Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

I wouldn't raise my hopes too much on OJ Intel. He tends to hype things a little bit (like a lot really)

Not watched the video but I'd honestly be surprised if we didn't at least get something about Bayonetta 3 this year (most likely E3). At this point I believe it's the earliest announced game that we've yet to hear anything else about.

@timleon It depends on what you mean by heard about, info for Metroid Prime 4, SMT3 Pikmin 4 and maybe Detective Pikachu 2 (I'm can't remember when that was announced) have had very little known about them and were announced before Bayonetta. Although SMT3 had a trailer and a (vague) release date but it still feels very little is known about it.

@jump With regards to those other titles:

• We were specifically told that MP4 had restarted development, so a lack of information is unsurprising in that regard (and this could be considered information in itself). Although personally I'm also not convinced its as far away as many others seem to think (I think 2022 is in the realm of possibility).
• We got an update on SMT5 last year.
• Pikmin 4 hasn't been officially announced.
• Completely forgot about Detective Pikachu 2. Not really been following that one.

@timleon It feels like splitting hairs but if Miyamoto has been telling reporters about Pikmin 4 multiple times it feels official enough. You could even argue that more has been said about Pikmin 4 than MP4 but that's more down to how inconsistently/bad Ninty are at communicating at times.

It's a weird PR move, I'll give you that. And yes definitely splitting hairs - but I guess that's all you can do when you know so little. Miyamoto has said Pikmin 4 is in development (and that they're always working on the next Pikmin game, for what it's worth) but as to what the final product is, will be named, where it will land - nothing. And nothing from Nintendo officially - just Miyamoto himself in interviews. I might be wrong, but I believe we've had similar with Mario and Zelda games in the past before they've been officially "announced".

@jump @timleon The Pikmin 4 is old enough we can assume that if it was in production it was scrapped. There's no way the game has been in active development that long. Theres no reason to assume it still exists since it was "nearly completed" 6 years ago now.

As for Detective Pikachu 2, that was first announced on May 28th 2019, while Bayonetta 3 was late 2017, so that's nowhere near as old.

Edit: Also, we have a release date for SMT V now, so that's a big update IMO

Actually, come to think of it, I guess there are some justifications for announcing Bayonetta 3 so early:
1. It's quite a niche franchise so people weren't sure it'd ever get another entry.
2. It's not owned by Nintendo, but they seem to be the only ones willing to fund it - the early announcement makes it clear from the get-go that Bayonetta will be a Nintendo mainstay for the foreseeable future.

It could well be that Bayonetta was only just greenlit at the time of announcement. But still, after 4 years, there should be something to show, surely? I assume it will retain the core gameplay of the first two games so there's no going straight to the drawing board...right?

@link3710 Reading into the comments Miyamoto last said about Pikmin 4 around 2017/8 (I think) it sounds like they took most of the team off it to focus on other games but was still in active development at that time.

Given that Ninty have no issue with releasing 8 year old games like 3D World as new/current games I can't see them having issues with releasing a 6 year old game as a new one. Just speculating but I wouldn't be surprised if they used Pikmin 3 a testing ground to see if it could get sales to warrant finishing it or they used porting Pikmin 3 as a practice exercise before completing 4 off.

As I said about SMT5 we know it has a date but it still doesn't feel like we actually know much about it. In the SMT thread there's been some wild theories like it's gonna be an action RPG which comes from how little is actually known of it.

@timleon I think it was simpler than that, they had a slot at the Game Awards but nothing to show off since there wasn't any games coming out that would be new or appeal to that audience but with Bayonetta ports coming they used it as a chance to hype them up with the announcement of 3.

What I think happened regarding the missing games:

• Pikmin 4 - Probably originally planned as a 2016/2017 Wii U game with heavy Gamepad usage but with Nintendo abandoning the Wii U in early 2015 it got moved to Switch but had to be massively reworked to get around the heavy Gamepad usage. Also put on the backburner because of Mario Odyssey.
• SMTV - Atlus being Atlus, announcing games way too early is normal for Atlus.
• Metroid Prime 4 - We already know this, development restarted in late 2018/early 2019 so it's realistic not to have heard anything by now. Also the announcement itself at E3 2017 was probably to reduce the backlash of Samus Returns being 3DS exclusive as Nintendo fans really didn't like the 3DS being alive in 2017 - 2019.
• Bayonetta 3 - Probably announced to keep Switch momentum going, Nintendo may not have expected at the time that heavily relying on ports would still result in massive Switch success so they announced some far into the future new games as a backup (possibly also a reason for Prime 4 being revealed so early).
• Detective Pikachu 2 - Maintaining hype from the movie perhaps?
• BotW 2 - Switch had no big games announced that were releasing after Animal Crossing so this acting as a backup to keep Switch momentum going.

@jump Last I saw was in June 2017 "We can confirm that Pikmin 4 is in development but that is all we can confirm at present". Which was now 4 years ago. There's little reason to think it wasn't cancelled. Even if it does come out at this point, it's likely it's development cycle was entirely restarted. We know that Pikmin 3 had a 5 year development cycle, and 1 and 2 had 3 year cycles. I don't see 4 having had a 7 year+ cycle though without development having been restarted.

@link3710 It depends on what you mean by restarted, is it completely scrapped like MP4 to start from scratch or if it's but on hold to pick up right where it left off at a later date?

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 for Switch launches June 25th:

Hopefully there's a physical version in Europe this time, Crash 4 didn't get one.

@Grumblevolcano yes all this options seens likely to happen, but when Bayonetta 3 could release on Switch? Halloween of 2021? summer 2022? Pikmin 4 cancelled or is gonna be released on Switch sucessor?

@Grumblevolcano I'm a little bummed at the timing of the release date. Wanted to do day 1 but it's releasing at a pretty Jam packed time. I'll probably wait til August.

@jump I suppose it could've been put on hold for years on end, but could a game that began life before the Switch was even a codename not require serious reworks by the time it was unshelved?

Anyways, with Pikmin 3 releasing with serious upgrades, (probably to test for Pikmin 4), my guess is that development only recently resumed, as in this or last year. So we're looking at about a 2024-5 release.

So ready for Tony Hawk! June 25th release is great- I thought for sure it'd be a fall release.

Having this game on Switch is another dream realized. Keep checking em off the bucket list.

OlliOlli 1 & 2 are about as far as I'll ever venture down the skateboarding game rabbit hole.

I'm happy for the fans, of course.

I still wish it was a remake of Undeground but hey-ho, if I've cleared enough of my backlog and I see it cheap I may get it.

My teenage years, at least, what I can remember of them that wasn't a substance-induced blur, consisted of Tony Hawk and EA Sports Hocky on the PS2.

I spent many a day baked out of my mind playing Tony Hawk. It was just so much fun. Everyone was playing it. It was THE game to have back then.

I've always wanted a proper handheld version. Obviously a Switch version is even better.