Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@rallydefault
Hmm, I hear you but I don't think these things have to be mutually exclusive. What makes the Switch great, appart from Nintendo's IP, is that it's quick to boot and portable. Other devices can and have achieved the same. More powerful hardware from Nintendo won't be any less portable and it won't be slower to boot. If anything Switch 2 will have an even snappier OS

It has been said that this transition will kinda be like when we moved from DS to 3DS. I think it'll be even smoother than that. DS games run better on DS than 3DS because of the change in screen resolution not allowing perfect scaling. With Switch to Switch 2 I expect it'll be much the same.... except worst case for BC 720p/1080p fit nicer into 720p/1080p/4K and best case we see similar to what Sony/MS have done and existing games run better. But for Switch 2 stuff generally? It's just going to be positives over Switch all round.

When people got their hands on the 3DS they didn't miss the DS. It'll be the same here. Once you have the same portability, an even snappier OS, new great games and all with HDR, post HD resolutions, VRR etc? Your current Switch will quickly find itself in a box or on a second TV

And in terms of "fun", games be games. That's a software problem. Better hardware makes software development easier but good software has to be good software. Better hardware certainly won't make the software less fun

@Yydeckard
No one knows.

It has been speculated that Nintendo won't ban consoles but rather, they'll ban the specific certificates if they see duplicates being used for online games. Which does mean that game then couldn't be played online, but at the same time, better that than your entire console getting a ban.

But nobody knows for sure. Thankfully, there's 140 million Switches sold, and I doubt more than 20,000 flash carts will end up in the wild where ppl are dumping games and selling on the 2nd hand market. So the odds of this becoming an issue for anyone buying used is pretty slim. Not zero, but definitely unlikely.

@JaxonH Regardless of which platform I play it on, I've decided I'm gonna restart! I've left the game sitting on a 25 hour save file for far too long.

It really is a tremendous game, though. There's so many tremendous games, and so little time in the day when you (happily) have relationships and work duties to attend to.

Absolutely. I've been meaning to try asking Kit and Krysta about Nintendo's continued analog trigger avoidance.

Fired up Brigandine and Ikenfell for the first time over the weekend. Brigandine is the Master of Monsters clone I have been looking for and Ikenfell seems like an alright Paper Mario clone.

@Ralizah
It is. I'll report back on it's performance on the chipped OLED. Speaking of which I wonder if it can also cap framerates? That would be just as good as OC tbh, I need to look into that.

@gcunit
There's 1 game I play that would benefit from analog triggers- Trials Rising. Everything else I play has no need for them. And to be brutally honest, as unpopular as this opinion may be, I despise using analog triggers for games which use them as digital inputs. Having that massive mushy travel just to activate a button press is super annoying. I LOVE my digital triggers. Though to be fair, when a game needs analog triggers, the digital triggers do suddenly become a detriment.

But... I'd rather have digital triggers for the 299 games I play that use the triggers as buttons, and use the analog stick for the 1 game (Trials Rising), then use large travel, mushy analog triggers for the 299 games I play that use them as buttons, just so that 1 game can play better.

For that reason, I've changed my mind and am now in favor of permanent digital triggers. The best solution though would be how Mobapad does it on the M9 HD pro controller- the triggers are analog but there's a switch on the backside behind each trigger which locks the travel to become a hairpin digital trigger. And you can swap back and forth between digital and analog as needed.

THAT is the solution. But because it's such a perfect solution, you can be sure Nintendo won't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

I second @JaxonH on much preferring digital triggers (at least if it's either/or). My mushy inaccurate pro controller d-pad already annoys me enough, the last thing I want is similar issues on my triggers. Honestly games just require a lot of standard buttons nowadays so I am happy to use my triggers to dodge or heal or whatever. I can't think of many scenarios besides maybe racing where analog triggers are both useful and don't require an annoying amount of precision. Maybe I'm just uncultured.

I don't have much a view about analog vs. digital triggers. F-Zero GX would need to come to Switch for me to make a proper judgment but that'll probably never happen.

@JaxonH On the asymmetric joy-cons thing, I was just referring to the basic shape - ignoring the inputs layout, a joy-con has parallel lines and a line of symmetry, whereas your new controllers bulge out on the lower portion and no symmetry. I'm just quite attached to that slimline look and feel that the og joy-cons have.

Regarding analog triggers... I just want the option somewhere. Racing games may not be at their peak popularity-wise currently, but Gran Turismo and Forza still move units and consoles, so it just seems like the most visible gap in the Nintendo armoury, having this unaccommodating approach to the genre.

I don't even care that much about analog control, but it's the apparent impact it has on the racing games that come to Nintendo platforms that bothers me. All the bike racing and rally car games on Switch, for example, are well below par ports. GRID is the only semi-realistic racer that made the effort. I don't want to give these devs any excuses for any more sub par ports.

Have to agree with @JaxonH when it comes to preference for digital triggers. Nothing against analog as an option, but I also hate the travel on e.g. Xbox and PS5 controllers, and it actually causes hand cramps for me in some games. If analogue triggers aren't crucial to the specific game's experiences (e.g. Mario Sunshine really suffers from this on the Switch) then I would generally prefer a digital trigger.

Maybe something like the Xbox Elite controller where you can set the travel distance would be ideal. Or different variants of the joy-con.

Easy solution. Give the new controllers analogue triggers but maintain full support for existing Switch accessories. If people really want digital triggers they can use the old Pro Controller or old JoyCon. I mean we seem to keep dragging GC controller support through the generations just to keep Smash Bros players happy so why not?

@gcunit
Oh I see. Nice thing is you'd still have the official joycon. But just for personal use, these are WAY more comfy and ergonomic.

I 100% agree about the option. I think a switch that toggles between analog and digital is the only real solution. And funny enough, the Moba M9 HD pro controller, as well as the new Gulikit King Kong 3 Max controller, do exactly that. Why Nintendo can't is beyond me. Cause I need my digital triggers, but having analog for those rare games that use them would be much appreciated. And every player needs access for devs to implement it. Thus a toggle switch solution is the only way forward.

@FishyS
Man, Pro Controller is soooo good except for the d-pad. I finally got fed up and said enough. It's time to rectify these shortcomings. Mobapad M9 HD does have a better d-pad than the pro controller but, it's nowhere near the level of excellence their M6 HD joycon offer. I'm basically to a point where I'm sliding them off and putting them on the official charge grip (I unscrewed it and disassembled the wings so it's only the middle slab left), and using them as a "Pro Controller", and tbh it makes for a better Pro Controller than their M9 HD- the d-pad is the pinnacle of perfection. And once you use a d-pad with mechanical Omron switches... there's no going back. I can't. I won't. We spent 7 full years with mediocre d-pads. It's time to splurge and enjoy this sunset year with some primo.

But if you have a penchant for official joycon, I recommend getting the Basstop d-pad mod. Straight up, that's a VERY good d-pad. The ExtremeRate are garbage. I know the Basstop look cheaper and they probably are. But the d-pad is just superior. It can't touch the M6 HD, not even close. But I'd say it's better than any other d-pad I've tried on Switch these past 7 years.

@skywake
That would work for me, but I'd much rather them just provide a toggle switch so that everyone can use the new controllers (though... I seriously doubt the new joycon will top these Mobapads so, with that in mind, having BC support for joycon would actually be preferred).

Hal Laboratory is hiring for the next mainline Kirby game

@skywake
I think you've misread something in my comment, but I'm too lazy to really care lol

Switch has easily been the snappiest UI I've used. Even my Xbox One couldn't seem to manage ducking in and out of games like this.

Nintendo's games are the most fun for me. There are some other devs that still make fun games, but most seem to be more concerned with making semi-interactive movies rather than fun gameplay experiences.

@rallydefault
Yeah, nah. I got you I just didn't really agree with what you were implying and went on a bit of a tangent. It's not a case of chasing more power with "interactive movie" games with clunky UIs vs the alternative of being underpowered but with a snappy UI and great content. It's not one or the other. If anything having more modern hardware is going to allow the UI to be even snappier and make it easier to create great content

Which is why I got on that tangent. Hard to find a comparison for what this transition will be like because on the Nintendo side we haven't really had something like this. The power gap is going to be kinda like DS -> 3DS, a tad bigger but around that scale. But for consumers it won't quite be like that. I think for consumers it's going to be a bit more like GB -> GBC. Once we have the Switch 2 in our hands I think we'll just quickly forget about the OG Switch hardware. Direct replacement, better in every regard. It won't be like when we went from DS and thought "oh, it's nice we have BC but these DS games looked better on DS"

And the software is like.... kinda a non-issue here. I mean software is king, it's hugely important, but new hardware isn't going to change the software. All it's going to do is mean that it's easier for developers to hit a target level of performance. And easier development can only really be a positive. Nintendo's software isn't better because the Switch is underpowered. Nintendo's software is great in spite of the hardware

Throw all this in the most accessible form of any gaming platform ever? I'm all for it. Switch.... with HDR, post-HD resolutions, snappier hardware and more stable performance in game. Can't wait

On the subject of the Switch pro controller, it is really unacceptable how ***** their D pad is. And the applications of the D pad is not as limited as one may think. Plenty of 2D platformers, puzzle games like Tetris, and fighting games are played way better with the D pad, but Nintendo basically denies you of that privilege.

I was playing Tricky Towers with some friends during the weekend, and I was wondering why the blocks did some weird moves from time to time. Then, I tried playing Tetris 99, and after my blocks were insta-dropped a few times on random spaces, without me pressing the up button, I've had enough. I did some research and then I remembered just how ***** the pro controller's D pad is, it straight up gives false inputs.

It is unbelievable how ***** Nintendo's hardware has been during this gen, it is straight up faulty, both in joy con's and pro controller's case.

Let's hope they step up their game with Switch 2, competition has become more fierce for handhelds and now that Nintendo is more experienced with the potential problems of joy cons, and solutions such as magnetic joy sticks exist, there is no excuse for such bad design choices anymore.

Could not agree more about the pro controller dpad. It was a nightmare to use on celeste and slime san.

@alexwolf Regarding the crap dpad on pro controller, it's sloppy accuracy still bites me in the butt. In Rocket League, when something bad happens, I mean to hit dpad quick chat for "Nooo!", but instead, my quick chat says "Savage!", and it makes me look like toxic jerk.

@WoomyNNYes Rocket League players be so touchy about the quick chat. That's all people ever seem to talk about with Rocket League. That and rotating of course.