Eiji Aonuma Says There’s A Possibility The Next Zelda Title Will Be On Switch

Well I would hope the Switch gets the next Zelda game. If not it would be the only Nintendo system, other than the Virtual Boy, to not receive its own Zelda game.

Let's hope its sooner rather than later

I’d be happy if they just release the 8 bit breath of the wild prototype as a game.

I want to play that.

I'm still dreaming about another BOTW DLC

It better land on switch. If Nintendo is being true and wants to support the switch for 10 years like I've heard, 1 zelda title in 10 years would simply not be enough.

@BenAV
Probably true. But the next system may just be a switch upgrade.

@Darlinfan the definition of a port is seriously being exaggerated these days.

@Nehalem Breath of the Wild really is a port on the Switch though. It was a Wii U game to begin with.

@Captain_Gonru Haha. We got the same point across though.

It should be a Switch game, Switch should last long enough, they know how to program on it now, no 2nd screen to add in to the game and then take an entire year to remove b/c the next gen console doesn't have 2nd screen play. It just makes sense.

Just don't announce it's coming out in 2020 but it really doesn't release until 2022. Home Zelda games have historically been late, so whenever Mr. "yes it will be out next year" says it will be done, add 2 years to that for the release date.

I dare say we will be getting a few remakes/ports and spinoffs between BOTW and the next main game.

Prolly one of the GB era games on 3DS this holiday and skyward sword on Switch at some point.

Hyrule Warriors 2 wouldn’t be surprising either. Still have BOTW, The Oracle games, Minish Cap, etc. to draw from for characters.

I'd love to see a situation like Majora's Mask where we see a quick sequel using the same engine and many of the same assets but with a deeper, darker story and a more haunting/surreal vibe. Just bring back dungeons and it'll be perfect, I don't even care if they reduce the map size by half.

Shut up and take my money 💰

@Captain_Gonru "improved upon"

That's how you describe taking out the interactive map that served me so well in XCX and they were so happy to talk about at the Game Awards - "improved upon?

They neutered it. Neutered is only better for cats and dogs, not video games.

If they don't make a new 2D zelda game for Switch I'll be pissed. This makes it sound like the next 3D one, and will probably be near the end of the consoles lifetime

@Prof_Yoshtonics You don't count the WIIU ?
Because the WIIU clearly didn't have it's own Zelda game...

"But Zelda BOTW was mean't for the WIIU".
Yes, it was mean't, but it still isn't unique to the wiiu today and is also on the Switch, wich make the arguments invalid.

So WIIU didn't have is own Zelda game, except remake and BOTW.

I want it by 2nd quarter 2019 at the very latest, please and thank you.

@rjejr Yes, that's actually a major improvement according to Hidemaro Fujibayashi. He is on record talking about how using the touchscreen features was just not working for BOTW, and says it wasn't even a difficult decision to drop the touchscreen features because everybody involved agreed it worked better without them.

This was one of the many reasons BOTW was so seriously delayed and ended up being simultaneously developed for Wii U and Switch.

@Darlinfan Does that make Pikmin 3 a Wii game?

I’d be really happy if they just expanded on BOTW instead of building the next game from the ground up. No need to change the art style. Just give us a new threat and some actual dungeons (along with shrines).

Surely one of the main benefits of having both Zelda and 3D Mario release in the first year is that you should definitely be able to release 2 games from both series on the Switch. I don't see why they wouldn't given the popularity of those series.
Same with Mario Kart, Splatoon and Xenoblade.

@Darlinfan
If you want to be pedantic the Wii U didn't have it's own Zelda either. BotW was also on Switch.

I thought they decided to stop releasing DLC because all the ideas the new director had could be used on the next game? I was getting the impression it would be a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild during the "rebuilding" of Hyrule. All the assets are there, this could be done and released in three years.

Can't they just Majora's Mask the Breath of the Wild engine?

I hope we get another top view Zelda game, like A Link Between Worlds.

@Tasuki
Actually, less than that more recently:
N64 had 2,
Gamecube had 3, but Wii and Wii U only had one each.
GB had 1
GBC had 2
GBA only had 2
DS had 2
and 3DS has 2.

So, handhelds have been far more consistent, but since the Gamecube, it has fallen off for home consoles.
(I am not counting remakes or ports above. TP is a Gamecube game and BoTW is a Wii U game).

@Xiarno It doesn't matter what BOTW was "meant" for. It was developed on WiiU Dev kits. It is a WiiU game. The Switch version is a port that didn't begin development until very late into the games WiiU production. Same thing with Twilight Princess. It's a Gamecube game that was ported to the Wii.

Well it depends what they consider the next system. If we get an updated Switch at some point, which would make sense, they could release it there.

@Tasuki Breath of the Wild is a WiiU game that was ported to Switch. It was developed on WiiU Dev kits and adheres to WiiU tech specs. So it was developed with 1gb of DDR3 Ram in mind. A Switch developed Zelda game would be developed with 4gb of GDDR5 Ram in mind. That would drastically change the scope of a game, shifting to those different specs. Same thing with Twilight Princess, it's a Gamecube game that was ported to Wii. How people "see" it and "feel" about it doesn't change that fact of what dev kit a game was developed on.

@wiggleronacid Yes. A Wii game that was later improved upon with a new dev kit. It was created on Wii dev kits though.

I hope they have started on it. BOTW gave them some easy story fodder for a new one. Not every Zelda has to be a totally new style. I really want to see the war 10000 years ago.

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

I’m not gonna hold my breath. I do see ports of other Zelda titles released to tie us over but I’m not sure about a brand new game

It's from January 2017 not from 2018 LOL

I thought they said they were already working on the next Zelda game... didn't they? I assumed they would take the BOTW engine, and just build on it to get another Zelda game out within 2 to 3 years instead of another 5. I was thinking 2020 at the latest, but this makes me doubt they've even started the new game and it even sounds like they might not even use the BOTW engine again which I think would be a big mistake to not get more out of the fantastic foundation they've already laid. We can already do so much in that game, but it isn't hard to imagine being able to do more.

Breath of the Wild represents the zenith of current games industry trends.

What I want to see is Nintendo setting the bar for the next decade for the rest of the industry.

a possibility? ..im sorry Nintendo but it should be an obligation!

If they don’t use the same engine and make a fast sequel like majoras mask they’re nuts. The engine is practically perfect. The mechanics are fantastic. Heck I’d be 100% fine I’d they used the same world map and just pushed hyrule forward a couple hundred years and gave us the Legend of Zelda a Breath to the Past. Or Link to the Wild? Either way. Just give us access to the dark world in the world of breath of the wild. Make Vati the villain this time if you want, or claim Gannon didn’t really die. Whatever, don’t care. Just do it! Can you imagine if you had twice the world map to uncover?!

Course there will be, just a question if the next Zelda is;

The next main entry (Not for awhile unless it borrows heavily from BOTW like a Majora-like sequel)
Something spin off-y like Triforce Heroes and the 4 Swords titles
Something smaller like Link Between Worlds
HD Remake of Skyward Sword
Ports of the HD Wind Waker and/or Twilight Princess

@SpaceboyScreams I loved Links Awakening. Hopefully they can do more with it.

@Pikachupwnage Agreed. And this is thr obvious solution.

@nukatha game development time takes longer and is more expensive the more technologically advanced a game gets. If Zelda goes 4k, expect to wait 8 years.

@Dezzy another Splatoon or Mario kart wouldn't make any sense though. Large single player games, yes.

Thing is, if this game is dual released.on both Switch and the next console, no one will care about the Switch version. How many of you cared about BOTW on Wii U?

Now with Twilight Princess everyone considers the GC version superior, but that wasnt the vibe back then. Coupled with the fact that they delayed it a month to help Wii sales... Granted GC editions are actually worth something these days. Point still stands. If the next one is a dual release, you will all be hyped for it and will buy the next console for that game.

I wish it wasn't the case, but it is. Maybe Nintendo realizes this (just as they did with TP) and uses this as a card to sell new consoles? I hope not.

Reuse the assets and make a BOTW with a unique story like Links Awakening or Majora.

It's so great that he always talks about going back to the drawing board in a sense for this next Zelda. Maybe he finally freed himself from the structure created by A Link to The Past. What a game and what a historic inertia it had on the series, but it's time to change even further.

Also, this article was written before the Switch was even released. How is this new?

I mean... I sure hope so. Unlike the Wii U, the Switch should have a normal 5 to 6 year lifespan (possibly more). BotW had some minor problems, but overall the engine was fantastic. They should really just reuse the same engine, allowing them to easily make another game before the Switch goes away. Based on this statement I'm guessing they haven't quite decided what to do yet. This 5-6 years between console iterations shouldn't need to continue when you already have the fantastic framework that BotW gave you.

Edit: Ah, I now see that this comes from last year. Well, hopefully they've decided the direction to go from here.

Looking forward to BOTW 2 .

One thing you have to say for Nintendo: they take their time to do their flagship games (Zelda and Mario especially) right and to release them with as much polish as possible. While we'd all love the idea of a new Zelda every year or so, the annual sequel business model favored by most of the other "AAA" publishers simply doesn't work for it; the quality and content would immediately suffer.

Truly great games are rare, and they take time to plan and develop. If that means we only get one or maybe two new installments of Zelda, Mario, Mario Kart, Fire Emblem, and so on in a console generation, I can live with that a lot better than I could a bunch of phoned-in mediocrity. The flip side as a Nintendo console owner is those months-long gaps between major releases, which I admit can be frustrating. I still think a merger with the likes of Sega and a revival of all the latter's enormous catalog of beloved franchises would be a fantastic solution, but for now both companies seem content with their chosen directions.

This story was mistaken for being recent on other sites. It's not even news!

@EchoNemesis You're not alone. I'm thinking of starting a support group.

It better be, the Switch needs its own original Zelda game as I feel Breath of the Wild as good as it could be is still just a Wii U port.

@Tasuki Yeah but Breath of the Wild was designed for Wii U and ported during the final stages of development. It's similar to Twilight Princess for Wii that was developed for Gamecube and then pushed over to Wii at the last minute, with Skyward Sword then later being created exclusively with the Wii in mind.

@BlackenedHalo I agree, there has typically been at least one per console and while Breath of the Wild was great it was a port from Wii U. I also seem to recall some discussion from Aonuma-san that the next Zelda would likely reuse world data from Breath of the Wild but flesh it out differently. So we would be playing a different adventure but in the same world (more or less) as Breath of the Wild. This to me indicated that it would be a prequel or sequel of sorts involving new enemies and possibly a different set of circumstances and world events. Either way I would be happy to see more Zelda on Switch in any form including a remaster or two of older games. There was an article a while back hinting also at Nintendo posting a job looking to hire a game designer to work on an unknown Zelda project using Unreal engine.

@Tasuki
Uhm...it's a port from Wii U

@nintendobynature My thoughts exactly.

This isn't news! And I am sure we'll get a new Zelda on Switch in 2 or 3 years!

Breath of the Wild may have been ported from the Wii U but the game was improved vastly on a technical level when development moved to Switch. You only have to look at the complete removal of the Wii U game pad functionality and superior Switch graphics. it CHUGS on Wii U.

Therefore, while it was absolutely originally a Wii U game. It is a Switch game now with the Wii U version only existing to avoid angering the userbase.

Sorry, it's a Switch game. I don't care what it was originally developed on.

@ROBLOGNICK You should become one of those douchy PR guys.
Improved vastly on a technical level!!!! Superior Switch graphics!!!

The only difference is the resolution/framerate. It's a Wii U game at heart.

@Prof_Yoshtonics
Remind me which Zelda is a Wii U exclusive?

I hope it'll hit soon. Use the foundations of breath of the wild, and make a new experience out of that, like they did with majora's mask.

BotW is just the Wii U's Zelda game ported to Switch. A large part of the reason I got a Switch is because I want to play the 'real' Switch Zelda. Come on...

It most likely get it's own Zelda game when the next Nintendo system is about to come out.

Good because I want no more games to be released on the 3DS!

This to me suggests that 2D and pre-BotW style 3D Zelda games are gone completely, only BotW style left. If Switch is only a "maybe" for the next Zelda then that suggests a BotW-esque development cycle.

@BigKing Well it is those things.

They removed what made it a "Wii U game" so how people aren't counting the Switch version as the proper version is beyond me.

It better! Otherwise the switch won't have its own Zelda and that would suck... Same as Mario Kart!

@rjejr that map, damn, it still hurts

Well, the point is that on my wii u I have:
Zelda 1
Zelda 2
Zelda Link to the Past
Zelda Minish Cap
Zelda Ocarina of Time
Zelda Mask of Majora
Zelda Phantom Hourglass
Zelda Spirit Track
Zelda Twilight Princess HD
Zelda Wind Waker HD
Zelda Skyward Sword
Zelda BOTW

Which gives 12 Zeldas to play on 1 system for fan of the genre.
How many Zeldas are on switch?

Its simple. I've played and enjoyed a hell of a BotW on Wii U and not getting Switch if it is not getting its own Zelda game.
If it's going to be a cross platform release (just like with BotW), so Ill get it on a new system.

@Prof_Yoshtonics Neither did Wii U to be fair

What?!

It might come to Switch? Hahaha Lol, it better come to Switch. Like many have already stated, Breat of the Wild is technically a Wii U game or a port in that sense.

If he isnt busy with the next Zelda for the Switch i really wonder what in the H.F.I.L. he is doing now?

If the next zelda isnt a Switch exclusive, that would be a big dumper on Switch owners to be honest.

I dont mind a few remakes or ports before the next zelda like WW and TP but i want a new one exclusively before the next nintendo system.

Maybe he means it's in development for the 3DS, but might release a Switch version as well if the demand is high enough, which would be very likely considering how many people wanted Metroid: Samus Returns and Luigi's Mansion to come to the Switch instead of the 3DS.

I think the Switch will be around for many years, so I'm sure the next Zelda will be on it.

@ROBLOGNICK Yeah, and they ported Shenmue to the Xbox/PS4/PC with an improved resolution so it's not a classic Dreamcast game anymore but a PS4/Xbox/PC game now.

Makes sense.

In other news, Mario's hat is red.

@BigKing And you implied I was douchy? That's rich.

BOTW came out at the same time on Wii U and Switch. There's almost 20 years difference between the original release and the Shenmue remasters. Are you really using that as a comparison?

I'm sure Eiji Aonuma is a very bright fellow, but this seems to be an award-worthy statement from Captain obvious.

@ROBLOGNICK

The release date is totally irrelevant. What matters is what platform it was developed for.
BotW was in development for the Wii U for years. And then ported to the Switch.

No massive improvements at all. They're almost identical. Those are lies, and yes lies are douchy. Stop lying.

@JasmineDragon I know that's what he said, but I don't believe him. Having used it extensively on XCX I can tell you it wasn't a distraction, it worked great. The 2nd screen also would have worked great for using items and changing clothing that I did a lot near the end.

Think about the reality of the situation. Ninteod made the Wii U w/ a 2nd screen for things just like this - maps, item management - then the Wii U failed so they had to also release the gaem on the Switch. So what makes more sense - leave the 2nd screen in the Wii U version which makes the game much better on the old failed system than the new one, or take it out so the games are the same on each system? If you watch the video you can see them having fun w/ the touchscreen. And if it was such a distraction they could have easily just let people play without using it. But instead of leaving it in they delayed the game for 6 months to a year to make both versions the same.

Games like Pikmin 3 had the screen option added in after release, they simply could have and should have left it in. The only reason they took it out was so the the Wii U version wasn't better than the Switch version by having the option to use the screen for the map and inventory management with the touchscreen. Though I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say one other possible reason for dropping the 2nd screen was that the game was too complex and the Wii U simply couldn't handle running both screens at once. That was their excuse for why they finally admitted there would be no dual Gamepad games, Wii U couldn't run them.

If you want to believe him that it was a distraction so he took it out that's fine, but I don't believe it. I do believe that was the only thing he could say to save face, b/c his other choices were admitting the Wii U wasn't powerful enough to handle the game that was made for it, or they purposefully made the game worse on Wii U so that Switch owners would still want to buy the game on Switch, nto Wii U. If he personally was really that distracted by it he could have put i tin as an option. Wonderful 101 made good ise of the screen, but you could also nto use it if you didn't want to. That's what gamers want, options, nto being told how to play a game for face saving marketing purposes.

Funny how the 2 guys having that discussion in the Game Awards video put out 2 delayed games, Starfox Zero and Zelda BotW, 1 game, SFZ, forces you to use the 2nd screen, no option, Mr. Miyamoto himself, who designs games for a living and obviously thought it was a distraction, and Aonuma who said you can't use it at all, no option. So maybe it's nto about distractions or options, it's about 2 game designers telling us how to play their games. I'll believe that over "distraction". If it was such a distraction SFZ would have taken it out as well.

So I suppose that's 3 reasons -
1. Wii U not having the better version of the game
2. Wii U not powerful enough to handle dual screen
3. Ego

You can claim ego is the same as distraction if you'd like, but I'm sticking with mostly 1 w/ possibly some hint of 2. We'll probably never know for sure though, Nintedo keeps it's skeletons locked up pretty well.

@eeyore Is that avatar Bowser or some weird Godzilla anime hybrid, it's pretty cool.

@rjejr It's a Dreamy Bowser from M&L Dream Team Bros. Here is the link for full image.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/5/55/Dreamy_Bowser_Mario_and_Luigi_-_Dream_Team.gif

@Captain_Gonru I knew what you meant, you just set me off.

That was a rough patch for me on here, everybody telling me I was an insane liar making stuff up, swearing they were at E3 playing demos w/ the map on the Gamepad when it wasn't even there, b/c they were the ones who were hallucinating from drinking too much Nintendo Kool-Aid. Pretty much every game site was running articles about Aonuma's "distraction" and dropping it while NL wouldn't even believe me that it had been dropped, so aggravating.

Had NL simply ran the story rather than calling me a sky-is-falling liar I'd probably would have just been mildly upset and then it too would have passed, but it took about 4 days of me defending myself to settle things so I'm kind of scarred for life from it.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/06/video_see_even_more_of_the_legend_of_zelda_breath_of_the_wild_with_eiji_aonuma_and_nintendo_minute

@JasmineDragon Oh, by the way, forgot about this.

Before Aonuma took the Gamepad screen out of the game b/c he was "distracted" by it he himself was talking about how perfectly it worked in the game. Of course that was long before it got ported to the NX.

*******************************
"Aonuma-san also talked a little about the map functionality on the GamePad - though hardly innovative for a Wii U game, he explains that the style and setting of the title suits the "sense of adventure" that an on-hand map can bring.

Recently, I've taken to relying on the map on my smart phone when I'm out walking in a place I'm not familiar with. A map isn't something you keep tucked away in your bag, it's by holding it in your hand and being able to constantly check it as you move forward step by step that gives you that sense of adventure."
*********************************

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/02/eiji_aonuma_explains_that_the_legend_of_zelda_for_wii_u_will_push_the_hardware_but_that_the_series_has_always_been_open_world

So there you have it, straight from Aonuma himself, before having to defend taking the Gamepad map out to make the Switch version the same as the Wii U: "A map isn't something you keep tucked away in your bag, it's by holding it in your hand and being able to constantly check it as you move forward step by step that gives you that sense of adventure."

But if you still want to believe he thought it was a distraction, well that's your call.

@eeyore Thanks, I never played any of the handheld Mario games. Now I want that as a sticker to put on all my Easter eggs.

@BigKing So how about games that were once in development for a previous console then that moved to the next console. Was Starfox Adventures really a N64 game since that was ported to Gamecube? How about Eternal Darkness?

How about Kameo? That was originally a Gamecube game released on the Xbox. But is still a Gamecube game then?

Metroid Prime 3 too.

They may not have come out on those consoles but that's where they started development and so were ported across.

Breath of the Wild started as a Wii U game but Switch became the primary platform for it later in development.

I remember a youtube getting in an argument with one of his subscribers during a livestream on whether BoTW is a port or not. It started on the Wii U and was held back for the switch so that definitely makes it a port in my opinion.

If a game comes out on two systems at once then I don't think it's exactly a "port". These days it takes so long to make a new Zelda. BoTW missed the wiiU window by so long I'd say that it's primarily a Switch game, which was also " ported" to the WiiU. Plus, they have dual-released before with GC/Wii for the lamentable Zelda TP (I just hated that game to bits, tried to play it many times and I just hate it).

@ROBLOGNICK You can't be serious.

@rjejr You could be right, but you're comparing two different games. What worked in XCX isn't necessarily the ideal fit for BOTW. We'll probably never know all the details of the game's development, but we do know that it was an extremely troubled process. They had to start over twice because of problems with the physics engine. A lot of ideas got scrapped for different reasons.

Was one of those reasons "the Wii U isn't doing well, we need to move this to the Switch so it has a compelling launch title"? Maybe. I don't know. But I tend to believe that if they could have released it in 2015 they would have. God knows the Wii U needed all the system sellers it could get.

@Captain_Gonru Of course @HollowGrapeJ was faster than you. He is using sonic in his picture profile.

@JasmineDragon "God knows the Wii U needed all the system sellers it could get."

Zelda wasn't going to save the Wii U, even in 2015, it had all the games it needed really. Everybody talks about how great the Switch is doing with all of it's games, but a lot of those were actual Wii U Games as well - MK8, Zelda: BotW, Pokken, Captain Toad - and a lot of similar games were also on the Wii U - SSBforU, Splatoon - and Wii U also had Super Mario Maker which was a big hit, and Batman and Zombi U at launch.

Sure, a lot of games were missing, just like Destiny 2 and RDR2 are missing on Switch, but Switch has a whole lot of marketing muscle behind it, commercials and ads are everywhere, Nintneod learned from it's mistake of trying to let Wii U sell itself. Switch also has a much better marketing message - it's a $300 portable w/ TV out, or a it's a $300 home console you can take with you, or it's a 1 console 2 player system you can play anywhere with the 2 Joycon included. Wii U marketing was "asymmetrical gameplay" or "Asynchronous gameplay", whichever it was, it wasn't working. And $300 or $350 with "Nintendo Land", that nobody asked for. And 8GB or 32GB storage for a home console when similar consoles were offering 500GB at the time. Switch only has 32GB but that's ok for a portable, much better than the 3DS.

So sure, people talk about all the Switch games, 80% of which seem to be indie, and another 10% Wii U ports, but the Wii U had some good games too, it just had no marketing, limited storage, hardly any power compared to PS4 and X1 and too high of a price for what it was - Wii launched for $250 w/ Wii Sports bundled in, the game that really sold that system - so it was high in comparison. Nintendo invested heavily in the Gamepad 2 screen concept and lost the bet. At least it wasn't as bad the Virtual Boy.

I have about 30 games on Wii U and 8 on Switch, give or take.

@subpopz No problem. I'm just saying, people act like they care, but when the times comes they won't. They'll generally just buy the next console for it.

I only care if it effects the original platform it was designed for, like with the TP example.

So long as we get a story with the next game, that's all I care about.

@nintendobynature lol the Switch itself won't last 10 years. Maybe the Switch as a family line will.

The Switch can't do anything else with Zelda from a technical standpoint, it's really just a much easier to develop for handheld Wii U, in many ways it's weaker, the Wii U tech was never pushed even by Nintendo.

Kind of figured since Zelda was a port to the switch. A game of that magnitude built from the ground up for switch has yet to be done and can only be better.

@ROBLOGNICK well, Star Fox Adventures was upgraded on a console with a massive generational leap.

I think the problem is Nintendo purposely downgraded the Wii U release to make Switch look better. Nintendo spent a full year crippling the Wii U edition. A bit like when they purposely reserved 16:9 for Wii Twilight Princess.

I think they'll do the same with Switch when Switch 2 arrives.

Switch Zelda will be hobbled for Switch 2.

@MeloMan it can't. The Wii U is more powerful than Switch.

A 2D Zelda would be good.

I'll understand if it ended up being a half n half release. Or on the next console.

@BenAV. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

@Captain_Gonru "fill in for the Wii U GamePad in places where it would make sense"

Like Smartglass on Xbox and LBP2 on PS3 w/ the Vita?

https://www.lifewire.com/xbox-smartglass-what-it-is-how-to-use-4153325

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/12/18/littlebigplanet-2-ps-vita-cross-controller-pack-out-today/

Nintnedo started down that road w/ 3DS controller support for SSB4, but they really did it best w/ the Gamecube and GBA w/ FFCC. But they seem to have lost their way, as usual.

It's possible that if they actually do just focus on Switch things could reach fruition after another 50mil Switch gets sold and every household has 2 and they start selling a $99 tablet only version. We've already seen a trailer for 2 Switch next to each other laying out a map for Super Mario Party. How cool would that be for 2 player Pikmin 4? eRally almost any game w/ a overhead world map.

So they don't need to support tablets, they just need to sell a $99 Switch tablet in a year or 2 and make their Ntinedo magic. Starfox Zero should have always been 2 player, 1 on the Gamepad, 1 on the TV. Really probably 2 Gamepads but Ntinedo lied about that situation happening. Same for Mario Maker. Mario Maker 2 needs multiplayer on 2 Switch to not be a port.

I'm personally not interested in any gimmick stuff anymore, but with the Switch they should be pulling off a lot of stuff.

Well, I would hope a new Zelda will be on the Switch considering BOTW is a Wii U game.

@rjejr I'm just going to say it. I love my Switch, I love the few games that are new on it, but the Wii U remains the better console for me. Switch has some growing to do.

I mean, my favorite games on Switch are Zelda BotW, Mario Odyssey, Overcooked 2, Celeste and Hollow Knight. Only one of those, Mario Odyssey, is too much for the Wii U to handle. Obviously, Wii U was a failure overall and Celeste, Overcooked 2 and Hollow Knight didn't end up on it, but in an alternate universe where Wii U was popular, nothing about the Wii U would have stopped ports.

Now part of the issue is I just don't use the on-the-go nature of the Switch that often, lately, so the Wii U local play and, dare I say it, the asynchronous play using the GamePad have been better than most of the multiplayer on Switch (again, there's no reason Overcooked couldn't be on Wii U except marketing reasons).

I do use the Switch in handheld mode at home more than taking it on the go lately, but I could do that on the Wii U, so...

This is, of course, only my own experience — I'm weird enough to love Nintendo Land and really enjoy Star Fox Zero! All of this said, even for my own tastes, I expect that the Switch will overshadow it in the next couple years.

@Prof_Yoshtonics @MongolRaider Breath of the Wild released simultaneously on Wii U and Switch and last I checked, 1.5 million Wii U copies sold against 8.5 million Switch copies. There's the origin behind the scenes and the reality of the market. Development started for Wii U, was repurposed as a Switch launch title and wasn't exclusive to either the Wii U or the Switch. With this knowledge, I think it's disingenuous to call it "a Wii U game" without also acknowledging its a Switch game.

@rjejr @Captain_Gonru It was so hard to keep the batteries going as I had converted everyone's GBAs to have a front light. We enjoyed Crystal Chronicles and Four Swords and thought they were both great but we just couldn't the energy going to commit to setting it all up very often.

Was really hoping the Wii U was going to have each controller with a screen back before it released... that seems like a long time ago, and in retrospect, convincing everyone to buy a full portable console like the Switch is going to be the only way to make it feasible again.

@aaronsullivan Yeah, it was developed on WiiU dev kits. It's a WiiU game that was ported to Switch in the eleventh hour.

@Captain_Gonru "It's downright criminal that they haven't made it available again somehow."

I'll bet they would have had it up and running on Wii U and 3DS had Wii U sold 50 million.

@Captain_Gonru I'm just gonna guess that second comment was more for Aaron than me b/c I don't comprehend half of it.

@aaronsullivan My apologies if that long post for me gets you attacked for defending the Wii U.

I'll never be able to make a fair comparison between Wii U and Switch b/c I'm simply out growing video games, I'm too tired at night, I just want to go to bed. Though that didn't stop me from just playing GoW and NNK2 this year, and Zelda BotW and H:ZD last year, and just starting DQXI, but I hardly consider myself a gamer playing 60-90 minutes a day when I used to play 6 hours. I played about a third of MArio adn Rabbids before getting GoW, may never go back to it.

I did just finish Yoku's Express, cute little platformer, took me about 12 hours - stupid Switch log, Wii U is way better, end of discussion - and watched my son 100% it. It's $19.99 but we got it on sale for $11.99 last week, it was worth it, which I wouldn't say about most indie games. Your kids would enjoy it.

My kids only did the first 3 Labo this summer, house and piano never started, I'll be lucky if I can get them to do it, waste of $70. Glad I only paid $4 after $39 GoW trade-in and $12 Uncharted: Lost Legacy. Must've been another one but I forget. But that's our 2018 Switch, Labo and Kirby for 4 days. Every year we had more than that on Wii U, I'm sure of that. Switch will catch up, adn surpass it once 3DS dies, but it's my kids system, nto mine, PS4 has a good 2 years left yet.

@aaronsullivan "Was really hoping the Wii U was going to have each controller with a screen back before it released... that seems like a long time ago, and in retrospect, convincing everyone to buy a full portable console like the Switch is going to be the only way to make it feasible again."

Yeah, we had big Wii U plans didn't we. SF:Z 2 player, 1 on the screen, 1 on the TV w/ a Pro controller. amiibo Land. I wanted Hasbro Games using the camera on the Gamepad so my kids could play with their Wii owning grandparents who never got a Wii U, but I would have made them for online Connect 4, Sorry and Uno w/ on screen vid chat. Camera was a total waste. And I wouldn't have had to purchase so many tablets for my family over the years if the Gamepad could have streamed the internet over a secondary Wi-Fi chip over my whole house rather than only w/in 8' of the console. If every other device can switch between data and Wi-Fi the Gamepad could have switched between it's gaming proprietary chip a a Wi-Fi chip for Netflix, the internet, eShop shopping and Miiverse. Seriously, the Gamepad distance was so limited they could have put it on a cable - like all those faux Switch Pro controllers - and got rid of battery life worries and the battery cost. So many missed opportunities and poor decisions, and Gamecube VC which was on their website for a year.

"a full portable console"

I don't think people will need multiple $300 "full portable console" versions of the Switch, $199 no dock has to happen in a year or 2, maybe $150 for the SwitchAdvance - since we've been talking about GBA - after that. People in Japan will buy a 5" screen SwitchMini with built in Joycon, they probably never take them off anyway and only play in handheld mode. Heck the Vita still sells pretty well there and that's been dead for 2 years. And since Sony wont' make another handheld, might as well make a Switch version to replace it.

Sky is the limit with Switch. And New Switch once PS5 and Xbox2 launch. By the time our kids are our age they won't remember Nintendo home consoles, only hybrids. Though that hybrid adjective will be dead in few years I think, they'll just be portables with TV out. And since most phones sort of have that with Chromecast anyway they'll just be portables, TV out will be a given and therefore redundant to say.

@liveswired I'm not sure where you're getting your false information that you keep repeating about the Switch's hardware. Not only are the specs publicly available via spreadsheet, the evidence is clear in the remasters and AAA ports.
As a summary - docked is a big increase over Wii U, undocked it's a lot closer but the Switch is still noticeably superior overall.

Comparing components...

CPU - this is a win for the Switch. It has more cores than Wii U. Clockspeeds are slightly lower but the addition core mitigates that and the cores are also more efficient per clock. The CPU doesn't clock up or down depending on whether the system is docked or undocked.

GPU - this is a small win for the Switch when undocked and a much bigger win when docked. The Wii U's GPU is better in pure number-crunching terms than the Switch's GPU undocked, but the Switch's GPU is more modern. This is visible from the games that are available on both - Switch undocked performance matches or exceeds the performance of the Wii U version. When docked the GPU clockspeed can be more than doubled which is why we're seeing games that ran at 720p on Wii U running at much higher resolutions on Switch.

• RAM - Wii U has 2GB with 1GB available to developers. Switch has 4GB with ~3GB available to developers. That's a substantial win for Switch. Bandwidth to memory is quite poor on Switch relative to the PS4 and Xbox One but is still about twice the bandwidth of the Wii U.

So worst case (undocked with little optimisation) the Switch is approximately equivalent to the Wii U, except it's handheld. Best case, Switch games when docked should have considerable visible improvements over Wii U equivalents, such as increased resolution, higher or more consistent framerates, better lighting and textures, etc

If it's anything like Breath of the Wild then I'm not buying it.

Only ever played one Zelda, BOTW and it was magnificent. Just finished this week, it's structure and nearly all design choices were great. Would love to give an older Zelda a go to see the difference (okami is on my radar). Would love to see another Zelda game in a couple of years using the same engine.

Guess Zelda the missing Link will get released at Switch and next gen Switch U at same time!

@Darlinfan I don't feel like that's fair. To be honest, Twilight Princess going from the GameCube to the Wii... wasn't really terribly groundbreaking, or anything, just a way to try to sell the new system.

BotW feels way more like a Switch game than a Wii U title. The Wii U could barely handle the game, and all the freezes and frame drops, not that I'm one to care in most cases, made it really difficult to play and many times I was really feeling disappointed in Nintendo for having released it. I'm not used to Nintendo games performing poorly, 'cause Nintendo all about that quality. This in the Wii U's case... was not top-notch. Why did all of the touch features disappear? Because the Wii U's development of this title was never ultimately intended to be priority.

You'll likely wanna argue that it itself was strictly a port, but this is Nintendo. They didn't spend all their time on Zelda and then be like, "oh snap, guys, the NX. That new hardware thing. Dang, maybe we'll just throw the code in the code toaster and pop out a hackneyed port. I can't believe we forgot about it."

Like it was unanticipated. We're talking Nintendo here. We're talking business and money.

This game was developed with the Switch -at least- in mind from the start. It was shoehorned onto the Wii U.

When he mentions "utilizing some of the Switch's untapped features" it really makes me consider how under-used the HD Rumble feature is. It was definitely one of the more interesting selling points during the Switch's reveal, and I was honestly pretty impressed with how it felt when playing 1-2-Switch (not enough to pay full price for the game, mind you)

Outside of that one specific game, everything else I've played has basically just used the HD Rumble to go from tiny vibrations to big vibrations. Nothing revolutionary. I understand that a lot of year one games weren't even aware of the feature until production was wrapping up, so hopefully we'll see this get incorporated in more of these 2019 releases.

@Captain_Gonru Thanks. I did know some of that, it was just reading it all at once was a bit overwhelming. I owned a GBA, think it was white, for several months before quitting my job and giving it to my wife's second cousin once removed, along with the cute little light attachment that plugged in on top. Dotn' think I ever used it, but I think I got it for $5 clearance at Gamestop so I bought it just in case. Something liek this.

You know, the more I look at the GBA the more I think SwitchAdvance is the name to choose. Better than SwitchBoy, SwitchLite or SwitchMini. SwitchMini would be the proper name, Advance would be a lie w/ the Joycon built in, but lies sell better than the truth.

I hope he takes his time and delivers another masterpiece.

@Tasuki And Wii-U making it not only the Switch's Zelda.

@SpaceboyScreams This is exactly what I would like to see too. Have the next game or two build off BotW. No need for each game to be a huge jump up in scope from the last.

Lmao, possibly on switch.... already planned for the next hardware, bet on it 😂 so annoying, to be honest....

@Prof_Yoshtonics To be honest, I very much expect it to get the next and for a simple reason.

Past generation actually have had sometimes decent amount of Zelda games released within the same generation.

The only thing we didn't pay attention to is.... lots of them were portable games.

Guess what's an advantage of the Switch slowly creating a more unified console environment for Nintendo

I very much expect more Zeldas for the same reason that both home console and handheld development teams at Nintendo can now both work on the one and same console if they want to; the Switch.

@JesWood13 Heh.
As I just covered it coming to the Switch is not as far fetched as we might think. And for a simple reason...

To put it simply; Wind Waker(2002) might have been THE Zelda of the Gamecube if we go and consider Twillight Princess a "Wii" Zelda(since it was released in the Wii generation after all)... yet it was far from being the only Zelda game of that generation.

After all, even with Twillight Princess removed from the calculation we still got The Minish Cap on GBA.

Then when Twillight Princess(2006) kicked off the Wii era of Zelda... it was far from alone. First it did get Skyward Sword(2011) toward the end of the generation but even then we still got a bit more than that in-between; on Nintendo DS we also got Phantom Hourglass(2007, just one year after TP) and then later Spirit Tracks(2009, only two years later).

Even the drought of the WiiU era still saw "A Link Between World"(2013) releasing on the 3DS.
This said we did get a 4 years drought between ALBW and 2017's Breath of the Wild. But after the shell shocked state of the franchise in the aftermath of Skyward Sword, I can't really blame them.

But Breath of the Wild has had a major effect and it's best summed simply: it gave the franchise a sense of footing again.

And as you saw from my description just now, that;s the thing. We actually used to frequently get multiple Zelda games in a same generations's timespan(I didn't even cover the Gameboy/GBC/N64 flurry, either, you'll notice).

But they were split on separate home and portable consoles.

Now, all the folks who made all those portable Zelda games that made such release cycles possible in the past now have a much stronger piece of hardware to work with in the Switch however, if you think about it one moment.

It might not neccessarily be all BOTW style stuff but you know?

I wouldn't just be surprised if the Switch got a second Zelda game.

I wouldn't be surprised to see it get a third one if the lifespan of the Switch proves long enough.

Zelda: Twilight Princess.... A third remaster (well, second, technically)? )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

I'd hope so. Lord. We know that zelda is huge, and with the 3DS being phased out and nothing to replace it, having no zelda game for the next 5 years would be stupid beyond belief. Considering how weak they've been with zelda over the past 8 or so years they need to ramp it up. We have had 4 remasters, OOT, MM, WW, TP. We have had triforce heroes which was pretty much recycling assets from A Link Between world, which used the exact same map from A link to the past. That is extremely little effort with so much asset reusing and updating that I wonder why they wouldn't have started the next zelda game at least a year before breath of the wild released. If there isn't a new zelda game 2 year from now I'd be concerned as to why they don't feel that they can leverage zelda. I think they really only have faith in Mario and pokemon to be quite honest.

Still, I expect at least 2 more zelda games on the switch, but would hope for 4 maybe 5 if you include at least one spin off or side game.

@Prof_Yoshtonics Probably we'll just have to agree to disagree on how to view this, but when the decision was made to also release on the Switch, the Wii U version with the map on GamePad, for instance, never saw the light of release. Instead they released a single game compromised to be on both platforms on the same day.

You can get technical with the process if you want — it's not that I disagree about Nintendo's intent and change of direction on the project — but to the public that bought it, and what Nintendo sold, it is simply exclusive to Wii U and Switch and, honestly, most Breath of the Wild players probably don't even realize it was on the Wii U.

A Zelda and Star Fox Adventures crossover would be great!.....Well for me...

The whole freedom and open world thing is great, but can we please return to dungeons being the meat of the gameplay? It just isn't a Zelda game otherwise.

well I most certainly hope it's for the Switch, no offense to Wii U owners, but the Switch has been out for over a year and a half, and by the time the game is made it'll probably be 3 years, Nintendo needs to keep interest up and going overboard for a bad system that has been dying for a long time is bad for business, they got LoZ:BoTW, and some other games, but it's time to let the next gen take the reigns of this horse fully, I still say keep supporting the 3DS for at least another 4 years+, let those who bought new ones not feel so left out. but make the new one for the Switch

@DB124
I think they need to ditch the fragile weapons system too

@rjejr
I'm sure you will never see a $100 Switch, I could see a possibility of the permanently affixed controllers, no tv/dock capabilities for $200 though, not for me personally

but a "tablet only" version would bring up some pretty bad issues...

1: most all of the games now and in the Switch future will require use of the Joy-Cons, so it would majorly isolate these new Tablet Only purchasers from a huge library

2: not many game publishers are going to want to make games for a system that nobody is going to buy

3: the only way to make the T.O. Switch plausible is to give it tablet capabilities like full on apps like a real tablet and when consumers of the real Switch see those, they will NOT flock to get the T.O. Switch, they will demand Nintendo update their Switch's to allow those functions, Nintendo will be forced to do it and then no one will want the T.O. Switch anyway

4: a T.O. Switch's inability to be backwards compatible with real Switch games being bad enough, but Nintendo would force software producers to have highly prioritized apps and charge them extra $$$ for the privilege, which will trickle down to the consumer...you, there will be a limited amount of apps because of this and people will say "why did i waste my money on this ???", plus like 9/10 houses have more than one tablet and/or tablet smartphone already, so again, why would anyone really want a highly restricted, tremendously limited system when they either already have a great tablet or can get a great one capable of 20x more things for $100 ???

they wouldn't, simple

@jhewitt3476 T.O. Switch

When I said they would sell a tablet only version of the Switch for $100 - which I dont' see where I did but it sounds like something I would say - I didn't mean to imply "tablet only" as in it won't work with anything else Switch related, I meant "tablet only" as selling only the tablet for $100 to people who already own a dock or 2 or 3 and 3 or 4 sets of Joycon.

They already sell the "2nd Switch" in Japan without a dock for less money, the natural progression would be to sell it without the joycon, and those silly straps, as well.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/05/a_cheaper_customisable_nintendo_switch_2nd_set_has_launched_in_japan_without_a_dock

Not now, but the Wii Mini didn't launch until the Wii U did, so a "Switch Tablet" probably wouldn't launch until closer to Switch 2, or at least after New Switch, where they could unload a bunch of Switch bodies at a cheaper price while they bundle the docks and Joycon with the New Switch.

So all of that is probably still 3 years out. Maybe less in Japan since they already sell the 2nd Switch there. Depends of course on when New Switch launches and how well switch continues to sell, you don't undermine a Switch that is selling really well with a cheaper version, you wait for sales to slow down. And sales will slow down on the original Switch once a New Switch launches, or Switch Pro of Switch 4k, if they can squeeze 4k power into a handheld. 4k will probably have to wait until Switch 2 though, not a mid-gen upgrade.

What they do need next year however is a cheaper Switch. There are only so many parents who are going to buy their kid a Switch for next gen Pokemon for $300 when they already have a Switch in the house b/c daddy wanted it for SSBU hooked up to the TV. $199 by simply removing the dock, grip and HDMI cable from the box is probably the best way to go, no modifications needed, and it's probably the most effective way to get 2, 3 or even 4 Switch into one household. Not too many households will buy multiple Switch at $300. Enough probably will this holiday to keep the machine selling, but by next holiday they'll need a cheaper "kid" option as 3DS and 2DS probably wont' be getting too many more games, maybe just a game for Frozen 2 when the film releases next November 2019, but that's likely it. At some point retailers wont' make shelf space for those old systems. And if a Frozen 2 game is only on Switch, not 3DS, well then they'll really need to cheaper version of Switch for little Susie, might be the only game she wants to play, and $300 is too much for 1 game. (I realize I'm probably the only person on this website thinking about a Frozen 2 game, but it's a cultural phenomenon, it matters.)

@rjejr
under the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles picture, you did say $99 tablet only, but if i misunderstood what you meant.....

I can agree selling without a dock for a discount, sounds like a great implementation in Japan, but to sell the "tablet solo" and choose your Joy-Cons, Nintendo would be losing an assload of $$$, let's say they sell a no dock version in US, it'll probably be $250, but at $60/Joy-Con, selling the tablet for only $100, add two Joy-Cons for $220, that would be less than $250, an even bigger loss, not realistic, on the offhand they did a tablet only, Joy-Cons sold separately, they will charge no less than $150-$175

Switch is handheld and they usually have lifespans longer than 5 years. Therefore another Zelda is bound to happen. I just hope we get another 'dark' one. Majora's Mask was now a long time ago.

Not surprised, the Wii U's dead (always was....), the 3DS has too many Zelda games on it (Tri Force Heroes, MM 3D, Oot 3d, and the DS games.), and there's really nothing else.

Switch has another 5 years on it, if it keeps on going the way it has. I'm sure we'll see anther Zelda on it....Plus, the "5 year" console window is too small. I think the Wii and some sony systems have gone longer. Switch has potential to go longer than 5 years easy.