Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Grumblevolcano
It wasn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, nor a list of only official confirmations. Just a highlights reel of games that are 2021 or are almost certain to be 2021. Unlike Bayonetta 3 or BotW2, Silksong is 95% sure to release next year, as is New Pokémon Snap.

Hitman 3 could “belong”, but being a cloud version of a game few have shown interest in seemed to not really warrant being a highlight. If it were Cyberpunk, then I think it’d be a highlight since a great many people would be interested, given it would be the best performing console version and all 😉

(For real though, they should release Cyberpunk on Switch via cloud- I’ll still play on PC with gyro aiming and Raytracing, but I bet a ton of non-PC gaming Switch owners would be interested).

We’re eatin’ good in 2021. Real good. So good, in fact, you might need a name change as your tummy actually stops grumbling like a volcano.

@JaxonH Pretty sure CDPR is going to bury Cyberpunk and pretend it never existed after everything that's going down. Doubt we'll see a cloud version.

As for what my personal highlights are, I'd say Sports Story and Axiom Verge 2 are both ones I'm super looking forward too in addition to that list. Also Balan Wonderworld, Lego Star Wars, Cyber Shadow, Digimon Survive...

Nintendo could release nothing next year and I'd be fine with that. I mean, I'd be utterly confused as to what they're doing and probably complain, but I'd be fine.

@link3710 You don't spent $300+ million on a game that is your only major product for the next several years and then "bury" it because of performance complaints about it on primarily last-gen consoles. CDPR has no choice BUT to fix it and push it as aggressively as possible.

I think what'll happen with Cyberpunk is the Fallout 76 setup, it'll get put on Game Pass to recover from the awful launch while the game is fixed and then CDPR get bought by Microsoft because Microsoft buys studios for the sake of buying studios.

@Ralizah But as GrumbleVolcano pointed out, isn't that exactly what Bethesda did with Fallout 76? I haven't heard a peep about that game since launch, and the player base has tanked (at least on Steam). CDPR also has potentially screwed up their relationship with Sony thanks to this, which would seem to me to be more pressing to fix

@Grumblevolcano Remember CDPR are bigger than just being a developer/publisher. They also own GOG which though not Steam big, is a fairly large storefront and I imagine rakes in a fairly hefty amount of money. Also they aren’t a private company like Bethesda was so it’s not as easy as walking into a meeting with a briefcase of cash and shaking hands for a few hundred/billion dollars. I’m not sure Microsoft would want a company like CDPR. Dunno to me it seems like the kinda business Microsoft would be better off not buying.

Well, they seem to be fixing the game ... We'll have to see how it goes but certainly no sign of it getting quietly buried yet

Ya, it’s a disaster but, one thing they’re not doing is burying the game. It’ll probably take a full year before it’s in the state it should be, and it definitely will have lost sales as a result. But that’s precisely why releasing a cloud version on the Switch might be a smart move. They’ve already got the PC version. May as well.

I just think it would be funny if Switch had the best performing console version lol 😂

Ooh man, the Monster Hunter hype train stops for no one! They just dropped the Switch Axe and Great Sword trailers (officially, this time). Can’t wait to see the hunting horn and charge blade again.

@JaxonH i see, at least i expect and hope 2021 to be year that surpass or be compared to 2017/2019 the best year for Switch(looking very likely to happen).

@Giancarlothomaz
Monster Hunter Rise ALONE makes 2021 surpass all previous years (for real- as much as I love Zelda BotW, Splatoon 2 and Mario Odyssey, I’d trade all 3 in for Monster Hunter without thinking twice).

But having all those other games on top of it just seals the deal. Especially since instead of Mario Odyssey, we’re getting Super Mario 3D World (an equally amazing 3D Mario), and instead of Zelda BotW we’re getting its sequel.

Getting a new exclusive Monster Hunter, Bravely Default, Shin Megami Tensei, Monster Hunter Stories and Rune Factory all in the same year is pretty impressive. Those are all key 3rd party franchises that put 3DS on the map.

@link3710

???

1) CDPR isn't Bethesda.
2) Bethesda has/had multiple major projects going all the time; CDPR appears to have put all of its eggs in one basket for the time being.
3) The issues with FO76 are far more... er... fundamental in the game design than Cyberpunk. The PC version of Cyberpunk continues to be pretty popular.
4) Bethesda has continued support of FO76.

Nothing is getting "buried."

Cyberpunk will become the next No Man's Sky eventually - it'll be really really good in a year or two. Which is absolutely insane to say for a video game that people already purchased at full price; "Yea, it's borderline unplayable right now and you've already given us 60 bucks, but hey, just wait a year and you'll love it!"

The state of video gaming. And it all started with horse armor lol

It’s getting close. It’s time to start explaining to people why they should join us in the Monster Hunter Rise hype train. You are ALL invited, and we want you playing with us come March 26th.

Monster Hunter is a well established franchise with a storied history on Nintendo platforms. I know Nintendo fans are slow to warm up to unfamiliar IP. But Monster Hunter is synonymous with Nintendo at this point... at least, portable Monster Hunter is, anyways. And it’s time for the unbelievers to finally become believers. It’s time my friends. Oh yes, it’s time.

Allow me to take you on a walk down memory lane. The year was 2010. The Wii hype was at its peak. Motion controls were all the rage. Zelda Skyward Sword hadn’t yet released, nor had Xenoblade Chronicles. And along came this game, called Monster Hunter Tri. A juggernaut of a franchise on the PlayStation Portable, the series was making a surprising jump cross platform from Sony to Nintendo. A new generation of Monster Hunter, built ground up for the most popular console of the generation- the Nintendo Wii. It introduced underwater combat, the only generation of MH to feature such a mechanic.. And so it began...

Monster Hunter Tri (Wii)

The 3DS would release the year after in 2011, and then in late 2012, the Wii U... and Monster Hunter would soon follow. In 2013, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate released simultaneously for the Wii U and 3DS, featuring cross save compatibility and full online functionality for the Wii U version. The game remastered MH Tri in HD, threw in the Ultimate version expansion, added new textures and new content, and for the time, truly was the ultimate Monster Hunter experience. Unfortunately, the Wii U was a sinking ship already by the time the game released in March, less than half a year after the system’s launch. It would, however, go on to become a cult classic among core Nintendo gamers. For many, MH3U was the game that brought them into the fold.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U and 3DS)

But it was Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate in 2015, which launched alongside the New 3DS XL, that really propelled the series forward. Over 1 million copies sold in the west alone, a first for the franchise. The game added two new weapons- the charge blade and the insect glaive, ratcheting the total up to the present 14 weapon types. It also added the mounting mechanic, and with it, verticality. It was in instant classic.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (3DS)

Shortly after, the very next year in fact, Capcom followed up with Monster Hunter Generations, a celebratory title which used the already existing engine on 3DS to assemble a massive game for the series. It featured villages from all 4 generations of MH, as well as monsters and maps from throughout the series long history. It didn’t focus on story- this was a game made specifically for MH fans.

Monster Hunter Generations (3DS)

But the game was so popular, they decided to release an Ultimate version on 3DS, in Japan only, titled Monster Hunter XX. This was in the same timeframe leading up to Switch’s release, and at the time, western releases for the franchise usually took about a year after their Japanese release. So they decided to port the game to the Nintendo Switch, which would, in the end, turn out to be Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate in the west. If Generations was a celebratory title, Generations Ultimate was a final send off. One last old-school styled game for the fans, and, something for Switch gamers to chew on.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Switch)

Because little did fans know, Capcom had something bigger in store. They wanted to take the Monster Hunter series AAA. At e3 2017, Capcom announced Monster Hunter World. A game which propelled the series into popularity the likes of which fans could only have dreamed of. It was precisely what the series needed. Up until this point, MH was hugely popular in Japan, on portable systems due to the local MP culture, but had struggled to gain a major foothold in the west. Sure, MH4U broke the million mark, but World was about to surpass even the wildest expectations. It landed at just the right time, got just the right marketing, and right when millions of Destiny 2 players were turned off and looking for an alternative co-op game. World would go on to become Capcom’s best selling title of all time.

Monster Hunter World / Iceborne (PS4/X1/PC)

At this point, many speculated Capcom was done releasing the series on Nintendo hardware. Due to its massive success, it was thought that it wouldn’t be worth their time to develop a AAA Monster Hunter title for the Switch. Because the bar had been raised, gamers wouldn’t have accepted anything less than the same quality they came to experience with World. And that, so they claimed, would mean the series was going to stick with PS/Xbox/PC and forever leave portable MH in the dustbin of history, a curious relic of a bygone era.

But they were wrong. In 2020, Capcom announced that Monster Hunter Rise would be releasing exclusively for the Nintendo Switch, complete with online, gyro aiming, auto translated voiced shoutouts to communicate with anyone in the world, and some of the absolute best visual fidelity of any portable title seen to date. This is a new, AAA Monster Hunter title built ground up for the hottest system on the market, the only system capable of delivering both a full, home console Monster Hunter experience and the first ever AAA portable Monster Hunter experience. This is the game they said would never happen. This is a MASSIVE investment for Capcom, to take their best selling game series, make a brand new, high budget entry, and release it as a Switch exclusive. This is the equivalent of making Street Fighter VI and Resident Evil 8 Switch exclusive, combined. That’s how big this is. Monster Hunter is bigger than both of those series combined. And that is why this game is such a big deal. That and the fact Monster Hunter is one of the most fun and addictive video games of all time.

Monster Hunter Rise (Switch)

And that, my friends, concludes our lesson on the history of Monster Hunter.

@rallydefault
Oh man... horse armor. I loved Dragon Age Inquisition, but I remember that whole scandal. Now that’s pretty standard in every game. In 30 different color varieties.

@JaxonH Aside from crowing Sony fanboys, I think most of us knew the series would probably continue in some form on portable systems. Capcom wasn't just going to leave money on the table by ignoring the portable market. With that said, I was afraid they would model the new portable games after Generations and we'd get more uninspiring, nostalgia-driven experiences aimed at the hardcore MH fanbase while the home console games continued to go big.

But that doesn't seem to be the case. Rise might be a bit of a sidegrade compared to World, but it's a MASSIVE step up from the 3DS entries, which is all I really care about.

Also, I tend to believe the leak which suggests the game won't end up being a Switch-exclusive. With that said, it's coming to the system first, and was built with the specs of the Switch in mind, so that's all that really matters.

@Ralizah
I believe it too, but it’s still Switch exclusive. Full exclusive for nearly a year and console exclusive afterwards. It’ll never be available on PS/Xbox. It takes a lot of faith to do that for a AAA entry of your best selling franchise. Low budget handheld entries? Sure, that’s one thing. But this is a massive gesture of faith on behalf of Capcom (I’d argue a late PC port is basically a must now for any AAA game, especially exclusives, to remain financially viable). But yes, built for the system is what counts, and in more ways than one. The gameplay itself is designed around portable play sessions that can jump into the action faster, if desired. As far as I’m concerned, the Resident Evil Switch and Neo: TWEWY are essentially as good as exclusives. Built for the system is what matters (It’s just that, usually that only happens when a game is exclusive... usually)

Rise is about as AAA as MH can get for the hardware without taking massive hits in visual fidelity. I’m very pleased with the results. I had envisioned a game about on par with PS3 fidelity. But they’ve surpassed that. It’s strange, but going back and looking at PS3 games makes one realize that we’re actually a fair bit beyond the capabilities of that system.

@JaxonH Never say never. Capcom's plans for MH Rise once the timed exclusivity ends could depend dramatically on how well it sells on Switch. I think it'll do well, but Capcom seem to have sky-high expectations, so if it doesn't hit their marks, they might look to expand to other platforms.

The Japanese audience is almost guaranteed for this one, but I really, really hope there's an upwelling of support for the Western Switch release. If this doesn't become the system's best-selling third party game, then something is very wrong.

But yeah, it looks REALLY good in footage. It remains to be seen how well that transfers to the actual product once it's out, but the game looks deceptively like MH World to my untrained eye. If anything, it looks nicer: I prefer the character designs for this one.

@Ralizah
There’s always a chance anything could happen- never say never to anything, but if even the leaks suggest that’s not their plans, then I have to believe it’s because they’re just not interested. As with World, “we never even considered it for Switch”, I think it’s likewise with Rise. They never even considered it for PS/Xbox. For a variety of reasons, but notably players would say it “doesn’t look as good as World”, which it technically doesn’t, and while that’s fine for Switch, it could damage the brand among the graphics snobs elsewhere, whom they must cater to.

Even if it fails to land in the west, it’ll still, at the bare minimum, do 4 million in Japan total. Maybe more, but let’s say 4. And if MHGU can do over 1 million in the west, I’m sure Rise can do at least 2. So at a worst case scenario, MH Rise hits 6 million and matches Iceborne sales, and all from a single platform. Throw in another 4 million PC sales a year later, and we’re looking at 10 million on 2 platforms as a reasonable worst case scenario.

At best, it takes Animal Crossing to task in Japan and hits 6 million, and manages to squeeze an extra million from the west (again, over time- this won’t be after one week on the market) we could be looking at 9 million Switch, 5 million PC a year later, and it could come dangerously close to matching World’s insane sales, all from 2 platforms and despite the sales trends falling back in line with Iceborn.

But ya, it does seem the west is suspiciously ignorant concerning this game. Almost as if many people are resentfully ignoring it, intentionally hoping it fails. And it is for that very reason I hope it smashes records. When World was released I wasn’t happy about it skipping Switch, but I got on board the hype train with the quickness. Seems when the tables are turned though, there’s a lot of “let’s just pretend it doesn’t exist”. The good ol’ ostrich approach. I am curious where the fierce legion of 3DS hunters has gone. It’s like the game is fighting to get attention on social media with anyone (barring YT- it’s done pretty well there). I don’t get it.

I remember World took off by word of mouth when the demo hit. I’m hoping that’s going to prove the case with Rise, as well. If enough of us are all playing the demo in January, and media are talking about it favorably, a lot of casual bystanders will have their interest piqued. There’s a whole lot of gamers out there that don’t follow things that closely, but when they hear buzz about a hot new game, they come to see what all the fuss is about.

And a fuss we shall give them!

@JaxonH the horse armor was a TES:Oblivion “scandal”.

@Ryu_Niiyama
I remember horse armor in Dragon Age Inquistion. Perhaps the memes stemmed from beforehand, but I do recall the whole debate flaring up (perhaps again) over it.

https://www.gamesradar.com/dragon-age-inquisition-dlc-spoils-...

@JaxonH https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/horse-armor