DanElectrode

Looks pretty much identical to how Yoshi looks in the Mario Galaxy games, so that makes sense I guess.

@HingryHuppo Seems silly to me to say that a game called "Super Mario World 2" is not a Mario game. But mostly I was referring to this section in the article, which includes it in the list of 2D Mario games before going on to say we haven't had a 3D Mario game in 8 years:

> Imamura-san highlighted Odyssey's anniversary
> and drew an amusing comparison to Super Mario 64.
> Essentially, eight years prior to the N64 classic puts
> Nintendo right in the middle of the Famicom/NES days.
> The company would subsequently launch Super Mario Bros. 2,
> Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Land, Super Mario World,
> Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins,
> and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island all before
> our favourite plumber would dive headfirst into the 3D realm.
> ...
> Meanwhile, since Odyssey, we've had Super Mario Maker 2,
> Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, and Super Mario Bros.
> Wonder. Sigh... it's a different world we live in now, huh?

Whether you include it or not is up for debate, but IMHO if you include one, you should include the other.

@NintendoWife My read was that it's a prequel and it takes place before Pauline becomes the mayor. I thought the grandmother she mentions throughout was meant to be Pauline/Lady from the original Donkey Kong, not Mayor Pauline from Mario Odyssey

I mean, Donkey Kong Bananza was a direct prequel to Mario Odyssey from the same dev team, so it rings a little false to claim we haven't had a new 3D Mario title, even though he doesn't actually appear in it. A little like claiming Yoshi's Island was not a mainline Mario game because Mario is not playable in it.

@ComicVoice Yeah, trying to 100% everything as you go is really tedious, becomes much more fun if you just play through the story until you get some of the later transformations/upgrades and then revisit the earlier stages

Seemed pretty obvious to me that the grandmother she refers to is meant to be "Lady" from the original arcade game, much like how Cranky is meant to be the ape from that game, and that she is meant to be a younger version the same person as the mayor in Mario Odyssey.

I do have the expansion pack subscription, but Wario is probably the only game I'd bother playing even if it worked with the original Labo VR headset (which I already have), or had a 2D option, but if they've locked it behind DRM to only work with these special dongles I'll just skip it, thanks.

@karatekid1612 I'm sure these speed runners are getting their money's worth, they've likely already done a bunch of play throughs to discover these skips

I've been fairly thorough with using the sonar and digging for anything interesting as I go, but I haven't completely destroyed everything. Planning to go back and do that (and find all the ultra rare fossils, etc) after I get all the upgrades since it should make it quite a bit faster.

@CaleBoi25 Yeah, don't tell these people that Orlando Bloom is not blonde and yet he played Legolas in the LotR movies, and Emilia Clarke is not blonde and yet she played Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, just to cite two high-profile examples.

@Shepdawg1 Guessing they probably also cast it on the young end on purpose in case they want to do a sequel, they don't want the actors immediately aging out of the roles

@MTMike87 Yeah, I think similarly to BotW and TotK, you just have to give up the 100% completeist mentality as the games are just too damn big.

Complaining about how many moons there are or how many Koroks there are is a bit silly since getting all of them is purely optional and it's not like you get a particularly great unlock or anything anyway.

@Arawn93 Yeah thinking Nintendo's 1st party AAA releases would be game-key cards is nutty - the game-key cards are just going to be for smaller eShop things that would've probably not gotten any kind of physical release otherwise. Obviously all the big first-party games are going to be "real" game cards.

I was wondering how you'd even get it open since the Switch 1's pro controller just has miniature screws at the end of the handles but the Switch 2 doesn't. Sounds like the answer is that it's a huge PITA. At least Nintendo has a good track record of repairing these (if they get 'stick drift' or whatever) at no cost.

It's a bit odd considering they had such problems with that in the Switch 1 generation that they wouldn't at least make it possible for people to attempt to clean them themselves instead of basically ensuring everyone is going to always want to send them in by making that inordinately difficult.

@Nintoz it's also funny because the only reason DK is an ape is because they couldn't get the Popeye license for the original arcade game, so they just swapped Bluto out for a non-copyright King Kong ripoff.

So it makes sense that Miyamoto is just like "well he's a big strong guy," but funny to act like he's got some secret insight into a character where that's basically his only trait.

How does the rumble behave with games that use HD rumble? I have a NYXI Wizard, but the main drawback is the rumble is all-or-nothing, and there's no way to disable it, so it's just buzzing full blast all the time whenever there's meant to be a very subtle rumble (i.e. during BotW cutscenes), which is both annoying and saps the battery really quickly.

"Sega don't what Nintendoes"

@CapitalQ Yeah, I also worry that the little profile icon that's always showing in the same place whenever playing a game on any of the NSO emulators is going to cause burn-in on my OLED TV, wish they'd fade it out after a bit and only show it when you bring up the menu or something.

Kind of makes sense, especially with the focus on it being a contiguous "world," to have the characters all be from the Mushroom Kingdom, compared with Mario Kart 8 just being a series of disconnected tracks.

I kind of prefer it that way, combining every Nintendo property feels like fan service / IP maintenance rather than a conscious choice from a developer perspective.

I'm curious how the sharing-to-switch-1 thing works just on a technical level. I assume the Switch 1 is essentially just working like a Wii U GamePad in that usage where it's basically just a controller that is having video beamed to it from the Switch 2? Makes sense that it only works locally since it's probably using Miracast or something similar.

Is the video just mirrored from the "primary" system, or does the second player get their own camera controls, etc?

@MasterGraveheart yeah I think trying to work out all the timelines is a fools errand, Nintendo doesn't give a hoot about continuity and treats each game as it's own thing, and only kind of half-heartedly tries to retcon them together after the fact sometimes (like with the "official Zelda timeline").

Just enjoy the game on its own merits, it's not the MCU and it's not meant to perfectly line up with every previously released game.

@chardir I have two daughters, one is nine and one is eleven, and to me Pauline looks much closer to 8-9 than 13 here, but I also don't think it really matters since it's a cartoon character in a video game and I doubt her exact age really comes into play at all.

One thing I miss with the transition from cartridges to optical / digital media for games is the ability for cartridges to include unique hardware like this.

@Picola-Wicola The difference is high-end phones use Gorilla Glass, which is incredibly scratch resistant, whereas the Switch and Switch 2 have plastic, very scratchable screens. I don't use a screen protector on my phone, but I definitely did on the Switch and do on the Switch 2.

I think the "film" kind are dumb, because they're hard to apply and inevitably leave bubbles, and you're just covering the plastic screen in another plastic, easy-to-scratch layer. The tempered glass kind, however, are easy to apply without bubbles and are much more scratch resistant.

No, because I picked up a Spigen Dual Grip case + tempered glass kit before the Switch 2 was even released, so the unit went in it immediately upon unboxing, ensuring the actual screen is nice and pristine.

It's really unfortunate that Tequila Works went out of business in 2024, a Switch 2 version of RiME (or at least, an un-capped update like what Tinyware did here) would've been rad.

I really like the Knockout Tour mode (I prefer it to Grand Prix actually), and the variety offered by the "between track" courses, but I can't say as I've really spent any time in free roam.

I'm excited for it, largely because it looks like it actually has more in common with Mario Odyssey than the Donkey Kong Country games

@LazyDaisy I think it'll gain a significant boost over those by virtue of being the only first party title on the system aside from Mario Kart. People who bought the console want to see what the new hardware is capable of and are spoiling for AAA Nintendo games built for it.

I hope they don't patch rewind out of time trial mode (because it still seems like it'd be nice if you're just trying to practice a given run/shortcut or something), but I do think Nintendo will probably patch it so crossing the finish line while rewinding does not "count" as a completed lap

Reading between the lines it seems like this YouTuber guy tried to get Martinet to record a commercial for his channel or whatever in the Mario voice and Martinet wouldn't do it, which makes sense IMHO. As Martinet said, he's happy to do the voice for any fan he meets at a convention, he's just not going to record promotional material "as Mario" for you.

I could see using this for the few odd cartridges that didn't come in standard normal cases (e.g. Labo kits and Ring Fit Adventure) if you want to display it on a shelf next to the rest of your physical Switch games, but that seems like a pretty narrow reason to exist.

Doesn't look that different here IMHO but I'm assuming that's mostly because I'm watching a side-by-side video on a 1080p LCD computer screen with Youtube streaming compression. I'm sure it'll be noticeable on my actual OLED 4k TV when it's running in true uncompressed 60fps with HDR and whatnot.

@Bizzyb I don't think so. This is the full list of games with Upgrade Packs:

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/games/nintendo-switch-2-games/#topLevelFilters=Upgrade+pack&f=topLevelFilters&sort=df&p=0

Full list:
1. Breath of the Wild
2. Tears of the Kingdom
3. Super Mario Party Jamboree
4. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
5. Civilization VII
6. Story of Seasons - Grand Bazaar

Hogwarts Legacy for Switch 2 is only listed as a fully separate game from the Switch 1 version (which is consistent from what they said in their Creator's Voice segment as well).

Here you've got these guys still delivering huge content updates and visual/quality-of-life upgrades years after launch, meanwhile the Hogwarts Legacy devs are like "no you have to buy the full game again on Switch 2."

@SpinEnDash Generally the game cards actually contain the firmware they need to be playable, so I'm guessing even if you don't have an internet connection and only buy physical, the second you insert the Mario Kart World game card it'll prompt you to install the "real" system software that it needs to run. At least that's how it has worked on every console since the advent of updatable system software, going back to Gamecube.

The new movement options remind me of when the Tony Hawk series added the "revert" move, which unlocked a whole new class of insane combo lines, even in levels from previous games.

It also makes me positive I will never play this game online as I'm sure it'll be impossible to come in anywhere above 20th if you're not an insane grinding expert.

@MamaSymphonia Yeah, it's funny when you consider the amount of hours you're going to get out of it compared to like, going to a movie.

Interesting that they're maintaining the version number from Switch 1's system software

I feel like the fact that there's no real overarching plot is what makes me less annoyed that this one is open world. Whereas I find the general lack of direction and constant repetitive enemy encounters in the two open world Zeldas to be tedious, this one seems more focused on exploration and fun with less frustration.

I'd like to play it but it's a shame they're charging $10 for it since, as Alex said, it should really be a pack-in.

I feel like it'll inevitably get marked down to $3 or something in fairly short order, so I will probably just wait and pick it up then, which I'm sure a lot of other people are thinking as well.

@VoidofLight Yeah I don't think there's any chance they're going to do DLC for a Switch game after the Switch 2 is out. This "multiplayer improvements" update will probably be the last update ACNH ever gets barring maybe a random security/stability type minor patch.

@rvcolem1 Yeah I expect we'll see a pretty significant increase for Animal Crossing since the storage (both internal and SD card) is so much faster than Switch 1, even if they didn't release a "Switch 2 Update" with better frame rates or whatever, it should benefit from just running on hardware with faster disk I/O speeds.

Have they confirmed whether it will support Game Chat?

@canaryfarmer Yeah, so he eats the mushrooms, but what about the leafs, feathers, power stars, cat bells, etc. Seems like everything that's not a mushroom just kind of grants the power on contact.

Even more than FPS it's pretty rad that they're adding HDR. That's the biggest image quality game changer if you have an OLED TV that supports it IMHO. 1080P with HDR looks better than 4K without HDR.

@SillyG Yeah, anything without an update runs in emulation, right? I would expect those to have the same performance characteristics as on the original switch since it'll be emulating the hardware, but for these ones that are being recompiled to run natively on Switch 2 it seems like a pretty good performance boost is essentially guaranteed. Even if they're not actually changing the targeted frame rate, there should be way fewer dropped frames when running a game that was originally designed for the Switch 1 hardware.

@N64-ROX They've been using Bluetooth for every wireless controller going all the way back to the original Wii remote. However, they do a good job of making the connection much more reliable with their 1st party hardware than random PC peripherals and headsets, which I agree are usually flaky.

@N64-ROX The controllers connect to the Switch via bluetooth =P

I can see it being a cool way to keep in touch with family who live far away. Visiting my sister's Animal Crossing island while using GameChat would be neat, for instance. I've never really enjoyed online gaming and don't really have any intention of using it for general online play outside of that, however.

In fact I'll probably forbid my kids from using it without supervision because that seems like a way to invite creepers. But it will be neat if we can set up a GameChat-enabled Mario Kart World session with their cousins or school friends or whatever.

It would be cool if publishers went back and added mouse mode support to some of the more popular PC ports that use an awkward accelerometer based cursor on Switch 1, like Poly Bridge or Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic. I bet Stardew Valley will be patched to support it, at least.

I feel like with the Switch, Nintendo was able to achieve a mature version of the vision they'd been driving toward since the Wii/Wii U era, because the hardware finally caught up to the point that it was workable.

There's not really much else to add to the paradigm now as it's already a very satisfying and popular implementation, aside from wonky gimmicks like VR or 3D or something. There's a reason Xbox and PlayStation have been basically the same for like five consecutive generations.

Sometimes you just need to realize you've found an approach that works, so just making minor refinements and updating with more powerful hardware is really probably the only thing to be done? Not to mention they basically have to keep the form factor fairly similar if they want to have any kind of backward compatibility with Switch 1 games.

If Nintendo had announced the follow up to the Switch was a completely different formfactor with no backward compatibility and reliant on some kind of totally novel input mechanism, there'd likely be almost no 3rd party games, and their investors would've rioted.

@Scapetti I'm assuming the free update for that one is basically just a patch that makes it work on the Switch 2