Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@skywake The funny thing is that all those games you listed as bigger titles than MH are original titles while MH3U is an enhanced port similar to Batman. Once again, not a fair comparison. Arguing a possible scenario under a false assumption is moot.

The reality of the situation is that we have zero idea about how an original MH title would perform on the current home console market because there hasn't been one since Tri, and that one was on the Wii. Syllogisms aside, there's no reason why a mainline, original MH title couldn't do much better than those titles mentioned.

I agree about with your point about the rest of potential Switch 3rd party titles but, since nothing is confirmed at the moment, I'm going to assume that there's a stronger chance of seeing another MH title on the Switch than, say, a Soulsborne game. In other words, I'll believe it when I see it.

@skywake
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate sold over 1.4million on the 3DS outside of Japan. That's a lot higher than the overseas sales of Kingdom Hearts 3D from Square Enix, and is on par with the overseas sales of Nintendo's own 3DS titles like Fire Emblem and Donkey Kong. There is clearly a market for Monster Hunter in the west. It's not as non-existent as you make it out to be.

@MarcelRguez
Well of course when I list Wii U third party games that outsold the Wii U port of Monster Hunter in the US it's not a long list. There weren't many third party games on the Wii U. But even so, the ones that did appear all made as much an impact on the Wii U as Monster Hunter did. I also agree that we can't do much other than read tea leaves, there isn't an exact equivalent to this. I just think it's odd to think it'll have a huge negative impact on the Switch.

@MumboJumbo
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate sold about the same as Kingdom Hearts 3D outside of Japan. But in the US Kingdom Hearts sold better. In any case a hundred thousand here or there isn't the point. The point is that outside of Japan Monster Hunter is well down the list of important releases on Nintendo platforms. It'll be further down again if third parties take an interest in the Switch.

Basically they'd be stupid not to release the game on Switch given their big audience for the game in Japan. Japan likes portables, the Switch will be the new portable system. It only makes sense. Outside of Japan? The PS4 version might make an impact. But I doubt it'll have a massive negative impact on Switch sales given that the game didn't find much of an audience in the west. Not enough for it to be a game people in the west will buy the Switch specifically for.

There is just something about Monster Hunter that gets to people it seems, just by making a basic statement like they did Capcom have set off a lot of people on many forums. Is it the scars of losing Tri to the 'casual non-console' the Wii still showing through? Is it how it is practically the only critically acclaimed 3rd party game to not appear on either the Xbox One or in particular the PS4? Is it the scorn of people who don't like to play on handhelds, and they would be fine with it on any of the Switch (Doc mode)/Xbox/PS4? Or possibly all of those things?

I dunno why Monster Hunter is held on such a high pedestal, higher than a lot of obviously more popular games. Sony haven't cared about the franchise in years and they've been doing just fine without it and it completely baffles me why they suddenly are desperate for it not just to be on their system but to be an exclusive. Similarly Capcom have achieved a level of consistent success that is rare for them with all the big MHs selling over 4 million. Yet people seem really, really desperate for this random rumour to be true in the face of most logic that I can see, who funnily enough I'd imagine were less than impressed with a certain Rise of a certain Tomb Raider's first year on the market.

Lest we forget Street Fighter 5 and all that. But I guess we'll be none the wiser until at least PSX or more likely January the 12th so this is just random speculation that rarely goes anywhere so eh.

@skywake
Nintendo had over a dozen million sellers on the Wii U, including several multi-million sellers. But the hardware sales remained sluggish. That's because there is a very clear overlap between the audiences that are buying titles from Nintendo's 1st-party franchises. It's not right to think that a major Monster Hunter title will be less of a system-seller than every other Nintendo franchise. After all, major 3rd-party titles are what Nintendo's hardware needs to attract wider audiences.

With total sales of over 38 million, Monster Hunter is Capcom's 2nd biggest franchise after Resident Evil. It has overtaken the likes of Mega Man and Street Fighter, despite being launched 2 decades later.

You are assuming the size of Monster Hunter's overseas audience can't expand. As Capcom have stated in their recent results briefing, their plan is to grow the series in overseas markets. Monster Hunter will only get bigger in the west, once Capcom gives it a heavier marketing push.

@Octane Capcom already made comments on Sony and Nintendo's differences in how they approach business, suggesting that Switch/PS4 multiplats from them are unlikely to happen.

I can see Capcom making it a PS4/XB1 release, skipping the Switch, and then westernizing the franchise by changing the formula in order to appeal to the western market while killing their Japanese base in the process. I would not put Capcom past that. And what a glorious train wreck it would be.

Capcom is moneycom. You're talking about the company that sells 7 versions of street fighter with 10 pixels difference each at full price.

Nintendo, a new portable, and monster hunter is burning a hole in their margin estimates.

Nah, capcom wants the business. Releasing on a new nintendo that you can carry with you is insta business for them. We'll reap the benefits in the west

@erv Nintendo isn't marketing the Switch as a portable though, they seem very set on marketing it as a home console so the 3DS isn't cannibalized while they of course don't care about the Wii U.

Maybe they'll change the marketing starting January 12th when the holiday season is over but at the moment, being able to take the Switch anywhere is just an extra.

Just seen a lot of videos on the Switch specs, saying 4GB (3-3.2GBs) of RAM isn't enough, and nor is the possible expandable storage, and that its over already.

I mean...alright? I thought we didn't know how the system has been worked by Nvidia to run things efficiently or how the carts work as part of the hardware/how data is sent to the chips, and whether it goes via RAM for stuff like textures.

If anything the Switch might be the perfect platform for MH: The handheld Japan will love and the affordable home console for the West. That is a big if at this point, Nintendo needs to sell it first before Capcom commits to it, of course.

Very set? Where have you got that from? So they referred to it as a new home console on the official website, but that is all I've seen. Whereas the reveal trailer very much sold it as a hybrid. Playing in the field. Playing on the plane. Playing in the car. Playing at the ball court. Portable got more screen time than home console.

Given how well MH has done on 3DS, a Switch MH is a virtual certainty in my book, provided Switch doesn't bomb (which I don't think it will as a lot of people are ready for an HD Nintendo portable).

One thing that may be of interest to this thread is that the NES Classic comes with a My Nintendo points card. Sure the actual rewards in My Nintendo are complete garbage but at least it seems they're bringing back rewarding you for buying physical products.

Go to 2:05 in the video.

I feel like Capcom is gonna stick with the 3DS for MH, the most we'll get is probably an HD port like with 3U.

@BLP_Software No offence, but why are you wasting time on those videos? They're just loaded speculation.

The 3DS sold 60 million. Switch has 16 times more RAM than 3DS, if 4gb is true.

I just watched a video on Youtube about this from some random guy who sounded like he had a cold, rambling on and on about how Nintendo is "doing a Wii U AGAIN" and how they haven't learned their lesson and "the Switch is already dead" blahblahblah. Video had multiple tens of thousands of views, if not into the hundred.

And I sat back in my chair. And I thought.

And I mourned the death of reason that has been enabled by social media idiocy and panic.

They already started marketing it as a portable... the majority of the Switch trailer is people using it as a portable. I wouldn't say it's "just an extra".

Exactly. As a home console it has the added benefit of taking it with you. As a handheld, it has a downside of being clunky.

I know I'd start with the home console story and show nothing but portable after too. Nintendo is going to nail this one.

@gcunit I'm amazed the 3DS does what it does. That's the kind of skill that I admire in gaming as a developer.

@rallydefault I do believe we may have seen the same video. Yes, I also scrolled down to the comments and yuuuup. But here's the thing. That's a possible 10s of thousands of people being swayed by speculation to not buy it. The loudest people have the impact, squeaky wheel gets the oil. That's the sad part.

Here's my thing. I have enough knowledge of game development to be able to say its not that clear cut. 4GB of RAM. Okay, what RAM? What access speed? How do the carts affect this? Is it a guideline max storage? How have Nvidia utilised libraries to make things work more efficiently? How has Nvidia built the chipsets to interact with the carts? Al of these things aren't mentioned and we don't know, and they can have a pretty damn substantial effect on performance and possibilities.

@BiasedSonyFan Well good news. Despite university giving guidelines that "Created levels must run on the PCs in these rooms" where the marking is done, I strive to ensure it runs well on lesser hardware. Also doesn't help they don't tell you the exact specs of those PCs. I'm willing to do that. No one else I know is, and they don't teach optimisation for platforms, probably due to the heavy Sony/PC push they have. So I teach myself. Again, I just wont tell them that.

But I'm just one developer. And just one consumer. As long as it can run games I want to play and its not PS3 levels of "Well that's different" to develop for, I'll be fine. I don't care about the super nitty gritty outside of getting an idea of how much I /can/ do.

Remember this 'projector for uneven surfaces' patent article: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/09/nintendo_patents_an_... ?

Well, I can't shake the comments Kimishima has made from my mind - the suggestion that there's important stuff we're yet to discover about Switch. And I was reading the indie developers article from today and one geezer mentioned the importance of Switch's screen performance in outdoor conditions, and I immediately thought of this projection patent. How effective self-marketing would it be if people could throw down their Switch, separate the Joy-cons, and project Mario Kart etc. onto any surface at a moment's notice. Want to set up a Tekken tournament during lunch hour at school? Switch.

It's pretty far fetched to think the projection system would be built in to Switch (and yes, I know there's no sign of it in the reveal trailer, but prototype...), but Nintendo have given us no-glasses 3D, so this sounds like the sort of thing they'd pursue next and it would really grab people's attention. Maybe as a peripheral that Switch streams to.

DIY public projection of gaming sessions - The perfect Nintendo way to counter the VR movement.

@IceClimbers Capcom is Capcom. They are where the money is. The thing is that a console version of a 3DS game requires a lot of work. More than the 3DS game, and their returns would be less. If they decide on doing a MH for the Switch (which will eventually happen), then it's only a matter of porting the game to the PS4, instead of building one from the ground up. It'll be interesting to see what they will do; cause I'm sure the PS4's userbase is big enough to warrant a port. Might as well release a Xbox version then.