Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika
I don't believe in worshipping anyone but the Lord my God. I enjoy entertainment through the avenue of video games, and at this juncture in my life, Nintendo Switch in particular. I very much love the console and games, but worship is a strong word. I'm just here for the games and hybrid experience with gyro. If Nintendo stopped providing that tomorrow, and Company B stepped in and made a system exactly like Switch, with games exactly like the ones on Switch, I'd be all over it. It's all about the experience, not the company. Though I do feel gratitude toward many companies for the products they provide. Nintendo for Switch, Capcom for Monster Hunter, Retro for Metroid Prime and DKC, etc.

But generally speaking, I don't care about 99% of the petty nonsense I see ppl complaining about. Don't care if Nintendo protects their IP aggressively taking down rom sites or fan projects or tournaments. I don't care if Microsoft doesn't have a good lineup or raises game prices or includes MTX (I dont like it, but I just won't buy them), I don't care if Sony abandons platforms prematurely or increases hardware/software prices (I mean, I don't like it, but I don't care enough to complain- I'll simply wait for a sale). I just don't care. I'm not looking for grievances like so much of outrage culture today. To anger me, a company has to do something that affects me on a personal, emotional level, and it has to be significant enough to not ignore.

There's only one thing that's ever triggered me on that level, and that's habitual moneyhatting to deprive and punish every gamer on other platforms. Sporadic moneyhats, ok. They're unavoidable. A game here and there, that can be overlooked. But when the core appeal of a platform is multiplatform games bought and paid for under the table to be held hostage, to the point dozens upon dozens of the biggest games are affected each generation, that gets me, as it screws me over in the worst way possible. Hypocrisy also gets under my skin, as does condescending, hostile remarks made toward other companies. There's a level of respect I like to see amongst companies, at least publicly.

But ya. I agree with your sentiment.

Wow, Nintendo's March game is more Bayonetta.

Was not expecting a Bayonetta spinoff as the March game.

Even more Nintendo news, Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass!

Good night for Bayonetta fans, it seems. A side-game and recognition at TGA.

Oh man oh man OH MAN. 2023 is shaping up to be one of the best years in recent gaming memory. Could be even better than 2017 depending on how it goes but I'm so excited to find out!

My 2c on the Sony/MS/Nintendo bit from the last couple of pages. I think I'll go with what @Ralizah said mostly. Microsoft doesn't really need XBox, if you look at Microsoft's financial reports XBox is a small subset of the smallest of their three main revenue streams. "Cloud" is their biggest (Azure, SQL Server, Visual Studio, GitHub etc) then Business (Office 365, Exchange, Dynamics, CRM, etc) and THEN the retail products the average consumer knows Microsoft for (Windows Licences, Surface, Accessories and XBox)

Nintendo have their Disney tier IP which puts them in their own league. It's like when Disney+ launched, how does anyone compete with that? Even before all of their acquisitions Disney was god damn Disney. Same deal with Nintendo. Doesn't matter how behind the hardware is or what Nintendo does they still have the IP. ~1/3rd of the game franchises that have sold more than 100mill units are Nintendo exclusive and only 2 of them haven't been on Switch in some form. CoD and Pro Evolution Soccer

Sony is.... a bit more complicated. Gaming is a much larger slice of their revenue than it is for Microsoft and is their single largest source of revenue. But in terms of actual size? Depending on where they are in the cycle they're more or less the same size as Nintendo. And most of the other things they are either stagnant or going backwards in. Music isn't the cash cow it used to be, movies is a space other players are making moves, consumer electronics they're being hit by Canon on one side and Samsung on the other

Sony kinda has to keep consuming studios to survive in this space because they've shown time and time again that they don't really understand their users. Microsoft doesn't care if they survive or not in this space, they're more worried about Amazon and Google. Nintendo aren't a tech company so they are slow to react especially when it comes to services. But they understand the business of making games probably better than anyone and, ultimately, we buy consoles for games not database services and cloud computing

edit: Also damn, Hades 2 AND a Bayonetta spinoff? Are these guys reading my posts again? I feel like these guys are just giving me the things I ask for now....

I think the Game Awards further cements the theory of new hardware alongside TotK. Nintendo announced stuff (Bayonetta Origins and Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass) but no sign of TotK despite BotW being a big presence at the Game Awards back when Nintendo announced stuff there (2014, 2016, 2017). Which makes it seem that TotK will look impressive on new hardware but showing that now would disrupt Switch holiday sales, Nintendo obviously don't want that. I imagine the new hardware would be announced February/March in either a big general Direct or a January 2017 style presentation.

I didn't really see some interesting upcoming Switch games for year 2023 so I can focus on keep building my PS4 & PS5 games library.

@JaxonH Maybe I'm being overly judgemental, but I suspect Playstation needs to be seen to be 'winning' because a significant proportion of the PlayStation consumer base is the type of individual that needs to be on the winning team.

If Xbox could stop committing own goal after own goal ('TV!', 'No used games', year after year after year of virtually barren first party output, physical discs just being download launch keys) then they could overtake Playstation in consumers' eyes and the egocentric players that can't hack 'not winning' will jump ship. Some might say there's a significant overlap between those people and CoD players...

And just re-running the fun a few pages (that's my MO nowadays 😫), Nintendo has demonstrated a pretty cold edge towards it's fading systems. Wii U and 3DS production both seemed to stop pretty abruptly to focus everyone on Switch. If they did the same for the Switch successor then this could impede Switch in its pasture years.

I know this is such a water is wet take for most of you lol but wow… Hades is GREAT. I picked it up on the super sale they dropped after the Game Awards. I played this a few times over the years while it was in early access as I have loved some of Supergiant’s other games. While it was still very similar even all those years ago, it feels like the game has been significantly retuned and repaced from where it was when I last played it, moving away from the more traditionally punishing Rogue genre that it once was, and the reason I was once driven away.

In the past, I couldn’t ever get beyond Meg. I beat her on my first attempt here (it admittedly took me a couple of goes to get to her in the first place.) I’ve now managed to get to her, beat her and move on every run since. Admittedly I only got to the second boss once (and I got so close to beating them too! >.<) and haven’t been able to get back to them again since. But I just feel moment to moment way more powerful than I ever did in previous builds of the game. And just generally, everything feels faster. Even as I struggle in the second zone, with each and every death I seem to unlock some kind of new mechanic or narrative development or some combo of the both. This was still true in previous builds of the game, but I don’t remember it being on every run, in fact many runs yielded no rewards at all and were just wasted, which is why I dropped the game and decided it wasn’t for me previously.

Oh and it is great on Switch. Seems like Cult of the Lamb borrowed from their combat heavily, but whereas Cult was super choppy (at least on launch when I played), Hades feels so smooth, which is important when the combat can be so chaotic. I love how simple the combat is, but how much depth lies between it, and how awesome it makes you feel with how flashy it all is.

Handheld mode still holds up well with the original Switch model I got in April 2017. I forgot to charge my pro controllers and my final one ran out of charge during an online MK8 Deluxe race so had to choose between playing in handheld mode or after the race had ended returning to my Series X to play something else. I went with the former.

@Grumblevolcano I still play exclusives on other home consoles (playing the Castlevania Requiem collection on PS4 atm), but the hybrid design of the Switch makes me wish I could play everything on it.

@Pizzamorg Really ought to pick Hades up. I hear it's particularly attractive on the SWOLED. Not a big rouge-lite person, but I've been hearing about how wonderful the game is for years now, and told myself I'd pick it up if it ever went down to $10. It's not quite there, but... it's close! We'll see.

I'm surprised there isn't a bigger fuss being made about Bayonetta Origins being a full price game.

@IceClimbers
Can't speak for others, but I'm just not interested in it. So I don't care what they price it at. Unless it comes out with raging reviews (which I doubt) I can safely wait for a $20 sale on that one. I just don't understand the gameplay loop. Maybe that'll become more clear as it nears release.

@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