Cakefish

£399 for my final pricing prediction.

Already pre-emptively bummed out by the lack of OLED but hopefully they soften the blow by supporting VRR, which would be revolutionary for handhelds (not even Steam Deck supports VRR).

I am really eager to finally get a release date for Metroid Prime 4 too. They can announce all the Mario games they want, it’s Metroid Prime that I really care about right now!

Mii gusta!

That’s it, that’s the joke. Now I’m just padding to meet minimum word count.

Well that’s just immensely disappointing. Sony and Microsoft botched their console launches too. Nvidia messed up RTX 50 series GPUs and AMD followed suit with RX 90 series. Seems like the only company that’s actually competent at supplying enough stock is Apple. Every other tech company always falls flat on their face.

@Fulkaffe Nintendo explicitly stated there was no Switch 2 content in that Direct. So unless they are caught bare face lying then that is indeed Switch footage. Looks a lot like Prime Remastered to me so I can believe it is Switch gameplay. Retro are a talented bunch of people.

Metroid Prime 4 release date?! Oooooh that would be spicy

Do I buy NSO vouchers for the £4.20 in Gold points or nah? I want to preorder Metroid Prime 4, but then the question is what do I use the other voucher on if it can’t be redeemed for Switch 2 exclusives… nothing is screaming at me as a must buy except for Prime 4.

…I think I’ve answered my own question.

@mattesdude me too, I’ve used Gold points for getting discounts on indies that I may have otherwise overlooked.

I’m glad Prime 4 isn’t Switch 2 exclusive!

Disappointing.

Surprising too as both Xbox and PlayStation still have equivalent reward systems for purchasing digital products from their stores.

Gold points have incentivised me to buy games that I otherwise wouldn’t have on an few occasions.

I predict £400 launch RRP. I confess that I would even be willing to pay £500 for an OLED SKU, but sadly for me we know that isn’t on the cards for this year.

Only for the online enthusiast communities. The proportion of potential Switch 2 customers who passively saw some the leaks was probably something like 1% and probably 0.1% for those actively following and digesting them online. Sites like this one and Reddit communities are the teeniest tiniest fraction of the general population. It will not affect sales in the slightest and by the end of the year even we online enthusiasts will have long since forgotten about this whole leaky saga.

Is it just my imagination or are those bezels noticeably larger than Switch OLED?

Bold move to build a competitor to Deku Deals but I respect the effort that’s gone into this! More the merrier I say, because Nintendo certainly aren’t improving the actual eShop anytime soon. I’ll be sure to check it out.

Super curious about battery life vs the SWOLED.

At this point I’m mostly worried about battery life. I’m used to Switch OLED longevity and anything less would feel like a notable downgrade. I suppose it’s inevitably going to be worse, but I just hope it’s at least better than the original launch Switch. Praying for a miracle that it uses Samsung 5nm rather than the 8nm that is currently favoured by the experts. Also hoping the LCD will not be too much of a downgrade from OLED.

It’s not going to be easy saying goodbye to my SWOLED, with the lovely display and decent battery life.

Last console where I bought physical was 3DS. With Switch the only physical game I’ve ever purchased is Ring Fit Adventure. I just find the instant access and convenience of digital impossible to beat, even if it does mean I’m often paying a little bit more for the privilege.

Crypt Custodian is very good. The article is right, the gameplay is good but what really elevates it is the fantastic soundtrack and lovely artwork.

@Friendly We already know Nintendo will definitely officially reveal Switch 2 by 31st March. I see virtually 0% chance that they would then drag out the release all the way into 2026. November 2025 at the very latest.

I think late January for an announcement. A week or so after Donkey Kong HD releases.

Could be February, the typical Direct month, but if so a Q1 release almost certainly goes out of the window in that case.

Even now, 7.5 years in, Switch can still hold its own against the mighty PS5. Congrats Nintendo.

Money can be exchanged for presents and experiences!

Everything about Switch 2, or Super Switch as I still like to call it, sounds super promising except for the lack of OLED. I’ve been spoilt rotten by the gorgeousness of Switch OLED display. It’s going to be a real shock to go back to LCD and it’ll take some adjusting for sure. Problem is that I know OLED model is inevitably coming a couple years down the line so it’s tempting to hold off until then, but the allure of generational better performance in all games will likely be too great to resist. I am going to mourn the tragic loss of OLED for sure.

@TheBigK I’m not convinced, I’m gonna need to see a rumour confirming that the rumours that these rumours are true, are true.

Whatever arbitrary cut off date they set is brutal. It says I only played Crypt Custodian for 2 hours. Nope, I finished the game earlier this month after over 15 hours. Then I’ve also gone back to Splatoon 3 to dabble in Side Order, but again that hasn’t registered. It means my stats aren’t really truly reflective of the year, which is a shame

Digital Foundry’s comments on the bezels being the same size as original Switch LCD and it being very hot and very power hungry are worrying. Sounds like a downgrade from Switch OLED in some regards, which would be quite disappointing. I hope that’s not true and it delivers a true upgrade in every way from my Switch OLED.

It was fun, though I only dipped my toes in a bit by getting to Defender rank. Loved the effort they went to be designing a whole new hub, it looked really cool, great atmosphere. I hadn’t participated in a Splatfest at all for about a year or so as I managed to completely burnout on the game by excessively grinding for the catalogue rewards during the first few seasons. I’ve only just started playing the Side Order DLC for the same reason. Hopefully Splatoon 4 can better manage the catalogue rewards, as getting to level 100 felt extremely grindy - it drive me to the brink of insanity. Now that I’m mostly recovered from the burnout I’ll definitely come back to Splatoon 3 for those seasonal Splatfests and Big Runs (and finish Side Order).

Splatoon 3 became my favourite game on the Switch, though I partially ruined it for myself by religiously grinding for the catalogues during the first few seasons. I ended up burning out on the game completely and only partially came back for the grand festival (loved the huge effort they put into the unique festival area). It’s a shame that after I gave it a decent break and recovered from the burnout the game is now ending content updates. Hopefully Splatoon 4 will manage the seasonal catalogue content in a better way to help prevent burnout.

Whatever happened to the Panzer Dragoon Zwei remake?

Is there much incentive to announce all that much this side of Christmas? It would dampen whatever momentum Switch has left for its last festive season. It would make more sense to me to start making noise about successor Switch in January, but alas I’m no businessman.

@Truegamer79 Super Switch is strongly rumoured to be backwards compatible with the current Switch library. So no game’s being left behind as far as we currently know. They’ll just run better on the new hardware. That’s one reason why people are so hungry for it. I have so many Switch games that drop frames all over the place, that should be tidied up quite nicely by a successor system. I’m just bummed out that there’s apparently not going to be an OLED model like the current Switch has.

Islets is a fantastic little game and I have eShop Gold points that are due to expire at the end of August - now I know exactly what to spend them on!

Switch’s swan song. Looks great! And yay for 60fps! I’ve been waiting so many years…

If this is true, it’s a pretty seismic shift as most assumed 2024 was a given, including myself.

Now if this is indeed true then what does it mean for my beloved Metroid Prime 4? Don’t tell me we have to wait another entire year! 😭

@Dav74833 @HADAA so you can unlock more lives? That’s a relief. I just hope that the permadeath system doesn’t mean there’s excessive repetition in the campaign. Also having to finish the entire campaign in just one continuous sitting sounds absolutely exhausting. I don’t fully understand this concept, but if any company can successfully introduce me to a new genre it’s Nintendo.

Keeping an open mind because I trust Nintendo and I enjoyed Octo Expansion, but permadeath with only one life and no checkpoints sounds really intimidating.

Panzer Dragoon!

Sega, please.

The link been taken down. I will never know what Wapeach looks like. Sad times.

Edit: okay Google didn’t fail me and I was able to see what all the fuss is about. Was kinda expecting the character to be more ‘evil’ aesthetically to match up with the Wario and Waluigi designs.

@zeromission80 yeah there’s no good excuse for it. Switch hardware may be old but Ori, Hollow Knight, and plenty of others prove that it really shouldn’t be an issue for these 2D graphics games.

If this is indie then the likes of Sonic Mania, Child of Light, Pentiment, and Good Job! must also be indies and that just doesn’t sit right with me.

Not liking how in 2023 even 2D metroidvanias are experiencing performance troubles on Switch. Afterimage is another metroidvania with 2D graphics released earlier this year that’s on sale currently and looked interesting to me, but then I read that it too has performance issues (mentioned in the NL review and elsewhere). Seems like no game is safe from stutters and framerate dips on Switch these days, not even the most basic 2D ones. Come on developers, do better.

That catalogue bonus is a nice surprise. I’ve been completely burnt out on Splatoon recently due to the seemingly endless grinding needed for the catalogue. I only got to level 10 in this season as I just couldn’t force myself to play every single day for the daily points bonus anymore. Anything that makes progressing the catalogue less of a slog is welcome.

As others have pointed out, this is no different from the dangerous driving, theft, and murderous rampages you can do in games like GTA or Saints Row etc. Or how about those strategy games where you can enslave your opponents or genocide them.

So the only actual issue here is the age rating. Plus, the fact it looks like a poorly made shovelware game.

Super interesting that Nintendo would specifically call out faster loading times on internal storage. I can’t remember them ever communicating that to customers before so it must make a decent difference in this game if they bothered to mention it here. Time to shuffle some games around so I can fit Pikmin 4 on internal storage.

@LittleBe4r As soon as I finished Lost in Random I deleted the game from my Switch purely because the icon is just that ugly.

Nice to see another old classic come to Switch (psst Microsoft, port Psychonauts to Switch!). I just hope they have done the game justice in the remastering and been able to remove some of the jank in way the game controls. It’s a game with a lot of heart, but is showing its age, so hopefully gets some nice QoL upgrades in this version.

I do like the Cat Quest games. I’ll be getting this one for sure!

I was holding out hope that Metroid Prime 4 would be a late 2023 release, but after the latest Direct it’s clear that’s not happening and it’s very much 2024 release. So seems inevitable it’ll be a launch title. I think it’ll be cross-gen with Switch, in the same way as Breath of the Wild or Twilight Princess were.

@Daggot us millennials were watching Futurama in our childhoods. Childhood nostalgia is a powerful thing! I’m glad to see the show come back.

We don’t horse around on this side of the Atlantic.

I still have BOTW in my backlog so I can’t justify purchasing TOTK until I finish that game first.