Nintendo Switch 2 – General Thoughts

There are many posts in the pipeline and since I'm doing this blog only as a hobby, it will take a while to go through all the announcements from the Nintendo Direct on Wednesday, as well as any additional  information from the Treehouse Live streams. But to begin I wanted to through my general thoughts about the Nintendo Switch 2, where I continue to have the same feeling I had after the announcement in January.

It mainly feels like a boost in hardware, so that Nintendo can keep doing what they've been doing for the past eight years, without completely losing 3rd party support. It feels more like a "Nintendo Switch Pro" than truly the next console / handheld generation for Nintendo. It's probably closest to the Game Boy Advance in comparison, but also feels similar to the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, just without the big innovative gimmick, like a 3D screen. Well, they brought back the microphone and there is the new mouse functionality for the Joy-Cons, but whether this this will be a game changer or not remains to be seen.

To use a mouse you want to be sitting at a desk. And of course I could just hook up the Switch to my PC screen and play there, but that's not what I have the Nintendo Switch for. That's what I have my PC for. Well, I also have a laptop table at my couch, which theoretically would allow me to use the Mouse-Cons, but it won't be as comfortable as playing normally. So, I don't think this will see much utility, but at least it's easy to ignore, unlike the Wii U GamePad.

Otherwise, the games clearly make use of the better hardware, where something like Mario Kart World or Donkey Kong Bananza probably wasn't possible on the old Nintendo Switch. At the same time the technological jump isn't as impressive, where it doesn't blow you away like Breath of the Wild did on the Wii U. Bananza looks even quite close to Super Mario Odyssey in its visual style, where it probably was made by the same team, and it also has a lot of dithering going on, which is a graphical optimization effect I absolutely hate.

Naturally, a handheld system won't be able to compete with a PlayStation 5 or a current PC. I also don't need it to, as long as the games are fun, I'm actually quite happy with the current Nintendo Switch. And the better hardware will without any doubt offer prettier and smoother experiences than before.

So, there wouldn't be anything fundamentally wrong here... if it weren't for the price point. I don't necessarily mean the console itself, where it's only a bit more than I expected here in Europe (470 vs. 450€), but the game prices are ridiculous: 80 or 90 for retail versions (EUR, but also USD). That's even pricier than the competition and that's dumb. That the Nintendo Switch games were relatively cheap was always an advantage and Nintendo is shooting themselves in the foot here.

Digital games have the price point that Switch 2 games should have, but I always prefer to have the games on cartridge. Which won't even be the case with all retail games, because titles like Street Fighter VI will utilize "game-key cards", where they only act as keys that allow you to download and play the games in question. Unlike mere download codes those have the advantage that they can be used with multiple systems, but you're still tied to the Nintendo eShop in the end.

It's understandable that they want to save production costs, because cartridges with larger storage are rather expensive, but if Nintendo goes bankrupt, then you will be out of luck. So, I personally prefer to have as much on cartridge as possible, but it doesn't look like that's what Nintendo prefers us to do. The new boxes also look atrocious, it's too much red. They should have gone with the dark grey of the Nintendo Switch 2 system...

Silver lining is that the retail games usually end up cheaper in stores, where it's often somewhere around 45€ for Switch games, instead of the 60 of the digital versions. If you've seen the chat during the Treehouse Live streams, you know that the people are not happy with the new prices ("DROP THE PRICE"). And if no one buys the new games for 80/90, then those prices will go down a bit. But at the same time the market is getting even more ridiculous with the current economical developments, so let's see where this is all going... Maybe they will charge 100 for Mario Kart World now.

Now, I'm not too worried that the Switch 2 will become a second Wii U, but I don't think it can regain the momentum of the Switch with these prices and offerings.

Nintendo Switch 2 Direct Roundup

That was quite the show. I'm not blown away, where I have to get this new console right away on June 5th, but it fell in line with what I was expecting yesterday. For the most part. In the topic of Zelda it even exceeded my expectations, but we'll get to that.

It opened with Mario Kart World, the big launch title. It looks like this is Nintendo's only new game at launch, the rest will be third party stuff or "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" games. And I was completely wrong about this game, because all these years I was convinced that they will go deeper into the crossover direction to make it more distinct from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Well, they will make it more distinct from that, but in an entirely different way – by going in the direction of open world driving games, like The Crew or Forza. They are also going all in when it comes to characters (and their customization), seemingly exceeding Mario Kart Tour here. Well, there will be a Nintendo Direct about the game on April 17th, explaining more.

Another "launch title" is the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which lets you discover the system virtually. This would be neat if it were for free, but it isn't. Who is going to buy this? Not me, that's who. And I'm not sure what to think about the handicapped basketball game, but it doesn't look fun. It will probably flop like ARMS, but at least ARMS was fun to play and had awesome character designs.

The whole voice / video chat part was incredibly awkward, where I was wondering if the C on new button stands for "Cringe". Also, that's stuff that was already possible on the Wii U 10 years ago, at least to a degree. Microphone and camera support are not a novelty that will sell this system over the original Switch, but they are treating it like one. And the screen-sharing was already lacking badly during the presentation, this is just embarrassing.

Then we learned what the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games are all about, which are going to include Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, among others. These will offer HDR, better resolutions and frame rates, but to give this a nice twist, Nintendo will add new features to them that are only possible on the Nintendo Switch 2. Metroid Prime 4 will have an additional control scheme with mouse controls and the two Zelda titles will be accompanied with new smartphone apps, but also now have a second set of save files.

This wasn't part of the Nintendo Direct, but a number of games will also receive free updates to improve performance, which includes the Link's Awakening remake and Echoes of Wisdom (see here). And that will be lovely.

As expected, the Nintendo Switch Online offerings will now also include a Nintendo GameCube library, but only as part of the Expansion Pack. The Wind Waker is one of the first games in it, which in hindsight explains why they won't bother with porting over The Wind Waker HD at this point. But maybe we will get enhanced versions of the Wii U remasters in some years...

The slightly more interesting game here is probably SoulCalibur II starring Link. I always wanted this to come back, though I also would have preferred the remaster on Switch with Link in it.

Also as expect, there will be massive wave of 3rd party games, including Elden Ring and even an exclusive game by FromSoftware, Duskbloods. I honestly couldn't tell if this was a Bloodborne remaster/port or a new game, because it all looks the same to me, but it's impressive that Nintendo was able to land this deal, since FromSoftware has been very loyal to Sony.

And there will be a variety of 3rd party games coming to the Switch 2 at launch, like Cyberpunk 2077, making up for the lack of first party titles other than Mario Kart World. Not that it needs much else – a lot of people bought the Switch for Mario Kart only. No DOOM: The Dark Ages, though, that's a bit disappointing, especially since they made the first two games magically run on the Switch. But I wouldn't play that on Switch anyway...

Street Fighter VI, though, that's a game that appeals to me on console, but it doesn't look like the game will be available physically. Instead there will be the new "Game-Key Cards", which can be used like game cards, but will simply enable you to download and play the game in question. Not exactly what I'm looking for...

It's almost funny how one of the most anticipated titles for any Nintendo Direct was just mentioned very briefly with Hollow Knight: Silksong. There wasn't any new footage, from what I could tell, and it's scheduled for 2025 according to Nintendo, but I believe it when I see a life sign from Team Cherry. Remember that two years ago Microsoft claimed that the game will release within a year...

Also, why is this a Nintendo Switch 2 game now? They had a demo of Silksong on the Switch at E3 2019, six years ago! And it ran perfectly fine. The original Hollow Knight had 60FPS and its sequel should use the same engine and everything. They also had announced it for Nintendo Switch as part of their Kickstarter program, back when this was still supposed to be DLC for Hollow Knight. So, why is this a Nintendo Switch 2 game all of sudden?

The same could be asked about Hades II. Why does this need to be a Switch 2 game when Hades runs fine on the Switch? Of course you will get even better frame rate and resolution on the new system, so there is nothing against a Switch 2 version, but you would think that this something that comes for both systems. Update: it is. I forgot that it was already announced for Switch as well. So, in the end this isn't a big deal and both titles will probably just released for both systems at the same time.

The big surprise and highlight for me in this Nintendo Direct was, of course, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Well, this is a game that I had expected to be a thing eventually – I've mentioned the idea several times on my blog and it's really a no-brainer. I also wanted to explore this idea for a while now, but I thought there was more time to do so, since I didn't really expect this to be shown already. I always thought that after Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes in 2022 Koei Tecmo directly started working on the next Nintendo collaboration, but since Tears of the Kingdom wasn't released yet at the time, this couldn't be it. So, instead I kept expecting a "Xenoblade Warriors" first. But maybe they got early access to Tears of the Kingdom, since it technically was finished in 2022, just entering its polishing phase.

Anyway, they are really riding on the success of the open world Zeldas here. Not only is Breath of the Wild getting an upgraded version, but Tears of the Kingdom as well. There will be five new amiibo of the sages, also coming out June 5th. And they are doing this new Hyrule Warriors game already. Something tells me that the next 3D Zelda will probably turn this into a trilogy...

The big bouncer at the end was Donkey Kong Bananza. It's the open world'ish 3D Donkey Kong game where there had been rumors about this for ages. So, no new 3D Mario yet, but this looks a lot of fun as well. I love how they are mixing your typical Nintendo platformer magic with this sheer brute force, it's something special.

...

In  the next days I will talk about a variety of topics from today in more detail. This will include Mario Kart World, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrades, and more. This blog will certainly get much livelier from now on.

Nintendo Switch 2 Direct Expectations

Tomorrow the big Nintendo Switch 2 Direct will happen and we will know more. A lot more, since the Nintendo Direct will be an entire hour long. Plus, the two following days, Nintendo of America will host Treehouse Live streams, featuring seven hours of gameplay. There were rumors that the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 is going to be packed and they might as well be true.

First, let's go through the things that we already know about. There will be a new Mario Kart. There are going to be "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" games (see the Virtual Game Cards article). And they most likely will talk about the new Joy-Cons with their mouse-like feature.

 

New Mario Kart

As for the new Mario Kart, that's clearly going to be one of the big system sellers at launch. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the best-selling Nintendo Switch game, after all, and it will be tough to compete with the sheer amount of content that game has. But Mario Kart 8 is also getting 11 years old now and has been played to death, where any novelty will potentially sell a new Mario Kart game at this point. From the footage so far we can deduce that there is potentially a new nitro boost functionality, that the game will now support up to 24 players at once, and that the path-changing feature from the Booster Course Pass may become more prominent.

I'm personally hoping that they will go more crazy with the whole crossover aspect, so that we might get Zelda as a new driver, or Zonai vehicle parts, and so on (see here). I also don't think it will be called "Mario Kart 9", because technically Mario Kart Tour is already that, where I'm sticking with the "Mario Kart X" branding... until tomorrow.

There were also rumors about a Mario Kart-themed Nintendo Switch 2 at launch. In general, any Special Edition of the console could potentially lure me in, even though that I'm usually not an early adopter, given that the edition in question looks nice. I also wouldn't mind one for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

 

Enhanced Nintendo Switch Games

Speaking of, this leads us to the topic of "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games". It's no secret that a variety of Nintendo Switch games could profit heavily from a hardware boost. Pretty much everything from the Zelda franchise comes to mind, where with the exception of Skyward Sword HD there is always some trouble with the frame rates. And maybe some of these games will already run more smoothly on the better hardware by default.

But enhanced versions of the games will certainly offer more, like upscaling to 4k resolution. This could happen via free updates, but knowing Nintendo they will probably charge a small fee for such updates. On the Nintendo Switch they made a lot of profit with remasters and ports from the previous eras, where that's a business they will likely want to keep to a degree.

The interesting question is how they will handle remasters of Nintendo Switch games. Will this be a thing separate from the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games? We had convincing rumors about a new version of Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch (see U-King-O). Will that be a new remaster? Or can the Nintendo Switch version be upgraded? I personally would prefer a remaster, because this opens the doors for all those quality of life improvements from Tears of the Kingdom and better DLC integration.

Or what about Metroid Prime 4? Will this get a separate version for the Nintendo Switch 2 that simply has much better graphics? Or will you be able to upgrade the Nintendo Switch version? Or will both be a thing and work in the same way? It's an interesting topic, which certainly will be clarified tomorrow.

 New Joy-Cons

I have to be honest here, I have no clue what the mouse-functionality could be used for, other than strategy games and a new Mario Paint. But I'm sure that Nintendo will have had some ideas and maybe even come up with some entirely new games that utilize these as a gimmick...

 

Nintendo Switch 2 Online

Another important topic will be the handling of the whole Nintendo Switch Online system. Ideally, everything will carry over to the Nintendo Switch 2, like all the existing game libraries for NES, SNES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, and so on, or titles like F-Zero 99. But they will add upon that with new libraries and "free" online games that weren't possible on the current Nintendo Switch system. The first announcement will likely be a GameCube library, potentially also a Nintendo DS library. Thinking about it, emulating touch screen controls might be even be solved with the new Joy-Cons...

 

Other Game Announcements

This is going to be huge. The biggest launch of a system in gaming history. I'm certain that they will show us most, if not all of the following titles, in addition to the new Mario Kart X, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - Prettier Edition, and Breath of the Wild 4K.

• New 3D Open World Mario
• New 3D Open World Donkey Kong
• New Fire Emblem (utilizing the mouse functionality)
• New Animal Crossing (in space)
• Splatoon 4
  
• ARMS 2
  
• Ocarina of Time Remake
  
• Super Metroid Remake
• Hollow Knight: Silksong - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
• DOOM: The Dark Ages

I'm kidding, of course... A little April Fools' joke, if you so will. Though, some of the things in this list are quite possible, first and foremost a new 3D Mario game. And maybe it does go into the direction of Bowser's Fury, where it's one seamless, interconnected world.

DOOM: The Dark Ages is entirely possible as well, together with a variety of other 3rd party ports. They loved porting games over to the Switch, no matter what it took, which will be so much easier now with the increased hardware power and AI-driven rendering technologies like DLSS. So, we're going to get a lot more here and the new DOOM (which looks absolutely awesome) is just an example.

However, as much as I would love to see Silksong, that game was already shown on the Nintendo Switch and shouldn't have anything to do with the Switch 2 presentation.

Also, I doubt that we will already see a new Splatoon or Animal Crossing. Both are made by the same team, sadly, where I'm curious to see what they will prioritize. But maybe they will split the development up, so that these franchises can be developed simultaneously, as both are huge sellers. But as much as Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold, it got boring eventually without any new updates, since the team was busy with Splatoon 3 in the past years...

And I haven't even mentioned Super Smash Bros. in the above list, because that felt too unrealistic. This might go like on the original Nintendo Switch, meaning that we will see titles like a new Smash Bros. or Animal Crossing in the second or third years, but not already in the first. But as usual, I'm happy to be proven wrong, I'm just not holding my breath here.

Zelda is in an interesting position, because we just got new titles in the past two years, so I don't expect to see a new Zelda game already. But they will most likely hold us over with something, like that Breath of the Wild remaster, or at some point a new Hyrule Warriors game. The franchise has been too successful on the Nintendo Switch to not offer anything as soon as possible. However, I doubt we will see a full-blown remake of another classic already, because I don't know who is supposed to work on it, other than GREZZO, who were busy with Echoes of Wisdom.

My personal "realistic" wish, if they are going with a remaster of Breath of the Wild, would be a Shrine Maker, which also includes stuff from Tears of the Kingdom. That's something that the main team could have been working on as a side project...

Anyway, I'm game. And I'm excited for tomorrow.