Polvasti

This looks really pretty, hopefully the gameplay will be as good as the visual style. There's plenty of artsy 2D metroidvanias these days, but not so many in the 3D realm, so I can definitely see myself giving this one a try.

So there'll be two life sim/JRPG hybrids among Switch 2 launch titles? The new Rune Factory will do for me for now, but I might get Fantasy Life too at a later date. It'll be interesting to see how these two compare with each other.

I have the Deluxe System Case for the Switch 1, which is a similar case that fits all the accessories + a Pro Controller. That one cost 39 euros and it's licensed by Nintendo, so not a cheap Amazon knockoff. I don't really get how a Switch 2 equivalent of it could cost twice as much? (I mean, I do actually get it, it's capitalism, but that's still a ridiculous price difference.)

@Kingy

for most people all those third party ports have been available for a long time on more powerful (and frankly more affordable) hardware.

This doesn't apply to all third party launch titles though. I don't care about Mario Kart, but I'm super excited to get the new Rune Factory game and the Bravely Default remaster at launch. The former launches on all platforms at the same time as on Switch 2, and the latter is a Nintendo exclusive which was previously only available on 3DS (which I've never owned). So I couldn't have played either of those games before on my gaming PC, and IMO the Switch is a better platform for farming sims and JRPGs anyway.

@RiasGremory Polyamory is not the same as polygamy. Polyamory simply mean having more than one romantic and/or sexual relationship, while all the parties involved know and approve of the situation. I'm sure that's not illegal in the US.

Sounds like a needlessly complicated mechanic when polyamory exists in real life. 🙂 Sadly most video games with romance choices don't allow you to choose an ethical poly relationship, though there are a few exceptions.

It's pretty sad when your Monster Hunter imitator for the Switch 2 looks graphically worse than Monster Hunter Rise on Switch 1.

I live in continental Europe, got the invite to preorder from My Nintendo Store in the second wave of invites in April, so I did that. And a week after that they opened the preorders for everyone with an NSO account, as mentioned in the article, and they still haven't ran out of stock. So things have definitely gone pretty smoothly here in Europe. I'm guessing they would've in the US too if not for the Trump administration.

I'm really hoping they don't add Link to the playable roster here, because A) him also traveling back in time simply does not fit the events of Tears of the Kingdom, and B) just like Age of Calamity, this is really Zelda's companion story to the game it's spun off from, so please just let her shine.

The only way I can think of to add playable Link and not have this game contradict TotK would be if the character in this game was Shadow Link or some kind of a copy/clone of him and not the real person.

@SwitchplayerJohn Probably because not a lot of people played Odyssey in co-op, so it's not such a big deal? The asymmetrical Cappy mode is not full-blown co-op, it seems to exist mostly so that a young child can join an older kid or their parent in the game. And those young kids are more likely to be in the same space as the older player anyway, so I can't imagine the majority of Odyssey players will ever use the online co-op option.

Now, if the game were to add a full symmetrical online co-op mode, with the other player being able to play Luigi or some other character with all the same capabilities as Mario, that would be a whole different thing.

@FantasiaWHT Nintendo Life can use images of Nintendo products because it's a video game journalism site, and using copyrighted material for journalistic purposes falls under fair use. The same doesn't apply to a dating app.

I'm actually playing more on the Switch 1 now, since I want to finish the couple of JRPGs I'm in the middle of before the Switch 2 inevitably consumes most of my playing time next month.

@FantasiaWHT As shown in the pics in this article, they're using images of Nintendo characters to market a commercial product, and such images are also included in the product itself. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think that falls under fair use?

So, they designed a paid dating app whose design and marketing uses Nintendo IPs, and they're surprised it got cease & desisted? 😅 Either they're quite stupid or quite naive.

I've already preordered Bravely Default and the new Rune Factory for the Switch 2, so I'm glad to know they seem to be fine. One thing I'm curious about, though: can you play those minigames in Bravely Defauly without the mouse mode? How do they work in handheld play?

Also, I haven't played Donkey Kong 64, so I have no idea what a Rambi is... Would it have hurt to explain it in the article for those of us who don't know?

@OorWullie I guess you haven't played the Xenoblade Chronicles games? 🙂

@alicedarko There are gonna be some completely new games at launch, they just weren't mentioned in this article. Besides MKW, these new games include Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, Fast Fusion, and Survival Kids. And then there's Bravely Default Remastered, which adds some new content, and which remains a Nintendo exclusive, so you can't play it anywhere else.

So Switch 2 is actually gonna get more completely new and/or exclusive third party launch games than Switch 1 did.

There's really no need to release a new Switch 2 version of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, since a simple puzzle game like this doesn't really benefit from the better performance and higher resolution the new console offers. They could've simply made the extra features added to this version into a DLC for the original PPT2, or at least allowed those of us who own the Switch 1 version to buy a cheaper upgrade pack to get the Switch 2 version. As such, it's ridiculous to expect we would pay a full price for the game again just to get those few extra features.

One third-party game we do know will be delivered in full on a game card is Cyberpunk 2077, with CD Projekt Red previously confirming it's using a 64GB card to accomplish this.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is also confirmed to have the full game on the game card. Here's a quote from the publisher's website:

The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is a red 64GB game card that includes, in full, the Nintendo Switch game and the Upgrade Pack.

https://marvelousgames.com/news/rune-factory-guardians-of-azuma-nintendo-switch-2-faq

@Medic_alert Well, as mentioned in this news article, Nintendo has confirmed that both the base game and upgrade pack are included on the Switch 2 cartridge, so what other reason would they have to put that disclaimer there?

@Medic_alert It's been confirmed by Nintendo right from the start. Here's a direct quote from Nintendo.com:

If you already have the original Nintendo Switch game—as either a physical or digital version—you can upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition by purchasing the game's upgrade pack from Nintendo eShop, My Nintendo Store, or retailers.

@Medic_alert The disclaimer is there so that the millions of people who already own the Switch 1 versions of these games will know that they can also buy the upgrade separately and they don't need to buy the full game for the second time for Switch 2. Since this won't be immediately obvious to everyone, to me it seems pretty consumer-friendly to put the relevant info on the box cover.

IIRC, neither game ever tells you how much durability you have left in a weapon. So unless they're gonna add a durability meter with the Switch 2 update, how would you even know which weapon it makes sense to repair?

@Axecon Have you played the previous Hyrule Warriors games? They have a completely different feel and gameplay, and a different game engine from the mainline Zelda games. So calling this game a "story DLC" of TotK doesn't make any sense, especially since even the game world will be different this time.

I've never understood why Age of Calamity isn't considered canon. Time travel and alternate timelines have been part of the Zelda lore since Ocarina of Time, so why would the alternate timeline created by time travel in AoC be non-canonical whereas the alternate timelines created by time travel in OoT are canonical?

One of the greatest games of all time, a couple of little gimmicks, and a beloved indie don't make for a bad launch line-up, we'll admit.

Snipperclips isn't a "little gimmick", it's genuinely one of the best Switch-exclusive games and an awesome co-op experience.

I've had a continuous NSO + expansion pack subscription for the last four years, I've shared my play data to Nintendo for all that time, and my overall play hours on the Switch must be in the thousands, but no invitation. 😐 I'd previously turned off the option to get promotional emails from Nintendo, but I turned it on last week once they announced the preorders will be invitation-only. I dunno if that's the reason for not getting an invitation or if it's something else.

@SillyG I agree that the launch lineup isn't that impressive, but for me at least the most exciting thing on day one will be to try out the upgraded versions of BotW and TotK + finally being able to play Wind Waker.

@TbobB

I don't understand how "SuperCafe" can be in line for both the opening and the Switch 2. Surely as soon as he steps inside for the opening of the shop on 15th May, his position in the queue for Switch 2 is void?

Do you think there'll be anyone else there queuing for the Switch 2 on May 15th, three weeks before its release?

@PinderSchloss Unless they're being super lazy with the designs, the world should look very different from the previous three games though, given that the story is set a hundred thousand years in Hyrule's past.

@Tyranexx I don't think that will be the case here. They made Age of Calamity into an alternate timeline because that was the only way to give it an ending that wasn't super dark, given how those events happened in the main timeline. But we already know the Imprisoning War ended with Ganondorf's, well, imprisonment. So there's no need for them to come up with an alternative happier ending.

@Selim This game is set in the past era where Zelda time-travelled in Tears of the Kingdom. Link didn't time-travel with her, so presumably he won't be in the game. Which I think is great, I'd rather see some fresh new playable characters from the Imprisoning War era than the same ones we already had in Age of Calamity.

I'm not gonna buy this before Nintendo announces remastered versions of Prime 2 and 3 for the Switch. I haven't played these games on the Gamecube or Wii, so it'd be weird to jump from 1 to 4.

@Daniel36 XC1 does have some fanservice (mostly with the character of Sharla), but it's not as blatant as in XC2. And in XC3 there's even less, the boob jiggle shots and other such fanservice are restricted to a couple of NPCs and a handful of scenes. The main characters in 3 are all depicted in a respectful, non-sexist way.

The first one is my favourite. The story is just so great in how it builds up from a fairly generic beginning into something truly unique and epic. And the open world in it is so beautiful and imaginative.

XC3 has better, more compelling characters, but it suffers from the story being stretched out too much, especially during the last third. Its world is also a bit less colourful and more derivative. It's still a good game, but lacks some of the magic of the first entry.

XC2 has too much embarrassing, sexist fanservice, so I didn't bother with it. XCX I've never had the chance to play, since I don't have a Wii U, but I'm definitely gonna try the Switch version.

The first one was great fun and a perfect game to play in short spurts on the Switch, so I'm definitely gonna check out the sequel. I do wish, though, that this time they'll include a proper conclusion to the story when you beat the game. That was the one major flaw in the first one.

@MegaWatts No prob, it's nice that more people learn about the best Joycon alternative on the market.

@Moistnado Agreed. That's one of the reasons why I think the Mobapad M6 are the best Switch controllers, because they have a really, really good D-pad. Playing 2D platformers and action games is such a joy with that D-pad.

So these have pretty much the same features as the Mobapad M6 HD, except with the Mobapads you get HD rumble and an NFC reader for the same price (80 bucks)? Can't imagine they'll replace the Mobapads as the best Joycon alternatives then, unless you really want to have some shiny LED lights in your controller.

Out of these options, I gotta go for "Amnesia" in Nier: Automata. Like the article says, it really is emotionally devastating, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome either – the quest ends before you get bored of it. (In fact, I think one of the reasons why the sidequests in Nier: Automata are so highly rated is that almost none of them are overtly long.)

Also, "Amnesia" is an ideal sidequest in that while it isn't mandatory, completing it gives you a better grasp of the main characters and the larger plot of the game. It's not some completely trivial busywork that only rewards with you XP and items, the real reward is a deeper understanding of the game's central themes. That's how all good sidequests should be.

I gotta say Kasumi's confidant quest in Persona 5 Royal. The way they introduce a fairly stereotypical "genki girl" character and then manage to make her way more interesting and complex than you'd initially expected is a total tearjerker of a sidequest. Especially since the unexpected turns her story takes feel organic and justified; it's not like they put some shocking plot twists there just to surprise the player.

Why do the thumbnails for these videos have the people holding five games that are not actually on their top 5 list?

Agreed, Tetris Effect is really the only true answer here. Such an amazing, synaesthetic ride!

@Olliemar28 Does this game really adapt the whole plot of Horizon Zero Dawn? I found the story to be the strongest part of HZD, but it had such bleak twists (such as the revelations of what actually happened to Earth and humanity in the past), I can't imagine they would've included those in a Lego game.

Interesting characters and character development are the number one thing for me in RPGs, so if this game doesn't have that, I'll be skipping it then.

Also, finally a chance to see how the beautiful Switch-exclusive red-and-blue starship looks like in 4k resolution. 😎

Awesome, this is what I've been waiting for since the game came out on Switch two years ago. Now I can play it on the go on the Switch and continue playing on the telly with my PC. The cross-save website doesn't yet allow you to register your Nintendo account yet, but hopefully they'll add it soon.

@SBandy1 Vangelis listening to this soundtrack now would be quite a feat considering he's dead. 😁

I really hope Nintendo will release remastered editions of Metroid Prime 2 and 3 before releasing 4. I'm sure there are a lot of people like myself who don't own a Gamecube nor a Wii, so I don't really see the point of getting 4 if I can't play the earlier games in the series before that.