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by Jeffrey
Last Wednesday during the second phase of Nintendo Direct, we finally got a deeper look at the Switch 2, it's hardware features, upcoming games and a few surprises. And in the days after we continued to get a lot more insight. While a lot of it is exciting, it definitely left me feeling a little... weird. Let's kick it off with...
1. The Price
Over the years I've purchased plenty of new or newish consoles, so the sticker price of $450 isn't enough to scare me alone, but it's quite a jump for a Nintendo console. In fact a 50% increase over the original Switch. Are the upgrades and features enough to justify such a bump? Well, to find out let's dig deeper on...
2. Performance
Finally, a Nintendo console is capable of 4k. And not only that, a refresh rate of 120hz (though not in tandem). Meaning now you can potentially play games capable of twice the frames per second than the Switch was capable of on only the best days. As briefly mentioned you can only achieve 120fps in 1080p, whether that's in handheld mode or by setting it to 1080p in docked mode. Regardless, this should totally mean that the hardware is a much more powerful bump compared to the last 3 Nintendo consoles, right?
Nvidia, the chip manufacturer for both Switch consoles (Xbox and PlayStation utilize AMD hardware) claim that the performance is 10 times that of the OG Switch. This is probably accounting for the fact that it will be utilizing Nvidia's DLSS software/hardware AI upscaling solution. They have not specified which version of DLSS will be used yet, and the performance and image quality varies greatly between them. All of this leads to...
3. More Modern 3rd Party Games Coming to Switch
With the seemingly large performance bump on the Switch 2, we were shown a hand full of high performance titles coming to a Nintendo console for the first time.
Cyberpunk, Elden Ring (and a teaser for a brand new game from the same studio), Hitman, and the teasiest of teasers for a new James Bond game (oddly enough from the same studio that developed Hitman. Is this a theme?)
Reports say that Cyberpunk will have a quality and a performance mode, but also that they'll run in 30fps and 40fps respectively. Considering the snips of proposed gameplay I've seen, it actually looks pretty decent. Fingers crossed it shakes out, this game has come a very long way.
In addition we'll be seeing other 3rd party titles this year like:
Civilization VII (What!)
Split Fiction (Super at home on the Switch)
Street Fighter 6 (The most Bizarre SF game in my eyes, but so much fun. Building your unique fighter with their own move set is the bread and butter)
Borderlands 4 (Fingers crossed that they fix the tone after that previous one...)
Hogwarts Legacy (I needed a reason to get back in to this)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 remake (1+ 2 was nearly a perfect remake to me)
A number of EA Sports titles
And quite a bit more.
I like the sound of all of these things, but it begs the question...
4. Is Nintendo Targeting More Hardcore Gamers?
In short, yes, I believe so. The price, the 3rd party titles, higher refresh rate and 4k. It just feels different than other Nintendo console releases. But it does feel more modern, and I don't think they're totally going away from their core demographic because...
5. They're Finally Adding Features That Their Fanbase Has Been Asking For (And some that they haven't)
Nintendo is the king of making features we didn't ask for, are confused by, but then ultimately delighted to use once we get our hands on the latest thing.
Up first; Finally, party chat. Oh man. I can't believe something like this has taken so long. Not only have they added chat (with the use of an internal microphone that they claim can pick up your voice from the couch with clarity), they've added live screen sharing, the option to use your own usb-c camera (or purchase theirs for $50), and further social features.
Now with the feature we weren't asking for, it does get a little weird.
OC Art From Reddit User Raymidius
The most bizarre is probably that the Joy Cons can also function as a mouse. That kind of sounds cool. It kind of sounds like it has potential. For shooters it could absolutely change everything. But then my first concern is, where can you comfortably use it? If you're a couch gamer, I doubt you're going to want to lean over your coffee table, or hang off the side onto an end table. In some demonstrations they did mention that it should work well on a variety of surfaces, but at the event, most people were testing it out on mousepads, so the use case of this feature remains to be seen. They did show off a robot wheel chair basketball game that looks like Rocket League mixed with... well, wheelchairs.. But unfortunately the gameplay ends up looking like more of a chore. Maybe that's the point. Having been in a wheel chair a number of times, that's exactly what it is.
Most of us were overall probably mostly excited about...
6. Brand New Next Gen First Party Games
MARIO KART WORLD
This one is gonna rip. 24 racers at once. Wall riding and grinding. And for the first time, a Mario Kart game is open world (As a Diddy Kong racing fan, I know I know) and I believe this will give so much life to Mario Kart, especially if exploring is rewarded by secrets, new vehicles/wheels/alternate-cosmetics etc. There will be modes where in-between races, you'll actually have to travel to the next track, and with knockout mode in particular, if you don't make it in time, you're eliminated from competing in the next race. Overall feels like a really fresh and new way to enjoy one of my favorite series of all time.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
I shared my excitement for this one last week, and we didn't really get to see THAT much more on Tuesday. It will support 120hz in 1080p or 60hz in 4K only on the Switch 2. Other than that, after replaying Metroid Prime 1 Remastered on the Switch, I've gotten real jazzed up about this, and I'm confident it will deliver.
Donkey Kong Bananza
This one took me by surprise and I was absolutely thrilled. DK's redesign took a second to get used to (shocker, the internet is arguing whether it's a throw back to the original DK design, or a nod to the Mario movie, either way, I think he looks cool!), but the gameplay is was stuck out the most. Environmental destruction, tons of exploration opportunities, really fun moves, and the cutest little anthropomorphic rock side-kick. It feels a lot like Mario Oddysey with a twist, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Other first party titles include a new mainline Pokemon game, Kirby Air Riders (a sequel to a Gamecube classic), and a few more along the way.
Overall, the launch/year 1 roster feels pretty good this time around. Especially considering the delightful surprise of...
7. The Upgraded Versions of BotW and TotK
Yet another tidbit that I'm so happy about. The last two Zelda releases were absolutely amazing aside from literally just one thing. Performance. And Nintendo knew it. They even specifically showed footage of Korok Forest (if you know you know). They're releasing upgrades at $30 each (or for free with the expansion pack subscription) for previous owners of these titles, that increase framerate, resolution and introduce a companion phone app. From what I've seen BotW/TotK almost look and feel like totally new games. They were already artistically wonderful, just held back by their hardware.
And, while I can't believe it took this long, they're finally bringing...
8. Gamecube Titles to the Switch Online + Expansion Pack
While the number of games at launch isn't huge, they picked all BANGERS.
Wind Waker, F-Zero GX (please bring us a new one after Mario Kart has been out for a minute), Soulcalibur 2 (does anyone else remember back in the day, each console that released Soulcalibur 2 had a unique character only on that console, GC got Link of course, Xbox got Spawn and Playstation got Heihachi Mishima from Tekken), Super Mario Sunshine (not only just a fantastic original concept, but the last big change to Mario as a character design) Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, Super Mario Strikers, Luigi's Mansion, Pokemon Colossuem (Yessss dude), aaaand Chibi-Robo. That last one is somehow the only game I'm somehow not familiar with, but now I plan to be.
It's no secret that the Gamecube ruled. Had an amazing controller (They're releasing a Switch 2 version of this as well!), and some of the best games out of any generation. I really hope they dig a bit deeper on the library though. Anyone else remember Custom Robo?? Bring it back!
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If you've read any of my past blog posts you know I'm a life long Nintendo fan. I totally intend to get myself a Switch 2, regardless of some of my snarky comments, because overall what it really comes down to is the unique experience Nintendo always delivers on. It doesn't mean there aren't quirks or weird decisions being made (I'd be a little worried if they didn't do any of that stuff at all), but that's part of the charm.
This was a lot, but I know I also missed a lot too. What are you all excited about with the new console, new features and new games? What's falling flat for you? Are you going to jump in on day 1 or wait it out a bit longer? Leave a comment below!