Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@JaxonH Skylanders didn't have a downloadable version for one, I know there were a couple others... or at least I think so. Not that that disproves your point obviously.

@link3710
Hmmm... well that doesn't surprise me seeing it requires the toys.

@DarthNocturnal featuring 4k and 60FPS patch.

I wonder if DLC for Mario Odyssey will become preorderable when the Luigi update goes live, kind of like what happened with Mario Kart 8. Nintendo announced the free Mercedes cars and then when those were usable you could preorder the paid DLC packs.

@Grumblevolcano We're not getting Odyssey DLC I think...

@Octane We know at the least that the Balloon World update isn't the last content coming to Odyssey because Nintendo said there's more costumes coming afterwards. Maybe it'll be more free updates, maybe it'll be DLC, maybe both.

So people are curious what games are going to headline the Online service in September.

People are going nuts with things like Smash etc.

Completely missing the games that release every September, every year: FIFA and NBA.

@YummyHappyPills Nintendo fans want Nintendo games, that's nothing new. That isn't to say we don't want third party games like FIFA or NBA, it's just that Nintendo's own titles have always faired better and get a lot more hype surrounding them.

@YummyHappyPills Pretty sure anyone that's all about online FIFA/NBA already plays on PS/XB for $60/yr. Switch's appeal to those games was the local play that sucks or is non existent on other consoles.

The mess comes from the front loaded launch lineup of all heavy online multiplayer games all launched together in place of big solo games other than BotW, clearly intended to align with paid online....and now that those games will be old and forgotten by the time paid starts, it's reasonable to expect they'll be pushing something online heavy with it since that was clearly their original strategy. The question is: What? Steep? Believe it or not that's still listed TBA on the eShop. Not Splatoon this time. Not kart. Smash is their only other existing online franchise. Could be an all new franchise....a Nintendo MMO/persistent world or such would be interesting. Could be Pokemon. Charging for Pokebank worked well, why not charge for PvP/PvE Pokemon play? That would be as good a service seller as Halo and beyond.

@NEStalgia I feel really stupid for not realizing that's probably why they are pushing GameFreak so hard to release the new Pokemon games this year. If that's the case, they'll probably offer free Pokebank as part of the online, as a major incentive. Cause then it's only an extra $15 a year for most people.

@NEStalgia They could also in addition to something like Smash add in significant additions to existing games. I keep mentioning it but MK8 Deluxe DLC and maybe say online subscribers get a discount, Splatoon 2 will probably go beyond the original 1 year of free content planned (maybe such that by the end of Splatoon 2 support, every Splatoon Wii U stage is playable in Splatoon 2), etc.

@Grumblevolcano I'm not sure the existing games will endure much additional content by September. ARMS they've already pretty much said theyr'e done with adding to. It'll be well over a year old by then. It would need a freaking sequel by that point. Splatoon would be over 1 year. It'll have life in it, but it would have to be something BIG like the long awaited, never delivered, infinitely hyped vs. Octolings mode. I could see that happening, though I'm not sure it would drive more than the existing audience into online....itll still be over a year old, and for an online shooter, that's kind of aged and the players move onto other things. I was as hardcore as anyone gets in Splatoon 2 short of competitions....and my interest is moving on. And it's far from September. The casual players will be moving on by April. I'm sure they'll keep adding stuff (2 years of fests already were stated) so it won't die, but it won't be a major online mover like it would have been. Kart....that's, what, 4 years old by then with several DLC packs already released and bundled across 2 platform gens? That's like adding DLC to Halo: MC Collection instead of launching Sea of Thieves at this point...

They still need something fresh with online. "Pay up $20 to keep playing your >1year old online games, plus an inferior version of FIFA" isn't a sales pitch There's no lure and hook. MS is using Sea of Theieves launch to move Game Pass. Sony used Battlefield 4 and Killzone to move PS+ at launch. Sony....didn't use anything to move PS Now.....and PS Now is dead and irrelevant. I imagine they'll have at least something....the speculation isn't really "if" but "what". Smash 4 port would be phoning it in. Smash 5 would be predictable but popular. Something totally new would be exciting. They did say they have new IPs in the works..... maybe online wasn't pushed back because of infrastructure problems but because its intended launch game wasn't ready (Pokemon? I mean an online focused Pokemon after the phenomenon that was Pokemon Go would CRUSH the market. We'd need an all new array of "it prints money" and Iwata-as-a-ninja gifs. )

@link3710 That's a good thought about including Pokebank built in. Reggie did talk about a "very Nintendo" way of doing paid...that could qualify. It's just a glorified cloud save after all.

@NEStalgia You need to think of Wii U ports not as Wii U ports but as new Switch games, pretty sure that would be Nintendo's logic. So like MK8 Deluxe being considered a Switch game that launched just over 9 months ago rather than a port of a nearly 4 year old Wii U game.

I didn't even think about the Pokemon Bank fee on top of the online fee. I really hope it does become (not exclusively, of course) part of the online fee so you don't have to pay for it. Especially since Game Freak stopped putting the National Dex in Generation VII games (Please reverse that for the Switch version!).

@NEStalgia A much more ambitious (not just in terms of online) Switch Pokemon would print so much money. The problem is... So would an HD version of Sun and Moon or a game in the same vein. I soooo want Game Freak to get ambitious because Generation VII has been the most disappointing generation for me and I absolutely do not want another game like S/M/US/UM. However, I'm sure S/M/US/UM have sold so well that there's no reason whatsoever for Game Freak to think of changing anything for the better.

@Harmonie Yeah, GameFreak really plays it very "safe", and they can, because it sells. I don't expect them to change since that's become a core part of how they operate. However, I'm not sure S/M/US/UM are good gauges. X/Y was ambitious...too much so, in that their optimization wasn't sufficient to really run on 3DS....framerate was awful, 3D was disabled, it was a mess. S/M just tried to refine it and scale it to the platform better and made tiny strides in introducing a more "3D" world. But US/UM, those would have taken months to slap together after S/M, and were likely cranked out after Switch development already was underway. At least an experimentation phase for Switch. I liken US/UM to MHXX Switch: A quick, cheap way to milk the massive 3DS base while the going is good and to plug the gap of a real Switch entry that entered development too late to be a timely release. So there's still hope. I don't think it will be a RADICAL departure in overall game design. I don't think we're looking at Pokemon's Creed coming any time soon. But a shakeup on the internals, how the town is used, and maybe how "interactive" the game is in terms of online would still be a very experimental, ambitious Pokemon. And, Pokemon has always been the bleeding edge of online (as far as online has gone for Nintendo) being the only notably online capable game on the DS, being the game that needed the GB Link cable. Connectivity has been core to Pokemon since before "online consoles" was a thing. Bolstered by the overwhelming social success of Go....it doesn't seem far fetched that Pokemon could be the centerpiece of Nintendo Online with a much more connected world.

@NEStalgia Id say XY had more issues than optimisation...that game started conceptualisation in 2010...

Anyway, Creatures Inc. posted a Pokemon related job listing a while back (These are the guys who do the 3D models etc. for Pokemon). Now we know in terms of poly count the models used for Pokemon in Gen 7 actually upscale to 1080p, even 4k, really damn well.

The thing is, this job posting featured Pokemon, Pikachu, and Unreal Engine 4.

If Pokemon wanted to use an engine that could do HD without the stress of making a custom engine for the Tegra X1, they can easily use UE4, learn it, and build a game without having to make a base.

It'll be a huge leap in productivity.

@Grumblevolcano I don't think even Nintendo is pretending MK8D and PokkenDX are truly new games. They may PR it as new, and for many it is new, but we're still talking about a game that already had tons of DLC, and advertises that it includes DLC, and will already be a year and a HALF old by the time online launches even if it's a new Switch game. From a creative process the team already tapped out their vision in that game. Even EA doesn't milk DLC a year and a half later, let alone 4. MK8 may sell quite well still but a new DLC for it would doubtfully be exponentially successful, and as such wouldn't really drive online.

Nintendo gotta' Nintendo, sure. But if they're actually going to drag out a 2012 GOTY pack and add another DLC and think it's incentive for paid online, they really DON'T understand online.... Fortunately, I don't think Kimishima's as bubble-bound as Iwata was, much as I love Iwata. The MK8 team already moved onto other things, including Arms, ages ago and the whole department it was part of was closed, shuffled, and rearranged. It's not like keeping the team together for an extended DLC run. They'll SHOW a lot of MK8 for online because it's popular. But I don't think those pretty old games will be the carrot on the stick. (puts on sunglasses) It's not very effective.

@YummyHappyPills Well, yeah, XY was a dev mess, all around. GF really didn't know how to do anything but SNES level graphics, and it showed.

UE4....interesting. Since I don't think Pokken is UE, there's not much else they could be doing with it really. And IIRC some other 1st party game already used UE....but I can't remember which one. Odyssey? It wasn't Rabbids, that's Snowdrop. Maybe FE: Heroes. Though that's technically Bamco. That would certainly change some things.

@NEStalgia FE Heroes was Unity I believe, well at least AC Pokcket Camp and Mario Run were, as well as Flip Wars and Snipperclips.

Good Feel is making Yoshi Switch in UE4, that's the only confirmed one for that engine so far.

And here's the thing, it COULD be for a spinoff title, sure, but its Creatures directly texturing Pikachu in UE4 so....and their involvement kinda starts at the main games.

@YummyHappyPills The idea of Mark Rein influencing Pokemon is a nightmare-invading thought.