Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@JaxonH The gameplay shown for Bayonetta Origins reminds me of Pode.

Looks amazing on the SWOLED for sure. I will say the game is very reminiscent of games like Inscryption and Loop Hero in that it feels like a rogue like/lite/whatever made for people who don’t like those games.

@IceClimbers the subreddit of Bayonetta is on complete chaos over the price of the game, Bayonetta Origins:Cereza and the Lost Demon should have been priced $20/30 not be a full priced game, @Grumblevolcano is very likely that Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is gonna release together with the Switch sucessor, just like Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild did with Switch and Twilight Princess with Wii.

@IceClimbers
How can we tell from that trailer alone how much its worth? What are people supposed to be basing this fuss over the price on? The art style? The camera perspective? I mean it's pretty impossible to judge a game based on its first trailer but judging the value of it based on its style is a bit dumb....

With that said, it's definitely going for the "portable version of a game" style and camera perspective. Like it's the Okamiden to Bayonetta's Okami, or the Phantom Hourglass to its Wind Waker. Maybe that's what people are subconsciously reading into? I mean, it doesn't bother me because I've always been more of a portable gamer so that aesthetic just feels like "home" to me. But I guess I can see how some people's brains are running away from them and drawing early and unfounded conclusions about value

A counter point would be that hardware releases have always done best when they have a compelling IP on day 1. Both the Gamecube and the Wii U launched with anaemic first party output and never really recovered. I'd argue DS and especially 3DS also had relatively slow starts and only really took off when the heavy hitters came along. Switch and Wii came out on day 1 with their killer apps and exploded

A hardware sequel to the Switch is coming eventually, probably fairly soon. We're at the point where we basically know what its SoC will be so it's kinda hard to make a good case for years more without it appearing. What does new hardware need? Launch titles. TotK would be a great launch title. Simple as that

Also the examples of "these games launched 1-2 years before new hardware so precedent" doesn't really say much. Even ignoring the idea of 2 years somehow being immediately prior I'd argue all of your examples are games that couldn't have been neatly ported in a polished state to their hardware successors. Majora's Mask would have needed a remaster to fit on the GC. Spirit Tracks leant heavily on the bottom screen which would've been odd on 3DS, especially when the 3DS had an analogue stick. Skyward Sword was built as a way to sell Wii Motion Plus and the Wii U didn't include a WiiMote in the box.....

TotK? I see no reason to believe it wouldn't be at home on new hardware. Infact if the new hardware is nothing but improved internals it'll probably be more at home on new hardware than it is on Switch. Because BotW? It scales.... more horsepower certainly wouldn't hurt

@skywake another game that could be ideal to release on Switch sucessor is Metroid Prime 4 or the rumored 2D Donkey Kong game by Nintendo EPD 4.

The review I was waiting for- the only one I trust.

Dragon Quest Treasures: 86% "A Treasure!"

This is DQM in all but name, with a treasure spin thrown in. I remember back in the 3DS era when DQM Joker 3 and Terry's Wonderland were never localized. We are blessed to receive games like this day and date with Japan.

@JaxonH YES!!! I was hoping for it to be good.

@Giancarlothomaz
Maybe, but Mario and Zelda are the games you probably want to launch with. They're titles that both sell the idea of new hardware in a way that I don't think a DKC could and they're also best sellers which Metroid is not

Actually there are only a couple of times when a Metroid or DKC has outsold a non-transitional Mario or Zelda game. Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2 on the SNES outsold A Link to the Past (although both completely smashed Super Metroid). The port of Donkey Kong Country on the GBA outsold Minish Cap. Lastly on the Wii DKCR outsold Skyward Sword

And games beyond Mario and Zelda? I mean, there are certainly big sellers but I'm not sure there's anything that would work right now in that space. Eg Mario Kart is a best seller but it's the sort of game people buy for hardware rather than them buying hardware for. Animal Crossing is certainly a system mover but I'm not sure it's something that energises early adopters. Stuff like Pikmin, F-Zero and so on are show pieces but are all even less popular than Metroid so that's out. I think the closest we get are Splatoon and Smash but... I don't expect to see a Smash on the horizon and I really hope that Splatoon 4 is at least 2025

I mean there's no reason why they couldn't launch with something different. There's no rule that says "hardware must launch with the perfect launch title". But I think if new hardware comes in the next year, and I think that's highly probable, Nintendo would be stupid not to line up a Zelda for it

Also if we're reading the tea leaves here there is something to note. It is entirely possible that the delay to TotK was caused by a delay to new hardware, not the other way around. i.e. maybe new hardware was intended for late last year/early this year with some collection of launch games. And if that was the case having TotK being a late 2022 title to push holiday sales and round off the first year would've made sense. But then the hardware was delayed and all of a sudden late 2022 for TotK was 6 months before they could get hardware out. Solution? Delay TotK. Probably not what has happened here but it's certainly possible

@skywake Counterpoint: Splatoon 3 is getting 2 years of guaranteed support. Would you launch a game like that less than a year before you launch new hardware, especially when Splatoon 2 was a huge boon to the Switch?

@link3710 I used to think that any new system launch would have a new Splatoon game, but as it’s getting 2 years support and my opinion Nintendo will release a Switch successor in 2024, I’m not so sure there’ll be one in the first year. Anyway, I also don’t think TotK is launching alongside new hardware either. I think people are reading way too much into the delay and the fact BOTW released cross platform. I don’t see anything that suggests new hardware is coming out next year (I mean there’s also nothing saying 2024 either).

@link3710
That argument only works if new hardware means dropping compatibility for existing Switch titles. There's no reason to think that will happen. Even though we don't know much about this new hardware and we especially don't know the date there is one thing we can be pretty damn confident on. The SoC it's using. An Ampere based Tegra SoC, which basically means it's more Switch adjacent than Switch rewrite

Might they do odd things when it comes to cross compatibility? I mean it's Nintendo so I wouldn't be shocked. But they definitely could make it almost entirely transparent to users. Doesn't matter that it's almost surely at least 2X the raw power and likely a bit more. If you're just plugging in the same games and they run better it's basically the same platform. They've done it before like this. Gameboy Color, DSi and New 3DS were similarly significant jumps despite the gut feeling about what we felt those consoles were due to marketing & forwards/backards compatibility

I honestly do expect that when this new hardware comes out they'll market it as "Switch 4K" or something but it'll still be Switch. You'll still buy the same games in the same boxes. It's just some of them will perform a bit more consistently or render more detail. And maybe there will be a few "4K Only" titles but I expect those would be reserved for the "impossible port" category. Games like TotK, Pikmin 4, Metroid Prime 4 etc, these will still be playable on Switch. Just on "Switch 4K" maybe you run them at a stable 1080p/60 with DLSS pushing it to 1440p, more detail, better load times, HDR, VRR etc, etc

@skywake considering the historic of Nintendo hardware with Legend of Zelda franchise, is very likely that Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is gonna be a launch game for Switch sucessor or maybe the next 2D/3D Mario game, @Link3710 Splatoon 3 having suport until septembre 2024 , will not impact Switch sucessor launch and i doubt Switch sucessor is gonna be a powerful console(Nintendo don't work like that).

@Giancarlothomaz That really depends on what you call not powerful? In todays market, something between the PS4 & PS4 Pro I’d say isn’t powerful but is powerful enough to hopefully keep enough third party support for a few years.

@FragRed for the leaked Nvidia data, it sugest Switch sucessor is not gonna be a powerful console(barely a base PS4 in power).

@skywake What you said. You, me... same page.

@Giancarlothomaz Yikes I didn’t realise it was gonna be that underpowered, assuming the leaked data is accurate with the chipset Nintendo ends up using.

@FragRed yes sadly Nintendo favor inovation again istead of a more powerful console(let see how the Switch sucessor will perform ounce it release).

@Giancarlothomaz Modern handheld hardware should be able to achieve the results of 10 year old hardware, actually older than that when you think the base PS4 was using old chipsets when it launched. So I’m hoping whatever Nintendo and Nvidea do release uses something customised to achieve that power.

@Giancarlothomaz @FragRed We're talking about the supposed T234 chip that's going to be in the next Switch, yes?

I'm not a tech person, but doing a little bit of research suggests performance will be much closer to something like the Xbox Series S. It'll also apparently be DLSS capable, which will even out the gap between it and the big boys even more.

Obviously it still won't be the ideal TV system, but even downclocked, it should be an absolute monster in handheld mode. Easily more capable than something like the Steam Deck.

Assuming the leaks are true, of course.