Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Well lets run through some Wii U games and ask ourselves what those teams have been doing since. Probably the best way to do it.

New SMB U -> Probably split between other Wii U games
Nintendo Land -> Probably split between other Wii U games
Pikmin 3 -> No idea
Wind Waker HD -> Breath of the Wild
Super Mario 3D World -> Captain Toad/Super Mario Odyssey
Donkey Kong Country: TF -> No idea
Mario Kart 8 -> First the DLC and then the Switch port, so they're accounted for
Hyrule Warriors -> Fire Emblem Warriors
Smash Bros -> First the DLC and since then... No idea
Captain Toad -> Super Mario Odyssey
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse -> No idea
Mario Party 10 -> Probably 1-2 Switch and likely some other party games in the works
Splatoon -> DLC and then Splatoon 2
Super Mario Maker -> There was the 3DS port but outside of that? No idea
Yoshi's Woolly World -> No idea
Xenoblade Chronicles X -> Xenoblade 2
Twilight Princess HD -> Tantalus are porting Sonic Mania and Rime
Star Fox Zero -> No idea
Paper Mario: Color Splash -> No idea

For the record, the Mario Kart team made ARMS and the Splatoon dev team is largely made up of the Animal Crossing team, which is why the Wii U didn't get a main series Animal Crossing game.

The biggest mystery really is what Retro Studios has been working on.

We can probably narrow that down a bit actually. We know that Pikmin 4 is in development, probably by the same team that made Pikmin 3. It's also a virtual certainty that there's some kind of 2D Mario game in development, that's probably being made by the NSMBU team. HAL primarily works on Kirby, so the Rainbow Curse team is probably working on another Kirby game. The Color Splash team is probably working on either another Paper Mario game or Fire Emblem. The Smash team is probably working on a Smash port. That mainly leaves Retro, the Woolly World team, and the Star Fox Zero team as the remaining question marks.

The more interesting question is when, not what.

There's also Next Level Games, assuming they were working on another project alongside Fed Force.

I'm still not convinced that Animal Crossing on Wii U wasn't in the works at some stage. I've just made this list to be as pessimistic as possible in that regard. The Splatoon guys have been working on Splatoon 2 so I'm just going to assume that's all they've been working on. I wasn't aware that the Mario Kart guys were working on ARMS either. But that's kinda the point isn't it, if the Mario Kart guys can port Mario Kart, develop DLC and still make Arms? The same thing could be happening with Animal Crossing and Splatoon. But that's just blind speculation on my part.

Probably. But there's still the very strong possibility for surprises. If you had asked me in early 2014 what Nintendo was working on currently? I would have guessed they were making Animal Crossing Wii U, Zelda Wii U, A Mario Galaxy style Mario, Metroid and that they'd soon be working on Mario Kart 9 for whatever portable system they currently had in the R&D stage. I would have been about half right. I wouldn't have guessed Splatoon, Arms or Super Mario Maker

I wasn't sure about the Switch at first either but finally did some more research into it and felt now is the time to jump on board because this thing is going to be tough to find especially since the first few months look better than I remember Wii U's, 3DS' or even the original Wii's and Gamecube's first few months were (bought GC, 3DS and Wii and didn't think any had spectacular starts but Wii was saved by Zelda and the Virtual Console until Super Paper Mario arrived and kicked things off properly for the post-launch lineup).

March - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Has-Been Heroes
April - Lego City Undercover, Mario Kart 8, Puyo Puyo Tetris
May - Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers, Disgaea 5: Complete

Then factor in the e-shop with stuff like Blaster Master Zero, Fast RMX and the Shovel Knight games already out and Shakedown Hawaii and Rime on the way soon and that's a hell of a start. Then there's the second half of the year with Splatoon 2, Sonic Mania, NBA 2K, ARMS and hopefully capped with Super Mario Odyssey and an improved Virtual Console and this thing is going to be lit this year. Xenoblade 2 is probably a ways off but that also looks phenomenal. I've been saying I'd be shocked if this system doesn't at least match 3DS sales and I think that's being conservative. With Nintendo's first party teams no longer having to focus on two systems as long as they remain on track and third parties deliver a No More Heroes here, Monster Hunter and Bayonetta there, the Switch could easily match Wii sales when it's all said and done.

Been a long time, but it's nice to be legitimately excited about Nintendo again, the industry is better when Nintendo is relevant and there's no reason to believe there will be extended droughts of software like Wii U and even 3DS had.

the dock isn't scratching the screen.... YOU ARE. people must be sliding it out on an angle or something. just lift it up and out, horizontally, without scraping the front (don't lean it forwards when pulling just normally pull UP) and you'll be fine. i have ONE tiny hairline scratch that i can't even see without really looking. can't people just slide it out normally

@JaxonH does Nintendo produce as many games as Microsoft or Sony a year? I don't know, I haven't looked it up.

@skywake they certainly have the people, the talent, and the money but where are the games? It seems like we went through droughts of Wii U for nothing.

From metacritic's numbers of published games over the last 6 years? On an average year Microsoft publishes 21 games, Sony publishes 32 games and Nintendo publishes 34. But bare in mind that this is games published and it includes any platform and any sized game. But in general Nintendo does produce a pretty large volume of content.

Well we only really know about games scheduled for the first half of this year. Super Mario Odyssey excluded obviously. And if you do what I did on the previous page and list what Nintendo published Wii U games finished development recently and line them up with the list of confirmed titles? There are about 7 major development teams that are unaccounted for. Some of them have been quiet for years. This is excluding the potential for 3DS teams to shift over, which is likely.

@DefHalan
Dude, you're unreasonable. I said it.

What are you even comparing Nintendo to? Because no other video game company, even a third party like Ubisoft, is pumping out games as fast as Nintendo right now. Zelda (MASSIVE game, too) - ARMS - Mario Kart Deluxe - Snipperclips (technically) - Splatoon 2 all within the launch window. And then, in the Fall you have Fire Emblem Warriors (some would still consider that launch window, actually), and Holiday/shortly after you have Mario Odyssey.

I mean, pardon my French, but what in God's name more do you want from a single publisher in 6 months' time, man?

Don't forget Xenoblade 2, it can be the bigger one after Zelda

Amazon Spain is listing ARMS for June 23rd release, if that's the case, it's a month later than I expected but on the other hand makes the Splatoon 2 August release idea make more sense.

@Grumblevolcano June isn't spring, so this list is obviously wrong.

I say wait till April to find out.

Wrong answer buddy. When the internet is literally filled with complaints about the dock scratching the screen, well then there is a problem. My screen has a lot of scratches and I know how to lift up and down.

Don't be one of the stupid fanboys that think Nintendo can do no wrong. This is a flaw that needs to be rectified.

@Grumblevolcano Amazon Italy says May 2nd, that could be way more appropriate

I will skip the switch unfortunatly. I want it to be a success but a huge let down for me is that it does not have a proper achievement system and you are forced to use the app to chat and talk to your friends. If those two things change in future though then I will gladly spend my money on it.

Don't quote me on this (because I'm not 100% certain where I originally saw it) but I thought the NSMB team went on to make Mario Maker.

@Smegmapoo69
Xbox/PlayStation/Steam: Earn achievements that have absolutely no value
Switch*: Earn MyNintendo points, use those points to get rewards (in-game content, themes, mini-guides etc.)
...I know which system I prefer!
*Coming soon

Trophies/achievements are great. They add extra incentives for playing games longer. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. I love being challenged and some trophies/achievements can add some really good challenges to the game.

I also would have missed out on some really great games if not for these trophies. I love collecting trophies and I have purchased a few games just to get the trophies and found out the games were actually really good.

So do not knock something because you have no interest in it. Something with no value to you can easily hold value for others.