Nintendo Switch Successor Announced

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, Happenstance said:

Wonder when we might see the next Animal Crossing.

When the next pandemic hits? 

[Julius]

I was up until silly o'clock last night as I couldn't sleep (my sleep has been all over the place lately, anyways) and so I was watching Mario Kart 9 and Switch 2 analysis and speculation videos by the handful. 

And it was absolutely glorious. Haven't done that for new hardware really since the Switch  when I was watching all the GameXplain NX and Zelda U analysis and speculation videos, which incidentally is the rabbit hole I went down which landed me here. 

I think the hype is starting to well and truly to kick in for me, as even if it does feel like there's less to speculate about compared to the OG Switch, it still feels like there's a good deal to do so over, what with Mouse-Con, that mysterious C-button, and of course the launch line-up itself  

8 hours ago, Happenstance said:

Wonder when we might see the next Animal Crossing. As usual that could be one of the few games that would pull me back but I also feel like it's a massive game in the "cozy gaming" craze you see over social media these days which would be a big reason for that demographic to buy the Switch 2.

Same team does Splatoon, right? Splatoon 3 was 2022, New Horizons was 2020...

I could see it reasonably landing in the first two years of the Switch 2, and the only reason I hesitate over saying it'll be Year 1 is purely because of the install base potentially not being there for it to break sales records vs New Horizons, even if they do sell 20 million units in the first year – I think the only way you can do that really is have it be cross-gen, and there's not much reason for Nintendo to not make it Switch 2 exclusive.

Then again, you can't reproduce being 3 years into a console's life + the perfect nightmare storm of COVID lockdowns, and I get the impression Mario Kart 9/10/whatever probably arrives in those first three months following launch - if it's not actually at launch - and so that kind of throws that reasoning out of the window for me. @BowserBasher might be right, I think it really could be there in the first 12 months or thereabouts. 

I think it could show up at the April Direct, too, but I think that really hinges on how they're positioning this Direct, which we don't really know too much about. Do Nintendo go the E3 June 2017 route of listing off new entries in countless franchises, some of which we won't see anytime soon (such as, at the time, the first "true" core series Pokémon game, aka Sword & Shield, and Metroid Prime 4), with June just a few months away and potentially being around the time of the Switch 2 launch? Or is this going to focus mainly on that launch line-up across first- and third-party titles and the plan for, say, the first 3 months, alongside the other launch details like price, NSO, etc.? 

I want to say the former, but again, the timing just seems...weird if they plan to have a Direct in June as they typically do. I also think having the April Direct be like their E3 2017 showing comes with the benefit of making promises for a number of franchises you might not see Day 1 but, hey, start saving for that Switch 2 because we're bring your favourite franchise to the system sooner rather than later! 

8 hours ago, drahkon said:

For my mom's sake: I hope it's a launch title

She keeps bugging me with questions like: "Is there a new Animal Crossing coming?", "Will there be a new Switch?", "WHEN CAN I PLAY A NEW ANIMAL CROSSING FOR ANOTHER 1500 hours?"

That's adorable

Does your mom know what you did to Timmy..? 

8 hours ago, Happenstance said:

LTT's video on the Switch 2 brought up an interesting point about the sales numbers for the Switch and how they don't see the Switch 2 getting near them. A lot of the Switch numbers were from multiple devices in the same home and while you could assume at least one of those might get an upgrade, it's less likely that the others would, especially if games start off releasing for both systems.

It's interesting, because, while I do agree that the Switch 2 probably won't surpass the base Switch in terms of unit sales, I still see it doing 100m+ pretty comfortably in its lifetime so long as Nintendo don't do anything stupid to get in the way of that, like a poor release cadence, or a Wii U-type silly name – and the former is apparently the reason it's seemingly been held back for release this year, and just calling it Switch 2 is a home run and the right business move...even if the '2' they're using is generic and boring as hell. 

The point you bring up about multiple Switch units in a household and probably only one person upgrading I think rings true – for launch. I think at launch you see your young and/or hip parents, young adults with their first jobs, and teens with parents who spoil them just the right amount mainly being the ones who are going to be there Day 1, through the love of gaming, tech, just general hype or perhaps all three. Let little Reggie or Regina in the corner play on their Switch Lite until this Christmas or a couple more years, as Nintendo are going to continue bringing new games to them, before they get a Switch 2 Lite or their own Switch 2 down the line – heck, little Reggie/Regina may have even upgraded from their Switch Lite to a Switch proper (or maybe even an OLED, the lucky little gits) as a hand-me-down from Dad/Mum/big bro/big sis/Uncle Luigi when they upgraded to the Switch 2 – that's how my family got a PS1 when I was little, from a family friend upgrading to a PS2 (who then gave me a spare Dualshock 2 and Memory Cards when I bought my own PS2 around the time he was upgrading to PS3). I think there's serious potential here for a very steady and healthy first few years while they transition from the Switch to Switch 2. 

BUT - and it's a big but, and one I haven't really seen people bring up, as I think it's the biggest switch-up from their proof of concept Switch trailer - the important thing here is Nintendo doubling down on their marketing for the original Switch, focusing on those hip and/or young parents, adults and teens in their marketing early on rather than aiming at kids. That time will come, but the launch marketing campaign is not the time at all. 

And yes, I'm saying hey, let's even go older, let's get the old people's homes in on this and go Blue Ocean with this thing 

Edited 16 hours ago by Julius

[Glen-i]

2 hours ago, BowserBasher said:

I just feel the game needs something new to keep it going and apart from diving and the swimming aspect, NH didn't really add anything excitingly new. 

Get rid of the freaking crafting! I would've been fine with it if it was just for furniture, but after working so hard to get the golden tools, only for them to still break! Nah, screw that, I just want it gone completely now.

Also, flowers, get rid of them too, the amount you needed to satisfy Isabelle in NH was actually obscene.

Replace flowers with more Gators. I was so close to making "Crocodile Isle" but I ended up one short!

[killthenet]

They need to bring back the more surly and argumentative villagers - I want them to fall out with each other and create real drama over petty nonsense.

And I would love it if they gave the staff in town their own houses too, let us see them wandering around in their time off - its so weird in New Horizons how Nook and Isabelle are just stuck in the town hall 24/7, they deserve some time off.

And bring back Pelly, Phyllis and Pete too!

 

[Happenstance]

I'd just like some quality of life stuff, like not having to carry all crafting materials with you to build something.

[RedShell]

3 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Also, flowers, get rid of them too, the amount you needed to satisfy Isabelle in NH was actually obscene.

Reading this just reminded me of a time I was visiting your island and decided to annoy, I mean... help you by watering your flowers.
I remember you walking past just as my watering can broke, only for me to instantly pull out another watering can and continue watering! At which point you typed something along the lines of "what kind of weirdo carries more than 1 watering can?"

Fun times.

Anyway, no. They shouldn't get rid of DIY or flowers. What the actual hell? That's just crazy talk!
There's only one thing they need to get rid of in the next Animal Crossing game as far as I'm concerned, and that's interruptions.

The game needs persistent and uninterrupted online play!

If everything still comes to a halt whenever someone else arrives at or leaves a town in the next game I'll be seriously disappointed.

3 hours ago, killthenet said:

They need to bring back the more surly and argumentative villagers - I want them to fall out with each other and create real drama over petty nonsense.

Yeah, that would be fun. The villagers in the original game could be absolutely brutal at times, it was hilarious.
Unfortunately, I can't see Nintendo ever bringing that kind of stuff back now, doubt they'd want to risk potentially upsetting any of their younger or more sensitive audience.

[Glen-i]

9 minutes ago, RedShell said:

At which point you typed something along the lines of "what kind of weirdo carries more than 1 watering can?"

Yeah, I do remember that, I remember specifically seeing your can break, selecting the laughing reaction, only to have to immediately do the shock one when you whipped that out.

You never did answer that question, BTW.

Edited 17 hours ago by Glen-i

[Ashley]

How about a compromise? The next Animal Crossing introduces the gig economy. 

[Julius]

There's been a lot of talk about a Breath of the Wild Remastered at or around launch, I'm guessing akin to something like Spider-Man Remastered where it might be accessible via an upgrade path as well as sold as its own SKU, and similar to Spidey, it was supposedly shown off behind closed doors to the press back at Gamescom 2023. 

If it were to become a reality, assuming you enjoyed Breath of the Wild (there are...like five of us on here, but still ) do you think you'd pick up a Remastered version of the game engineered to show off the Switch 2's strengths?

And for those that didn't: are there any particular Switch games you'd like to see get visually remastered for Switch 2? Or do you just want to see them boost games to utilise the Switch 2 as is where possible, and would rather they didn't have unique Remaster SKUs on Switch 2? 

Edited 12 hours ago by Julius

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, Julius said:

And for those that didn't: are there any particular Switch games you'd like to see get visually remastered for Switch 2? Or do you just want to see them boost games to utilise the Switch 2 as is where possible, and would rather they didn't have unique Remaster SKUs on Switch 2? 

See, all this talk about Zelda HD remasters. People kept going on about Wind Waker and Twilight Princess HD getting ported, and now BotW?

Boring people, the lot of them.

This is the actual Zelda game that needs a HD remaster:

Thanks to NSO, playing Four Swords the proper way has never been easier, and it's an absolute riot! Trust me on this, this game is wayyyyy more fun then the GBA one, which is very impressive. Put this out there, have online capabilities, make Tetra's Trackers available in all regions. Bam! Best Zelda game!

If you're not counting games that aren't on Switch...

Smash Ultimate runs great, and it looks great, which makes it a weird choice in the traditional sense of a remaster. The main reason I want it to get a Switch 2 remaster is because it has 89 characters! Even without the licensing hell of some of the third party characters involved, you're just not getting that miracle roster in a new entry. Character cuts in Smash sucks. If there was any series I'd want Nintendo to make a forever game like Fortnite out of, it's this one.

Seriously, just look at the trademarks on the title screen. It's so surreal.

[BowserBasher]

11 hours ago, Julius said:

There's been a lot of talk about a Breath of the Wild Remastered at or around launch, I'm guessing akin to something like Spider-Man Remastered where it might be accessible via an upgrade path as well as sold as its own SKU, and similar to Spidey, it was supposedly shown off behind closed doors to the press back at Gamescom 2023. 

If it were to become a reality, assuming you enjoyed Breath of the Wild (there are...like five of us on here, but still ) do you think you'd pick up a Remastered version of the game engineered to show off the Switch 2's strengths?

I loved the game but I think it’s too soon for me to pick up a remaster if there’s not a lot changed. I never thought the game struggled on Switch and I never get all these people that say things like “the game dropped 5fps when I was fighting a group of enemies so it sucks” do people really notice that? I think games that drop considerably more fps then yes. 
 

And since you mentioned it, any chance we’d get the Spider-Man games? I can’t justify spending that amount of money on a PS5 for just a few games 

[Dcubed]

BOTW actually runs very well on Switch.  There's a couple of brief moments of slowdown in like a couple of areas, but that's it.

Now, the Wii U version? Oh boy, now there's a horror show! I played that version of the game and it would definitely drop to the low teens on the regular.

Still, Nintendo decided to commission Twilight Princess HD, despite the fact that the Wii U could already play the Wii version natively anyway (and even the GCN version with a bit of homebrew hacking), so stranger things have happened.

I mean.  This is the company that already has no less than 5 versions of Super Mario Bros (Arcade Archives, NES NSO, SNES NSO, SMB35, Nintendo World Championships) playable on the same console.  I wouldn't put anything past them at this point.

[Cube]

They'd have to make some serious changes for a BotW remaster beyond framerate and minor graphical changes (which seams unlikely as it never felt like TotK did much). I have zero issues playing the Wii U version, with the only downside is the lack of some basic (and, frankly, needed, although TotK also made that even worse) Game Pad functions.

[Julius]

7 hours ago, Glen-i said:

If you're not counting games that aren't on Switch...

I mean, yeah, the question was about Switch games you would play if they were remastered 

Since you brought it up and with how much you lot talk about your love for Four Swords Adventures, though, I would absolutely love to see it remastered and brought back to life. 

7 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Smash Ultimate runs great, and it looks great, which makes it a weird choice in the traditional sense of a remaster. The main reason I want it to get a Switch 2 remaster is because it has 89 characters! Even without the licensing hell of some of the third party characters involved, you're just not getting that miracle roster in a new entry. Character cuts in Smash sucks. If there was any series I'd want Nintendo to make a forever game like Fortnite out of, it's this one.

Seriously, just look at the trademarks on the title screen. It's so surreal.

Agreed on all the above, and a Smash Ultimate remaster with enhanced visuals and *maybe* a couple more characters, stages, idk maybe bring trophies back (okay forget the characters and stages please just bring trophies back!) could be great. Especially seeing as we're all hoping Samurai's next game isn't a Smash game, it'd be a smart way to tide us over until mid- or late-gen with the Switch 2 if they want a new one out. 

I'm surprised you didn't mention probably the best case for a Smash Ultimate remaster, though: rollback netcode. I know we heard that for whatever reason Ultimate couldn't implement it, but hey, if you're going to take the time to potentially remaster it for Switch 2, I'd argue getting functioning rollback netcode would be *the* reason to do so. 

37 minutes ago, BowserBasher said:

I loved the game but I think it’s too soon for me to pick up a remaster if there’s not a lot changed. I never thought the game struggled on Switch and I never get all these people that say things like “the game dropped 5fps when I was fighting a group of enemies so it sucks” do people really notice that? I think games that drop considerably more fps then yes. 

Yeah, this is pretty much where I'm at as well, I'm not sure if/when I'll revisit BOTW and TOTK, but if I do I feel like it's a long ways away.

I guess what brought the question on was I got recommended one of those "4K60 RTX on" BOTW vids on YouTube and while the smoothness of 60fps in that game is visually weird, there's no doubt it's a looker and the art style pops perhaps that little bit more. Potentially change up assets so that they're higher quality and there's more visually interesting things going on from a tech perspective? I could see myself maybe not playing through the whole thing again, but wanting to play around in that world with higher fidelity for probably a good chunk of time, just to mess around. 

As for the frame rate issues in BOTW, I do think that it's *generally* overblown - I mean, the game world is massive and running on a Switch, and what they manage in TOTK with different map planes and how you move between them is WILD (heh) - but they're there. I'm especially susceptible to frame rate changes as if a game goes from running smoothly to chugging I'll feel physically sick - Dragon Quest XI's tall grass back on PS4 when I first played I remember being an issue - until my mind adapts, which can take a few sessions if it's a consistent issue. I never had that issue with BOTW, even if I did notice the frame rate drops, but how a certain forest area in that game was presented was almost completely undermined by just how shoddily the game performs there. 

46 minutes ago, BowserBasher said:

And since you mentioned it, any chance we’d get the Spider-Man games? I can’t justify spending that amount of money on a PS5 for just a few games 

I'd love for them to just so that more people could enjoy the games, and it would also make PlayStation a heck of a lot of money, but if rumours from a few months back are to be believed, PlayStation seem to be considering a handheld device for next-gen, likely to try to get them some traction in Japan – if there's any truth to that, I don't think it would happen purely because it would be a showcase for it to run on that system. 

Then again, they're on PC, and already available on Steam Deck, and if PlayStation aren't doing a handheld thing for next-gen? I can't really see much reason not to, other than them needing to cling onto their first-party IP crazy hard right now with almost all of their GAAS going up in flames. 

23 minutes ago, Cube said:

They'd have to make some serious changes for a BotW remaster beyond framerate and minor graphical changes (which seams unlikely as it never felt like TotK did much)

I'm still gutted that Tears didn't look much different. I remember us all speculating ahead of release - maybe it was ahead of E3 2021 when we got that second trailer? - what they could do, and I remember really wanting them to just change up the grass colour so it was darker, and change up the weather in certain spots in the game, just so that when I recalled it in my mind there'd be some sort of identifier. 

The journeys kind of blur together in my head a little bit apart from the starkly different things each game had which kept them unique, which feels like a real shame.