arms 2
• New, small IP by Nintendo called “Cyberlounge”, which is basically just a small 3D game about completing missions for people in a place called “Cyberlounge” which is a building in a city called “Cyburg” (get it?) This obviously won’t come true, but I’d love to see it happen
• Professor Layton and the World of Steam
• Earthblade (by the makers of Celeste)

@DiamondCore completely second your list, but what about better Bluetooth functionality and a headphone jack/no headphone jack (most phones have removed headphone jacks so I think there's a slight chance they might not be one)

DLSS 2.0 is probably a fair guess. I mean it's custom silicon and NVidia has full control over what is supported where and in what way. It could well be some "Switch 2" specific implementation making the version number irrelevant. But yes, it probably won't have the more advanced features like frame-gen that we've seen implemented for 40 series GPUs

RayTracing? I mean it could certainly happen, NVidia have been pushing hardware accelerated RayTracing harder than anyone. It would make some sense for them to make it available in what's going to end up their best selling product of the next 5 years. But will it matter even if it does happen to some degree? Probably not

The mid-tier Orin series Tegra SoCs which this is theoretically similar to have 1024 Shader Processors, 8 RT Cores and 32 Tensor Cores. With a clock speed of ~1Ghz and 100GB/s of memory bandwidth. For comparison an RTX 3050 Laptop GPU has 2048, 16 and 64 (so double) with a similar clock and almost twice the memory bandwidth. Can the mobile 3050 do RayTracing? Well, technically yes

HDR? Yes. 100%. But I don't agree with your dismissal of 4K. Ultimately all of these kinds of specs are dictated to by one thing. The HDMI standard implemented. We're definitely going to get at least HDMI 2.0, we'll probably get HDMI 2.0 which would add VRR. At that point whether or not we see "4K games" would depend on, you know, what the game is. Obviously 4K Metroid Prime 4 is not happening. But 4K F-Zero 99? 4K NSO titles? 4K New SMB? 4K Gamecube remasters? Seems very plausible to me

Similar deal with the framerate. With where the HDMI spec is these days I would be surprised if we didn't see support for 120Hz. But what framerate games will run at will depend on what the game is and what the developer's priorities are. I mean, I could see a 2D fighting game opting for 120fps/1080p while something like a Twilight Princess remaster opts for a stable 30fps/4K

..... and 128GB of internal storage is WAY too conservative

I thought I read elsewhere on these forums the chipset the NG Switch was using had cores that had ray tracing implemented? Am I misunderstanding or getting misinformation? I think it’s totally possible should it be included, ray tracing would be only available when in docked mode and be automatically disabled when portable.

I think it is not impossible to have Nintendo announce an extra year of content for Splatoon 3 when the Switch 2 releases. If rumors are to be believed is will lunch around the end of 3's lifecycle so it's a possibility.