I'm excited for backward compatibility. Finally, I can experience the Korok Forest at 12 fps instead of the standard 8.
Just play it on PC. It looks better at 4k too.
Lmao I bought my monitors in 2013. It's 1080p60 here. I have to use adapters because nothing has DVI out anymore. I don't even care about 4K. 1080p60 is good enough for me. Now excuse me while I burn a CD for my manual 90s car. Today's soundtrack is The Bends and the moonroof will be open.
Hopefully they let the OG switch titles run with more horsepower.
It would be simpler for them to drop the clock cycle on the new hardware down to match the original hardware when running the BC titles, that way they don't have to do as much testing to look for side effects.
I am not sure about the exposed connector on the side of the system that inserts into the Joycon. I could see a kid jamming the controller onto the system at a bad angle and breaking it.
As soon as I saw that I thought "there's this generation's joycon deadzone"
More like this generations Nintendo DS hinge crack.
The joycon drift can happen regardless of how well you treat the analog sticks
I’m very curious what they’ve done to prevent people accidentally forcefully removing it during gameplay. The sliding lock was annoying at first, but if you’ve ever gripped the controller hard at a pivotal moment it’s probably good that it didn’t rip away or even stress the parts.
The leaks showed what looked like a release button like the original joycons.
It seems like the colored area on the side of the joycon fits pretty snuggly into the recess. I’m not sure if you could put it in at any other angle than the one that would marry them up
I had exactly the same thought.
This is so big of a design flaw, I wonder if it's not accepted as a way to sell more...
Hanlon's razor
So basically the same thing with upgraded hardware?
That can be a good thing. Iterative improvement is vastly underrated.
That's what I said. Really though, that is basically what all consoles are. They just used to get really dramatic upgrades because the period of time they released have been big growth periods. These days? Everyone has conformed to the same thing and given up on proprietary stuff. Then I thought about how this really is odd for Nintendo since they genuinely strive to offer something unique and new each time. Then I realized it's also called switch 2 so I don't feel like they did anything wrong since what did I expect to change when they are literally telling you what it is which is pretty much defined already.
In the end, I think it's a smart move. It's the least disruptive path and probably the cheapest route for them to continue on and as long as the thing is really powerful I think it's a good idea to continue the brand for another 5 years. I do have my doubts that it will be powerful so that we'll just have to wait and see. Nintendo has never been big on offering up the most powerful hardware, so I expect it to be a few years behind already.
They just used to get really dramatic upgrades because the period of time they released have been big growth periods.
That was most of the tech industry when I was growing up. When I was 13, a computer with a 66 Mhz processor and 32Mb RAM was a beast of a machine, and only 6 years later in '99, we had broken the 1Ghz CPU barrier and were typically installing 256Mb to a whole Gigabyte of RAM.
These days, I can still decently run the majority of modern games on a 12 year old machine. The "home computer revolution" that started in the 80s has most definitely flatlined and nothing very interesting is happening anymore. Kinda the same thing that happened to smartphones. Where now taking shit away (like the headphone jack) is considered "innovation".
Edit: There used to be a joke in the 90s that when you bought a new PC, it was already obsolete by the time you carried it out of the store.
Nintendo's main consoles usually change pretty drastically generation to generation after SNES.
SNES -> N64, 3D graphics and bizarre controller.
N64 -> GameCube, sensible controller and generational leap in graphics (better than the PS2 for sure).
GameCube -> Wii, shit graphics but with motion control
Wii -> Wii U, decent graphics, tablet!
Wii U -> Switch, Portable hybrid
Switch -> Switch 2, uhhhh spec bump
It's definitely out of character
Looks like it. I agree with the yt comment. They just wanted to get it out so the rumors don't take control.
Looks like some games may not work via the warning at the end.
That’s probably due to the new controllers. Can’t fit them into the Starlink holder or the Ring Fit anymore.
That's kind of expected, even without weird peripherals.
Every time a console offers platform level BC there are a few games that uses some undocumented trick to run on the original hardware and end up having trouble on the new hardware.
This is how Sony presents the situation, stating that 4000+ ps4 titles will work on ps5 and then naming the few that don't:
https://www.playstation.com/en-au/support/games/ps5-backward-compatibility-games/#only
IIRC the list was a little bit longer at first but some devs patched their titles to fix compatibility.
I am still holding out hope for something really cool from the software side.
Welcome to computer hardware upgrades.
I already have upgraded hardware that can run switch games. It's called a computer. I built it mostly using parts being sold at offices that were going out of business. I only needed to buy a GPU and a decent PSU. I found a free open source OS, booted it up and installed an open source program called ryujinx. And I barely have any issues playing games on it.
Imagine if Nintendo, instead of wasting all this time, money, rare earth minerals, and contributing to global heating by manufacturing these rather pointless consoles, simply developed games that could be ran on a computer or decently powerful smart phone.
They could focus on making games.
Why are you in the Nintendo community for console gamers commenting about emulation?
I have a PC that I built that runs Linux Mint. I have a Steam Deck. I can also emulate whatever game I want.
Some Nintendo fans just want to buy Nintendo things and enjoy the experience because they love the games. Let gamers enjoy games no matter how they want to play them.
I am also excited for this new console and will be watching it to see if it’s a good fit me in the future.
I deal with tech 24/7. Sometimes I just want push button, no setup gaming. I pc game, I also console game because sometimes software, hardware, drivers and other stuff just get in the way. Just yesterday I was using moonlight to stream from my pc. It refused to display a resolution that worked just 5 minutes prior. After over an hour of troubleshooting, I almost just bought the game on Xbox so I wouldn't have to mess with it.
I primarily place PC games, but you fundamentally misunderstand the target audience, especially domestic in Japan, their habits, and the usecase of the switch for them.
They could focus on making games.
They're already the best in the world at this so idk what you expect firing a few dozen lawyers will add here
Hm, Mario Kart 9 seems to look pretty similar to MK8. I had hoped for a new art direction / style.
I made this FOSS template for easy reuse.
def describe_nintendo_creativity(nintendo_game_name, new_version_number): print( f"Hm, {nintendo_game_name} {new_version_number} seems to look pretty similar " f"to {nintendo_game_name} {new_version_number - 1}." ) describe_nintendo_creativity("Mario Kart", 9) describe_nintendo_creativity("Pokemon", 21)Did it even say it was MK9?
It’s doesn’t say Mario Kart 9 but that does look like new character models to me. I’m expecting them to drop the numbering system and go back to subtitles anyway though.
No, but it wasn't footage from Mario Kart 8.
Even if it didn't, so you really think that Nintendo won't make Mario cart 9?
A thing I just thought of is that it'd be super cool if - by using the joy con as a mouse - they had a track creator mode where you could share custom tracks.
Do we know anything about the types of sticks they're using this time? The original Switch's shit starts drifting so quickly... It's why I sold the system and just kept my games. My PC and PS5 controllers haven't broken once, but I went through 4 pairs of joycons in less than a year.
I do believe there are replacement sticks available nowadays that should mostly eliminate drift.
Edit
Yeah, I found them. They're made by a company called Gulikit. I know the joycons are faulty little things, but I will hand it to nintendo that they're the easiest controllers to work on currently. No soldering needed to replace the sticks.
Yeah I replaced mine with Gulikit sticks after they started drifting while playing BotW. They were surprisingly easy to service, no soldering or special tools required.
Thanks for the tip in your edit. I had 4 pairs of official joycons drift, I eventually just bought a pair of 3rd party ones to keep mounted on it and those have been working fine for over 3 years now. I still have the official joycons, actually had 2 of them serviced and repaired by Nintendo after that class action lawsuit (Nintendo said they'd repair any drifting joycon for free regardless if they're out of warranty).
Allegedly it will be Hall-Effect-Sticks.
The drift that joycons get is almost always just caused by dirt/gunk under the joystick flaps. If you spray a little electrical cleaner up under the flaps it fixes the drift immediately. Might have to repeat it 1-2 times a year.
It's always bothered me how big of deal joycon drift is when it has such an easy fix. Obviously it would be better if I didn't happen at all, but it seems silly that people are throwing away good controllers that only needed a 5 second cleaning. Only thing I've ever had to replace any of my joycon controllers over is problems with the rail connections to the switch, where it swaps back and forth between wireless and direct connected. But my original 2016 joycons are still going strong, just stuck as wireless only joycons.
Not only did I keep them clean like all my other electronics, I had taken them apart to do a deeper cleaning after responses like yours when I posted about it on Reddit. The drift still persisted. I wasn't just tossing out $70 controllers because they were dirty.
Even if that was the culprit, it still speaks to low quality when other controllers don't need to be cleaned so often.
You're vastly downplaying the problem. There's a reason a class action lawsuit went forward with tons of evidence backing up that it wasn't simply the user's error in properly maintaining the joycon. I've bought a joycon and had it started drifting within weeks before, even before I had kids. The sticks were just poorly designed, simple as that.
The biggest turnoff for me is that it has no Oled screen. Why downgrade to an LCD from an Oled Nintendo?! Steam deck Oled it is then ☁️⚙️
OLED screen comes 2-3 years later, right around the time consumers will actually entertain the idea of purchasing the same console again.
Where have you seen that it won't be OLED?
gotta wait until April to see any games? damn lol
On the bright side it confirms backwards compatibility which is big.
Huh. I thought it was February because Eurogamer linked the US trailer. I had to go double check. You're correct.
xx.yy.ZZZZ strikes again.
Did they say for sure that there will not be any game announcements before April? I was hoping, since Nintendo has officially announced the system, developers would start listing it as a release target for their games. Even Nintendo might have a new game trailer and put a sneaky "for the Switch 2" at the end.
The JoyCon mouse theory is looking pretty solid now
Mouse theory?
There are rumors the joycon have an optical sensor on the side that would allow you to use them as a mouse on a flat surface
Does it? They did show the controllers in the sensor down orientation, but the mouse theory is too wacky.
If you have a joy con handy, take it and place it on a mousepad and move it around. It feels surprisingly good in the hand.
How great would Mario Maker 3 be if you had a mouse input to place all the blocks and select items and stuff.
Or maybe even a track editor for the new Mario Kart! That'd be sweet. And with the mouse they could really let you shape tracks and add foliage easier.
Not just in sensor-down orientation, but sliding around on a surface in the new wrist strap attachment which appears to have sliders on the "bottom" now
I don't have the slightest clue what anybody expected in a redesign. They've kinda got a winning formula for what they're trying to accomplish with the device, the sequel probably wasn't going to look all that different.
Many of us are still burnt by the WiiU
Maybe this is what the average normie wants, but this feels like Nintendo's least innovative console yet.
Yeeeah, I'm kinda surprised people are feeling hype for this? Idk. I'm probably gonna try and snag one but ONLY because a few years ago my ex got the switch in the breakup. If I already had a switch what exactly are the reasons to buy an upgrade?
Thank fuck it has a good naming system and they stuck with a winning formula this time. Let's just reuse this hardware design for another decade or two until AR and holodecks are ready to take over
Yeah, unless something really cool comes along, let's stick with "Switch". Maybe add some extra feature if something makes sense, but let's keep the hybrid system for a while.
Honestly, I'm a little concerned. Nintendo almost always tries something new and innovative. This just looks like a hardware upgrade, which is good, but not what keeps them ahead of their competitors. The Steam Deck is already encroaching on the Switch's territory, and it's only a matter of time before Playstation and Xbox try something similar (assuming Microsoft doesn't just give up on consoles and just make PCs). I was expecting something no one else would try, like a duel-screen that could function like a Wii U and a DS.
When the DS became the best selling gaming handheld we got
- DS OG 2004
- DS Lite 2006
- DSi 2009 (removed Gameboy slot)
- DSi XL 2010
They then went on to make the 3DS in multiple iterations including one where they just removed the 3D functionality and sold it again as a DS and the most recent model in 2017 was...
- New Nintendo 2DS XL
When they have a successful and well selling portable console they slow down on the innovation and go full into embrace the ecosystem as long as possible with minor improvements and if we use the DS as an indicator we have a decade of this.
The difference here is the entire DS line played the same games and provided the same core hardware. The 3DS, 3DS XL, and 2DS all played the same games.
The Switch comparison here would be:
- OG Switch
- Switch Lite
- OLED Switch
The closest comparison for Switch 2 would be the “New 3DS” which had a handful of games that weren’t backwards compatible. Or maybe the Wii U, although that tried to be innovative enough to be its own thing.
Yeah it would be very dumb not to capitalize on the success of the Switch.
It doesn't help that the rumored price is $450. If it ends up being that high, I'll definitely go for a Steam Deck instead. Con: can't play Switch 2 games. Pro: everything else. I know electronics are super expensive now, but without the advantage of a lower price, a competitor's portable console that's not a walled garden is a very tempting alternative.
Can't play Switch 2 game, yet. I have Yuzu/Ryujinx running multiple games at better frame rates than the Switch itself the using SyncThing to keep saves/isos mirrors to my NAS and PC so I could seamlessly move from desktop to Steamdeck and back.
Unironically better functionality than the device I was emulating. I still bought games on the eShop to assuage my conscience, but only after is played more than 4-5hrs so I even gave myself timed demos of everything as opposed to whatever the devs had time to carve out (if they even did).
The controllers are also mice
Well, that's not nothing. It's almost nothing, but not nothing.
I was really hoping for the hand-held virtual portal they had planned a few years ago. Assuming it got scrapped when 3DS didn't do as well as they hoped. But yeah, basically the tech from the *new 3DS, upgraded to a bigger single screen with an imu so you could use the portal to control the in-game camera. And it would basically feel like you are looking through and holding an actual portal into the videogame world you are playing.
It's possible to just do more easily/cheaply in VR now. But I still think a physical device doing it would surprise alot of people.
Please have analog triggers, pleeeaaasssee
Doesn't look like it
Bigger screen and new ports? Awesome!
Still looks like Switch 1.5, not 2...but I'll wait until I see hardware specs and games
Specs have been leaked before, starting way back in 2021 regarding the T239 SoC variant.
Since then, especially recently with the motherboard leak, people have pieced together specs that make it ~11x more powerful, but that's looking at raw numbers and trying to fit that into something we currently know.
Knowing Nintendo, it will be underpowered and underclocked to preserve cost, battery life and make it as stable as possible for the long run.
Something different this time is the DLSS tech though. This might make games run easier no matter the raw numbers by allowing a lower native resolution without losing (much) visual acuity.
But that's more a story for 3rd party developers, honestly, so I digress. I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic about the potential of the hardware.
Dlss doesn't interest me at all, but it might be a bit helpful on the smaller screen
Man, the lackadaisical reveal. Hilarious.
Also, the Youtube video is called "Switch 2 First Look". I see what you did there, Nintendo.
The only reason everyone is whelmed is because of all the leaks.
Had no one known anything, we'd be talking about the bigger size, new joycons and such.
Since there are no surprises we are just confirming what we already know.
Just so you know, "whelmed" means the same thing as "overwhelmed". The word you're looking for here is "underwhelmed".
I don't think so. This so far has big Game Boy Color vibes to me. Especially in the context of the Switch OLED being a thing. That's not necessarily bad, but it's definitely not comparable to the sheer WTF-ness of the DS, Wii or Switch reveals. And we knew what the Switch was in advance, too.
Nintendo can have a hard time letting go of successful designs sometimes. At least they put a 2 on it instead of a U and made it clear that it's a new system in the trailer.
I'm ready to change my mind after the direct, but I think the reveal would always have been "Oh, it's a bigger, more powerful Switch. Alright".
Yeah I thought they were going to do more than just “here’s what it looks like!” we’ve already seen what it looks like from the leaks
They were all "FINE. YOU WANNA SEE IT? HERE IT IS, LOOK AT IT. LOOK. AT. IT. LOOKS LIKE THE LEAKS, DOESN'T IT? NOW GO WAIT IN THE CORNER UNTIL APRIL".
I'm on board. Most empathetic I've felt towards Nintendo in ages.
I like the design a bit more, but it's nothing new, rather an upgrade to the switch. That's fine for me. As long as tge switch 2 is a bit more durable i would be happy. Let's see if that will be the case.
Yeah, it's exactly what I wanted. Won't mind if there are any added features, but I am happy with a "powerful" switch.
Been like 8 years I kind of thought it would be a little different but the if it ain't broke don't fix it approach has made a lot of money for people in the past I suppose.
For those curious about the internal hardware: https://youtu.be/KoN1ZdnreNM
Finally! This makes me very happy :)
Me too!
Me too!
They moved the charging port to the top!
Seems like there are two which is cool
Looks good! 🤩
It does!
I wonder how much power it’ll have
2
I hope Ring Fit is backwards compatible!
It's bigger!
I like the blue and pink accent colours. Looks fresh!
Woah the lawsuit company that makes games on the side did a thing other then filing lawsuits?
Doesn't matter, I won't be spending any more money on Nintendouch products.
They ruined enough fan projects for me to start hating them.
And I have not even touched the subject of the calculated breaking point in the original Switch, better known as Joy-Cons.
Agreed. Especially with x86 and the cornucopia of retro handhelds coming out all the time. Why would I want to waste money on a product that's going to come out already inferior to the competition, with locked down software experience, from a company that bullies their own fans?
Great games, shitty company. Unfortunately, because of the first thing, a lot of people ignore (and even defend) the second thing.
None of the fan projects would even be possible without Nintendo in the first place, but you do you.
Umm, no? There would just be more fan projects of other games.
I never bought the first Switch, so this is just another thing I won't buy.
Obligatory fuck Nintendo.
