Julius Posted 19 hours ago Posted 19 hours ago (edited) Andy Robinson of VGC backing Nate up: Quote The two-part reveal plan would align with how Nintendo showed the original Nintendo Switch, and match with what VGC has been told about Nintendo's plans for the Switch 2 reveal. Edited 19 hours ago by Julius
Julius Posted 19 hours ago Posted 19 hours ago (edited) Kind of buried amongst all of this is both Nate and VGC speculating that this will release in May or June; Nate saying that he thinks there will be a software showcase in late Feb or early March. The existence of a Pokémon Day presentation for 27th Feb was leaked a few days ago (I mean, no surprise there), so I wonder how Legends Z-A might factor into all of this? Assuming it's cross-gen I guess Pokémon can show it on their own terms and just talk about it being a Switch title just for Nintendo to confirm a potential next-gen performance bump on Switch 2, but it'd be odd for them to have a presentation so close to the potential Switch 2 presentation either way. Unless the Pokémon Day presentation doesn't feature Legends Z-A at all... UPDATE: Tom Warren also jumping in on this~ When it rains... Edited 18 hours ago by Julius
Ike Posted 18 hours ago Posted 18 hours ago In addition to Pokémon Legends, there's Metroid Prime 4. The last (Nintendo published) game with a release date is March with Xenoblade Chronicles X so they need to make an announcement soon. They are probably pushing it a bit for a March release now (although the anniversary of the Switch presentation was a couple of days ago). Probably looking at a April+ release if they want to avoid a dry spell.
Glen-i Posted 18 hours ago Posted 18 hours ago 40 minutes ago, Julius said: Unless the Pokémon Day presentation doesn't feature Legends Z-A at all... Pokémon Company as a whole does whatever the hell it feels like when it comes to showing future products. Whether Nintendo has a new console revealed or not makes no damn difference. 2
bob Posted 18 hours ago Posted 18 hours ago 55 minutes ago, Julius said: Kind of buried amongst all of this is both Nate and VGC speculating that this will release in May or June; Nate saying that he thinks there will be a software showcase in late Feb or early March. The existence of a Pokémon Day presentation for 27th Feb was leaked a few days ago (I mean, no surprise there), so I wonder how Legends Z-A might factor into all of this? Assuming it's cross-gen I guess Pokémon can show it on their own terms and just talk about it being a Switch title just for Nintendo to confirm a potential next-gen performance bump on Switch 2, but it'd be odd for them to have a presentation so close to the potential Switch 2 presentation either way. Unless the Pokémon Day presentation doesn't feature Legends Z-A at all... UPDATE: Tom Warren also jumping in on this~ When it rains... "Oh yeah, so I totally knew about this before, obviously, I just didn't say anything" 2 1
Julius Posted 18 hours ago Posted 18 hours ago 15 minutes ago, Glen-i said: Pokémon Company as a whole does whatever the hell it feels like when it comes to showing future products. Whether Nintendo has a new console revealed or not makes no damn difference. I mean, of course you're right hell, they've probably forgotten all about Legendary Z-A and will pull out ports of Gen I (again) on a Switch knowing what they're like, with no sign of any other gens being celebrated 33 minutes ago, Ike said: They are probably pushing it a bit for a March release now (although the anniversary of the Switch presentation was a couple of days ago). Probably looking at a April+ release if they want to avoid a dry spell. Believe it or not – the 8 year (what the hell?!) anniversary of the Switch's January presentation is today! It aired at silly o'clock over here of course (04:00 was it?). Crazy how quickly time has gone... But yeah, I'm inclined to agree. I'm personally feeling April or May myself at this point, I just can't see it being in June as even without an E3 I think everyone's Not-E3 plans would end up being dwarfed by the Switch 2 launching. I think April would be super interesting just because it means they'd be kicking off a new financial quarter with a next generation console launch, which doesn't really happen. Oh, and because that means it'd be closer, of course
Dcubed Posted 17 hours ago Author Posted 17 hours ago (edited) Probably looking at a June release date if they're really going with a January unveil video. Bit of an odd time to release a console, but not unprecedented (GBA was released in June 2001 in the US/EU). If that's the case, I expect the big software and launch day pricing/details blowout to be in April and for both Pokemon Legends Za and Metroid Prime 4 to be the two big launch day first party titles. The true big launch day game though is gonna be the Halo MCC however. Microsoft will be the biggest supporter of Switch 2's launch by far, and their betrayal of Xbox fans is gonna hit like a hydrogen bomb Edited 17 hours ago by Dcubed
Hero-of-Time Posted 17 hours ago Posted 17 hours ago 49 minutes ago, bob said: "Oh yeah, so I totally knew about this before, obviously, I just didn't say anything" Standard practice for all these lot. Eurogamer used to do it all the time. Nobody wants to go first. 3
Helmsly Posted 17 hours ago Posted 17 hours ago I had to go back and jog my memory on how the timeline of the Switch reveal went as I seemed to have forgotten a lot of it. There was the initial reveal with the rooftop party on October 20th 2016: Then Reggie and Myamoto showed up on Jimmy Fallons talk show to show the console off it person in December that year: Then, in Jaunary 2017, there was a live press event to reveal the hardware and what it can do, but we also got to see games like 1-2 Switch, Arms, Splatoon 2, Mario Odyssey among others. The Following day there was a hour long Nintendo Treehouse stream which I am finding hard to find the full archives of, but they seemed to have dedicated time to games to the launch games. I am assuming they will follow a similar series of presentations with Switch 2 but in a shorter amount of time. probably without another Fallon appearance though 2
Dcubed Posted 16 hours ago Author Posted 16 hours ago (edited) Nintendo console announcements usually come in waves. First you have the generic console announcement (i.e, "We are working on a new console"). This usually, but not always, comes with a codename announcement ("NX", "Project Dolphin" etc). Then you get the first unveil video that gives us the first look at the hardware; this usually happens during E3, but E3 is gone now, so that won't be happening this time. We don't usually see much in the way of game announcements/game details at this time, but they do usually briefly show off at least one launch window title alongside the hardware reveal (Wii/Revolution is the one main exception for this rule, as the big headlining "game" that was announced alongside the hardware reveal was actually the Virtual Console service). Switch was actually more generous than the average Nintendo console in this regard, and I do expect Switch 2 to follow in line with a similar "lifestyle" video showing off a few games in brief montage form. Then you get the last big blowout unveil about 3-4 months prior to launch, which gives the final price and release date; showing off the launch window titles in earnest. I can see Nintendo going with an accelerated timeline with the Switch 2's announcement and release here (especially if Switch 2 really is just a faster horse and nothing more), but they will still stick with their usual announcement pattern. So don't expect much in the way of game or price/release date announcements until the later blowout. Edited 16 hours ago by Dcubed 2
Ashley Posted 16 hours ago Posted 16 hours ago Maybe the one rumoured for Thursday will be just dedicated to explaining the new even more complicated friend codes. Directs usually get 48 (or so) hours notice so let's see what tomorrow brings. 1
Dcubed Posted 16 hours ago Author Posted 16 hours ago For comparison's sake... The "NX" was announced on March 17th 2015. Then the first formal unveil video was released on the 20th of October 2016 (19 months later), and the final blowout video was released on January 13th 2017 (3 months later), with a console release 2 months later. Considering that Switch 2's first formal announcement was on May 7th 2024. If Switch 2's unveil video is this month (7 months later), the blowout video comes out in April (3 months later) and the console comes out two months later in June 2025, the video cadence actually isn't too far off... just with that initial year lopped off.
Julius Posted 16 hours ago Posted 16 hours ago 15 minutes ago, Helmsly said: The Following day there was a hour long Nintendo Treehouse stream which I am finding hard to find the full archives of, but they seemed to have dedicated time to games to the launch games. I think what's also worth mentioning alongside this is that press around the world got hands-on time with the consoles the day of/following the presentation too (depending on time zones) – it was a proper one-two punch and I'm going to argue that having the Presentation and worldwide hands-on back-to-back was the strongest part of the Switch marketing campaign (yes, beyond the initial reveal), and is something I think they'll be keen to replicate this time around. There was also the Super Bowl ad which was a huge statement of intent I feel: 19 minutes ago, Helmsly said: Then Reggie and Myamoto showed up on Jimmy Fallons talk show to show the console off it person in December that year Crazy that this was also when they turned up with Super Mario Run, right? Miyamoto played the Mario theme with The Roots iirc. Oh and of course the obvious highlight was this beaut: I won't lie, the Switch being the first console marketing campaign I followed along with has fully ingrained it in my bloodstream. I've watched the January Presentation more than I'd like to admit, even since getting a Switch myself. 13 minutes ago, Dcubed said: I can see Nintendo going with an accelerated timeline with the Switch 2's announcement and release here (especially if Switch 2 really is just a faster horse and nothing more), but they will still stick with their usual announcement pattern. So don't expect much in the way of game or price/release date announcements until the later blowout. Yeah, I fully agree. I think they'll condense the Switch 2 marketing campaign down to a 3-4 month science, I remember the Switch campaign being a massive success and a surprise to pretty much everyone with just how short it actually was, and hell, I don't think PlayStation or Xbox learned enough from it with how they decided to handle their respective PS5 and Series X|S marketing campaigns in the end. 12 minutes ago, Ashley said: Directs usually get 48 (or so) hours notice so let's see what tomorrow brings. I mean rather than comparing it to a Direct announcement, I think the tweet they dropped to announce that the NX "preview" trailer was coming is probably a more suitable point of comparison. They dropped that announcement in the middle of the night over here, the monsters. Just 13½ hours ahead of the trailer dropping. 1
Dcubed Posted 16 hours ago Author Posted 16 hours ago (edited) 12 minutes ago, Julius said: I think what's also worth mentioning alongside this is that press around the world got hands-on time with the consoles the day of/following the presentation too (depending on time zones) – it was a proper one-two punch and I'm going to argue that having the Presentation and worldwide hands-on back-to-back was the strongest part of the Switch marketing campaign (yes, beyond the initial reveal), and is something I think they'll be keen to replicate this time around. Good point. We probably won't get any hands on impressions until the big blowout event; but Nintendo did make the most of that opportunity last time to show off their initial launch window titles in playable form. Here's a contemporary article circa January 2017 that gives off some pretty accurate vibes circling around the gaming media at the time: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/14/nintendo-switch-games-console-london-launch-zelda-splatoon-2 Overall positive, if still somewhat trepediciuous. Edited 16 hours ago by Dcubed 1
Julius Posted 16 hours ago Posted 16 hours ago (edited) 20 minutes ago, Dcubed said: Considering that Switch 2's first formal announcement was on May 7th 2024. If Switch 2's unveil video is this month (7 months later), the blowout video comes out in April (3 months later) and the console comes out two months later in June 2025, the video cadence actually isn't too far off... just with that initial year lopped off. I know it's hypotheticals and you're not necessarily saying that you think this will be the case - and I agree that the timeline actually seems somewhat reasonable - but I think the main reason we can expect things to be different this time around and just a bit more condensed - other than the potential for the console to be much more, but ultimately more of the same - is simply because of the time of the financial year these events will be happening this time around vs in 2016/2017 for the Switch. There kind of had to be a gap of nearly 3 months for the Switch from it's unveiling in October 2016 to the Presentation in January 2017 simply because of the Christmas period, as even with the Wii U dead and buried at that point, the 3DS was going strong and Q4 is packed in terms of major releases (it was for them, too, what with Pokémon Sun and Moon that year), whereas that's not the case here. In fact, I'd argue a gap of three months which would take them into April and just past the FY cut-off would be plain weird, and releasing potentially a month after in June when in the first week of May they gave their end-of-year finances come out, when they could get bombarded by questions would be...odd, to say the least. Tears of the Kingdom released 12th May 2023, and Furukawa "announced" the Switch 2 on 7th May 2024. Just coming off Golden Week, and releasing it virtually a year later after it was "announced" on Friday 9th May 2025 just kind of fits right in my head. Guess we'll need to wait and see. Oh, and unrelated to that but related to the initial reveal video and just the timing of things – it's worth noting that the January Presentation was announced on October 26th, within a week of the Switch unveiling video dropping – so if they're playing by the same rules, we're probably getting an announcement of the Presentation by the end of next week, if it's not rounding off the video itself as a "More coming in our Presentation [ON THIS DATE]". ...they're totally going to be cute about it and air the Presentation in the first week of March to commemorate the Switch's 8th anniversary aren't they? Edited 16 hours ago by Julius
Dcubed Posted 16 hours ago Author Posted 16 hours ago 3 minutes ago, Julius said: I know it's hypotheticals and you're not necessarily saying that you think this will be the case, but I think the main reason we can expect things to be different this time around and just a bit more condensed - other than the potential for the console to be much more, but ultimately more of the same - is simply because of the time of the financial year these events will be happening this time around vs in 2016/2017 for the Switch. There kind of had to be a gap of nearly 3 months for the Switch from it's unveiling in October 2016 to the Presentation in January 2017 simply because of the Christmas period, as even with the Wii U dead and buried at that point, the 3DS was going strong and Q4 is packed in terms of major releases (it was for them, too, what with Pokémon Sun and Moon that year), whereas that's not the case here. In fact, I'd argue a gap of three months which would take them into April and just past the FY cut-off would be plain weird, and releasing potentially a month after in June when in the first week of May they gave their end-of-year finances come out, when they could get bombarded by questions would be...odd, to say the least. Tears of the Kingdom released 12th May 2023, and Furukawa "announced" the Switch 2 on 7th May 2024. Just coming off Golden Week, and releasing it virtually a year later after it was "announced" on Friday 9th May 2025 just kind of fits right in my head. Guess we'll need to wait and see. Oh, and unrelated to that but related to the initial reveal video and just the timing of things – it's worth noting that the January Presentation was announced on October 26th, within a week of the Switch unveiling video dropping – so if they're playing by the same rules, we're probably getting an announcement of the Presentation by the end of next week, if it's not rounding off the video itself as a "More coming in our Presentation [ON THIS DATE]". Well, Nintendo have already missed the cutoff for this financial year anyway, and they're not in a Do Or Die situation like they were last time, so they don't have the same pressure to get the console out in time for the end of the financial year this time around. No need to rush out the console in time for April or May, June is the earliest possible date I reckon. If we're getting an announcement video this month, then June would be the most likely launch window month. If they end up waiting until March or God-forbid April however? We're not getting Switch 2 until November 2025 at the earliest. There does need to be a lead-up before launch after all, they're not going to just shadow drop the entire console like it's a smartphone.
Hero-of-Time Posted 15 hours ago Posted 15 hours ago 22 minutes ago, Dcubed said: There does need to be a lead-up before launch after all, they're not going to just shadow drop the entire console like it's a smartphone. Or a Saturn. Worked well for Sega. 2
Julius Posted 12 hours ago Posted 12 hours ago Tom Phillips of Eurogamer also backing this up: Quote Industry whispers Eurogamer has heard over the past week have coalesced around a reveal this Thursday, 16th January, with a focus on the much-leaked console itself, rather than a deep dive into its software line-up. Well, if nothing else, the potential reveal for a look at the Switch 2 is about as exciting as seeing those "in the know" very publicly get egg on their face, so there's that at least. Poor DK if we do get news of it this Thursday, though. He's waited all this time to Re-Re-Return just for this?
Helmsly Posted 11 hours ago Posted 11 hours ago (edited) 1 hour ago, Julius said: Tom Phillips of Eurogamer also backing this up: Well, if nothing else, the potential reveal for a look at the Switch 2 is about as exciting as seeing those "in the know" very publicly get egg on their face, so there's that at least. Poor DK if we do get news of it this Thursday, though. He's waited all this time to Re-Re-Return just for this? I guess there was always going to be limited excitement over DK anyway, being that its the third time they've released the game and that its sequel was already on the Switch nearly 7 years ago. It's still shocking to me that they took this much time to work on a HD version of the game and bring it to Switch. I think it should have been worked on and come out years ago. I do want to play it again though, although I don't quite have the love for it as the original SNES DKC games, I enjoyed it on the Wii. My only issue was having to waggle the Wiimote to do DK's roll which was annoying when it randomly didn't work, so that is a major reason I want it on Switch. Edited 11 hours ago by Helmsly 1
killthenet Posted 11 hours ago Posted 11 hours ago I think we should all show DK the respect he deserves by boycotting any announcement Nintendo makes and spending all of Thursday playing through Donkey Kong Country Returns HD instead 2
Julius Posted 11 hours ago Posted 11 hours ago (edited) 1 hour ago, Helmsly said: I guess there was always going to be limited excitement over DK anyway, being that its the third time they've released the game and that its sequel was already on the Switch nearly 7 years ago. It's still shocking to me that they took this much time to work on a HD version of the game and bring it to Switch. I think it should have been worked on and come out years ago. Completely agree – Tropical Freeze was ported, when, back in 2018 right? It's wild that they've waited this long to bring it over. And yeah, definitely limited excitement, but what a way to almost ensure no-one is paying him much mind on his big day 1 hour ago, Helmsly said: My only issue was having to waggle the Wiimote to do DK's roll which was annoying when it randomly didn't work, so that is a major reason I want it on Switch. This was actually my first DKC game that I played, but I never saw it all the way through and rolled (heh) credits on it – one of those rare Nintendo first-party titles to actually make it's way into my life before getting more into gaming, pretty sure it was my little brother who pushed for it so hard (interestingly he also pushed for the Mario Galaxy games, which he never got, and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing...man, my brother had great taste when he was, what, 4?!). I think a good while back I played it again on Wii and, yeah, I absolutely hated the Wiimote waggle then too, and while I was aware of the 3DS version, neither seemed like a complete edition – ya wanna waggle, or ya wanna squint? Actually, I swear I wrote something in one of the gaming diary threads or somewhere about my time revisiting it. Hell, I think I might've even scored it, back when I was doing that – was it a 6.5? A 7.0? Can't remember, but it felt harsh, down to the waggle and the stupid mine cart levels....let me see if I can find it! UPDATE: I found it! From the 2018 Gaming Diary thread, very relevant to what you were saying Helmsly; Quote However, there are quite a few issues that I have with this game, first and foremost being the controls - in particular, shaking the Wiimote to roll. I lost count of the number of times that a relatively simple platforming area meant that we would die simply because the Wiimote mistook a very, very slight motion for a shake, and we would perilously roll to our dooms. Some levels require navigation of a vehicle, which is perfectly fine in a mine kart - feeling deservedly and fairly challenging - but extremely annoying in a rocket cart. Perhaps it's the fact that this is my first Donkey Kong Country game, but it is difficult enough to fly in a straight line in one of those things - let alone successfully arch up and down through a sequence of looping flames - almost to the point where it feels unnecessarily frustrating to navigate, and play becomes tedious more than it does rewarding. Perhaps it's the fact that I played with a Wiimote - or on the Wii at all - so I'll be aiming to return to this game again one day with a different control setup to see if the problems I have with the game persist. I'm excited to play through Tropical Freeze at some point, so I was gutted that I didn't have a better experience with this game. Rating: 6.5/10 Totally stand by my criticisms, but holy balls, 6.5/10 is harsh! I mean reading through the rest of the post my scores were all over the place...Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia only an 8.0? SoulSilver a 7.7?! What is this nonsense?!?! 2018 Me, my guy, what were you thinking?! I mean, Pokémon Ranger at a 7.5, Final Fantasy VII at a 9.3, Pokémon White at a 9.5...I'd probably tweak some of those scores a bit but they're at least within the ballpark of what I would score them now. But what were these other scores all about?! Man, I'm going to need to revisit some of these games now, aren't I..? Edited 10 hours ago by Julius 1
Julius Posted 9 hours ago Posted 9 hours ago Bit of a round-up of everything Nate shared today (predictions and things he's heard)...including a couple of new things we've yet to talk about in this thread, such as a potential Direct for the original Switch in Feb? Round-up shamelessly stolen from Famiboards: Quote Rumored February direct for Switch 1 games -Kirby: Planet Robobot for sure, maybe FE4 remake finally -F-Zero GX and Prime 2 mentioned as predictions, not based on insider info -long cross-gen period for smaller games Switch 2 reveal thursday has some details based on incomplete info doesnt fully believe them, but says the trailer won't focus on games switch 2 software presentation february/march not sure if price/launch date announced at the reveal some kind of event in may, maybe a hands-on thing Launch Lineup only have predictions, no actual info Nate says Mario Kart launch, 3d mario later, MVG (co-host) says opposite Metroid Prime 4 is in a really weird situation, not sure what they'll do thinks nintendo needs something else for launch, no idea what it could be 3rd party FF7 Remake this year, Rebirth next year no plans for FFXVI right now Assassain's Creed Mirage with a Shadows port in the works MGS Delta consideration of a Mario + Rabbids collection Ubisoft looking to port anything they can, 3rd parties eager to port things heard rumblings of elden ring, not confident enough to say for sure GTA6 (just speculation) MLB the show will look good hopeful for EA Posting the part about the potential Direct for the original Switch more to ask how everyone thinks that'll be received by everyone waiting on Switch 2 news – I can't imagine it'll be a universally well-received Direct to see announced, right? 1
Ashley Posted 4 hours ago Posted 4 hours ago 7 hours ago, Julius said: Tom Phillips formerly of N-Europe also backing this up: Fixed for you 4 hours ago, Julius said: Posting the part about the potential Direct for the original Switch more to ask how everyone thinks that'll be received by everyone waiting on Switch 2 news – I can't imagine it'll be a universally well-received Direct to see announced, right? I guess if they use it to talk about cross compatibility maybe. It depends whether it's going to be a case that the Switch games work on Switch 2 out of the box (ala GameCube on Wii) or developers can choose to enhance them. If it's the latter they could talk about that alongside announcing some Switch games.
Hero-of-Time Posted 4 hours ago Posted 4 hours ago 13 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: Standard practice for all these lot. Eurogamer used to do it all the time. Nobody wants to go first. 8 hours ago, Julius said: Tom Phillips of Eurogamer also backing this up: Like clockwork. 1
Hero-of-Time Posted 3 hours ago Posted 3 hours ago 5 hours ago, Julius said: 3rd party FF7 Remake this year, Rebirth next year no plans for FFXVI right now Assassain's Creed Mirage with a Shadows port in the works MGS Delta consideration of a Mario + Rabbids collection Ubisoft looking to port anything they can, 3rd parties eager to port things heard rumblings of elden ring, not confident enough to say for sure GTA6 (just speculation) MLB the show will look good hopeful for EA Nothing for me on this list at all, which is no surprise when it comes to 3rd party games on Nintendo consoles. Lots for Nintendo only owners though. It would be crazy if Elden Ring didn't get a port. I can see that doing silly numbers.
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