Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Another Nindie title coming in the new year, Picross-like puzzler Pic-a-Pix Deluxe:

The Conduit 1 & 2 for the Switch pls

that would be a killer game IMO

German Switch eShop Charts

01. Rocket League (-25%)
02. Stardew Valley
03. Human Fall Flat (New)
04. Yooka-Laylee (New)
05. Xenoblade Chronicles 2
06. Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (-33%)
07. Minecraft - Nintendo Switch Edition
08. SteamWorld Dig 2 (-25%)
09. Nine Parchments
10. Super Mario Odyssey
11. Overcooked! - Special Edition (-20%)
12. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
13. Resident Evil Revelations
14. Worms W.M.D
15. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I don't think we'll ever see Super Mario Odyssey or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe dropping from the Top 15. And probably Mario+Rabbids too.

Also, after the release of Mario+Rabbids Ubisoft was able to buy back shares from Vivendi who tried another takeover earlier this year. Coincidene? Or did Nintendo have a role in saving Ubisoft?
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/10/06/ubisoft-buy-back-...

Switch has plenty of great games. My beef isn't lack of great games. But it's aggravating when companies are announcing new games for Switch, but they're mostly retro compilations or niche anime fighters or low budget digital titles.

Switch is such a great concept- I want as many games on the system as possible. It's too good not to. It's especially frustrating seeing platforms like Xbox One and Vita be given priority over Switch. Xbox One because they value install base despite the fact the games don't sell, and Vita because it has neither the install base nor offers significant sales. Meanwhile Switch is matching PS4's first year for install base and games are selling.

I think the situation will look far different by this time next year though. There is merit to the argument that developers were caught off guard and it will take time before we see the games rolling in.

So, it's been a while since the Switch was released. I want to reflect on the past months and see where the system's at.

At the beginning there were hardware issues with Joy-Cons losing connection and screens easily scratching. I don't hear much about that anymore. I do have the left Joy-Con issue, though. Sometimes when it was idle, it will take one second to recognize a command. This only happens in BOTW for me.

I did not get the Pro Controller and I don't plan to do so. I think the included controller adapter works fine and is comfortable. 80% of the time I play in portable mode, though (usually at home in my comfy chair or in bed just before going to sleep). Battery has never been an issue. I never managed to drain it in one go. Yesterday I bought Amazon's own controller grips for local multiplayer and they work amazingly well. I wish these would have been available when Mario Kart was released.
I absolutely love the Switch for the standby. I would never been able to spend so much time with Zelda if I had to boot up the system, turn on the TV, hit the power on the speaker amplifier, setting the source on the DAC, getting ready on the couch and waiting for the game to load every time I wanted to play. Impossible! That's 5 minutes wasted and I often only play 5-10 minutes. That's the reason I didn't buy the PS4 - even the PS3 annoyed me to death with system updates every time I wanted to play a game. Thank you, Nintendo!

I've never been a Zelda fan but BOTW got me hooked. I am still playing the DLC and after that I have something like 80 more Koroks to find (only to unlock all slots) before facing Ganon for the first time.
Mario Odyssey was a lot of fun. I almost wish it never ended! Some moons were too easy to collect but the true game only starts after the credits roll. I did prefer the more gameplay-focused Galaxy levels on Wii, but running and jumping around in Odyssey felt even better.

That's the only main titles for me so far. I skipped Arms and Splatoon. I don't like online games that much. I also have Mario Kart but it's for local multiplayer only.
I grabbed Sonic Mania from the Russian store for 9.99 €, but I hardly played it. I'm not a Sonic fan. I rather collect every single coin instead of dashing through a level.
Overcooked was a surprise hit. My girlfriend loves it! I just got it recently from the sale and we've been shouting at each other ever since.
I always wanted to play Shovel Knight and I finally did so on the Switch.
I shouldn't have bought FIFA 18. At least not at full price. Previews were promising and EA boasted how good the Switch version would be. I guess you really have to be an idiot if you still trust EA in 2017...

My profile says I played BOTW for 135 hours, Mario for 45, Mario Kart for 35, Shovel Knight for 15, FIFA for 5 and Sonic for 4. That's 50min a day since I got the Switch and ultimately far more than I expected I would play. I enjoyed almost all of it!

Back in March I requested 4 ports for the Switch: Doom 2016, Dragon Quest Builders, Okami HD and Super Mario 3D Worlds. I am really surprised that Doom and DQB became true! I haven't bought Doom yet because I am expecting the price to drop soon and I will get it as soon as it's down to 40 €. Unless they charge full price for DQB, I will buy that on day one. But I am really surprised that meanwhile Sony and Microsoft got another Okami remaster but they forgot about Nintendo. The game is a masterpiece and it was perfect on Wii - why not port it for the Switch? I was also expecting many Wii U ports but that didn't happen yet (Mario 3D Worlds, Mario Maker, Donkey Kong, Captain Toad, ...). Apparently it's difficult to compensate for the second screen.

Meanwhile, I am getting really nervous about the Virtual Console. When Nintendo said it won't be available at launch, I was expecting a small delay of 1-3 months. Seriously, I wouldn't have bought the Switch if I had known. (I didn't expect to enjoy Zelda that much.) But until now we still have zero information. This could turn out to become a disaster. I fear Nintendo will drop a monthly fee on us, combined with online play. I would be very bummed out. I only want a few games and I gladly pay 10 € for each.
On the other hand, I am almost certain we will get Gamecube and Wii emulation, which is nice.

All in all, I don't regret buying the Switch. I paid 330 € for the system, another 15 € for a case, 10 € for the joy-con grips and I ordered another set of Joy-Cons for Christmas multiplayer (75 €). The hardware isn't cheap but I expect to enjoy the Switch for several years. Worth it! I just really want to play old SNES games on VC very soon...

@Switchcraft Keep in mind they're probably using Wii U ports to fill in gaps in the release schedule, so we'll likely be seeing them trickle in over the next two years, rather than dumping them all at once.

Decided to take look at Finnish eShop charts. Pretty much the same as other countries.

1. Rocket League
2. Overcooked! Special Edition
3. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
4. Xenoblade Chronicles 2
5. Super Mario Odyssey
6. Stardew Valley
7. SteamWorld Dig 2
8. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
9. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
10. Human Fall Flat
11. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
12. Nine Parchments
13. Skyrim
14. Yooka-Laylee
15. Splatoon 2

Also downloaded Crawl while listing them. Can't wait to play it with my family.

The Pic-A-Pix Deluxe Christmas Demo is available on the eShop now.
Full game will be released on 4th January 2018.

@Grumblevolcano I think April will be Octopath Traveler.

My guess is that the paid online will launch on March 3rd. It just won't launch alongside some big online game like everyone is assuming

Sony officially has 50.2% of the UK retail software market now. In the UK 25% market control is when a "monopoly power" is established and over 50% is straight up market control.

My issue is that our pretty much ONE game retailer here has to sell games to survive. If Sony says undercut the competition, or stock more of our stuff....they won't have a choice else they lose over half the industry, as without doing as Sony says, they risk losing over 50% of the market in sales, effectively killing their already struggling business.

Let's put it this way, if Microsoft wanted to drop the price of the One S, Sony could drop it lower and force more stock awareness. Which is actually what they did for the Switch launch too.

If Microsoft falls below 25% however, that's it, as no one competing company will be over 25% share and Sony will have complete control.

So this may be a little crazy but we know how the Nintendo Switch uses an underclocked Tegra X1 (Albeit it is a Tegra X1 that is underclocked solely via software as all the components are still there in the die).

We have seen that via firmware updates, Sony has been able to unlock extra bits of power in the PS4 for developers as life went on, giving access to additional cores and such. This firmware is of course based on FreeBSD.

We know the "custom" Tegra X1 inside the Switch is customised solely on a software level to underclock it for battery purposes, and we also know the Switch OS is based on FreeBSD as well.

What if, and call me crazy here, Nintendo could instead of offering a new hardware SKU, just pop out a firmware update and restore the Tegra X1 clock speeds later in life, say to make portable mode equivalent to what docked is now, and docked to be on par with a full power X1.

This could mean more stable or native 720p games portably, with better quality assets (With developers being able to patch them at will, obviously, like PS4 Pro and One X) and better resolution/FPS/assets games docked.

The reason I left portable mode so low still, is for battery reasons, as when docked a battery isn't needed so they can go nuts there.

But how would a user decide if they want full power games docked, docked games as they are, portable games as they are, or better portable games but with a noted less battery life? Just make it an OS option like Boost Mode on PS4 Pro. Just remember to tell them if they do this for portable mode, it'll result in less play time.

I only say this as it feels like a logical solution to the "Mid generation upgrade" without actually needing to upgrade the hardware.

Oh, Catherine coming to PS4 and ******* VITA.

This is case and point. The platform has been dead for some time. Now all of a sudden you see games being ported to it from Square Enix, Atlus, and God knows who else...?

There's no logic to it. None. Either Sony's paying for these versions in a desperate attempt at a hail Mary to keep people from migrating to Switch, or all these developers just suddenly, out of nowhere, decided it was a viable, thriving platform but not the Switch (the platform everyone wants games on).

I mean, even 3DS is questionable at this point. But this is just insulting.

@JaxonH I think this is what Sony meant when they've said in the past that they can't ignore the Switch. If they can't compete directly in the form of a PS4 hybrid then the next obvious strategy is to drain Switch of its potential 3rd party support.

@Grumblevolcano
That's exactly how they operate too.

This is why I really can't stand them as a company. Like their products, really don't like them. You never see Nintendo resorting to such tactics. Even MS only does so on occasion.

But if they think a few digital downloads of Secret of Mana and Catherine are enough to stop the Switch juggernaut... They're wasting their money.

@JaxonH Stop the conspiracy BS. Atlus have always been fond of the vita and have seen great success on it. People have bought a Vita just to play Persona 4 Golden. For whatever reason they just like it.
i don't know if you've played Persona 5 on PS4, but the Vita is all over that game.
They have it with them when their studying, passengers are playing it on the subway, teens are walking around Shinjuku with it...

Atlus have said in the past that they like having their games be exclusive to a platform. It works for them economically as it builds brand loyalty.
It's one of the reasons Yakuza and Persona are exclusive to PlayStation and Shin Megami Tensai is exclusive to Nintendo.

The original Catherine was never on a Nintendo platform. PlayStation and Xbox ONLY.
The reason this remake is a PS exclusive is, because Catherine is already AVAILABLE on Xbox one via backwards compatibility. It is the same reason the Lego Harry Potter Years 1-7 remaster was also a PS exclusive- it's already on Xbox.

Jeez dude, not all games need to be multiplatform. Money doesn't always change hands, there are other factors involved (ease of port, fanbase, financial viability..). Are you going to cry foul-play when the vita gets the new digimon game, and 2 new Persona rhythm games in Q1 2018? Oh wait it already is.
Or will it be when Persona 5 gets a re-release for both PS4 and Vita and not the Switch.

I would much rather play Project Octopath Traveler on PS4, but that ain't happening. Therefore I'll play it on my Switch. No big deal.

Port Beggars, be port begging.
Also the PS4 outsold the Switch worldwide this year. Sales have never been higher for PS4. Sony are hardly quaking in their boots.

@JaxonH The Vita hasn't been dead though. Not in Japan as far as 3rd party software goes, at least. That Catherine remake coming to the Vita isn't surprising in the slightest honestly.

@YummyHappyPills It's the opposite in Japan, Nintendo owns more than 50% of the market share over there, spread across the Switch and 3DS, yet I don't hear anyone complain about that. It's an issue, I agree, but what can you do about it?

@JaxonH The Vita isn't dead in Japan. It's just that you didn't hear about new Vita releases when the Switch wasn't a thing, because it wasn't interesting. The system has gotten a steady stream of releases in Japan this entire year. I compared the last four months (September through December) of 2017 and 2016, and whilst the Vita got 47 retail releases this year during that period, it actually got 72 games last year, during the same four-month period. So I'd say there's a decline in game releases instead.

And in case you're wondering, the Vita has already several dozen upcoming releases lined up for 2018, like 50 games at least. So don't expect the Vita announcements to end anytime soon.

I doubt Sony is moneyhatting Catherine. Atlus has always had weird standards for which series end up on which platforms.

Also, Atlus has a habit of supporting older platforms. Thus why they still have so many 3DS games in production (a new EO, Persona Q2, Strange Journey Redux, and Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, so far).

Unless Sony releases a new handheld, the only way you're going to be playing Persona 5 on Vita is via remote play. The game is simply too demanding for the platform.

Assuming, of course, they don't specifically design a downgraded version of it like they did with P3P on PSP.

And that's why they're not doing it...

I agree with @Fight_Teza_Fight, the conspiracy BS is getting a bit out of hand. There's no evidence for all of this. The Vita getting games isn't an anomaly, it happens every other week, if not every week.

I hoped it was a joke at first, a meme, whatever, but I really hope people don't think Sony is paying SE for something trivial like a Secret of Mana remake, because like you said, that won't make a difference, at all.

@Octane Regarding Japan, I actually have the same mindset. Someone needs to step in. The problem there is Sony most likely won't cater to that market with a new Vita, so intervention is required. I'm all for it, it will boost Japan's gaming industry even further if they have equal footing.

At the same time, that monopoly from Nintendo will collapse when the 3DS is dropped so...it'll likely work out in the end when Nintendo moves from two systems to one. So in that respect intervention may not be necessary depending on when that event happens.

At the same time, I firmly believe in intervention in this case, for the EU market to stop the dominance of PlayStation and the already evident anti-consumer practices, and the exact same goes for Japan and Nintendo.