Nintendo Switch 2 Main Thread - Launching 2025

[dyne]

Originally Posted by heyadol

Not sure if this has been mentioned, or if it should be a wishlist item for the NSO thread, but I really hope cloud saves auto sync on Switch 2. Start a game on PS/Steam/Xbox, your save is either there or immediately downloads, much better than Nintendo's manual process.

That would involve Play Anywhere. MS has been pretty good about implementing this on their titles but only about 7% of third party games have taken advantage of it (between Xbox and PC versions of games).

[ChadFL]

And it might sound like I'm ragging on the N64, but really, I actually love the console. Hell, I literally have a $300 remake of the Nintendo 64 on preorder. I have a lot of fond memories of the console, and a lot of Nintendo's best games to date were on it. My problem is more that I've always felt the N64 was great because of the software, not the hardware, and it could have been so much more if they just released the hardware ~75% of consumers wanted - CD based, a storage medium able to hold massive amounts of data for large games, and with games than cost $50, rather than the $60+ price (sometimes reaching $75 for third party games) for got from N64 cartridges.

[heyadol]

Originally Posted by dyne

That would involve Play Anywhere. MS has been pretty good about implementing this on their titles but only about 7% of third party games have taken advantage of it (between Xbox and PC versions of games).

It doesn't even have to be for cross-platform games. If I play a game on two different Nintendo Switch's, the cloud save doesn't automatically download. When you launch a game there is a warning that a save exists but you have to cancel launching the game, go into the menu and download it, then launch the game again. Not a terrible process, but playing the same game within the same ecosystem on PS or Steam or Xbox, cloud saves automatically sync and are ready when the game starts.

[dyne]

Originally Posted by heyadol

It doesn't even have to be for cross-platform games. If I play a game on two different Nintendo Switch's, the cloud save doesn't automatically download. When you launch a game there is a warning that a save exists but you have to cancel launching the game, go into the menu and download it, then launch the game again. Not a terrible process, but playing the same game within the same ecosystem on PS or Steam or Xbox, cloud saves automatically sync and are ready when the game starts.

Ahhhh I gotcha. I misread your final sentence. Yeah that’s quite crap.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

And it might sound like I'm ragging on the N64, but really, I actually love the console. Hell, I literally have a $300 remake of the Nintendo 64 on preorder. I have a lot of fond memories of the console, and a lot of Nintendo's best games to date were on it. My problem is more that I've always felt the N64 was great because of the software, not the hardware, and it could have been so much more if they just released the hardware ~75% of consumers wanted - CD based, a storage medium able to hold massive amounts of data for large games, and with games than cost $50, rather than the $60+ price (sometimes reaching $75 for third party games) for got from N64 cartridges.

That's my feelings toward the Gamecube. I liked the Gamecube more than the N64 in almost every way. With the exception of Mario 64, every other Nintendo IP on N64 was just better realized on the Gamecube. Plus I have some big issues with N64. Namely, we got no new Metroid games for it. Plus the absence of JRPG's was a huge bummer.

Also I never liked the controller. I wish Nintendo would've done a mid gen refresh on the controller and released a dual analog stick design. For as innovative as that controller was at launch, it became obsolete pretty fast for almost everything not named Mario 64. Especially once Sony released their first Dualshock controller. It's too bad they couldn't finalize the Gamecube controller design in time to release for the N64. It would've made such a huge difference on several games.

[Zechs Merquise]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

If Nintendo found CD-ROM tech "inadequate" then I would say they were focused on things ultimately too trivial to matter.

They weren't focused on things that were trivial. They wanted faster processing times and better speed of movement (as well as better piracy protection) and all these things just weren't there for CDs at the time. They had planned, at a later date, to introduce CDs as a storage medium with the 64DD but that didn't take off.

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Perhaps but you will never convince me it would've been so extensive that it would have deviated THAT much from what Mario 64 ultimately was.

The thing to look at isn't Mario 64 but later N64 games. The developers of Conker's Bad Fur Day (which is a late stage N64 game) did commentary and they talked about all the stuff that's on the cartridge that you just couldn't get if the game was on CD

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

As for Final Fantasy, that's interesting insight that I had not heard. So it seems Sony saw value in Final Fantasy and other JRPG's that Nintendo didn't, and was willing to make a substantial financial investment in it that Nintendo wasn't willing to make. Interesting!

Nintendo are generally that way. The reason Rare courted buyers in the first place was because Nintendo weren't willing to give them the funding they were looking for. Nintendo could have bought Rare outright, because their stakeholder contract entitled them to match any offer Microsoft made for them. But Microsoft paid something ridiculous like $400 million for them, so Nintendo balked. YMMV on whether Nintendo made the right move or not because Rare ain't shit without Nintendo

Originally Posted by ChadFL

There were plenty of third party 3D multiplat games that came out on both N64 and PS1, and thr PS1 looked and played on par in nearly every case.

Because most third party developers didn't know how to optimise games for the N64.

N64 was deliberately difficult to develop for. This was because Hiroshi Yamauchi wanted it that way, he was under the impression that a console that was difficult to develop for would keep out the riff-raff and allow only quality third party developers to develop for the N64. Of course, what invariably ended up happening was the quality developers said **** it and developed for the PS1 instead, whereas lesser quality developers ended up releasing buggy, broken messes for the N64.

Again, the PS1 outsold the N64 not because the technology was theoretically better or anything like that, but because the PS1 was cheaper and easier to develop for, and Sony offered good third party contracts and were willing to throw money at people. Conversely the N64 was expensive and difficult to develop for, and Nintendo offered very restrictive third party contracts because they were concerned about putting out too much shovelware.

[heyadol]

So…do you think the Switch 2 Joy Con’s “mouse mode” will end up getting shoehorned into games to justify its existence? Like Samus will acquire a drone that just so happens to be shaped like a Joy Con in the mouse orientation, and you have to detach the appropriate Joy Con to do some recon or hack something akin to the Glitch missions in Ratchet & Clank.

[master gandhi]

Originally Posted by heyadol

So…do you think the Switch 2 Joy Con’s “mouse mode” will end up getting shoehorned into games to justify its existence? Like Samus will acquire a drone that just so happens to be shaped like a Joy Con in the mouse orientation, and you have to detach the appropriate Joy Con to do some recon or hack something akin to the Glitch missions in Ratchet & Clank.

I could see some games using the mouse feature, but not the big Metroid Prime 4 release, since it’ll likely be cross-generation, and the original Switch wouldn’t support that feature.

[CWCprime]

I don't see why MP4 being a cross-gen release would preclude that from being a feature in the Switch 2 version. Even if there was only one SKU for MP4, all it would take is some code in the game to detect it running on Switch 2 hardware and enable that feature. Of course, I say this under the pretense that such a feature would be optional. I highly doubt Nintendo would make a mouse feature in the game a requirement.

That being said, I predict that mouse feature ends up like the IR sensor on the original Joy-con -- largely underutilized.

[heyadol]

Yeah, I don’t think I used the IR sensor at all, I think HD Rumble was under-utilized as well.

[Chris J]

Don't forget the stereoscopic 3D on the 3DS.

[master gandhi]

Originally Posted by CWCprime

I don't see why MP4 being a cross-gen release would preclude that from being a feature in the Switch 2 version. Even if there was only one SKU for MP4, all it would take is some code in the game to detect it running on Switch 2 hardware and enable that feature. Of course, I say this under the pretense that such a feature would be optional. I highly doubt Nintendo would make a mouse feature in the game a requirement.

That being said, I predict that mouse feature ends up like the IR sensor on the original Joy-con -- largely underutilized.

Right, but heyadol was saying “you have to detach the appropriate Joy Con to do some recon or hack something,” which means it wouldn’t be optional. That’s why I said I don’t see it happening. Now, if it’s an optional way to play the game, yes, I could see that happening.

[heyadol]

Originally Posted by Chris J

Don't forget the stereoscopic 3D on the 3DS.

Such an amazing feature, significantly more immersive than the motion controls of Wii. If Switch 2 has a stereoscopic 3D display in handheld mode, my price threshold goes up, would absolutely pay extra for that.

[Talal86]

Originally Posted by heyadol

Such an amazing feature, significantly more immersive than the motion controls of Wii. If Switch 2 has a stereoscopic 3D display in handheld mode, my price threshold goes up, would absolutely pay extra for that.

now that systems rarely get their own games like they used to (everything designed for PCs and scaled down), I'd welcome hardware features that would offer unique ways to play

owning all consoles is pretty boring now, because they mostly share the same libraries, even the portability advantage that the switch had isn't a factor anymore because of the steam deck

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by heyadol

Such an amazing feature, significantly more immersive than the motion controls of Wii. If Switch 2 has a stereoscopic 3D display in handheld mode, my price threshold goes up, would absolutely pay extra for that.

I eventually stopped using it on my 3DS. It gave me a headache after staring at it for so long.

[heyadol]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I eventually stopped using it on my 3DS. It gave me a headache after staring at it for so long.

Yeah, depending on the intensity of the game I would stop using it on the original version. With the hardware improvements on New Nintendo 3DS though I never had any problems and rarely turned off the feature.

I get it though, it’s not for everyone. Glad it was fully supported by nearly every game but still optional via the slider or 2DS so players had a choice.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

That's my feelings toward the Gamecube. I liked the Gamecube more than the N64 in almost every way. With the exception of Mario 64, every other Nintendo IP on N64 was just better realized on the Gamecube. Plus I have some big issues with N64. Namely, we got no new Metroid games for it. Plus the absence of JRPG's was a huge bummer.

Also I never liked the controller. I wish Nintendo would've done a mid gen refresh on the controller and released a dual analog stick design. For as innovative as that controller was at launch, it became obsolete pretty fast for almost everything not named Mario 64. Especially once Sony released their first Dualshock controller. It's too bad they couldn't finalize the Gamecube controller design in time to release for the N64. It would've made such a huge difference on several games.

I appreciate the GameCube for what it was. The last Nintendo home console that legitimately tried to to go toe to toe technologically with the competition, with the strongest focus on scoring major AA/AAA third party games. Also, the Nintendo console they took the biggest risks with, in developing unorthodox new IP's (Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Animal Crossing) or risky departures from existing franchises (ex. Mario Sunshine, Star Fox Assault/Adventures, Donkey Konga, Wind Waker). Unfortunately, most of their moves simply didn't pan out at the time, mainly in my view, because of a combination of favoring those weird mini discs (not DVD's, limiting the console to gaming only instead of a multi-media player) and making the console look like a toy for kids. Can't recall anyone I know ever once needing to use that stupid handle on the GameCube.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by heyadol

So…do you think the Switch 2 Joy Con’s “mouse mode” will end up getting shoehorned into games to justify its existence? Like Samus will acquire a drone that just so happens to be shaped like a Joy Con in the mouse orientation, and you have to detach the appropriate Joy Con to do some recon or hack something akin to the Glitch missions in Ratchet & Clank.

Not really. I suspect it'll be an entirely optional thing for virtually any game. Probably only useful for a very small subset of games. I'm thinking games with a lot of point and click like Civilization VII are where it might be useful. Thankfully, this gimmick isn't something developers are forced to shoehorn into their games, like the GamePad on the Wii U, which contributed to that console tanking, after getting almost no third party support.

[Strumm]

Considering this is the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros, do you think there's a chance we could get a few Mario Switch 2 games teased on MAR10 ahead of the Switch 2 direct? I'm looking forward to the new console but I am more interested in whatever games they will have

[dyne]

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/...ort-positions/

The patent suggests that by inserting the controllers upside down, the screen can be flipped, allowing the headphone and USB ports to be located on the opposite ends of the system.