Cakefish

I guess I’ll wait for reviews before I can give a definite yes, but I’m certainly very interested. The original has been on my wish list for a long while. The free demo felt polished but a little basic in the gameplay department, that’s why I held off buying the original Switch version.

@neo9eo thanks for the info, great investigation work! Shame that it’s bad news though, ugh. I got We Love Katamari on Xbox because of the 30fps situation and I’m going to have to do that again. Such a shame as Katamari gameplay and vibes are absolutely perfect for Switch, but I can’t justify paying full price for a 30fps Switch game when I know the Switch 2 is capable of so much more.

The people yearn for a Nier Automata fix.

I’m still in pain that there’s no Switch 2 version of Katamari. What a missed opportunity 😭

When is Metroid Prime 4, Nintendo? Tell meeeee

I’m part of the 3.2% of Switch 2 owners who don’t have Mario Kart World. I didn’t realise I was in such a tiny minority! I’ve played it on my brother’s Switch 2, so I didn’t feel like I needed to buy it for myself.

@TryToBeHopeful the trailer doesn’t mention Switch 2 so I’m assuming no until proven otherwise. Key question is whether it runs at 60fps on Switch 2 in backwards compatibility. If it doesn’t then I’ll have to get it on Xbox instead. I’ve got no time anymore for games that fail to utilise Switch 2’s full capabilities and are locked at 30fps because of Switch 1. Switch 2 is here, third party devs need to catch up with the times.

Does it run at 60fps on Switch 2?

@Orwellian87 more than just a partner, they’re a wholly owned subsidiary. So no chance of Metroid Prime in this direct

I have a mixture of excitement (as the Switch 2 is a desert when it comes to third party games currently) and crushing disappointment (at the fact we’re STILL going to be in the dark on Metroid Prime 4’s release date).

Nintendo Direct Thursday just started looking more likely 👀

Finally, Metroid Prime 4 release date!

This time around, with Switch 2, I’m mostly going to stick with third party games that offer performance modes. Sonic x Shadow Generations plays very well at 60fps, for example. I did get Borderlands 1 & 2 on Switch, but XSX has since spoilt me and so my tolerance for 30fps has dramatically decreased. I’ll maybe grant the odd exception for a game I adore like Elden Ring (we’ll see how that performs) that I want portable access to, but for the most part I need to put my foot down and insist on ~60fps. If that means Switch 2 is mostly relegated to Nintendo and indie games then so be it. That would be a great shame though, I was really hoping we’d see a few more 60fps games with the arrival of Switch 2, especially AA class games.

@ShinG67 woah cool your jets man, where did I say I thought it was a bad game? It’s on my eShop wishlist, I’ll get it soon enough. Answering the question truthfully and being unable to fairly rate it because I haven’t played it yet makes me a childish loser? I’m not going to apologise for not giving it automatic 10/10 out of sheer blind optimism!

I haven’t bought it yet, so I’ll just give it banana out of 10.

As others have pointed out; fewer Switch 2’s in the wild right now vs Odyssey launch, summer release vs autumn release, and it’s DK rather than Mario. #1 is still a stonking good result and I’m sure Nintendo is happy. Also unsurprisingly #1 on the eShop charts too.

When Nier Automata fix?

Keep them coming Nintendo!

I like Oliver but this is one of the weakest DF videos in some time.

Half of it is simply rehashing their dedicated Switch 2 hardware review. The battery tests are certainly interesting, but there’s little else of substance in there that hasn’t already been discussed extensively previously. Load times are one aspect that could’ve been looked at, but instead much time is devoted to docked comparisons even though in reality only the minority of Steam Deck users will frequently make use of that mode.

Honestly, I’m bored of seeing Hogwarts Legacy yet again, they already have a dedicated video for the Switch 2 version of that game. Couldn’t we have something new? It gets boring when Cyberpunk and Hogwarts are the only games anyone ever bothers analysing.

The analysis concludes with (paraphrasing here) ‘Switch 2 is best suited for people who enjoy Nintendo exclusives while Steam Deck is for people who want access to their Steam library’ - Oliver, my man, is this really the grand insight here? Usually DF videos have a bit more depth than this.

Finally, it’s noteworthy that Oliver heaps praise on the Steam Deck here for giving users free rein in deciding game visual and performance settings. However, he’s always been a staunch advocate on the weekly DF podcasts that he thinks that games on modern consoles give users too many modes to choose from. Pick a lane Oliver, is user choice good or not?

Okay, rant over. Again I’m a big fan of DF and I typically really appreciate Oliver’s contributions, but this particular one just felt a bit weaker than his usual standard.

Sonic x Shadow Generations

R.I.P. Switch 2 battery

Reading through the comments you’d quickly assume that Digital Foundry must be some real moustache-twirling, Nintendo-hating villains of the highest degree - when the sad irony is that John actually has a very positive overall opinion of this game. I’m just left baffled why DF analyses always seem to ruffle so many feathers. It’s just objective data, why does that cause so much offence?

I think it was designed with VRR in mind and then they were caught off guard by the hardware team having to drop it at the last minute. Hopefully docked mode VRR will arrive in a future firmware update. It won’t magically solve the frame drops but it would make them less noticeable.

Just announce them already, I’m starving out here in this information void!

I’m more bummed out by the drought of third party content, both in terms of actual releases and new announcements. It’s been so quiet ever since the initial April direct with so few further announcements made.

I bought Sonic x Shadow Generations at full price just to have something fully Switch 2 optimised to play. It’s a good game, but being forced to buy it at full price is unfortunate when it’s been on sale on other platforms recently. Desperate times call for desperate measures though.

How are these still so delayed in UK? ETA 5-6 weeks on the Sandisk website. That’s almost September territory. Brutal. I’m glad I decided to import the Lexar card from USA, and I didn’t even pay any extra over UK RRP. UK SD express market is broken currently for anything =>512GB.

The wait is painful. The dearth of information means my brain is starved of dopamine hits that I’m craving.

This would’ve been an ideal use case for docked VRR support… hint hint Nintendo

About twice as fast as Switch 1 on WiFi 5 in my experience. Still fairly slow though, as it can only utilise half my network’s full download speeds, whereas other gaming devices (PC and Xbox) can use it all. I guess you need a WiFi 6 router to see its full potential.

I hope we get as many 60fps games as possible and the CPU doesn’t hold that back too much. 120fps, VRR display would completely go to waste if everything just ends up capped at 30fps just like the vast majority of Switch 1 games.

@OldGamer999 Metroid Prime 4 is just as Nintendo as any other game in their lineup, more so than many others even. Retro is wholly owned by Nintendo, so it’s ‘more Nintendo’ than Metroid Dread even and ‘more Nintendo’ than Pokemon or Kirby too. It’s as first party as you can possibly get!

@Oldstalk @Blast16 I completely agree with you both. Those rumours of a three-phase 2025 plan sounded hard to believe when they surfaced, but all the evidence is lining up perfectly with them now. I think intentionally suppressing third parties until October (which is the plan according to those rumours) is a huge mistake on Nintendo’s part. I’m not buying Drag x Drive Nintendo, just because you’ve sabotaged the third party market 😬

@Grumblevolcano those don’t register on my radar because I find them boring to be brutally honest. Which is absolutely fine, not every Nintendo game needs to appeal specifically to me. Not every game genre is my cup of tea. That’s where a healthy third party ecosystem would usually be able to step in and offer up something interesting while I wait for the Nintendo games that appeal to me, but currently this is where Switch 2 is faltering. There’s not nearly enough quantity there currently to guarantee something that I’m interested in. It’s a real slow start for third party support. This will all be forgotten by 2026 I’m sure, but the excitement of Switch 2 launch has been dampened for me by the very limited options available to play over the summer.

At least I now have Sonic x Shadow to keep me entertained for a while, but I begrudge paying full price for that when it’s currently notably cheaper on other platforms.

There’s a severe drought of third party games on Switch 2 currently. The fact this list has to be topped up by original Switch games is evidence of that. Why oh why did Nintendo not give developers access to dev kits earlier in the cycle?

@Grumblevolcano I’d devour a good Partner Showcase! Just need something to fill in the gaps on the eShop calendar between the tentpole Nintendo releases. There’s currently a huge void between Donkey Kong in mid-July and Kirby in late-August.

I’m starting to think we’re not getting a full Direct until September and this feeling is growing stronger with every passing week.

@Oldstalk I agree. I get that Nintendo wants to focus on Donkey Kong for now on the first party side (though I’m personally craving Metroid Prime 4 release date), but the radio silence from third parties is the real kicker. Little Nightmares 3 is the only third party game I can think of that’s been announced since Nintendo’s original Switch 2 Direct. Calling it a trickle would be massively overselling the rate of third party Switch 2 announcements.

I didn’t buy it. I’m going to play on my brother’s copy instead when I next visit. So I didn’t need to purchase it for myself. I’m part of the tiny minority of Switch 2 owners who don’t have it, there must be at least a dozen of us!

@Suketoudara haha true the Switch 1 has the opposite problem - plenty of new releases but 95% of it worthless shovelware. And the Switch 2 filter does indeed act as a handy pest control feature!

Still, I hope the (decent) indies and AAs can get on board asap, as the eShop third party calendar from August onwards looks like a barren desert currently 👀

The problem for me, sucking the excitement out of this launch somewhat, is seeing how static the eShop has been over the past month. Where are the indies and AA games? I already know the answer; Nintendo denied them development kits. I believe that was a mistake. I’ve just had to cave in and buy Sonic x Shadow Generations at full price out of sheer desperation for something new to play - Sega was lucky I hadn’t already purchased it on other platforms. I was in starvation mode.

The updates to Splatoon 3, Mario Odyssey, Zelda BOTW etc. are all great but I was just craving something novel to play on my brand new console.

@WheresWaveRace 28th August

@Skunkfish I’m not sure the exact length, but whatever it is it’s way too short. Switch 2 is literally sat right next to my TV, but it just so happens that the ports for the cables are on the opposing side of the TV. Apparently Nintendo engineers didn’t foresee this possibility. It’s not even one of those monstrously behemoth TVs, it’s a pretty standard sized 55 inch LG CX. Bit of a baffling design oversight in my opinion!

The supplied HDMI cable is way too short. My Switch 2 is literally sat right next to my TV and yet somehow the stock cable was still too short!

No idea where this concept that DF are Nintendo haters originated from. Go watch John’s review of Super Mario Wonder and come back and tell me with a straight face that this a man who despises Nintendo.

Super happy with these game updates. I hope to see a couple more. Pikmin 4 and Luigi’s Mansion 3 seem ideal candidates for the 60fps treatment. Maybe a resolution boost for Metroid Prime Remastered and Dread too.

Good to see more competition. I had to import my 512GB card from the USA because they are so scarce. That’s a sign of a failed market when there’s no other option but to import across an entire ocean. Hopefully the market fixes itself soon.

I’m very happy this is coming to Switch 2, but I’m disappointed by no free upgrade for original Switch owners. The ‘technical constraints’ line sounds like a weak excuse to me. I’m not affected personally, but seeing this and Sonic x Shadow Generations screw over original owners, it looks like Switch customers are being treated with disrespect by publishers.

@purple_shyguy best point of comparison I can give you is that Switch 2 has a very similar smearing/ghosting level as my iPad Pro 11” (2018). So if you’ve ever seen an LCD iPad Pro display before then that’s roughly what you can expect from the Switch 2. According to my eyes, as someone who owns both devices, and can compare side-by-side.

@Jeronan @The_Nintend_Pedant

On the handheld side this has been going on for a while. Before the ‘New’ 3DS you also had DS Lite and the GBA SP. It works though. I became old enough to buy consoles with my own money from 3DS onwards and I upgraded 3DS to the New 3DS, I upgraded Switch (2019) to Switch OLED, and I’ll definitely upgrade to Switch 2 OLED as well when that arrives in a few year’s time. Nintendo really knows how to squeeze my bank account for all it’s worth!

@Jeronan battery life is probably my biggest complaint about Switch 2 so far, being a former SWOLED owner (even more so than the loss of inky blacks, but I definitely do miss those too!). I really would’ve appreciated a slightly larger battery. No first edition console is ever perfect I guess, I still have no regrets upgrading.

For the people interested in the objective data I recommend this Monitors Unboxed video: https://youtu.be/AB67B8LCorI?si=0TSOh30ShJjt-L58

He comes to same conclusion as Digital Foundry in regards to response times (though he concludes that it’s overall a better display than Switch 1). He speculates that the lack of overdrive is probably an energy saving measure, which is an interesting point. Which is the lesser of the two evils: slower response times or shorter battery life? Without knowing the actual hit on battery life overdrive would induce it’s impossible for me to cast judgement either way. Interesting food for thought though.

Another interesting point to make here, as I just looked up data for the LCD iPad Pros (because mine looks very similar to Switch 2 to my eyes). Lo and behold they’re apparently very similar for response times. Which is an interesting point I think because those are very expensive products. Nintendo seems to be calibrating the display in a very similar way that Apple does. Apple is known for aggressively optimising for battery life.

I’m starting to think that this could be an intentional design decision to optimise for display power efficiency.

@Sonicka the Switch 1 edition has 165 user ratings whereas the Switch 2 edition only has 5 currently. With a much smaller sample size the Switch 2 version’s score is going to be easily skewed in one direction or the other.

Urge to buy Sonic x Shadow Generations… rising!

@larryisaman yeah I absolutely agree with you. There was a lot of fuss made when the Switch 2 didn’t beat the sales record of the PS5 or XSX after just a few days of sales, but these games charts really show that the momentum has been strong since then. I think people were too quick to cast judgement. Switch 2 seems to be going strong in UK and that’s great!

@cylemmulo It’s interesting though I think that, out of all the games listed here with platform breakdowns, Split Fiction is the strongest performer on Xbox by relative percentage of the sales. It’s also doing well on the digital charts on the Xbox store too.