Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Octane Well there is the mysterious Pikmin 4 situation which that game was supposedly "nearly complete" in 2015 yet here we are in 2018 with no new info.

@Vee_Flames Saying the Layton games ''relied'' on touchscreen controls seems a bit of a stretch, it was more just convenient use of the hardware. A Switch Layton, if keeping the point-and-click style, could use gyro or control stick controls for the ''cursor'', and could have puzzles using the former and HD rumble.

You know I'm surprised nobody has sold one of these with a fake rubber dpad put on top of the buttons. Like, I think it would work well?

If Retro have indeed been working on DKCR3 then I bet it was originally planned to be a Wii U title and to have long since released,say 2016. That would have the new Trilogy all available to play on Wii U. If so then there will be a 2nd title that was developed with Switch in mind. Perhaps that's nearly ready too and will be revealed along with DKCR3, or maybe Nintendo have held it back as a 2019 title. Not too far fetched to think this could be the case.

I'm sort of bored right now, but in all honesty, things have been kinda boring Nintendo-wise recently. The Direct was nice and all, but it seems like all the interesting stuff is possibly after E3 and during the later parts of the year. I'd like it if Ninty could pick up the pace by E3 this year because I actually like using the Switch but there aren't any really great games for me recently.

@Meowpheel that's... Actually a cool idea. If I were you I'd try and pitch that idea to manufacturers!

Seriously, I'd use it

@Spoony_Tech it's not even easy to buy FIFA on the eshop as our bank cards do not work with it and also eshop cards are rarely sold here and when I can occasionally find some I tend to buy games that I can only buy digital. Thanks all of you for the help I will probably wait until FIFA 19 hopefully comes to Switch and even if it only offers marginal improvements it should be enough to justify its launch price.

On a related note I miss the days of non annualised football games and am going to play some International Superstar Soccer 64!!

Yeah, the first half is pretty light. Though there's always been at least one game every month, a good portion of them are ports. Good ports, mind you, but still ports, so if you've already played those games and you're not interested in double-dipping, they won't have much sway on you.

I personally don't mind all too much. I've been doing a second playthrough of Xenoblade 2 while I've been trying to get back into writing to hone my skills. But I understand if people are wanting more.

@-Green- I get where your coming from. For me sometimes it can be frustrating when it feels like you could be getting hyped for something coming soon but it's been held back for E3 or holidays or whatever but I see it as a chance to finish up some older games, play some retro titles and get some (admittedly lower) hype for AA titles like Kirby/Mario Tennis Aces/Dark Souls. Stay positive my man!!

If that Donkey Kong thing is indeed a tease and not just an inconsequential picture, it could potentially be a remaster of the original DKC trilogy?

@EvilLucario I've pretty much returned to the point where I don't know when I'll finish BotW because more distractions have arrived. Pokken DLC, Fire Emblem Warriors DLC, the surprise release of the Mario Odyssey costumes, the surprise release of more Xenoblade 2 DLC quests (thought the update was just going to be bug fixes), Piranha Pit coming to Splatoon 2 in a few hours, etc.

I do understand though that Labo being the big game for the first half of 2018 can be rather frustrating.

@EvilLucario @bluemage1989 @Grumblevolcano yeah there's no sugar-coating it - ignoring ports, the Switch lineup is not only terrible, but just as bad as (if not worse) than the Wii U droughts that everyone always brings up when disparaging the Wii U. Only difference is, Switch is relying on Wii U ports to fill in gaps, while Wii U only relied on its own games (besides Wind Waker HD).

That being said, most people didn't own a Wii U, so for them the lineup is fairly decent - nothing amazing but just enough to keep some level of interest. Bayonetta and perhaps DK are standouts but everything else feels like filler before the true standout titles coming in the second half of the year. And tbf, if Wii U owners were able to survive those droughts, then they're likely capable of handling Switch droughts as well. And as Grumblevolcano mentioned, there are lots of games on Switch with lots of replayability, as well as online multiplayer, and lots of indies releasing as well. Now that I think about it, the situation isn't quite as bad as the Wii U in roughly the same time period when you factor in the evergreen and online multiplayer games released last year.

@Grumblevolcano As much as I like the Pikmin franchise, I also know that a Pikmin 4 reveal wouldn't be a big surprise. Especially since we've known about its existence for at least three years. It's not a question of it, but when.

@shadow-wolf I would agree with that statement, except for one thing. The number of indies and smaller published games coming to Switch now is far higher than it ever was during the Wii U's lifetime. Just looking at physical releases, we have at least 10 in April and 14 in May that I am aware of so far.

Sure it's not great, but look at Wii U's rate of release. Back in the first quarter after it's release, we saw a grand total of 12 games in three months across the eshop and retail. In the same period of time for the Switch, 165 games have been released, not including Arcade Archives releases. That's a ratio of nearly 13:1, hardly comparable. Sure you might not have anything you are interested in, but this isn't a Wii U level drought by any stretch of the imagination.

Even just looking at retail across similar time periods, Wii U had 4: Hello Kitty Cruisers, DK: Tropical Freeze, Lego Movie Videogame, and Cabela's Big Game Hunter as it for the corresponding three months, while Switch has had at least 13: Rocket League, Lost Sphear, Dragon Quest Builders, Wonder Boy, Monster Energy Supercross, Bayonetta 1&2, Payday 2, Kirby Star Allies, Scribblenauts Showdown, Attack on Titan 2, Portal Knights, and Atlier Lytelle and Suede.

@shadow-wolf ahem What are you talking about? That is so untrue, I would need to make a whole new infographic for Wii U releases. I have one for Switch releases though! And nope there is no possible way.

For the first year of the Nintendo Switch we have had sixty seven retail titles, in North America alone (I mean 2017 not even the full March to March). Even now there is sixteen in the first three months of 2018 alone. From what we've heard there is a confirmed thirty two from now until E3 (June 12th). Now I don't deny that a good amount is shovelware, but that's one hundred and five retail titles IN NORTH AMERICA ALONE. Within the around 4.5 years the Wii U had, the total number of retail titles (at least that I can find) is one hundred and sixty.

Even discarding Wii U ports would be a total of twelve both first party AND third party before E3 2018. Only one has been confirmed past that in Captain Toad (unless you count Bloodstained, then two). Its still ninety three.

Yes this half the year has been light, for Nintendo releases.

But if you compare the first half of the Switches year to now? There was almost no games every month! In fact over the first four months there was only Zelda, Mario Kart, and Arms. Big hitters for sure but stretched reeal thin.

Don't even get me started on the Eshop, the Switch's is miles ahead of the Wii U's in both quality and quantity. Not only that we are getting DLC, both free and paid, for tons of big games.

Look I get that these last three months haven't been "astonishing" but simply based off of the Switch's health from evergreen titles (as you said) and its new found reputation with indies, its nowhere near as bad as the Wii U. I had one mind you and I still love the thing, but the droughts were so painful. This is nowhere near as bad, even for a Wii U owner like me.

@ieatdragonz Note that @shadow-wolf is only talking about this year.

I would bet money there will be more good games released this year on Switch than the entirety of Wii U's run. The vast majority of them won't be games that were also on Wii U. (and I say this as a Wii U fan)

shrugs

@Grumblevolcano The argument gets a little better if you discredit 2017 altogether, but its not much more watertight. There is fifty retail confirmed games coming between the beginning of 2018 and E32018. Out of those six are ports from the Wii U (I would count 3DS and other console ports, but he made it clear that the Switch is relying on WII U games not ports in general).

Don't get me started on past E3 though, without any announcements there, the third party support is already astounding. It demolishes any drought the Wii U ever had. It already has forty seven confirmed physical games, only in the states and before E3. Don't forget the Eshop!

I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but as someone who was pretty young (12-17) for the Wii U's lifespan of minimal hype and the rest being a dead fish, I cannot defend the Wii U. I love the console but damn did it give many hardships, not just for me for Nintendo themselves.

@link3710 @ieatdragonz Both of you are right - the Switch output does demolish the Wii U output in the same time period when looking at both retail and eShop. But I meant looking at just games coming to retail (not smaller games on eShop like indies) and just looking at the first half of 2018. But considering indies hands down the Switch has far more games than Wii U. But looking just at $40-$60 retail games coming to Switch in the first half of 2018, I still think (when ignoring the Wii U ports) the picture is quite similar to a Wii U drought. I emphasize this is when looking at just retail (once again looking at the big picture Switch is doing well with indie support). @Grumblevolcano thanks yeah I meant first half of 2018

@kkslider5552000 Well it's all relative based on what you mean by good games, but it's certainly possible based on the types of games you like. For me personally I highly doubt that would occur - I loved a lot of Wii U games - but once again it's all subjective.

@shadow-wolf I agree what's happening now is a drought in terms of AAA titles, but those happen on every Nintendo system, and occasionally in non-nintendo ones. When someone says a Wii U drought specifically, my first thought is back to when we'd go weeks without a single game releasing, eshop or retail, and I think most people who complain about them are referencing the same thing.