Comments 281

Re: Talking Point: One Month On, How Did Nintendo's Switch 2 Launch Go?

Cakefish

@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.

Re: Talking Point: One Month On, How Did Nintendo's Switch 2 Launch Go?

Cakefish

@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.

Re: Talking Point: One Month On, How Did Nintendo's Switch 2 Launch Go?

Cakefish

@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 👀

Re: Talking Point: One Month On, How Did Nintendo's Switch 2 Launch Go?

Cakefish

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.

Re: PSA: Do Your Switch 2 Joy-Con Disconnect In Docked Mode? It Might Be The HDMI Cable You're Using

Cakefish

@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!

Re: Video: Digital Foundry Tests Out Switch 2's Free Switch Game Upgrades

Cakefish

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.

Re: Little Nightmares 3 And Little Nightmares Enhanced Edition Announced For Switch 2

Cakefish

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.

Re: "One Of The Slowest Modern LCDs I've Ever Seen" - Digital Foundry's John Linneman On Switch 2's Display

Cakefish

@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!

Re: "One Of The Slowest Modern LCDs I've Ever Seen" - Digital Foundry's John Linneman On Switch 2's Display

Cakefish

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.

Re: Best Sonic Games Of All Time

Cakefish

@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.

Re: UK Charts: There's No Stopping Mario Kart World And Switch 2

Cakefish

@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.

Re: Nintendo Prioritising Switch 2 Dev Kits For Indies Needing "Extra Oomph", Say Devs

Cakefish

I’ve been disappointed by the lack of updates to the eShop coming soon tab. I was anticipating much better indie/AA support from the outset. Obviously I’m not blaming them at all for not having dev kits - that’s entirely on Nintendo. I’m not sure what the logic is behind Nintendo’s strategy here.

I wonder if this was intentionally done to lessen competition for the AAA launch titles? Because I’m increasingly seeing myself likely to give in to impatience and grab Sonic X Shadow Generations, whereas if there were cheaper indie titles to keep me entertained I probably would wait for a sale.

The eShop coming soon list is depressingly barren currently. Aside from Donkey Kong Bananza (which looks great), there’s not much else until Kirby Forgotten Land all the way at the tail end of August! I swear in previous years the coming soon list has been much more populated at this time of year.

Re: Digital Foundry Is "Happy" With Switch 2 But Feels The Screen Is "Problematic"

Cakefish

I definitely notice the display downgrades from Switch OLED (RIP inky blacks), but when taking the whole package into account it’s definitely an overall upgrade. A 60fps game running on a blurrier display looks much better than a 15-25fps game running on a crisper display. Nintendo also deserves much credit for successfully avoiding the greatest sin of modern LCDs: backlight bleed. Switch 2 performs admirably in this regard compared to other LCD products I’ve encountered in the past.

Hopefully as the platform matures developers will start to implement VRR correctly. That’s the flagship feature of this display so it really should be utilised properly. Fingers crossed third party developers get their act together ASAP.

Re: Former Nintendo Duo Fear We Might Be Waiting A While For A 3D Mario On Switch 2, Thanks To Donkey Kong

Cakefish

@mattitudemf don’t get me wrong, Metroid Prime 4 and Splatoon Raiders are plenty enough for me personally. These are my favourite Nintendo franchises! But we know that the general public sadly doesn’t really care about Metroid and Splatoon Raiders has yet to be confirmed for 2025 and not sure if a spin-off is high profile enough to be a ‘holiday’ game. Personally I’m very hyped for both of those titles though. I absolutely agree about the third party thing, there’s currently a notable drought of third party releases on the eShop - it’s 99% just Switch 1 games.

Re: Former Nintendo Execs Fear We Might Be Waiting A While For A 3D Mario On Switch 2, Thanks To Donkey Kong

Cakefish

@Cathalm It would be plenty enough for me personally, I absolutely love Splatoon ❤️, but I have to be realistic it’s not nearly as high profile release as either Animal Crossing or 3D Mario would be. I feel they want to end the year with a bang, 2017 Mario Odyssey style!

@Grumblevolcano maybe I suppose they could just leave it empty, but I just have to assume they would want to fill November up seeing as they got something for every other month (assuming Metroid Prime 4 is September). I get the feeling they have a surprise ace up their sleeve that they’re waiting to unleash in the next Direct, whenever that will be!

Re: Third-Party Launch Games On Switch 2 Reportedly Sold "Very Low Numbers"

Cakefish

I’ll probably get Sonic x Shadow Generations soon, I just have a backlog of games that I need to clear first, mostly on other platforms. I’m travelling a bit in July so that’ll be the ideal time to get it!

Other than that though there’s really not much else on offer for me personally. I’ve already bought and played Split Fiction on Xbox (fantastic game by the way). Nothing else interests me.

Nintendo withholding development kits from developers has become very apparent. The eShop is like a desert at the moment as far as Switch 2 releases go.

Re: Review: Savage Raven EDC Switch 2 Carry Case - A Sleek Alternative To Nintendo's Official Offering

Cakefish

I ordered the Max Carry one after I realised the Venom one I had previously bought wouldn’t fit the ergonomic grip that I also got - d’oh! It’s imported from USA as that was the only option I had when I ordered last week, so is taking a while to get here. I can see from your link that there’s now local stock from Amazon available for next day delivery while mine takes the snail mail journey across the Atlantic - darn!

Re: Poll: Has Your Switch 2's Screen Got Any Nasty Scratches Yet?

Cakefish

@Kaiffe123 I bought 9, yes you read that right, nine! I was very paranoid. Two packs of 4 from Amazon and one that came with a case that I’d ordered. Then I felt a bit silly (but relieved) when my first attempt actually went on dust-free! Though now I have plenty of spares in case I ever need to replace it, so that’s reassuring. I’ve had many bad experiences with botched protector install attempts in past - always anxiety inducing! I have come to the conclusion that dust particles are in fact actually tiny ninjas.

Re: Nintendo Survey Asks Switch 2 Users About Their Experience So Far

Cakefish

I got the email. I submitted feedback.

My main criticisms are battery life and lack of VRR in docked mode. I also miss having OLED, but that’s more of an understandable omission at this price point.

The positive is the enhanced speed and responsiveness of the system UI, eShop, and of course game performance and load times. Also the magnetic joycons.

Re: Poll: Are You Happy With Switch 2's Screen? Because Some People Certainly Aren't

Cakefish

The lack of OLED is definitely noticeable (particularly so at night), but the LCD is decent enough that I’m not losing sleep over the downgrade in display tech. My gaming PC monitor is also LCD so it’s not like I’m allergic to them. I absolutely would’ve preferred OLED, but VRR and 120Hz are sublime features to have and pairing these with OLED would’ve driven costs up too high for the mass market. I understand compromises had to be made to reach this price point.

Re: Forget The PS4, Koei Tecmo Reckons Switch 2 Is Closer To Xbox Series S

Cakefish

It’s the advancement in architecture with DLSS, mesh shaders, variable rate shading, texture compression and all those other bells and whistles that will allow the Switch 2 to exceed PS4 in typical gaming. Raw compute isn’t the be all and end all, it’s how efficiently resources are used that also plays a key role in final results.

Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For The Nintendo Switch 2

Cakefish

It was very sad saying goodbye to my Switch OLED as the display and battery life were just so damn nice. Switch 2 has impressed me though with the sheer snappiness and sharpness of the UI and significant performance/loading time improvements in backwards compatible games. Battery life and OLED are obvious areas for improvement that the mid gen refresh will undoubtedly address in a few year’s time, but until then I’ll be enjoying my Switch 2 very much!

Re: Switch 2 Is Nintendo's Biggest UK Console Launch Of All Time

Cakefish

Very impressive! Considering PS5/XSX launched during the pandemic when gaming was exploding in popularity, these are great results.

And I think the notion that UK is anti-Nintendo is way overblown. Sure it’s not matching Japan or USA, but these are hardly bad results, no?

Attachment to Nintendo is more generational dependant here in UK I think. I’m a millennial and Pokémon was everywhere, literally everywhere, in my childhood. So GBA and GameCube were my childhood too, then later the DS in my teenage years.

I know plenty of people who own Switches, though they’re all of a similar age to me in their 30s. I preordered a Switch 2 and I know two other people who did the same.

Re: Review: Nintendo Switch 2 Carry Case - The Official Option Is A Solid One

Cakefish

I have the Venom one. It's a perfectly good case, but I quickly realised that I completely overlooked that the Switch isn't gonna fit in there with an ergonomic grip applied, which I have also purchased... oops. So I've ordered Savage Raven Max Carry Case so I can carry it around without needing to take the grip off every time. ETA for delivery is end of June, they must be in short supply right now.

Re: Hardware Review (In Progress): Nintendo Switch 2 - A Faster, Slicker, Sexier Switch

Cakefish

The biggest cons are the obvious significant regression in battery life coming from the Switch OLED/2019 refresh and the display being LCD (so being more of a sidegrade coming from Switch OLED).

The biggest pros are the significantly snappier UI and much improved performance/loading times in games, as well as the superior ergonomics and much improved attachment method of the new joycons.

I’m really liking the new hardware a lot, but the allure of a hypothetical Switch 2 OLED with 4nm power efficient SOC is very real.