It's as simple as shelf life and basic psychology, I'd say. If Metroid Prime 4 only releases on Switch, then you're restricting just how long the game is on store shelves for. If Switch game sales slow to a crawl, you're going to see the retail stock of physical Switch games get relegated off to the side. Putting the game on Switch 2 is likely the difference between it spending, at best, 4-5 years on store shelves (and likely less if people move on from the Switch the way they did from the 3DS - game sales have already slowed down big time outside of fringe cases like Mario Party and, inevitably, Pokemon), and being there for much longer should the game do well. And Nintendo obviously wants it to; it is one of the most AAA-looking games we've ever seen come from them When was the last time a Nintendo game had motion capture like what we saw in the reveal? I think many who do upgrade to the Switch 2 also aren't likely to look back at what's releasing on Switch. We consistently want the shiny new thing. Keeping anything on Switch-only after the Switch 2 is out sends a message that it is outdated. Even something like Legends Z-A (note that one of the last tidbits we got from the Game Freak gigaleaker is that "Super Ikkaku," ostensibly a Switch 2 version of Z-A, is in fact coming). It doesn't matter how well Prime 4 reviews - if there's not a shiny new version on Switch 2 on store shelves, it's not going to get as much attention. It is the best chance for Metroid to achieve wider popularity and maintain more evergreen sales. And it's not even like the game will be gimped on Switch to accommodate the successor. It's already looking like a contender for the Switch's best-looking game, period.
@StewdaMegaManNerd Nope. It was surprisingly fleshed out and ambitious. I wouldn't expect it until late this year, but I imagine there'll be a second round of playtesting on a larger scale with less secrecy.
@StewdaMegaManNerd I can't tell if this is a joke or not, but I was part of the playtest and it is very much its own thing, with a distinct world, playable characters whose designs inform what they're able to do, and a full soundtrack
I've heard this game is one of the best-optimized games running on Unreal Engine 5, so I hope they're able to squeeze enough out of a dedicated Switch 2 build to manage the 60fps the Steam Deck version can't fully manage despite running above 40fps and often into the 50s. Granted, it'd be nice in general if the Switch 2 was equipped with VRR, since my brief experience with 40fps has suggested it feels a lot closer to 60fps than one might expect, but Nintendo opting for a 120Hz screen seems very unlikely, haha.
Picked up Mainframes, but I think that's about the extent of what I'm interested in this week. Which is fine, since I'm eyeing other purchases of games or DLC that don't really get discounted anymore so I can at least get a bit back on them via Gold Points.
@Dom_31 An average of a game a month is not jacksquat regardless of whether you cared about any of the releases or not. Sony would kill to have 11-12 exclusive games (counting Fitness Boxing 3) in a year these days
Weird decision to single out Mario vs. Donkey Kong when it reviewed better than Princess Peach: Showtime!, Nintendo World Championships, and Emio and roughly on par with Luigi's Mansion 2 HD and Brothership. It's a perfect comfort food game for me. Not anything stellar, but it's a satisfying little game that reminds me of some of the flash games I used to love.
I really don't understand how rumors of the 3D Mario team making a DK game, with 2D being emphasized (and them also hiring for a 2D game), have somehow either morphed into "3D DK is coming back!" or "the new 3D Mario is going to be a team-up with Donkey Kong!" Nintendo doesn't rely on crossovers to generate interest in stuff. I'm sure they can come up with something better than "we put the ape in 3D Mario" in terms of theming. I also don't get why so many people are predicting Splatoon 4. They just ran the Grand Festival! They only just had the theming for the next game set up for them. And while it's not really clear what "Past" will entail, it's not likely to have the same kind of 2-year turnaround that Splatoon 2 did, where it was just a matter of adjusting the plot in the campaign so that Marie was your companion character and Callie was part of the final boss. It's much more likely to influence the entire tone of the game the way Chaos did for Splatoon 3. If we see anything Splatoon-related in the next 2-3 years, it's going to be the series' first spinoff. Animal Crossing is quite a bit more likely to show up (there is really not that much overlap between its developers and the Splatoon team, contrary to popular belief) and I still don't think we're likely to see it until 2026.
I'm personally expecting to see 3D Mario, whatever casual-oriented launch title (maybe Switch Sports 2 since there's seemingly a codename tied to it floating around) and digital game they'll probably have on offer, and the NSO Playtest game for sure, with there being a good chance of seeing new games from Next Level Games and Monolith Soft, a new 2D DK (they are pushing this series so, so hard right now), and something tied to Zelda in some way. As for third-party, I expect to see a lot of old games (e.g. Hi-Fi Rush, Elden Ring, Jedi Fallen Order) with some 2025 game releases and a fair few brand-new titles (Square Enix hasn't announced anything new since the June Direct, apparently, and for Capcom, that leaked Power Stone remake from years ago feels like the kind of thing they'd gear towards the Nintendo crowd?)
I'm not particularly interested in this game, but I'm glad it's doing well. Maybe they'll finally do another console RPG based on the trading card game, considering that Let's Go followed Pokemon Go's enormous success
@somnabulance I played the demo for MainFrames on Steam and had a good time with it. It ironically felt smoother with a controller, with the mouse movement to reposition windows containing platforms feeling jarring
I think Nintendo will do what they can to maintain a regular cadence of releases even with development times increasing. They've sought out many new partnerships in the last few years, collaborating with Mages, WayForward, ArtePiazza, Acquire, Arc System Works, and Forever Entertainment for the first time (with more reportedly to come). They're investing heavily in their own internal development - EPD in particular has been the focus with their new construction, but Monolith Soft has also expanded greatly, and NST seems to be getting rebuilt into a full development studio again. They've been leveraging more recent partnerships like the one they've established with Tantalus Media, and they've even rekindled some more dormant ones, as we've seen with Eighting in particular. They've also not been shying away from outsourcing parts of development - again, Eighting was responsible for a lot of Pikmin 4, and the Thousand-Year Door remake was apparently largely the work of TOSE rather than Intelligent Systems. I fully expect this strategy to continue with things like Cygames getting contracted to work on a console title for Nintendo, or getting Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to fit an F-Zero GX remaster into their schedule (they seem insanely efficient, so it doesn't feel impossible that they can't), or them revisiting their indie collaboration strategy that gave us Snipperclips, The Stretchers, Cadence of Hyrule, and Good Job!. To expect only 6 new games a year feels woefully pessimistic, especially because I think even Microsoft and Sony managed better than that in the Xbox One/PS4 era. (Well, maybe not Microsoft, but they're special.) I would be surprised if we get less than 10, at least to start.
@Paulo They did rely a lot on older games, but I'm tired of hearing this. Of the 40+ first-party Wii U games, only around a dozen were brought to Switch. Nintendo just dumped a bunch of them (4) into 2018 and managed to create a stigma that's followed the Switch for its entire life, even though every other year saw 2 Wii U ports at most, and we didn't even get any for a 4-year period between Super Mario 3D World and Xenoblade Chronicles X. They have very little incentive to do the same on Switch 2, which is why I expect we'll see them really rely on the GameCube, Wii, and 3DS libraries with the odd Wii U game here or there (Kirby and the Rainbow Curse feels primed to come back via the Mouse-Con mode and there are a few other stragglers like Pushmo World and Yoshi's Woolly World that could come over). I don't anticipate any of those systems getting NSO apps, though I think there's a slim chance they have Virtual Console-style releases for those platforms specifically for games they're almost certainly not going to remaster (e.g. any Mario Kart or Mario Party), likely using the same base as the Pikmin 1+2 Switch ports.
Even the indies seem itching to move on from Switch - over a dozen games at the show were confirmed for every current platform but it, by the looks of things. We'll be eating good on Switch 2, though, especially because I imagine the vast majority of indies will run at 60fps.
Well, Pyoro's teased over on BlueSky that a multiplayer project developed by ILCA, Game Freak, and apparently The Pokemon Company itself codenamed "Synapse" that was uncovered during the Game Freak gigaleak will show up. So this is going to be the most interesting Pokemon Presents in years on account of that and Z-A showing up. 2 non-mobile announcements (maybe) - imagine that
@Sylamp That question can actually be answered pretty easily...and it's a yes. The Game Freak gigaleaker resurfaced last month with a few new tidbits of information, one of which was the codename "Super Ikkaku," implying that Z-A (codenamed Ikkaku) will release on both platforms
Kinda funny that, as of right now, it doesn't look like this game is going to be the multiverse game people were speculating it would be or All-Stars Racing 3 under a new name. Though I wouldn't be surprised if there's still some crossover content that just isn't the focus, since Sega does kind of love their crossovers (especially with Super Monkey Ball)
Frankly, I expect them to develop the sequel with the Switch 2 as the target platform. I don't think you really need to harness the extra power of the PS5/Xbox Series X with the kind of artstyle Okami has?
I had two very contradictory takeaways from this article:
We really need to get over this idea of constantly calling back to past titles or other things. What would a Luigi's Mansion set in Super Nintendo World really offer? They have like 5 areas to pull from. Why wouldn't they just do a unique amusement park? Why would we need an Isle Delfino setting for Luigi's Mansion? What would New Donk City really bring to the table outside of "woah, it's that place I recognize!" If they wanted to do an urban setting, they don't need to use both Mario Odyssey and Ghostbusters as a crutch to lean on.
Setting a Luigi's Mansion game in Bowser's Castle would actually be awesome, especially if they take the same kind of liberties they did with The Last Resort to create a really varied take on that setting unlike anything we've seen before. It feels genuinely inspired, whereas most of the other suggestions here feel a bit too reliant on other Mario media, are a bit too similar to The Last Resort, or are odd fits for the series. (Though the village idea is also one I like a lot!)
Given what basically every other social media platform has become...yeah, they really shouldn't bring Miiverse back. I don't imagine it would have any better of a platform culture, and the in-game integration would make things more off-putting. I'd probably turn it off across the board
@coolioam Nothing's been confirmed about who's developing CrossWorlds. The "elite SEGA racing team" thing is almost certainly marketing speak, because when was the last time Sega made a racing game in-house? It doesn't seem to be Hardlight, either, since The Game Awards pulled their Tweet for the game that tagged them very quickly, and any confusion would make sense because they are the team behind the Apple Arcade Sonic Racing game. So that leaves Sumo as the most likely candidate, especially because from what little we do know about the game (from Sega's East Asian social media accounts), it is being billed as a followup to Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed with the water and sky racing returning.
@MikeP Considering that they inherently can't have as much output as what we saw from them across both console and handheld on a combined HD system, they've been doing pretty well overall. Nintendo is one of the last big developers out there that recognizes the importance of AA releases; the majority of their Switch games arguably fall into that camp. There has been a lull of new IPs as of late, but they've kind of been more focused on reviving dormant series, and I imagine COVID is a big part of why (adjusting to a remote work environment undoubtedly would've hurt being able to experiment with wholly new ideas). We do at least know they have a very ambitious and experimental new IP in the works through the Switch Online Playtest, and they always bring out new concepts with new systems. I would say my main issue with their current output is that outside of Mario (and Zelda, which didn't really receive any spinoffs prior to the 2010s outside of Link's Crossbow Training), spinoffs have been relatively lacking. Kirby stuff has been pushed to the eShop. The Pokemon Company is concentrating on mobile over console for sidegames. Series ripe with potential for spinoffs, like Splatoon, Animal Crossing, and Pikmin haven't seen any. Nintendo's done a good job at giving us handheld-esque games overall, but I do think the more truly small-scale stuff has fallen by the wayside.
Considering Nintendo's very high employee retention rate and how much emphasis they seem to place on making sure their games are in the right hands, I think we're gonna be okay
I think it's going to be a "Crash" button. Pressing it shorts out the system and forces a reboot. Glad to see Nintendo taking inspiration from my brother's botched New 2DS ZL button!
In all seriousness, I think people are extremely offbase on what the C button will be used for. I think the most likely thing is for it tying to a new social feature, but I'm not sure if it'll be chat since Nintendo tends to have restrained social features. Any other prominent, serious suggestion I've seen has something that just doesn't make sense about it:
I participated in the Playtest Program, and I can tell you right now that it will not be integrated into the C button in any way. It's very much its own thing, and it was often a very solitary experience as well. Even when I was accompanied by other players, though, there was no spoken or text communication.
It doesn't make any sense for the C to stand for cursor and tie into Mouse Mode. The optical sensors aren't going to do anything if they're not pressed into a surface, and that means that no input should be registered when the Joy-Con are inserted into the Switch itself, the straps, or the grip unless the straps are held against a surface. If, for some reason, they did tie this to a button, it would be on the side of the Joy-Con and not the front because it's only relevant to having them detached, whereas placing the button on the front suggests it is a prominent system-level feature.
It's not another screenshot button. Even if it drops the C for whatever reason - I imagine it was just hidden so they can reveal it properly in April - it's flat in these renders.
I've seen people speculate it's just going to be a C button, akin to something like the Nunchuk. It's placed too far from the main buttons to be something they expect you to use regularly; it's telling that it's below the Home button.
@DK_Dude333 The vast majority of indie games on Switch come out on Steam first. If they launch day-and-date, they've usually been picked up by a more notable publisher, which tends to mean they're worthwhile more often than not
I think this is just them trying to frame themselves as a developer of a very specific kind of action game. Does kinda go against their original philosophy of doing different, unconventional games, but all of these supposedly lost pages that you need Internet Archive for still exist and can be accessed on their company profile page, which no one seems to be mentioning. Except Project G.G. So the real story here is basically "Project G.G. is seemingly cancelled, and Platinum has trimmed down its portfolio while leaving pages to their other games on its company history."
Thinking I'll grab this one on PC. Was curious if they'd be able to push it to 60fps on Switch, and it's at 30fps; will probably end up doubledipping if it can be pushed up to 60fps on Switch 2?
I feel like every February for the past few years, people say "this is the year Nintendo skips out," and every year they always have something to show, even if last year it was just Endless Ocean Luminous (granted, the 2 games they had pending dates for were Mario games and they were saved for Mario Day anyways). We have way less on the calendar right now, and it seems like Legends Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 aren't coming out in the first half of the year, so I think we're looking at a full Direct, likely with a shadowdrop from Nintendo and announcements to pad out April-June. However, I expect to see it lean more into indie announcements, since Directs tend to have at least a few of them from bigger publishers now and most games at this point are likely Switch 2-bound.
...Has everyone just forgetten how backwards compatibility/Virtual Console didn't stop them from adding retro courses in the past? If there aren't retros, it's not going to be because of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - it's going to be because of 24 players necessitating wider, less dense tracks. They could easily put together a selection of 16-24 great old tracks that missed out on 8 Deluxe.
Considering we know for a fact that Nintendo approached Next Level Games because they were made up of developers from Black Box Games, who made Sega Soccer Slam, as well as Good-Feel because Nintendo employee Takahiro Harada was impressed with a game Etsunobu Ebisu had worked on when at Konami - not to mention that similar relationships likely existed for Velan, given that their founders pushed to do a DK game at Vicarious Visions, and Grezzo, given that Nintendo subsidiary Brownie Brown worked on a Mana game alongside Koichi Ishii - something tells me we're likely to see Nintendo work with Eel before long.
@Jokerwolf Oh, for sure! Maybe they'll have a proper Mario Paint sequel year one instead? That could more readily be handed off to another team, though the Art Academy dev isn't available anymore
@Jokerwolf There also wasn't a brand-new 2D Mario between those games. Just Super Mario Run, which happened to release in 2016 anyways, and a very simple port of New Super Mario Bros. U (the 3DS port of Mario Maker was handled by NST). Pikmin was also not active at this time. Mario Maker 3 is likely coming next from the team, but it's unlikely to be a first-year release.
Comments 1,785
Re: Talking Point: Will Metroid Prime 4 Get A Switch 2 Release?
It's as simple as shelf life and basic psychology, I'd say. If Metroid Prime 4 only releases on Switch, then you're restricting just how long the game is on store shelves for. If Switch game sales slow to a crawl, you're going to see the retail stock of physical Switch games get relegated off to the side. Putting the game on Switch 2 is likely the difference between it spending, at best, 4-5 years on store shelves (and likely less if people move on from the Switch the way they did from the 3DS - game sales have already slowed down big time outside of fringe cases like Mario Party and, inevitably, Pokemon), and being there for much longer should the game do well. And Nintendo obviously wants it to; it is one of the most AAA-looking games we've ever seen come from them
When was the last time a Nintendo game had motion capture like what we saw in the reveal? I think many who do upgrade to the Switch 2 also aren't likely to look back at what's releasing on Switch. We consistently want the shiny new thing. Keeping anything on Switch-only after the Switch 2 is out sends a message that it is outdated. Even something like Legends Z-A (note that one of the last tidbits we got from the Game Freak gigaleaker is that "Super Ikkaku," ostensibly a Switch 2 version of Z-A, is in fact coming). It doesn't matter how well Prime 4 reviews - if there's not a shiny new version on Switch 2 on store shelves, it's not going to get as much attention. It is the best chance for Metroid to achieve wider popularity and maintain more evergreen sales. And it's not even like the game will be gimped on Switch to accommodate the successor. It's already looking like a contender for the Switch's best-looking game, period.
Re: Switch 2 GameCube Controller Rumours Resurface Following New Nintendo Filing
@nocdaes The product code in the filing matches with those for the Switch 2. It's not likely to be compatible with Switch 1.
Re: The Inventors Of Nintendo's Switch Online Playtest Appear To Have Been Revealed
@StewdaMegaManNerd Nope. It was surprisingly fleshed out and ambitious. I wouldn't expect it until late this year, but I imagine there'll be a second round of playtesting on a larger scale with less secrecy.
Re: The Inventors Of Nintendo's Switch Online Playtest Appear To Have Been Revealed
@StewdaMegaManNerd I can't tell if this is a joke or not, but I was part of the playtest and it is very much its own thing, with a distinct world, playable characters whose designs inform what they're able to do, and a full soundtrack
Re: UK Charts: Split Fiction's Strong Start Has Us Praying For A Switch 2 Port
I've heard this game is one of the best-optimized games running on Unreal Engine 5, so I hope they're able to squeeze enough out of a dedicated Switch 2 build to manage the 60fps the Steam Deck version can't fully manage despite running above 40fps and often into the 50s. Granted, it'd be nice in general if the Switch 2 was equipped with VRR, since my brief experience with 40fps has suggested it feels a lot closer to 60fps than one might expect, but Nintendo opting for a 120Hz screen seems very unlikely, haha.
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy Library With Two More Titles
But are there Minis on the move?
Re: Nintendo Download: 6th March (North America)
Picked up Mainframes, but I think that's about the extent of what I'm interested in this week. Which is fine, since I'm eyeing other purchases of games or DLC that don't really get discounted anymore so I can at least get a bit back on them via Gold Points.
Re: Nintendo Places Outside Top 20 In Metacritic's 15th Annual Game Publisher Rankings
@Dom_31 An average of a game a month is not jacksquat regardless of whether you cared about any of the releases or not. Sony would kill to have 11-12 exclusive games (counting Fitness Boxing 3) in a year these days
Re: Nintendo Places Outside Top 20 In Metacritic's 15th Annual Game Publisher Rankings
Weird decision to single out Mario vs. Donkey Kong when it reviewed better than Princess Peach: Showtime!, Nintendo World Championships, and Emio and roughly on par with Luigi's Mansion 2 HD and Brothership. It's a perfect comfort food game for me. Not anything stellar, but it's a satisfying little game that reminds me of some of the flash games I used to love.
Re: Talking Point: What We Expect From The Switch 2 Direct
I really don't understand how rumors of the 3D Mario team making a DK game, with 2D being emphasized (and them also hiring for a 2D game), have somehow either morphed into "3D DK is coming back!" or "the new 3D Mario is going to be a team-up with Donkey Kong!" Nintendo doesn't rely on crossovers to generate interest in stuff. I'm sure they can come up with something better than "we put the ape in 3D Mario" in terms of theming. I also don't get why so many people are predicting Splatoon 4. They just ran the Grand Festival! They only just had the theming for the next game set up for them. And while it's not really clear what "Past" will entail, it's not likely to have the same kind of 2-year turnaround that Splatoon 2 did, where it was just a matter of adjusting the plot in the campaign so that Marie was your companion character and Callie was part of the final boss. It's much more likely to influence the entire tone of the game the way Chaos did for Splatoon 3. If we see anything Splatoon-related in the next 2-3 years, it's going to be the series' first spinoff. Animal Crossing is quite a bit more likely to show up (there is really not that much overlap between its developers and the Splatoon team, contrary to popular belief) and I still don't think we're likely to see it until 2026.
I'm personally expecting to see 3D Mario, whatever casual-oriented launch title (maybe Switch Sports 2 since there's seemingly a codename tied to it floating around) and digital game they'll probably have on offer, and the NSO Playtest game for sure, with there being a good chance of seeing new games from Next Level Games and Monolith Soft, a new 2D DK (they are pushing this series so, so hard right now), and something tied to Zelda in some way. As for third-party, I expect to see a lot of old games (e.g. Hi-Fi Rush, Elden Ring, Jedi Fallen Order) with some 2025 game releases and a fair few brand-new titles (Square Enix hasn't announced anything new since the June Direct, apparently, and for Capcom, that leaked Power Stone remake from years ago feels like the kind of thing they'd gear towards the Nintendo crowd?)
Re: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 Officially Revealed For Nintendo Switch
@Zeebor15 Doomguy appeared as a playable character in the PC version of Pro Skater 3. They're just expanding on that
Re: Pokémon TCG Pocket Surpasses 100 Million Downloads
I'm not particularly interested in this game, but I'm glad it's doing well. Maybe they'll finally do another console RPG based on the trading card game, considering that Let's Go followed Pokemon Go's enormous success
Re: Video: 12 Exciting New Games Coming To Nintendo Switch In March 2025
@somnabulance I played the demo for MainFrames on Steam and had a good time with it. It ironically felt smoother with a controller, with the mouse movement to reposition windows containing platforms feeling jarring
Re: Fantasy Life i Development Was Restructured In 2024 As Keiji Inafune Left Company
My understanding is that Level-5 Comcept wasn't closed and was instead rebranded as Level-5 Osaka. Is there evidence to the contrary?
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Introduces Thrilling Series First "Real Time" Battles
@FX102A Legends games are officially considered mainline, they're just deliberately more experimental titles
Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Doesn't Need To Worry About Steam Deck Sales
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/big-3-valve-steam-ces-2025-analysis/
I didn't think this article could get any more funny to me, but somehow it's been done
Re: Talking Point: Can Nintendo Keep Up The One-Game-A-Month Release Pace On Switch 2?
I think Nintendo will do what they can to maintain a regular cadence of releases even with development times increasing. They've sought out many new partnerships in the last few years, collaborating with Mages, WayForward, ArtePiazza, Acquire, Arc System Works, and Forever Entertainment for the first time (with more reportedly to come). They're investing heavily in their own internal development - EPD in particular has been the focus with their new construction, but Monolith Soft has also expanded greatly, and NST seems to be getting rebuilt into a full development studio again. They've been leveraging more recent partnerships like the one they've established with Tantalus Media, and they've even rekindled some more dormant ones, as we've seen with Eighting in particular. They've also not been shying away from outsourcing parts of development - again, Eighting was responsible for a lot of Pikmin 4, and the Thousand-Year Door remake was apparently largely the work of TOSE rather than Intelligent Systems. I fully expect this strategy to continue with things like Cygames getting contracted to work on a console title for Nintendo, or getting Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to fit an F-Zero GX remaster into their schedule (they seem insanely efficient, so it doesn't feel impossible that they can't), or them revisiting their indie collaboration strategy that gave us Snipperclips, The Stretchers, Cadence of Hyrule, and Good Job!. To expect only 6 new games a year feels woefully pessimistic, especially because I think even Microsoft and Sony managed better than that in the Xbox One/PS4 era. (Well, maybe not Microsoft, but they're special.) I would be surprised if we get less than 10, at least to start.
Re: Talking Point: Can Nintendo Keep Up The One-Game-A-Month Release Pace On Switch 2?
@Paulo They did rely a lot on older games, but I'm tired of hearing this. Of the 40+ first-party Wii U games, only around a dozen were brought to Switch. Nintendo just dumped a bunch of them (4) into 2018 and managed to create a stigma that's followed the Switch for its entire life, even though every other year saw 2 Wii U ports at most, and we didn't even get any for a 4-year period between Super Mario 3D World and Xenoblade Chronicles X. They have very little incentive to do the same on Switch 2, which is why I expect we'll see them really rely on the GameCube, Wii, and 3DS libraries with the odd Wii U game here or there (Kirby and the Rainbow Curse feels primed to come back via the Mouse-Con mode and there are a few other stragglers like Pushmo World and Yoshi's Woolly World that could come over). I don't anticipate any of those systems getting NSO apps, though I think there's a slim chance they have Virtual Console-style releases for those platforms specifically for games they're almost certainly not going to remaster (e.g. any Mario Kart or Mario Party), likely using the same base as the Pikmin 1+2 Switch ports.
Re: Round Up: Every Switch Game Featured At Xbox's Indie Showcase (February 2025)
Even the indies seem itching to move on from Switch - over a dozen games at the show were confirmed for every current platform but it, by the looks of things. We'll be eating good on Switch 2, though, especially because I imagine the vast majority of indies will run at 60fps.
Re: Talking Point: Our 2025 Pokémon Presents Predictions - What Are You Hoping For?
Well, Pyoro's teased over on BlueSky that a multiplayer project developed by ILCA, Game Freak, and apparently The Pokemon Company itself codenamed "Synapse" that was uncovered during the Game Freak gigaleak will show up. So this is going to be the most interesting Pokemon Presents in years on account of that and Z-A showing up. 2 non-mobile announcements (maybe) - imagine that
Re: Poll: Which Pokémon Game Really Deserves A Remake Next?
Where's the option for Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD
Re: Talking Point: Should We Actually Get Excited For Pokémon Day This Year?
@Sylamp
That question can actually be answered pretty easily...and it's a yes. The Game Freak gigaleaker resurfaced last month with a few new tidbits of information, one of which was the codename "Super Ikkaku," implying that Z-A (codenamed Ikkaku) will release on both platforms
Re: Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time Physical Release Confirmed (Japan)
@quinnyboy58 Yeah, they already use AI to automate takedowns of stuff
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/24/24252410/nintendo-dmca-notices-mario-fan-art-ai-image-detection
Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From "SEGA Universes"
...Looking at the source, at no point do they claim CrossWorlds has the biggest character roster in series history
Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From "SEGA Universes"
@Fighting_Game_Loser Steam actually lists Sonic Team as the developer this time around
Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Rumours Surface Ahead Of Sony's 'State Of Play'
@Serpenterror The fact they're even making a Switch version will probably (hopefully) translate to a 60fps version on Switch 2
Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Rumours Surface Ahead Of Sony's 'State Of Play'
Kinda funny that, as of right now, it doesn't look like this game is going to be the multiverse game people were speculating it would be or All-Stars Racing 3 under a new name. Though I wouldn't be surprised if there's still some crossover content that just isn't the focus, since Sega does kind of love their crossovers (especially with Super Monkey Ball)
Re: Opinion: The Okami Sequel Simply Has To Come To Switch 2
Frankly, I expect them to develop the sequel with the Switch 2 as the target platform. I don't think you really need to harness the extra power of the PS5/Xbox Series X with the kind of artstyle Okami has?
Re: Nintendo Talks About Future Switch Support Ahead Of Switch 2 Launch
@Anachronism Fire Emblem Warriors, Sushi Strikers, and Captain Toad were all cross-generation 3DS/Switch releases
Re: Talking Point: Where Should 'Luigi's Mansion 4' Take Place?
I had two very contradictory takeaways from this article:
Re: Opinion: Miiverse Was Fine, But Does Anybody Really Want It Back In 2025?
Given what basically every other social media platform has become...yeah, they really shouldn't bring Miiverse back. I don't imagine it would have any better of a platform culture, and the in-game integration would make things more off-putting. I'd probably turn it off across the board
Re: Sumo Group Confirms "Impact" On Workforce As It Pivots To Develop Exclusively For Partners
@Ogbert The division of Sumo that worked on Team Sonic Racing isn't the same as the one that's working on Stampede
Re: Sumo Group Confirms "Impact" On Workforce As It Pivots To Develop Exclusively For Partners
@coolioam Nothing's been confirmed about who's developing CrossWorlds. The "elite SEGA racing team" thing is almost certainly marketing speak, because when was the last time Sega made a racing game in-house? It doesn't seem to be Hardlight, either, since The Game Awards pulled their Tweet for the game that tagged them very quickly, and any confusion would make sense because they are the team behind the Apple Arcade Sonic Racing game. So that leaves Sumo as the most likely candidate, especially because from what little we do know about the game (from Sega's East Asian social media accounts), it is being billed as a followup to Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed with the water and sky racing returning.
Re: Random: Shuhei Yoshida Reminisces About Playing Sony's First 'SNES PlayStation' Game
@mattesdude What was Sony trying to do?
Re: Takaya Imamura On Nintendo's Future: Talented And Charismatic Devs Are "Crucial"
@MikeP Considering that they inherently can't have as much output as what we saw from them across both console and handheld on a combined HD system, they've been doing pretty well overall. Nintendo is one of the last big developers out there that recognizes the importance of AA releases; the majority of their Switch games arguably fall into that camp. There has been a lull of new IPs as of late, but they've kind of been more focused on reviving dormant series, and I imagine COVID is a big part of why (adjusting to a remote work environment undoubtedly would've hurt being able to experiment with wholly new ideas). We do at least know they have a very ambitious and experimental new IP in the works through the Switch Online Playtest, and they always bring out new concepts with new systems. I would say my main issue with their current output is that outside of Mario (and Zelda, which didn't really receive any spinoffs prior to the 2010s outside of Link's Crossbow Training), spinoffs have been relatively lacking. Kirby stuff has been pushed to the eShop. The Pokemon Company is concentrating on mobile over console for sidegames. Series ripe with potential for spinoffs, like Splatoon, Animal Crossing, and Pikmin haven't seen any. Nintendo's done a good job at giving us handheld-esque games overall, but I do think the more truly small-scale stuff has fallen by the wayside.
Re: Takaya Imamura On Nintendo's Future: Talented And Charismatic Devs Are "Crucial"
Considering Nintendo's very high employee retention rate and how much emphasis they seem to place on making sure their games are in the right hands, I think we're gonna be okay
Re: Feature: 12 Things Switch 2's Mysterious Not-C-Button Might Do, Maybe
I think it's going to be a "Crash" button. Pressing it shorts out the system and forces a reboot. Glad to see Nintendo taking inspiration from my brother's botched New 2DS ZL button!
In all seriousness, I think people are extremely offbase on what the C button will be used for. I think the most likely thing is for it tying to a new social feature, but I'm not sure if it'll be chat since Nintendo tends to have restrained social features. Any other prominent, serious suggestion I've seen has something that just doesn't make sense about it:
Re: "Nintendo Is Probably The Easiest To Scam" - Devs Discuss The Current State Of The eShop
@DK_Dude333 The vast majority of indie games on Switch come out on Steam first. If they launch day-and-date, they've usually been picked up by a more notable publisher, which tends to mean they're worthwhile more often than not
Re: PlatinumGames Wipes Several Games From Its Website's Portfolio
I think this is just them trying to frame themselves as a developer of a very specific kind of action game. Does kinda go against their original philosophy of doing different, unconventional games, but all of these supposedly lost pages that you need Internet Archive for still exist and can be accessed on their company profile page, which no one seems to be mentioning. Except Project G.G. So the real story here is basically "Project G.G. is seemingly cancelled, and Platinum has trimmed down its portfolio while leaving pages to their other games on its company history."
Re: Review: Laika: Aged Through Blood (Switch) - A Supremely Unique Motorcycling Metroidvania
@Rainz @Bydlak
https://x.com/devolverdigital/status/1874153883708383594?t=snZphYbZi66qhOKfI69klw&s=19
It may finally be coming this year?
Re: Review: Laika: Aged Through Blood (Switch) - A Supremely Unique Motorcycling Metroidvania
@Overzeal Go look at the screenshots and tell me this is a pixel game lol
Re: Review: Laika: Aged Through Blood (Switch) - A Supremely Unique Motorcycling Metroidvania
Thinking I'll grab this one on PC. Was curious if they'd be able to push it to 60fps on Switch, and it's at 30fps; will probably end up doubledipping if it can be pushed up to 60fps on Switch 2?
Re: Poll: With No Switch 2 News Until April, Is A February Nintendo Direct On The Cards?
I feel like every February for the past few years, people say "this is the year Nintendo skips out," and every year they always have something to show, even if last year it was just Endless Ocean Luminous (granted, the 2 games they had pending dates for were Mario games and they were saved for Mario Day anyways). We have way less on the calendar right now, and it seems like Legends Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 aren't coming out in the first half of the year, so I think we're looking at a full Direct, likely with a shadowdrop from Nintendo and announcements to pad out April-June. However, I expect to see it lean more into indie announcements, since Directs tend to have at least a few of them from bigger publishers now and most games at this point are likely Switch 2-bound.
Re: Rumour: Switch 2 Game Cases Might Take Up More Space On Your Shelf
Wasn't this already proven to be a placeholder set of dimensions this retailer used for all games
Re: Talking Point: What Do We Actually Want From 'Mario Kart 9'?
...Has everyone just forgetten how backwards compatibility/Virtual Console didn't stop them from adding retro courses in the past? If there aren't retros, it's not going to be because of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - it's going to be because of 24 players necessitating wider, less dense tracks. They could easily put together a selection of 16-24 great old tracks that missed out on 8 Deluxe.
Re: Ubisoft Confirms Another Wave Of Layoffs, With 185 Employees Affected
Ubisoft Leamington, as FreeStyleGames, worked with Nintendo on Sing Party. Surprised that didn't come up in the article
Re: Astral Chain Director Seemingly Forms New Studio After Leaving PlatinumGames
Considering we know for a fact that Nintendo approached Next Level Games because they were made up of developers from Black Box Games, who made Sega Soccer Slam, as well as Good-Feel because Nintendo employee Takahiro Harada was impressed with a game Etsunobu Ebisu had worked on when at Konami - not to mention that similar relationships likely existed for Velan, given that their founders pushed to do a DK game at Vicarious Visions, and Grezzo, given that Nintendo subsidiary Brownie Brown worked on a Mana game alongside Koichi Ishii - something tells me we're likely to see Nintendo work with Eel before long.
Re: Nintendo Download: 23rd January (North America)
@TotalHenshin I think the highlights just follow what Nintendo puts at the top of the list instead of alphabetizing.
Re: Feature: Switch 2's Mouse Support Is Exciting, But Which Current Games Might Also Benefit?
@Jokerwolf Oh, for sure! Maybe they'll have a proper Mario Paint sequel year one instead? That could more readily be handed off to another team, though the Art Academy dev isn't available anymore
Re: Feature: Switch 2's Mouse Support Is Exciting, But Which Current Games Might Also Benefit?
@Jokerwolf There also wasn't a brand-new 2D Mario between those games. Just Super Mario Run, which happened to release in 2016 anyways, and a very simple port of New Super Mario Bros. U (the 3DS port of Mario Maker was handled by NST). Pikmin was also not active at this time. Mario Maker 3 is likely coming next from the team, but it's unlikely to be a first-year release.