Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Now that the initial hype has calmed down a bit it would be the right time for another big announcement.
Fingers crossed.

Its interesting that the iPad has more horsepower than the Switch. What's even more interesting is how much Nintendo is able to do with relatively low power.

I've said for a long time that content is more important than anything else. First party Nintendo is tough to beat.

I can hardly wait for the first hardware teardown to see how hard the battery really is to replace. As long as the screen isn't glued and needs to be removed for disassembly, it should be no issue at all.

@Dreamliner The iPad may be more powerful but it isn't really designed to make use of that power, or at least not in games. The fact the Nintendo Switch has to have ventilation and fans to keep the system cool whereas the iPad doesn't, kinda says a lot. The iPad would likely become extremely hot and drain battery really fast trying to play Switch games.

@FragRed No argument from me there. It's just surprising they went with a mobile platform. I really do wonder how much faster than the Wii U it really is.

That's actually not correct. The highest end iPads are about on-par with it in terms of raw GPU power when the Switch is undocked. When it's docked it goes well beyond the iPad spec. Some phones have more raw horsepower but then again some phones are also $1000. Also smartphones have a lot of overhead and they don't overclock when connected to power.

Anyways, most mobile devices focus on other specs. Screen resolution/quality, RAM, CPU multi-threaded performance, storage performance and so on. The Switch is a gaming device so it's gone all-in on GPU performance. And in terms of GPU performance when this thing is docked? It's going to do things that no other mobile platform could.

@Dreamliner
We'll find out once it releases and people get a chance to open it up. But if we have Nintendo's own comments to go by, we can assume "quite a bit more" powerful than the Wii U.

Nintendo confirmed that BotW on the Switch barely makes the machine break a sweat, whereas on the Wii U it's pretty much pushing it to its limits. Although lacking any actual numbers and designations, that gives us a clue, at least.

@rallydefault If that's true, you have to wonder why Nintendo didn't go for a higher framerate for the Switch version. Or at least a locked 30 fps. Footage of the Switch version still lags from time to time. Or even a higher resolution when docked. Why is it not 1080p in TV mode?

@rallydefault @Ralizah
Some specifics. BotW on the Switch runs at 900p/30fps while docked, 720p/30fps undocked. On Wii U it's running at 720p/30fps but from what I've read there are more sections of the game where the framerate drops on Wii U. Explosions and so on. On Wii U there is also a much shorter draw distance, the lighting is less dynamic and the texture resolution is lower. So the resolution and framerate isn't much higher but overall the Switch is doing more.

But there's another factor where the Switch has an advantage that has nothing to do with horsepower. Cartridges vs disks. On Wii U there is a mandatory data pack if you buy the disk copy which is there specifically for performance reasons. On Switch its not needed because cartridges are awesome. So I think its fair to say that on Switch new areas and objects in the distance are going to load quicker than on Wii U. Aided by the fact that the Switch has 2x the amount of RAM and can therefore load more content into RAM in advance.

What I think is crazy is how the Switch could potentially outsell the Wii U by next year. The Switch has a far superior first year software line up. The consumer reaction is also significantly better, especially in Japan. It may not reach Wii levels of sales, but Nintendo may have a winner here.

To be fair, while Iwata had great relations with fans and was a great developer himself, his record as President is mixed. He had an explosive generation with the Wii and DS, but the following generation completely undid all that momentum. I think Pachter mainly focused on his experience as a company president.

@TheLZdragon
And if you look at some stats about his stock tips he has a <50% success rate. So I wouldn't take him too seriously. He's a much better source of clickbait than he is an analyst.

Not to mention that talking ill of the dead should at the very least be reserved to people who are *****. As much as people may have not liked Iwata's decisions? Kinda hard to fault the guy given he did so much as a Software Engineer even while he was moving up the ranks. And what do guys like Pachter want Nintendo to be anyways? Drop out of gaming hardware? Push for higher spec machines? Typical Nintendo stubbornness aside, I don't think Iwata's direction was necessarily the wrong one.

In many ways the Switch was the last thing he set in motion and, so far, it's looking pretty good. It's probably the most different console concept we've seen for a long time. It's even more disruptive a concept than the Wii I'd argue. Even Pachter agrees it's a good direction. And if Pachter likes it? Well it probably says it has a >50% chance of failing. But still.

@skywake Keep in mind that you're comparing the final build of the game (Switch) with a year old demo build of the game (Wii U). Nintendo went in detail to talk about the differences themselves, and they listed resolution and even higher quality sounds, but they didn't talk about draw distance or lighting effects. Texture resolutions appear the same to me, even in the old build. I think it's best to wait and see what the Wii U version looks like, we haven't seen the final build of that version yet.

But he just said that Switch will succeed.

Well crap, time to rev up this DOOOOOOOOOM!

@Octane
I thought that there were two builds of the game shown on the Switch. An older build which was playable by the public, basically the same demo they have for the Wii U. Then there was a different build which was played by staff behind closed doors to show other parts of the game to press. That's what I thought anyways. Either way what they've shown for the Switch is doing more than what they've shown for Wii U. And that required data pack for Wii U kinda seals the deal...

Anyways, there are other games that have been ported over to Switch that are performing better. Mario Kart 8 on Wii U ran at 720p/60fps. The Deluxe edition on Switch manages that while undocked and pushes 1080p while docked. I'm also pretty sure I heard that split-screen multiplayer on Switch also runs at 60fps. Not bad at all.

So Zelda BotW should be doing more on Switch than Wii U shouldn't be surprising. I'll be surprised if it's not. Maybe the final build we get will be running at 1080p while docked. Maybe the Wii U final build will have some of those extra lighting details and so on. Either way, the Switch is going to be the better version I think.

Yeah, the hybrid idea seems pretty ingenious to me. Japan will see a handheld. Westerners will see a console. And both have a machine that can be played on the TV or anywhere else. I really, really want this idea to be a success.

@Ralizah
I wish I could find the quote for you. I wanna say it was from a Youtuber who was at the NYC hands-on event and spoke to the Nintendo reps, but now I'm second-guessing myself. Anyway, @skywake's breakdown is helpful in showing that, basically, the Wii U is being pushed to run the game, whereas the Switch won't have any issues running it.

And to answer your question, my honest hunch that the Switch version isn't insanely upgraded (like 1080p, 60fps, like you mention) is because they just don't have enough time to do it OR, because it's so early in the Switch life cycle, maybe they honestly don't know how to tweak the hardware to the maximum yet.

Im gonna revise my prediction from gangbusters to hotcakes

I think it will sell shed loads!!!

@DJaa I laughed more than I should as that

so this place tends to attract people that have the worst luck with electronics. namely nintendo ones...
"help!
my dog swallowed my gamecube.
my cat peed on my n64.
why does my wii u smell like cheese?
my 3ds exploded in my childs face and my snes burnt my house down to the ground."
...within the first day of the switch release masterminds will arrive here asking us why their switch doesnt work.
and we will have to dumb ourselves down and ask if they charged the thing when they took it out of the box.
and all this will be our fault because everyone thinks each and everyone of us here work for nintendo.