blecch

Also received an email from Nintendo saying that I am still in the queue.

Nothing, only a troll email saying the user agreement has been updated.
Edit: shows I registered and still says "Eligible Nintendo Account holders will receive an email when it's time to purchase."

"Astro Bot-styled approach" – sounds good! The free/pack-in PS5 demo game was great (and a nice return to quality pack-in games), and the full blown Astro Bot (2024) is worth the price. I wish the Switch 2 demo game came with the system though. Nintendo Land was a great Wii U demo that would have been a perfect pack-in game.

Bill Trinen, I remember him from Nintendo Treehouse... Really though he should just say "After thinking about the fans and the wonderful experiences everyone is going to get from this fantastic game, we picked a price that will enable us to charge more money, and for you to pay us more, for this wonderful game. Which we think you should pay us $80 for. (Or £75 as a special discount for our UK friends.) Unless of course you buy the special launch download bundle, which is slightly more expensive at $500 but includes a free Switch 2 console in every box."

@WhiteUmbrella Adjusting for inflation, Switch 2 is cheaper than the SNES at launch, and so are its games. ($199 US ->$466, $50 -> $117.)

At least Switch 2 has smaller Game Key Cards than the PS5, and doesn't require a separate attachment to use them. ;_;
Still the thing I love(d) about the original Switch is you can just pop in a game card and play.

Going back to SNES pricing, eh Nintendo?
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/game-console-launch-prices-adjusted-for-inflation-1975-2024/

Will there be a Switch 2 Lite ?

Pata pata pata PON!! FEVER!! What a great series. I also miss the PSP/Vita.
@LordMcTurtle LocoRoco deserves a revival, including LocoRoco 2 as well as the underrated Midnight Carnival and Cocoreccho.

@Zeebor15 Super Nintendo Switch is still a great name.

Nintendo's actual GameCube controller and adapter seem to work well.

@Ultimapunch The only PlayStation that competes near the Switch's price point is PS4, which was still being manufactured in 2024 and is getting new/cross-gen games until 2025. Refurb PS5s may also compete. Sadly the PSVita/TV was the end of Sony's real handheld/hybrid line (the Portal being a remote play device only), but I see the Switch as a terrific spiritual successor/replacement.

The $778 price for the PS3 is for the 20GB launch model. The 60GB launch model price, adjusted for inflation, would be a whopping $934.

But the launch model "fat" PS3 with hardware PS2 compatibility (and emulated PS1 compatibility), lots of ports, etc. is a nice system. It started out as one of the more affordable Blu-Ray players. Eventually it could play every numbered Final Fantasy game from I through XIV. I am hoping we'll see the (underrated imho) FFXIII trilogy on Switch sometime, but it still looks great on PS3.

https://www.ign.com/articles/how-ps5-pros-price-compares-with-other-launch-consoles

Hoping Square Enix will release more of their brilliant PSX-era back catalog including Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile...

I have also thought that the Switch is a pretty great successor to the PSVita/PSP. Though now I have to dig mine out to play Patapon, Locoroco, MGS: Portable Ops, Super Stardust Delta, Tearaway, Jean D'arc, FF Tactics:WoTL....

This looks like the kind of game that Switch gamers would enjoy; guess they'll have to get a PS5 to play.

I have a PS5 Wii U setup (remote play + side controllers) and it's great.

Hopefully they'll add motion controls for Spla, uh, Foamstars.

@tonyp1987 Steam Deck availability is still even worse than PS5, and the best models are expensive. I don't expect it to give Nintendo a run for their money this year or next, but I'm excited about the future of handheld PC/Steam gaming.

Nice to see another great PS4 game with a playable Switch port. Persona 5 Royal should also be good since the original game ran fine on PS3.

@Paunch Vagrant Story definitely deserves a remaster/port, even though the FF8 remaster is somewhat jarring with its updated character and monster models juxtaposed against very blurry/pixelated backgrounds and NPCs. Sadly SE also seems to have lost the original source code for Squaresoft's legendary PS1 games.

It seems crazy, but I'm not complaining as long as the quality is good. FFXIV is excellent and I hope XVI is as good...

Hopefully the NFT nonsense will just go away.

@KindofaBigDeal

"I am not leaving behind hundreds of games again on a platform that will slowly be stripped of its features."

I think your best bet may be PC gaming, maybe a Steam Deck if you want something semi-portable. Consoles, especially Nintendo consoles, lose all of their online features over time. Digital storefronts shut down because they are an attack surface.

It's a shame, since the 3DS and Wii U had some cool online features like MiiVerse. I think StreetPass might keep working forever though since it's peer-to-peer.

I have deeply despised Donald Duck ever since Kingdom Hearts.

@rjejr The Switch is definitely a very successful merger of Nintendo console (Wii U) and handheld (3DS) – and a better version of the PSVita/TV combo. It's a great thing for the most part, even if Nintendo can never repeat the amazing dual-punch success of the original Wii + DS. I'm happy that nearly all of Nintendo's great Wii U games were ported forward to the Switch, because they really deserved a bigger audience.

But I still miss the weird and creative gimmicks of the Wii U and 3DS like dual-screen gaming and 3D – not to mention fun and clever network features like Miiverse, WaraWara Plaza and StreetPass. Sadly few people will experience the fun of NintendoLand, Game & Wario's brilliant Miiverse Sketch, Art Academy on Miiverse, or the asymmetric GamePad modes of New Super Mario Bros U and ZombiU.

While I like new games, I think it's fantastic to add high-quality back catalog games like Nier: Automata and Persona 3P/4G/5R. (And maybe we'll get Nier Replicant someday too?)

Having Persona 3-5 on the Switch is huge for me and further solidifies the Switch's legacy as a PSVita/TV successor and a great system for Atlus/SMT games! Of course Joker was already in Smash and Persona 5 Strikers but P5/R is his "real" game. (Is there a version of P5: Dancing in Starlight for the Switch though?) I do wish we got Persona 3 FES as well as P3P.

Some games (like other media) have really sad and depressing stories that have ruined my weekends (or longer). Online competitive multiplayer games often don't make me feel great. Local Mario Kart and Smash aren't bad though. At the moment, Elden Ring isn't sparking joy - from its depressing story, to its dreary world full of ugly zombies, to its uneven and often unpleasant gameplay.

I play most games on a large screen, but it's strangely comforting to curl up with the Switch (or other handheld) and headphones.

@Mattock1987?

hahaha, to be fair though that's a regional NA accent and not universal?

edit: added question mark at the end?

@mrbogus You can fit a lot of games on a couple of 1TB micro SD cards. A single 1TB card could hold 70+ copies of BotW, which is one of the larger Switch games.

For comparison, the PS5 can't run games off external storage and ships with only 825GB of internal storage, with an M.2 expansion slot that most people won't be plugging more than 2TB into currently – and PS5 games are usually much larger than Switch games in terms of storage requirements.

That being said, they could certainly add a Wii U-style external USB storage feature if they wanted to. (Though IIRC the Wii U couldn't actually use its internal SD card slot storage for Wii U games - only for Wii games?!)

@electrolite77 If you ask Nintendo what their mission or purpose is, they're not going to say "to get as much money as possible" or even "to maximize value for our shareholders." If that's your "sole goal" then you quickly turn into a hedge fund or at best a mobile "game" company focused on monetization, usually to the detriment of everything else.

Here's what they actually say:

"Nintendo's mission is to put smiles on the faces of everyone we touch. We do so by creating new surprises for people across the world to enjoy together. We've forged our own path since 1889, when we began making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto, Japan. Today, we’re fortunate to be able to share our characters, ideas and worlds through the medium of video games and the entertainment industry."

https://www.nintendo.com/about/

Nintendo's 1-2 punch of the DS + Wii is hard to beat, even if you add Switch Lite + Switch.

He's got a point - NFTs could be used as a less efficient, more environmentally damaging, scammy alternative to traditional digital marketplaces.

Great thread. So when do we get to see the Nintendolife DDR Championship/Grudge Match?

@AmplifyMJ I'm happy to see the Switch/Switch Lite (and Nintendo, and consoles/games in general) doing well; at this point it has surpassed the total of the Wii U + 3DS, which it replaces, and is closing in on the Wii. (And the PS2 in Japan, though perhaps a better comparison would be PS2 + PSP.)

PS5 is about to overtake the Wii U though.

@MS7000 TIL that Pokémon isn't abbreviated in the JP game titles - who knew??!

@Duncanballs It really hit the sweet spot for me in terms of exercise game + RPG mashup. DLC and/or a sequel would be great; as good as it is, there are many ways it could be improved (such as fixing the maddening sensing in several minigames, adding more exercises, and incentivizing or rebalancing low-attack exercises) and it would be great to have more areas, story, challenges and sidequests!

Ring Fit Adventure is my most played Switch game, followed by ACNH. MK8 and Smash are also up there, though at the moment my Switch has turned into Monster Train Handheld and is taunting me to play more.

"it's not like nintendo forces them to burn the skin off their fingers"

Clearly you do not want to win badly enough.

Mario Party, destroyer of controllers

@Gravitron Working for me in my (beautiful translucent) GBC, remarkably enough.

I love vertical mode, and I am jealous of the new stand/hinge design, but I don't think I would do it that way.

I just realized I am typing this on a monitor that rotates 90 degrees (without danger of toppling over) – time to hook up the Switch!

@Username_unknown Yes - Disney is pure evil. Only Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm for me, uh, no wait....

At least Sora was designed by Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura. Which is why the character model features multiple zippers and chains (though oddly enough only one belt.)

Edit: apparently I forgot about the two wrist belts on the Smash version of Sora.

what @WallyWest said

@PiplupJ It is a bit on the nose.

@Torn This; a handheld/portable game system like the Switch magically transforms spaces that previously weren't gaming spaces into gaming spaces!

I also enjoyed gamepad mode on the Wii U, and remote play on the PS4/Vita.

Now I almost want the new Switch model just for the drastically improved stand/hinge...

@Bustacap I haven't played the Genesis Mini and it seems to be hard to find at MSRP, but it got good reviews. Unfortunately it also comes with the 3-button controllers though I think you can get a (licensed?) 6-button controller for it.

Well one year single-person sub is cheaper than the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Mini, which only included (40) Genesis games, while Nintendo is also including N64 games.

So ... good deal, right? ;-/

Though I guess the Sega Genesis Classics collection for Switch includes 50 games, is cheaper still, and doesn't expire after a year, though it still doesn't include any N64 games obviously...

It's strange to imagine Sakurai playing PS All Stars, Brawlhalla, etc. but I really wouldn't be surprised if he has.

The PS5 can really do double duty as a PS5/PS4 console (though apparently he was interested in comparing the PS4 Pro vs. launch PS4) and a launch model PS3 can handle PS3/PS2/PS1.