Be Excellent To Each Other

Nintendo have made the formal announcement that the Switch 2 will be available this year.

Just watched the teaser trailer and it looks like a slightly bigger Switch. There’s probably more to it, but detail
is scant and rumours abound.

It does say that it’s backwards compatible with Switch games (both digital and physical) but that maybe not ALL Switch (1) games will be supported. It also says there will be Switch 2 exclusive games.

https://www.nintendo.com/successor/en-gb/index.html

They did well to mention it was backwards compatible because last year they made it sound like it might not be.

Yeah, a bit bigger, probably a bit faster. It's fine I guess but that's not what you want from Nintendo. You want some sort of mad innovation.

Gamecube - shaped like a cute little cube
DS - Dual screens
3DS - 3D
Wii - motion control
Wii-U - screen in joypad
Switch - handheld/docked switcharoo

If this is just a Switch that's a jump from PS3 to PS4 quality games, that's not very exciting. They announced a Direct in April though so hopefully they'll blow minds and not just do another version of Mario Kart 7 and Smash Bros.

They’d better be bringing me a new Animal Crossing
game.

I think there’s already a couple of switch games that don’t work on the OLED model (Labo stuff possibly) so 99% compatibility is good enough.

I’m quite tempted as I only had a Switch Lite and fancy some more big screen Mario

It's the Spectrum +2A all over again.

Today's the day. The big reveal is at 2pm.

Although I've got a lot of love for three or four Switch games and they do make it worth owning, most gamers I know don't use their Switches much. I think it's been an underwhelming console. That's mostly down to the fact that 99% of all console games are just ports of mediocre PC games. And the eShop is just the worst thing that's ever been designed by anyone.

I'll see what they announce but if it's just a better Switch, I'll probably swerve it.

Had I not moved onto a steam deck, I would still use my switch loads. As it stands, I don't. But I don't think that's a slight on the Switch itself.

I'm pretty excited to be honest.

Personally, I love my Switch. Although I still game on my PC it's pretty much exclusively just American Truck Simulator, The Long Dark and Cities Skylines on Steam. (Funnily enough I did consider the Steam Deck briefly but having handled one up in the cottage it just felt too heavy for me.) Two thirds of the time I'm gaming on my Switch, and I'm currently deep into Xenoblade 3. The Switch was properly my first Nintendo console that I invested heavily in. In fact, it's the first console I ever invested heavily in, unless you count the Amiga 500. Sure, I did have the DS Lite but I only bought about four games for that and was entirely ignorant of the Nintendo universe, except that Mario was a thing. Now I think I can name nearly all their roster of side-characters. Oh God, how embarrassing.

It's been a pretty darn good eight years, even considering the increasingly creaky age of the Switch with the graphics clearly struggling. Here's my top games of the generation in no particular order...

1: Animal Crossing - I rarely play it now but man, I got this and my AC Special Edition Switch just a week before lockdown when I figured I'd probably be spending the next six months at least indoors. Amazing times.
2: Super Mario Bowser's Fury - What I'm hoping the next Mario 3D game will indeed be like. Lovely whistly music too.
3: Stardew Valley - A match made in heaven for the Switch.
4: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition - My first JRPG. Good Lord, it was amazing. Xenoblade may beat it out if it sticks the landing.
5: Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Sure, TOTK has more but BotW just still feels more iconic. Another unforgettable lockdown experience.
6: Fire Emblem: Three Houses - For about two hundred hours or so I played nothing else. Amazing voice acting, great plot.
7: Unicorn Overlord - Just a very satisfying strategy-RPG. Beautiful art design and a very relaxed game.
8: Regency Solitaire - I must save my marriage prospects and the family fortune from that dreadful Mr Bleakley! How? SOLITAIRE.
9: Luigi's Mansion 3 - Just brimming with character! That bald scientist guy does chunter on a bit though.
10: Super Mario Odyssey - Yeah. It really is just great.

So yeah, lots of good stuff on the Switch. What am I hoping for the Switch 2?

Mouse control and bluetooth keyboard option, so I can properly swivel my head about fearfully looking for wolves in The Long Dark.
Updated graphics and 60fps for existing beloved Switch games, so that I can more smoothly and easily see said wolves in The Long Dark.
A big bunch of RAM so that somehow American Truck Simulator and CIties Skylines: Enhanced Console Edition can can come to the Switch and not be utterly terrible.
An e-shop that is somehow worse so that I buy fewer games.
It not feeling too big or too heavy.
Nintendo finally understanding that anti-aliasing is a good thing that exists.

Um, that's about it. I was pretty happy with the Switch, you know. I think only the lack of RAM held it back really, everything else could be covered by Nintendo's art style. So yes, anything else is a bonus.

Games and things I'd like to be announced:

New Animal Crossing game.
Starfox (although the Nintendo version of Starlink made a surprisingly good Starfox game)
New 3D Mario at or shortly after launch.
New Fire Emblem without a terrible toothpaste art-style and actually great plot ala Three Houses.
Gamecube games.
Microsoft Flight Simulator (will never happen)

Yep, that'd do it. Ooh, not long now!

They never launch with an AC Game, UNTIL NOW (probably not, but maybe we can wish it into being).

£395.99 or £429.99 with the new Mario Kart , pre-orders from Nintendo go live on the 8th of April , launch is 5th of June

Shop link is here but has a queue system to get into it https://store.nintendo.co.uk

Games :

Donkey Kong Bananza
Kirby Air Riders
The Duskbloods (From Software!)
Silksong
Fast Fusion
An Arcade Archive version of Ridge Racer
Final Fantasy 7 remake
Cyberpunk 2077
Enter the Gungeon 2
Survival Kids
Deltarune Chapters
Civ 7
Borderlands 4
WWE 2K
Gamecube games are coming to Switch online - FZeroGX2 at Switch 2's launch , Windwaker and Soul Calibur 2
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
Bravely Default
Yakuza
Hitman World of Assassination
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4
Hogwards Legacy
Madden NFL
Split Fiction
Daemon x machina
Street Fighter 6
Elden Ring
Hades 2
Drag and Drive
Metroid Prime 4
Super Mario Party Jambore

r/games and r/gaming predictably losing their minds over the price of the console and games going forward, without understanding - you know - inflation. It actually pans out the same as the 2016 launch of the Switch in GBP regarding purchasing power.

Anyway.

Overall I'm quietly impressed. There wasn't quite that 'killer app' for me except for MK9, though Metroid 4 looked extra colourful and lush on the Switch 2 and DK Odyssey looks a lot of fun. That game with the space-aliens and defending Earth and big robot suits looks fun too. I'm not terribly interested in Elden Ring or Cyberpunk but happy for those who want it on the go on a Nintendo system. Oh, and it looks like the Fast RMX guys have a new game at launch. Looking forward to being wowed and yet being hopeless at that also.

I think it's fair to charge a bit for graphical upgrades of classical games if you're putting a lot into it with DLC content too. This should lure hard-up AAA third party studios to do the same, as a lot of them are financially hurting and they can make easy bank doing so sprucing up the various Switch ports. Whether they'll actually put effort into it to make it worthwhile or phone it in is an open question and will probably vary by developer. Very happy to see confirmation that it effectively has a mouse as yes, that might mean a console enhanced edition of Cities Skylines on the go. Also hopefully it'll get Nintendo interested in making the odd strategy game. The game chat thing looks fun but I hope they have the option to entirely reduce the UI of the voice boxes on screen. Jamboree's upgrade looked very amusing.

So yup, I'll be getting one. Mainly also as I mainly game on a 2k monitor. Bit surprised actually to see 4k, I thought they'd top it out at 2k.

Also Gamecube games, yay! Hope we get Rogue Squadron, and can't wait to finally play Wind Waker and that F-Zero game.

Underwhelming amount of Animal Crossing.

What I most want is the GC controller, but reading about it you have to:

Have a Switch 2, and
Have a Nintendo Online Extended Access Sub

To be in with a chance of being able to buy the controller.

So with the Switch, sub and controller all in it’s going to be around £600, which isn’t going to happen.

The price is a bit much. And they're talking about the big games being $80 in the States. I don't know what that'll be over here. But it's way too much to play another Mario Kart game. I mean they're just kart racing games. There's probably value if you're into Mario/Zelda/Pokemon but how are they still interesting after all these years.

All the other stuff announced is probably coming to PSN, Xbox (maybe) and Steam and will probably be cheaper or eventually free there.

And in terms of hardware innovation all they've done is add party chat and some clunky looking 'mouse' functionality. They're so behind the times on this one.

I'd be more interested in a Steamdeck. Just fill it full of all those free Prime/Epic/Humble Bundle games and you'll be good from now until when you die.

No Animal Crossing though Blucey, so I’m gonna have to pass.

Not played any of the Switch versions of any of these games, aye?

I played Mario Odyssey. Actually, I sort of liked it for a bit. I think I played three or four areas and then stopped and never went back. I think the Astrobot games on PSN do the same sort of thing but more compelling.

I don't think Zelda would be for me. I really hated those Darksiders games and the things I hated about them were apparently all Zelda-influenced. What I saw of BotW just looked a bit dull. If you're all in on Zelda though I imagine it's good.

If they bring out a Pilotwings for Switch 2 though, then I'll be tested.

ToTK has more, but maybe too much. A bit of side quest overload, and there's too much going on that isn't particularly consequential. I think BotW was more enjoyable for me as the story felt more 'epic' and it was more tightly focussed. What I'd really like to see is a bigger swerve (like how Majora's Mask followed on from Ocarina of Time).