Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Well I should hope so, the Wii has been out for 11 years...

Seems the hardware is doing well all over. I'd like to see how software sales compare to previous consoles. Surely good hardware and software combined should convince the 3rd parties to jump on board?

Same as mine Probably 'unlikely' since Nintendo are already bringing out a couple of platformers this year (so I'd imagine that any 'DX' games to come in 2018 will likely cover other genres instead) ..but a co-op 2D Mario game would be just perfect to play 'Anywhere, Anytime, with Anyone' - so you never know!

@Harmonie That's probably true. Still, with the Switch having a totally new version of Zelda and a more 64-esque Mario, and generally flipping their approach to the gaming industry on its head, I feel like there's a better chance than ever that Paper Mario goes back to its glory days. Who knows, though. Maybe Nintendo just doesn't care about making really great worlds and characters and writing witty dialogue and such anymore. Those certainly aren't aspects that they've been shining in lately.

@KirbyTheVampire @Harmonie the issue with Paper Mario is they now have two Mario RPG franchises. The original plan was M&L for handheld, PM for console. But in the 3DS era they started mashing them on handheld, and then we got Sticker Star 2 on WiiU basically. Ultimately they (for good reason) don't want two different unrelated Mario RPGs, so one has to become something different, and they decided M&L would be the RPG branch, so PM had to become something unique. Especially with Switch where there's only one platform, that's more important. So PM of old is definitely gone, but I'm not sure the SS/CS format works well. CS was actually an excellent game overall, with a great world....maybe too many toads not enough unique characters, but the world was great and the toads were surprisingly unique. The problem is the "disposable item battle system." It's too much work and effort for absolutely zero reward: You're better off avoiding combat than engaging more times than not, and a game that encourages you to fear battles and avoid using the battle system isn't a good design. If they don't want a stat progression so it's and adventure rather than an RPG, they need to either make battle easier to get in and out of as simple action diversions like a regular Mario game, or at least make it less cumbersome that you win by some means other than expendable battle units that make you put more thought and effort into battle than the battle is worth. The team at IS seems to think playing with Hanafuda for its own sake is the reward, which isn't even true in Japan anymore. Then again the team at IS thinks petting minigames are a good idea too, so....maybe IS is the issue.

Edit: I also think some of that design comes from Super Paper Mario which was in line with Wii philosophy that games should return to simplicity and pick up and play nature rather than complicated epics, which Nintendo thankfully now recognizes is the domain of mobile and console buyers want grander adventures, and so far in the Switch era they're delivering on that new wisdom.

They could move Paper Mario to a mix of Super and Colour Splash in terms of gameplay. Thatd be good.

Anyway, is today the day we get the mythical Direct announcement?

Doubt it. I just want to see the internet burn.

@YummyHappyPills Super "battles are just mario enemies in regular fashion" and CS's world and writing.....that would be a far better "adventure game" than the weird RPG battles with no upgrading that it currently is.

@NEStalgia Heck. You just need CS's wirld. Keep the writing from Super.

And yeah. Have standard Mario enemies with HP. Boom. Done.

@NEStalgia There's 2 platforms, 3DS and Switch!

But seriously don't count out the 3DS at least until we have a better idea of Nintendo's 2018 plans. It could be that a significant number of 3DS games are announced in the January Direct.

Still no announcement.

So...does anyone know where this rumour started?

Here's the thing. We know release dates up to the end of February.

Lost Sphear, indies, Payday 2, Dragon Quest Builders, Bayonetta 1 and 2, all have dates.

Thats two months covered already.

@NEStalgia I 100% agree with you on the problems with the 3DS and Wii U Paper Mario games. The pointlessness of battling the enemies and the wasting of resources to fight them just completely turned me off from the game.

I haven't played a Mario & Luigi game since Partners in Time. It seemed like the series kind of went off in a different direction after that, and especially with the more recent 3DS titles. For Nintendo to say that the PM series can't be RPG because of Mario & Luigi and then turn around and change up the M&L series too just doesn't sit right with me (it reminds me all too much of the logic they had where they stated that the Galaxy series was exploration-centered like 64 and Sunshine, whereas 3D Land/World were linear... Yet they were BOTH linear, the exploration style 3D Mario had completely vanished). But maybe I'm exaggerating how much the M&L series has changed, as I haven't played any of the recent entries.

I just don't like that philosophy at all to begin with. Paper Mario came first. The Paper Mario series should be the one staying as an RPG.

@Harmonie By that logic we should still be getting Square to make Mario RPGs if its a "X came first" situation

@YummyHappyPills I don't know where the rumour outright started but in part it was because of that supposed EA leak that stated Fe would appear in a Nintendo Direct. That and the fact Nintendo almost always seems to have a Direct in January made sense that it would continue this year.

However, Nintendo could easily just say nothing until the end of February if they so desired but I don't see that happening. As you said they do have games lined up for the next few weeks.

@YummyHappyPills Certainly Super Mario RPG came first, but the SMRPG series never became a thing. It's a different circumstance. The Paper Mario brand, on the other hand, is still going.

@YummyHappyPills The writing was pretty good in both games. I love Tippi and that whole cast, the writing was excellent, but I have some fond memories of the insane toads on CS too. It's the battle system. That disgusting, awful, useless battle system.

@Grumblevolcano Hah! We just got an M&L on 3DS which was a remaster of an M&L for DS, and Paper Mario never should have been on 3DS to begin with since it was supposed to be the console franchise....they just (rightly) thought the 3D would be cool for it. It's safe to say that 1st party big RPGs are not being made for 3DS at this time. I think most of 3DS's life is in 3rd parties for now, but if you look what's coming out in Japan...there's not much. I'm guessing a lot of former 3DS titles were quietly switched to Switch once sales took off in Japan. If there's ANYTHING Mario RPG on 3DS at this point it will be Bowser's Inside Story remastered with an added campaign.

@Harmonie M&L draws controversy. Personally I think it's weakness isn't that it changed but that it hasn't changed enough. Each one rehashes too much of the same formula, and what it adds is too gimmicky. And yet what it does, it does so well, I still have a blast playing it. I really enjoyed the last two, but they're a little less "RPG" and more "puzzle-adventure-RPG" inn my mind. But I'm too jaded for a fair answer, I'm still waiting for a sequel to Legend of the Seven Stars. TTYD is only "ok" to me as a result. Still, M&L is a lot of fun, and I hope for a better PM that gets the balance right, even if I secretly wish it were an RPG again. I'll say Bowser's Inside Story was the most "weird" of them....so much 2D platforming....it felt like Metroid bolted to an M&L game.

I think PM became the non-RPG because M&L was the handheld one and the handheld has been their RPG platform of choice, so the audience just fit that solution best. Especially Japan. Now with one platform, they really can't both be RPGs, and PM gives more mechanics to experiment with versus "built around RPG systems" M&L. Now's a good time to shake things up....but they already have established teams for each...that's easier said than done.

@Harmonie Paper Mario was originally called Mario RPG 2 so...

@NEStalgia The new 3DS M&L game is a remake of the original on GBA

But yeah...more of that writing and Im sold.

You know what I think it was? Look at the timeline.

Paper Mario went downhill when Fire Emblem had a huge redesign and effort. Both made by the same studio.

@YummyHappyPills
It's coming, man. Just be patient.

Man, I really wanted a direct this week

@rallydefault Patience is not scepticism my friend.

I am sceptical of all random rumours. They cant be disproven or proven. Therefore no water is held either way and we disregard until a later time.

As I said, they have release dates up to the end of February. We're good.

@GrailUK There's still time for an announcement especially as Directs are usually around 11pm UK time. If there's no announcement tonight though I do think it's not this week.

Apparently Gamestop posted a tweet and then immediately removed it... Wonder if it was a simple mistake for something they were meant to programme into their software to automatically go out before the Direct, whenever that is to be.

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/951127405409816577