Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Grumblevolcano The Switch is proving to be fairly popular, and these collections seem like obvious releases for it. I'm guessing we'll get some $40 package with all the Mega Man Legacy Collection games on one cart (or, knowing Capcom, this exact thing, except it's digital-only).

@IceClimbers Said it before, will say it again: the Switch is what both the Vita and the Wii U should have been. And, with Sony apparently giving up on its portable console line altogether, it'll absorb a large chunk of the Vita's niche.

@Ralizah Yup, and not just for niche Japanese games, but as an excellent indie machine as well.

Anyways, the new ARMS patch is out. I'd link the patch notes but I'm on mobile. Basically just a balancing update.

One of the patch notes is "Trained Barq to get up faster". Love that they worded it that way. Good boy Barq!

Anyways the next patch will have a new fighter and new arms.

Why would an Xbox or Playstation game say licensed by Nintendo?

@Grumblevolcano It actually says ''LICENCED BY NINTENDO''

@Hitokage1 Because that's Capcom. They also managed to release Okami on the Wii with an IGN logo on the box art:

Not forgetting RE Revelaitons. That was really bad.

The Media Create hardware sales figures for Japan this week are in:

Switch – 61,933
PS4 – 43,862
New 2DS LL – 33,871
New 3DS LL – 22,200
PS4 Pro – 9,077
Vita – 4,773
2DS – 3,740
New 3DS – 1,078
Wii U – 158
PS3 – 96
Xbox One – 90

It amazes me how Capcom can screw up so many things. We get that it's a low effort port, but seriously, the mistake on the RE: R box is pathetic. Did no one check that stuff before sending it in?

So Nintendo sold 122,980 hardware units, Sony sold 57808, MS sold 90. It's not even a fight over in Japan...

Once Nintendo gets more consistent third-party support and manages to actually produce enough of these things to meet demand, that balance is going to tip even further in Japan.

And if that happens, we can finally talk about Nintendo's monopoly in Japan (and the handheld market)

So I think we now know why Megaman Legacy Collection 2 wont come to Switch.

As it turns out, it has some very baffling minimum requirements on PC, to run an SNES emulation, PS1 emulation, and two games that ran on the Wii.

Also the game is 6GB. Somehow.

@MegaTen No online beyond maaaybe leaderboards?

Art galleries yes, sound test yes. Challenge levels yes that are just mismatches of levels from the actual games or boss rushes.

Capcom boggles my mind. I have no doubt it can run at a lower spec than that easily. At worst MM8 would cause issues being a PS1 title. Maybe.

And hopefully the world, too!
Ah... I can't wait for the day when we have to have discussions like "Nintendo fans, we've got a problem. Nintendo is just too damn popular and successful!"

Nintendo won't regain the throne from Sony worldwide, but I could easily see the Switch selling better than the Xbox One. One of the factors in Nintendo's favor is that the Switch is so different from a traditional home console that it arguably isn't even in direct competition with the PS4. I mean, this has been true of Ninty consoles to some extent since the Wii, but that was still a traditional, living room-tethered device. The Switch has the potential to appeal to different sectors of the gaming market simultaneously.

While it was undoubtedly the product of desperation (Nintendo can't afford to support two platforms simultaneously with such uncertain third party support, and trying to compete with Sony and Microsoft in the graphical arms race would be an incredibly foolish move, so their hand was kind of forced here if they didn't want to leave the home console market entirely), I do think the Switch was a brilliant move on Nintendo's part, and one that will keep them relevant in the console gaming space. If the Wii U was Nintendo looking for a gimmick, then the Switch is Nintendo finally playing to their strengths.

@Nicolai Those days already happened in the form of NES being the only really good console at the time and Nintendo enforcing their ''seal of quality'' on everything. It's what led to a certain company coming up with a certain blue hedgehog on their own first 16-bit system to try and counter them.

Speaking of which, Sonic Mania is only 186MB.

@Ralizah
Yea, Sony totally owns this generation, and it's mostly due to Microsoft basically waffling a soft ball at them when those terrible online-only details emerged about the Xbox One. And then they shot themselves in their other foot with that horrible E3 presentation that made the Xbox One seem more like a VCR than a gaming machine. It was just one baffling, horrible decision after another leading up to the Xbox One launch that one would think Microsoft had a death wish for their own console.

And all Sony had to do was make a couple silly 30-second videos about sharing games and stuff to capitalize on those missteps, and the frothing masses went wild for a machine that had zero good/interesting games for the first year of its existence. (Dat Knack 2, though... it's happening lol)

@rallydefault I read that Sony was actually kicking around the idea of disallowing used games on the PS4, but that they ditched the idea after they saw the reaction to Microsoft's announced plans for the Xbone. And... I have to give them credit: they're smart and ruthless. They sensed blood in the water and jumped by playing on the expectations and anxieties of their audience. Those silly videos you mentioned resonated powerfully with the core gaming audience. In terms of marketing, pricing, etc. they did EVERYTHING right early on.

And yeah, anytime some troll tries to talk smack about the selection of games on the Switch, I remind them that its year one library is about a million times better than the year one selection of games on almost any other console (unless masses of mediocre last-gen ports sets your soul aflame!).

@Ralizah
Oh yea, they went for the jugular when they sensed weakness. It was (obviously) an amazing business decision. And those videos were hilariously perfect. Even I chuckled when I saw them for the first time. So simple yet so effective.

I also think the PS4 launch lineup is an analyst's dream to study in terms of, perhaps, how little launch lineups really mean nowadays. It seems people are willing to purchase a machine under the mere promise of future games rather than current games, which runs opposite of the previous generations where the idea of the "killer app" was so accepted. The PS4 demonstrated that you don't necessarily need that killer app on your machine, at least not on day 1, in order to succeed. Whether that will serve as an anomaly or a realignment, only future hardware launches will show.

(My jaded self also thinks the presence of the internet and its gaming subculture now has a lot to do with a small yet noticeable portion of the market's decision-making when it comes to gaming purchases.)

The GCN in the first two months had at least 8 great games that were absolutely worth the 50 bucks in 2001. Wii U had a good chunk of legit big-time 3rd party games (including the two biggest games of late 2012, Black Ops 2 and AC3), Nintendo Land (which is better than Wii Sports, easily) and what is considered the best 2d Mario since the 90s. Guess which two Nintendo consoles were massive sales disappointments? Launch lineups are not the be-all end-all at all.

Though as a counterpoint, the 3DS' launch got exactly what it deserved for its embarrassing lack of must-own games. (even the actually good Ghost Recon game, I would put below basically all those GCN launch games I mentioned)