Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@IceClimbers
Ya, you would think...

This is nothing to do with what you guys are talking about, just a question I have. I don't have Sonic Forces but I downloaded the Super Sonic DLC while it's free, so I can use it in case I ever get the game in the future. However, the icon for Sonic Forces now appears on my home screen even though I don't have the game, which bothers me slightly. If I delete the DLC now that I've downloaded it once, will I be able to download it again for free in the future if I get the game?

@Dogorilla Once you own the content you should be always be able to dl it. However if you just open and close a few other games it will get pushed further down to where you won't see it.

@IceClimbers
Pretty safe predictions there. I tend to agree except on two points.

1. With the number of game announcements for Switch that have come from nowhere? There will probably be something unknown in the next direct. Lately Nintendo can't seem to go a couple of months without surprising us with something like Doom or Bayonetta. I don't expect them to suddenly go back to Wii U era "nothing new" Directs.

2. The VC and online will come up at some point. Now is as good a time as any. It makes far more sense to talk about it now while the pace for gaming has slowed rather than spend time at E3 talking about it when they'd rather us focus on their big reveals

@skywake My thought was they'd talk about VC and online on it's own via press release/trailer drop/Twitter and the website being updated and not via a Direct. I believe they want these Directs almost exclusively focused on games, with the lone exceptions being amiibo, special hardware bundles, and certain accessories like Joy-Cons. I don't think they feel Directs are the appropriate place to talk about services in depth anymore.

As for the announcements, that's what those "unexpected third party ports" are for! Those could take up quite a few separate headlines on their own. I think first party wise there won't be a ton announced because I feel the unannounced stuff is for the second half of the year, which they'll talk about more in the April Direct and at E3. I feel like it'll be 1 or 2 new 1st party games maximum in the January Direct, potential eShop titles like Pushmo aside (speaking of which, I wonder when we'll see Pushmo on Switch).

Looking at the first half of the year, this could be the hypothetical "big game" lineup:

February: Bayonetta 1+2
March: Kirby Star Allies
April: Project Octopath Traveler
May: Wolfenstein II/Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (3rd party month)
June: Fire Emblem
July: Yoshi

That's just hypothetical, but that really only leaves 5 months left uncovered. 1 or 2 of those could be third party months, and one of them could be Pokemon if that launches in 2018. That's not even accounting for Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.

So barring doubling up in multiple months, there's really only 4ish major unknown 1st party games for the rest of the year. So again, expecting very little new on the 1st party front in the January Direct.

Hello, im Donk Of the Wild. and i just created a Discord for all things Nintendo Switch!
We do Events for Almost all Nintendo Switch games, Chat, and Have fun!
So Join the fun! [removed]

_{Please don't post your own Discord channel here, you can put a link in your signature if you want - Octane}

@IceClimbers
On the first point you may be right as a general rule of thumb. With that said I think there's too much they have to said about both online and the VC for them not to have it in a presentation. A direct of some kind would be the place to do it especially if it's some kind of "Switch in 2018" January Direct

The list of titles you've outlined? Sure, if it plays out that way that could be just about all we see for the first half of the year. And if that's the case there's not much reason for them to bring up anything new that soon. But I can imagine some of those titles coming out later in the year. It's not that I'm expecting them to fill out all the gaps in our knowledge of the lineup for 2018. I'm just pointing out that there are a lot of gaps and a January Direct would be good place for some of these reveals.

I will be very surprised if there's not at least 1 major reveal in the next Direct. Koizumi has said the release momentum of 2017 will continue next year and that we can expect "non-traditional IP",so there's a lot of stuff coming that we don't know of. Plus there's the games that will be he said will be built around the Joy-con /Switch's functionalities, these could be the "non-traditional IP" or maybe not. Just yesterday Kimishima basically said we can expect games likes this too. None of the games we already know of could fit these descriptions so surely we're going to find out about something about games that do.

I'm predicting we'll get a major title revealed which will be the May /June game and 2 or 3 middle tier titles,with at least 1 of these being a game Nintendo will be banking on being a monster hit with the masses ala Wii Sports.

Where does the next Direct date usually get announced?

If a January Direct is incoming, the second week is usually when it appears. Third week is also likely.

@OorWullie If non-traditional IP does means stuff like Wii Sports, I could see some double game months to avoid making the same mistakes as E3 2008. So like for example you could have Switch Fit appearing in the same month as Fire Emblem or Yoshi.

If Nintendo are expecting to sell 20 million over the next year, they must have some big unknown titles over the first half of the year. They won't hold them back to just the second half though the biggest will be during this time of the year. They will need to sell a lot of consoles every month of 2018 so the January Direct is going to have some big blowout surprises, otherwise they are going to see a big drop in sales. Kirby and Yoshi don't sell big numbers in systems, perhaps Fire Emblem can help with sales certainly.

Just reveal what Retro is doing and be done with it!! That game has to release next year right??

@FragRed Smash 4 port around April would be enough on that front. Could be something like:
February - Bayonetta 1+2
March - Kirby Star Allies
April - Smash 4
May - Fire Emblem + 3rd parties
June - Yoshi

To promote the new Fire Emblem, the Smash 4 port would have a main character from that game as 1 of the extra playable fighters.

@Grumblevolcano A Smash port though will sell systems again isn't enough to sell the kinds of numbers the Switch will need to on a month by month basis for the first half of the year. Obviously Nintendo are looking at fiscal year not calendar year for sales, but I still feel there is something more to announce for first half.

Man, axiom verge is such a beautiful game to play. Especially on handheld, the colors are so vibrant. Sometimes I forget the switch is also an HD handheld

@FragRed Well the only way I see other big games for the first half on the 1st party front is if some of the already announced games listed above are not coming out until the second half. So like if Yoshi was July and Fire Emblem was fall 2018.

@Grumblevolcano
It is worth remembering that the Switch is the first home console that's also a portable console. Nintendo has always had to support two systems, with the Switch doing well and the 3DS on its last legs those days are gone.

I think of 2013 when the Wii U was struggling to get a regular flow of games. That was the same year the 3DS got Fire Emblem, Luigi's Mansion, Animal Crossing and Zelda. If the 3DS didn't exist and the Wii U had got some of those games instead? It would have been a very, very different first year for the Wii U.

@Spoony_Tech
I truly hope we get news now! It has been a long time without news from them.

@skywake If the Wii U and 3DS were instead 1 console with the combined libraries, Nintendo would've moved around release dates (including delaying some to 2014) to reduce gaps rather than overcrowd certain months. I believe the Switch era will have more games overall but not to the point where months have like 3 big 1st party games releasing.

On another note, there's a rumoured Direct date being January 11th which sounds about right especially with the Amazon placeholders.