Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 (Wednesday 2nd April 2025 @ 14:00 BST) + Treehouse Live (Thursday 3rd & Friday 4th April 2025 from 15:00 BST)

[Kav]

23 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

EDIT 2: Wow, no wonder Bowser is so angry. No-one ever reads his e-mails...

Like Nintendo not reading the livestream comments section! #DropThePrice 

[Glen-i]

Ah, Mario Kart lobby shows an Intermission option. Not actually applicable on Knockout Tour, which they're playing, but my guess is that lets the host choose between the traditional three lap structure or the new "Race to the next track, then do a lap" one.

Also, the Bullet Bill got nerfed hard, it doesn't flip other people over anymore, merely shunts them out of the way.

EDIT: There's an Ice Flower item now, not sure what differentiates it from the Fire Flower. Also the coin shell which travels down the middle of the track and then explodes into coins if it hits something.

They tried to hide it, when the people on the right display were eliminated, but I noticed MKTV being back. Also, two people on one Switch can play in lobbies, much like 8. Whether you can have 4 players on one console going online is still to be seen.

It seems like they've accounted for 24 racers by just making every item less effective. Bananas barely slows you down. Falling off a track is also less devastating.

Also, that Ostrich enemy from 3D World is playable.

Edited yesterday at 02:43 PM by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

Oooh, taking a screenshot on Switch 2 gives you the option of pressing Home to immediately go to that screenshot. Neat!

Edited yesterday at 02:43 PM by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

Man, 60 FPS Bravely Default is niiiiice!

Dash button is new! Cutscenes can also be sped up, but this removes the voice acting if you do so.

Edited yesterday at 02:58 PM by Glen-i

[Julius]

The five people in chat yesterday who were spamming "RAISE THE PRICE" are going to be hunted down after today 

[Glen-i]

That minigame looked quite fun, a decent showcase for the Mouse-con.

Massive humongous Bravely Default spoilers, BTW.

Spoiler

I wonder if it'll utilise the camera during a particular moment?

 

Edited yesterday at 03:18 PM by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

Kirby has a new sidekick friend.

IMMEDIATELY SUSPICIOUS!

EDIT: Wait, never mind. They're the Waddle Dee replacements, crisis averted.

I hope you lot like choirs, because they're everywhere now! Also, mohawks!

So it seems like the majority of this extra content will be remixed, but heavily tweaked levels. Going to sections you could never get to before.

Edited yesterday at 03:31 PM by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

Those Street Fighter 6 amiibo are quite a bit larger then I expected. They put them next to the Ryu and Ken ones from the Smash set, and the SF6 ones were definitely taller.

[Glen-i]

Huh. My initial assessment of the number of charrcaters might have been off. It seems like costumes are treated as seperate characters? Hard to tell.

Of course, that also means there could be more then 7 pages via unlockables.

[Ike]

2 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Huh. My initial assessment of the number of charrcaters might have been off. It seems like costumes are treated as seperate characters? Hard to tell.

Of course, that also means there could be more then 7 pages via unlockables.

That is the case. I don’t know why didn’t just let you select a character then a costume, they could have fit everyone on one screen.

[Glen-i]

8 minutes ago, Ike said:

That is the case. I don’t know why didn’t just let you select a character then a costume, they could have fit everyone on one screen.

With all the random Bowser minion characters, that ain't happening.

Speaking of, we got to see what the Kamek item (Poor guy finally gets into Mario Kart, and then gets demoted to item in the next entry) does. It spawns obstacles in front of the person in front (Possibly the person in first). In the Treehouse footage, it made a bunch of those rolling Chain Chomps from 3DS Rainbow Road appear.

It also transforms that character into a random Bowser minion temporarily, I think this is how you actually unlock those characters. Don't expect costumes for them.

The Ice Flower looks like it has less ammo then a Fire Flower, but slows down anyone who is hit a lot more, as they freeze over a bit.

Edited yesterday at 04:26 PM by Glen-i

[Ike]

Found the video of the character select screen on Bluesky so I can share it (it won’t embed).

https://bsky.app/profile/ign.com/post/3llwbfvu2ps2h

[Glen-i]

5 minutes ago, Ike said:

Found the video of the character select screen on Bluesky so I can share it (it won’t embed).

https://bsky.app/profile/ign.com/post/3llwbfvu2ps2h

5 pages there, so definitely possible that there'll be more then 80-ish characters/costumes.

[Dcubed]

Yeah, they're purposely avoiding showing off the 4 player splitscreen mode in Mario Kart World...

I bet it's limited to 30FPS in 3-4 player splitscreen again; and they just don't want to deal with the bad PR.

The fact that they're using two Switch 2's (each running in 2 player splitscren) tells me everything I need to know.

That's a real shame.  I would've gladly have accepted a downgrade in resolution to make 4 player splitscreen 60FPS happen.  Guess I'm gonna have to continue using two Switches, just like with MK8...

Edited yesterday at 04:57 PM by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

"How can anyone ever hurt Cow?"

Oh believe me, I will find great pleasure in doing so!
Bloody waste of a slot on a character that isn't even from a Mario game. It's Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach level of crap.

Edited yesterday at 04:59 PM by Glen-i

[Glen-i]

Huh, OK. Boomerangs now work on a timer, like Fire Flowers.
You might be able to throw it more then three times, if you're quick enough. But you won't be able to save subsequent throws for later.
Third throw likely doesn't go further as well...

Edited yesterday at 05:10 PM by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

8 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Huh, OK. Boomerangs now work on a timer, like Fire Flowers.
You might be able to throw it more then three times, if you're quick enough.

Swings and roundabouts.

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

Speaking of, we got to see what the Kamek item (Poor guy finally gets into Mario Kart, and then gets demoted to item in the next entry) does. It spawns obstacles in front of the person in front (Possibly the person in first). In the Treehouse footage, it made a bunch of those rolling Chain Chomps from 3DS Rainbow Road appear.

It also transforms that character into a random Bowser minion temporarily, I think this is how you actually unlock those characters. Don't expect costumes for them.

Yeah think it's just a random annoyance kind of weapon. 

35 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

"How can anyone ever hurt Cow?"

Oh believe me, I will find great pleasure in doing so!
Bloody waste of a slot on a character that isn't even from a Mario game. It's Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach level of crap.

I'm calling Peta!

[Glen-i]

OK, now that Treehouse is done. I'm gonna get my thoughts down.

Mario Kart World - It looks great! Very promising. Free Tour looks a bit lame, but with a Direct focusing on this in the near future, I'm hoping we will see more with that. Worst case scenario, at least I get to drive around aimlessly when I open the N-E Get Together room.
I hope Miis don't get cut...

Gamechat - Using Four Swords to demonstrate this is probably the best way they could've done so. Being able to just glance at what everyone is up to is very neat. The framerate of other feeds is low, but I imagine that when you're actually playing, you won't be noticing that as much. I do wonder if it improves with less people?
Very cool that you can all be playing completely seperate games, and still use this.

Super Mario Party Jamboree + Jamboree TV - It's fine. The mouse minigames are neat, but I hope you have the option of having them show up in Mario Party itself, otherwise it's kinda pointless.
The camera implementation is cute, but I probably won't use that.

Drag X Drive - Nice idea, but it looks so bland! It doesn't look like Nintendo made this.
Not to mention, I don't like these kinds of competitive team games.

Street Fighter 6 - It's very impressive looking, but I don't like arcade fighters. Calorie Challenge is just dumb though.

BotW/TotK - Seeing both versions of BotW running side-by-side was staggering. (Laughed at them using the Lost Woods to demonstrate) The Zelda Notes app has some neat things in it, especially the Voice Memories thing.
Now, put that kind of stuff in a good game, and I'd use it.

Switch 2 Welcome Tour - This is very neat. But yeah, this is a tech demo. Charging for it is comical. Oh well, I know @Dcubed is getting it, he loves this kind of stuff, so I'll play it for free.

Donkey Kong Bananza - Yeeaahhhh... The Treehouse footage kind of unsold me on it. It smacks of Mario Odyssey, and that game is lame. The whole destructible terrain thing is cool, but I worry that the level design will have to suffer to accomodate that.
I'm not seeing what Dcubed is seeing. 

Bravely Default - Yup, that's Bravely Default. It's surreal seeing it run at twice the frame rate. Pity about the cool 3D effect being gone, but this is a fine trade-off.
That minigame was a surprisingly good showcase for the Mouse-con. It was also hilarious!

It's literally this GIF, the game!

Kirby & the Forgotten Land - It's more, and harder, Kirby. Sometimes simple is best. I'm in for the lore that is definitely not going to happen.

GameCube - I'm looking forward to playing some great multiplayer GameCube games online. I'm not looking forward to being unable to unlock anything in F-Zero GX.
That game is miserable in single player. Nintendo, please give us an SP version that has everything unlocked.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - Yep, that looks like Metroid Prime. It's very cool that you can seamlessly swap between Joy-con controls and Mouse-con controls.
Couldn't care less about seeing the 4K mode though, gimme that 120 FPS!

Edited 20 hours ago by Glen-i

[Cube]

I'd disagree with F-Zero GX, it's a game that excels in single player but isn't that good in multi. Even even I was much younger I loved it. 

An option to have everything unlocked would be nice, still. There's so many characters, which come with great theme tunes and amusing videos (I somehow unlocked them all back in the day).

[Glen-i]

3 minutes ago, Cube said:

I'd disagree with F-Zero GX, it's a game that excels in single player but isn't that good in multi. Even even I was much younger I loved it. 

No, it, like almost every F-Zero game, is absolute BS of the highest order. Just blatant cheating on the CPU's part throughout.

[Cube]

3 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

No, it, like almost every F-Zero game, is absolute BS of the highest order. Just blatant cheating on the CPU's part throughout.

That's why you kill them. 

[Glen-i]

4 minutes ago, Cube said:

That's why you kill them. 

You need to watch me play F-Zero.

Because that just gets me killed more often then not.
If I can even bloody catch them in the first place.

[Jonnas]

F-Zero GX is a mediocre multiplayer game, but a brilliant single-player game!.. If you're into hardcore challenge.

I do hope they release an EX version of the game (or an EX savefile, in case that's how they handle GCN saves) with everything unlocked. The world needs to know about PJ:

 

8 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Massive humongous Bravely Default spoilers, BTW.

...Huh. So that's why it's a Switch 2 exclusive.

[Cube]

I know they won't, but it would be nice for them to also have an AX mode option. It would be with the GX physics, not AX physics, as I imagine doing the actual AX version would be too much, but GX does have its own version of AX on the disc.