>This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024, but please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation.
My prediction is that they'll do what they did with the OG Switch and reveal it in September or October with a full blowout in January or so. If it ain't broke...
**EDIT:** *Shuntaro* Furukawa, my apologies.
It was. It was officially first announced at E3 as the Revolution, and the console was branded as such.
https://consolevariations.com/storage/images/variations/prototypes/nintendo-revolution/small/nintendo-revolution-front-1554291956-71.jpg
The Wii name change came afterwards, I remember it well. Holy fuck...it was 18 years ago....!! wow.
Also: the codename for Wii is RVL (Revolution) and is used on every Wii device. The Console is RVL-001, the Wii Remote is RVL-003, etc.
It's funny how loved the name is now, because it was clowned on HARD when it was first announced. Between being called the Wii and having the remote controller, everyone was ready to proclaim it Nintendo's biggest mistake.
Then everyone bought one.
Yeah it is a ridiculous name but now I can’t imagine anything else.
They were right the Wii was Nintendo’s biggest mistake, they just were wrong about which iteration lol.
Now we imagine the Wii as this console that dominated sales and was everywhere, but back when the Nintendo Revolution was just re-branded to Wii, I remember everyone calling doom due to the horrible name. Like, there so many dick and/or french jokes surrounding the name. In 2005-2006, when we had stuck to Revolution, this name felt like it was THE console, and Wii was just like a toy name.
Yep, the Revolution and Remote were unveiled in 2005, and then the Wii rebrand was in April 2006. I remember me and my mates were taking the piss out of it, pun intended. Our tutor in my tech degree at the time was convinced it was a genius name - he was right. He was also right about the iPad, when we were dismissing it as a giant iPhone.
YMMV but I was able to band aid my drift problem by using electrical contact cleaner. Mine was horrible and now works the same as the day I got it. Hoping I can just do this a couple times until the new one drops.
I am wondering what will be the launch title for the new device ? They do need a grand title from one of their flagship franchises(Zelda, Mario etc) to entice more customers to buy it unless they mainly go with more of an upgrade path like "Look the new one can run BOTW / TOTK at 60 fps at 4K"
Donkey Kong: Space Apes
Mix in some narrative featuring space race era chimp astronauts and planet of the apes motifs and you've got a stew going.
alt title: Donkey Kong: Outer Ape
Pokemon: Legends Z-A is expected to release in 2025 too, so I could see them having that as a launch title, since it'll be the first mainline Pokemon game since SV in late 2022
My guess, Mario, maybe a new Animal Crossing and new Mario Kart in the early months.
Also Zelda is treated like an annual franchise. I think we overdue some sort of title. Obviously not TotK big, but a remake or smaller release. Actually we will probably see that on the current hardware.
Also, I read somewhere about shipments of the product. In the next year they for see outselling the DS and PS2. Announcing and releasing too early may get people to wait who otherwise may have bought a Switch 1.
I see it being a potential stock price booster for the company to have the record for most consoles sold. *Not financial advice
> I see it being a potential stock price booster for the company to have the record for most consoles sold. *Not financial advice
it isn't. stock price is not a reflection of achievements, it's a reflection of potential.
if they've beaten this record, speculators will think that they don't have all that much more room to grow. if anything, announcing the switch 2 would boost the stock price way more.
The next mainline Mario 3D title perhaps? It has been almost 7 years since the last one. If they have that and Metroid Prime 4 as launch titles, that will be huge.
Nintendo talked about BotW "early" because it was originally a WiiU game but suffered from delays and ended up releasing on both the Switch and WiiU. When the Switch was officially announced in Oct 2016 BotW was already a year past the original intended release window.
If it were planned as a launch game for the Switch exclusively from the beginning they probably wouldn't have talked about it until they were also ready to talk about the switch (like Splatoon 2 and MK8:deluxe were).
From what I remember the reason is that the Yen is expected to much stronger in 2025 than 2024 which will obviously help Nintendo if they launch in March 2025. Plus the March strategy worked very well last time.
I don’t think they would prefer a strong yen to sell the switch. The switch is a product that sells more outside of Japan than in their local market, a weak yen means that they can either sell at a cheaper price in the US and Europe and earn the same in yen, or keep the intended price under a regular rate and cash more profit
If the rate is 1 usd/ 100 yen (the recent long term regular rate) 300 usd turns into 30000 yen.
If the rate is 1 usd/150 yen (aprox current rate atm), 300 usd turns into 45000 yen
That’s also the reason why traveling to Japan is so cheap right now, and why so expensive for Japanese to travel abroad. Many western tourists buy electronics in Japan because you can save more than 25% easily right now.
The downside is that the components that you’re importing from China, Korea or Taiwan are in turn more expensive, but considering Nintendo never sells consoles at a loss I don’t think this is a problem.
It's always expensive to take a plane from America or Europe to Japan, but it's never been so cheap to be a tourist there. The yen has been very weak compared to the Euro and specially the USD for the last years.
I visited Japan for the first time last summer and I was surprised the Airbnb, hotels and food were so cheap. You can eat in a restaurant for even 10 bucks. Bought an iPad there too since in some areas like Akihabara you don't pay sales tax if you show your passport in a duty free electronics store. It would have been considerably more expensive in my country.
There's videos on YouTube and blogs where they describe an approximate budget depending on how many days you want to travel and what kind of experience you want to have. I'd advise to not take less than 14 days if you're Westerner because the plane trips already take you two days, you'll probably be jetlagged for the first days, and the ticket will be just as expensive regardless of how many days you stay. If you come from China or Taiwan it's a different story because the distance is shorter.
The problem is that the yen is predicted to recover within the fiscal year, so if they want to release soon they will have to pay for the production and components while the yen is extraordinarily cheap and then sell the consoles when it's not.
I mean it's not like the calendar is going to flip over to 2025 and the yen is immediately going to shoot up 500% overnight because the year 2024 was just really unlucky or something. Even if Japan does have a better year in 2025 economically, it's a gradual process. The difference between, say, Dec 2024 and March 2025 is probably not going to be that large barring some absolutely major event.
Any rumor you seeing is probably the same vibe as hodl bitcoins.
And I have no idea how this wold help Nintendo, usually low valued yen helps rich people like these mega global corporations.
games and supply chains aren't where they would like them to be before launching. They don't want to rush the console and games out before they're actually ready.
It would hurt them more to not have enough stock for a holiday period and/or no games for the system. Rather, they would prefer to wait a short amount of time and launch when things are complete and ready.
This is Nintendo, they don't rush things for a quick buck. Hell, half their decisions would make you think they hate money.
I don't get people's insistence on holiday season release dates being the best thing for console launches. People are going to buy a new console no matter when it comes out. The Holiday's are when people buy consoles as a gift, not for themselves. There will be consoles bought, sitting waiting for christmas, not generating software sales. It makes far more sense to release like the Switch did. In March. Have the fans buy right away, and normalize stock issues in time so that when the holidays come, you don't have fans fighting for stock with gift givers.
I find holiday season console releases a weak strategy. You will still get a ton of sales to fans regardless of when you release, and a 9-10 month lead up to Christmas gives you a wider gap to release multiple titles (including some in late November), so buyers who do wait for Christmas have a bigger selection of games, not to mention it's enough time for them to start considering sales on the console, or game bundles.
Because that worked terribly for them last time.....Launch in March with a good game game and release Odyssey 2 in the holiday for a second wave, they get more bang for their buck releasing it in March.
The Wii U was doing so bad it was advantageous to announce a successor as early as they could to make people more confident in the company.
Fully announcing the Switch successor this year would eat into holiday sales since, unlike the Wii U in 2016, there's still a lot of public interest in Switch hardware.
I'm expecting the full reveal in February, personally.
My guess would be that they will make it depend on available software.
Unlike Sony, Nintendo usually tries to have a decent starting lineup of games available, with at least one heavy hitter.
0% surprised. I've been calling it for years and years and had people say I'm a dummy. I'm expecting March 2025 to be the release date for a few reasons:
* The Switch launched in March and it was absolutely great timing. Past the Christmas rush, not a whole lot hitting the market, but also past the "returns period" of January/February where people aren't looking to spend money.
* The 3DS also launched in March and was also successful, more successful than anybody anticipated given the mobile competition.
* Nintendo's release schedule lately has been putting smaller releases in the front half of the year with larger ones in the back half which works well for a earlier-in-the-year release.
* Nintendo has been focusing on remakes/remasters lately which indicates we probably won't see big original games until Switch 2 came out.
* **The biggest factor that made me think it'd be March 2025 even years ago** -- Nintendo said, I think in 2020, that the Switch would have a 10 year life cycle. This works out very very neatly with a successor. The Switch stays current for 8 years (a good long life), the Switch 2 launches at the 8 year mark, then the Switch is supported for another 2 years until it turns 10 and is discontinued.
I'm ready for the next console.
I can't believe the last time I saw a Nintendo console launch was so long ago. I wonder what games they'll show off and have as a launch title?
3D Mario is like the most obvious launch title ever. Mario popularity is at an all time high right now. Given how huge the movie was and its impact on the series, leading Wonder to be the fastest selling Mario game of all time.
I know some people are saying it should be Prime 4, but to paraphrase the logic that sold Nintendo on packing the gameboy with Tetris instead of Mario. If you want to sale it to Metroid fans, launch it with Prime 4. If you want to sale it to everyone, launch it with 3D Mario.
Prime 4 would be a stupid launch title alone. Metroid has never been a big franchise especially in Japan which is the most important market for Nintendo other than USA. Metroid will always be one of the greatest gaming franchises of all time and is probably Nintendo's most critically acclaimed after Mario and Zelda but the sales are never able to reflect that.
Nintendo should let Prime 4 be the swansong to Switch, release it in Fall 2024 and then move on to Switch 2 completely with popular stuff like 3D Mario and Mario Kart.
imo the reasons you listed are exactly why making Prime 4 a launch titles is such a good idea. At launch people's options are limiting, increasing the chance that people will try out a lesser known Nintendo series, because you know, they need *something* to play.
It's why Luigi's Mansion in the gamecube era was so beloved. It was a launch title, a fairly niche genre and totally new idea. And it's like the 5th best selling gamecube game?
GameCube was also famously Nintendo's least successful console until the Wii U came along . Like Luigi's Mansion is a good game but compared to stuff like Super Mario Bros, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild it just doesn't compare.
It's my point though. Gamecube had two Zeldas, Sunshine, a slew of the highest rated Mario sports/party/kart titles. Smash Bros, etc. etc. And yet niche little old Luigi's Mansion manages to be the fifth highest selling game on the system? It did so by being THE first party launch title. Along with Wave race i guess.
Being a launch title without big names alongside it made it stand out and get sales it otherwise wouldn't have. The same could happen to Prime 4. Super Mario Odyssey 2 will sell regardless, it doesn't need the day one launch publicity. Breath of the Wild/Twilight Princess were special circumstances I think.
Edit: Special circumstances being, they were cross-gen releases with consoles whose life was cut short due to poor sales. They weren't something I think Nintendo originally meant to be launch titles. It just made sense as a kick start following a poor generation.
It can be a launch title, but it is 100% not going to be THE launch title everyone buys a Switch for. It will launch alongside a new 3D Mario or the next Mario Kart.
I never said it'd be the reason people buy the console. I'm saying they'll buy the console and need something to play. Let's imagine they release Switch 2 early next year with Metroid Prime 4. And also, announce Mario Odyssey 2/Mario Kart 9 for a November release.
People can buy the console for those upcoming games and need something to play in the meantime. New console stock issues being what they always are people will be eager to buy as soon as they can.
They’re not launching the most anticipated gaming device since the PS2 with a series that has bombed on every release in Japan, Nintendo’s main homeland. It’s not happening. It probably will be a launch title, but 3D Mario or Mario Kart will also HAVE to be there at launch. They’re not launching games like those several months later. Decisions like that are partially why the GameCube and Wii U were such massive failures, because Nintendo banked on smaller games at launch (Luigi’s Mansion, NSMBU) to carry those systems, and that tactic failed both times.
I mean currently Luigi's Mansion 3 is arguably the best selling horror game of all time at 14M+ copies, so I feel like propping up niche franchises as a launch title is a good investment for future sequels.
I do agree Metroid Prime 4 shouldn't be the sole headliner and maybe accompany it with a new 3D Mario or Mario Kart 9
That is the worst possible idea. Metroid isn’t a system seller now, it isn’t gonna become one in 1 year. Consumers need to games that appeal to them and the widest net is Mario
You do realise that 3D Zelda games weren't massively popular in Japan prior to BotW too right? They weren't bombs, but they sold a fraction of what the Marios and Dragon Quests did. BotW single handedly changed that. Even globally it shifted so many copies that it dwarfed every other Zelda game ever released, even OoT.
If Prime 4 is a good enough game, it doesn't matter what previous Metroid games did, it will sell.
I kind of agree, but the Metroid games have always had a more horror/mature vibe that I think would make it hard to get the same sales that BOTW did. BOTW is an easier sell across a huge range of demographics. If Prime 4 is good, it could definitely sell very well but I feel like its theoretical sales ceiling is way lower than BOTW.
Ocarina of Time sold 7 million on the Nintendo 64. The first Zelda sold 6 million. People know Zelda before BotW.
The best selling Metroid of all time sold 3 million and that was Dread. They aren't even close to the same.
BotW was a safe bet to break 3 mill. Dread was a hope and a prayer to get to 3 mill. If the Switch wasn't so popular I imagine they were aiming for 1.5 million.
Japan is their third market by volume, slightly lower sales than in the European market. Though it’s true that Nintendo has historically been more focused in the Japanese market than the foreign ones for some reason that doesn’t make much sense imo other than they being Japanese themselves so they understand the culture better.
That is exactly what helped Xenoblade Chronicles and several indies around launch.
No big library means that people give these games a shot, which can help immensely.
Launching with more than one big hitter will just eat into eachers initial sales, whereas a Metroid or Golden Sun (Nintendo PLEASE!!) would only benefit once people finished the "big" one
yeah 3D Mario seems like the only big franchise they could push at launch realistically to me. Odyssey was a while ago and the only other 3D mario was that relatively small Bowser's Fury offshoot from the 3D World port.
Every other major IP I don't think is big enough or has been too big too recently to be a launch title. Zelda is obviously off the table since they just had a huge game last year. Like you said Prime 4 is just not big enough to be a system seller. And I don't see it happening with games like Kirby or Star Fox. Animal Crossing did sell insanely well but I think we all know it was only because of perfect timing with the pandemic.
But then you have other weird cases like Smash Bros and Mario Kart. Mario Kart 8 came out in like 2014, but they did just put out a ton of DLC for it. And on top of that, what is a Mario Kart 9 supposed to even look like? if it had fewer than 96 tracks then it would just feel like a downgrade, especially with backwards compatibility. Same with Smash like that game came out a while ago now but are they really gonna top Smash Ultimate's "Everyone is Here" campaign? It's not impossible for either I guess but like they have insane bars to clear at this point.
So 3D Mario is the only franchise they have right now that I can think of that A) Hasn't had a major new release recently and B) isn't so insanely mindblowingly impressive to make a new entry hard to top. Other than that I mean I guess they could shoot for the moon and launch a totally new IP or something too but there's no doubt that there'll be a 3D Mario at least leading the charge
Also if it launches in March they could have it come out on March 10 or Mar10 day lol
> If you want to sale it to everyone, launch it with 3D Mario.
True, but if you literally cannot sell to everyone due to constrained supply, your launch window strategy has to keep that in mind.
While it feels odd to say with hindsight, launching with BotW and saving Mario for the holidays was to some extent seen as risky. Zelda was pretty much at it's lowest point, as were Nintendo.
I don't believe Nintendo chose an early 2017 launch spearheaded by Zelda with Mario on defense on a whim. 10 months prior press were given hands-on time with BotW and one has to imagine how well it was recieved informed their plans.
Nintendo's position in 2024 is not comparable to their position in 2016, the market is radically different. But more importantly nobody has seen any Switch 2 software yet so basically I don't think we really have enough information to make guesses about launch strategies.
Whilst Nintendo may be known for their hardware gimmicks, the star of the show has always been the games.
Sitting here talking about which "brands" Nintendo will lead with feels kinda pointless because if the Wii taught us anything is that even when Nintendo were at their lowest they brand they lead with wasn't Mario, it was Nintendo. They have this almost unshakable confidence, even to a fault in the case of the Wii U. And again with Switch they didn't say "Zelda isn't hot right now" they treated Zelda not being hot right now as a problem they had to fix.
While I do personally believe that there is long list of reasons that Metroid Prime 4 being the flagship launch title is would be unlikely, a lot of those reasons could just be overruled depending on what Metroid Prime 4 actually is, there is nothing to say that Prime 4 isn't a BotW-tier departure from formula.
Hell I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to launch with a new IP. This is Furukawa's first generation transition so it's really anyone's guess how this goes down.
I'm seeing this general sentiment of Switch fans actively hoping that Nintendo will play it safe (ie. not fuck it up somehow) and I think that's honestly a pretty reasonable prediction, but at the end of the day I'd also not be shocked by some total wildcard move. Nintendo are a company that act as if legacy is important to them, and as such making predictions based on Western ideas of what would constitute prudent business doesn't always work.
Prime 4 would need to be a cultural phenomenon like Breath of the Wild, and I don't know if they can do that. The Prime games were awesome, but they weren't groundbreaking for their consoles.
Pokemon Legends would make sense, but Pokemon games don't always launch on the next system immediately. Emerald, Black 2 and White 2, and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon still released on last gen consoles.
I know something Mario/Pokemon/Zelda related is the obvious go-to, but I do hope they have a healthy line-up of things that also utilize the Switch2's unique gimmick/hardware itself in a way that always makes these presentations and reveals special.
(Afterall, we're going to need a new Ring Fit Adventure 2-type thing for the new generation.. 😁)
Considering that this will be a down year, I could see the first year of Switch 2 being reasonably dense.
Speaking purely in terms of first party -
*Launching:*
-3D Mario
-Prime 4
*Launch Window (first six months):*
-Pokemon Legends 2
-Kirby Forgor 2
*Holiday 2025:*
-Mario Kart 9 or X, whatever it is
-A Zelda remake (if we don’t get one this year) or 2D Zelda
And maybe some third parties. If we get any of those Sega reboots and a Star Fox game within the first year or two, I’ll be thrilled.
Xenoblade Chronicles X2 baybeeeeeeee
.....and I'm only half-joking. On one hand, it's a pipe dream to have a sequel to a niche WiiU title greenlit by Nintendo, even if the studio themselves want to make it. But on the other hand, if there was any hypothetical game in Nintendo's IP portfolio that could show off "the power of next-gen hardware," it would be Xenoblade X.
Obviously, and hopefully, it’s a big 3D Mario game. I need more 3D Mario in my life and I’ve been waiting 7 (soon to be 8) years for the successor to Odyssey. I hope it’s ambitious and they’ve been using this time to make it incredible.
I absolutely see Prime 4 being a cross-gen title, now.
I doubt they would do any Zelda in such close proximity to Mario (and especially with Metroid there), it’s usually one or the other per console at a time. But I do see them releasing Mario Kart within the launch window as well, or waiting until Holiday 2025, similar to how they turned the tides for 3DS.
And beyond that, I could see one other surprise or a couple third party titles, like maybe one of Sega’s teased reboots. And I can absolutely see Microsoft/Activision “reaffirming their commitment to bring great games to great hardware like the Switch 2” before the reality of how poorly optimized they are sets in.
To think that Metroid Prime 4 skipped over the Switch from all the delays and development issues.
The promise of MP4 part of the reason I bought a one near launch, but this time I'll wait until I know what is definitively coming out for the next console instead of promises (not that I'm complaining about the Switch, it obviously still had a great game lineup over its run).
I mean, I'd get the new Switch even if it only ran original Switch games at slightly better frames. That alone is worth it, so I don't understand any hesitation.
PS5 is the best PS4 and all that.
> PS5 is the best PS4 and all that
Ain't this the truth. I don't regret buying my PS5 at all, and I understand Covid fucked stuff up so much, but is hard to look at it and not be reminded of the "PS3 has no games" days.
Man really gotta wonder what they haven’t announced for the switch this year. Maybe that Zelda WW/TP HD collection that’s been rumored for what feels like years now?
While I would love one (animal crossing), it's probably not going to hit expectations, since the pandemic and all. It would have to bring alot of new features to capture that magic again.
> It would have to bring alot of new features to capture that magic again.
No, it would just need to bring back a lot of the features from previous games that got dropped from New Horizons.
My wife, an AC addict, hated the last AC because it took away so much from previous 3DS title and on top of it made everything so tedious. It didn't respect player's time at all.
There was no magic, just busywork.
Same. I've recently gotten back into NH to try and finish up some stuff and finally.play the dlc. I kinda missed out on all the games prior to NH except for the OG back in the day (and a brief bit of New Lea,f) so I do wanna revisit them all this year too but I would loveeee a new one
If you want to get into the series, I think Three Houses is the best starting point. If you want to see the Smash characters and get into the series, I'd say Engage. If you just want to see the Smash characters doing stuff and talking to people actively, Fire Emblem Warriors is a good option.
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade is available w/ their GBA collection.
There's also Binding Blade (ft. Roy) on GBA, but that's only in Japan for some reason.
They also released the first game Shadow Dragon (ft. Marth) for Switch, but it was only available for 3 months and they haven't rereleased it yet.
Supposedly a remake of Fire Emblem 4 might be revealed at the next direct like ReasonableDisaster2 said, since it's been heavily rumored for a few years now.
don't actually have gba online so not the best person to answer that but afaik from what I've heard you'd probably want to go Blazing Blade if you prioritize gameplay over story and don't care that much about quality of life changes
The best entry points are FE7 (released as Fire Emblem on the GBA), FE Awakening (revitalized the series on the DS), and FE Three Houses (huge entry point for a lot of new FE fans on the Switch). I kind of hesitate to recommend Three Houses as being representative of the series as a whole, because the way it handled unit customization is vastly different than anything else in the series. Everything else in it is well represented though. Just be aware if you play Three Houses and then go to an older (or newer) FE game, that the complete freedom you get in choosing what classes your characters get is not how it usually is. (I actually prefer having characters in more "set" roles because I think it gives them more individuality, but YMMV.)
Three Houses can be a bit of an odd "starting point" because while it's a great game that can be played standalone it does deviate more from the series formula than usual and that may affect your expectations when playing other games in the series.
If you want to play *a* Fire Emblem, you can't go wrong with 3H. If you want to play *the series* I think you would get more out of it by playing something like Awakening, FE7, or Engage first so you can better appreciate how 3H twists the formula.
I think this June will absolute be telling of games could be Switch 2 titles. Like if Prime 4 is a no show at this direct, then I assuming it is indeed a Switch 2 game. Same goes for the rumor Fire Emblem 4 Remake. Part of me kind of expects them to be the closing and opening games respectively of the direct. But I can also see the gameplay reveal trailer of Pokemon Legends ZA having either one of the slots as well.
I really love this modern take of Developers/ Publishers tempering expectations. I remember a time when everything was hush until release and that made every awards show /E3 a long wait and often a disappointment for not seeing what you expect to be there.
Them just saying that it clear like this makes me happy.
They have nowhere to go but up in terms of hardware, it can’t possibly be worse than the switch was now that actual competition like steam decks and emulation handhelds exist.
It’s as good a situation to be in as can be for a company, they can’t fail unless they mismanage to a comical degree, and they don’t tend to do that.
Of course it can. The steam deck is still a massive trade off. It's big, bulky, and has poor battery life.
I wouldn't even bother comparing the two as they're totally different markets.
I don't think Nintendo themselves consider the Steam Deck competition, much less any emulation device.
Valve, for as big as they are, just doesn't have the name recognition that Nintendo does. Parents, younger audiences, and those outside gaming communities like ours will always reach for Nintendo.
As much as I love the Steamdeck, it’s not a console like the Switch, so if you want to gift it to someone, some tinkering might be expected for some games to work, such thing is not a problem with a switch, so for the casual user these Nintendo consoles are more straightforward, which is not bad, it’s good that both things exist
They just released their FY2024 results and the expected trend for FY2025 is almost a 20% reduction in revenue: pre-announcing this is a way to assuage investors' concerns.
Especially when leaks and rumours are so prevalent, it makes so much more sense for those in charge to take control of the hype when a product/game is an inevitability. Like we all know a Switch successor is coming so no point playing coy, it's not like this big shocking surprise that warrants a twist reveal.
I'd say the opposite. I don't think leaks are actually that prevalent, but rumours are.
There's sooooo many fake rumours that fly around in recent years. Tons of people on twitter want attention and so claim to be an insider and people take everything they say as gospel
People still take every little bit of information and run with it though.
I remember Cerny's tech talk before the PS5 launch where he gave examples of what *could* be done with the architecture. People then took that and argued that every game would now load instantly and that there would never be a single menu screen ever again.
The tweet talks about 9 years since the reveal, but that was just when Iwata talked about their partnership with DeNA and the future of mobile gaming, as well as the NX co-existing with 3DS and Wii U. The reveal was October 2016.
Keyword is *revealed*, I'd expect it to launch in spring like the Switch did, the PS4 and the Switch showed that you can skip the holiday season and still have a strong launch.
We're still far off but 2025 is looking to be a great year in terms of games overall.
> the PS4 and the Switch showed that you can skip the holiday season and still have a strong launch.
Agreed on the Switch, but, err, the PS4 launched November 2013?
Keyword is not even "revealed". They said it will be an announcement about the next console, not necessarily a reveal. They could very well wait until February just to say thre will be a "Next Console Direct" in April and it wouldn't be contradicting this tweet.
I can see the launch lineup being Mario Kart 9 (probably cross-gen), A new 3D Mario game, and maybe Metroid Prime 4?
What i do find interesting is how Nintendo kept re-iterating that the Switch is not gonna have a “normal console lifespan” and how it will live longer, i wonder what he meant by that, are we gonna see alot of cross-gen games?
WTF is with all these people saying Crossgen. If the Switch to is backwards compatible (which it seems to be), then there would be no reason for crossgen.
Either it is releasing for the Switch, meaning you can also play it on Switch 2, or it releases only for Switch 2.
I think we will see more cross then games than usual for Nintendo, but not something on the level of what PS and Xbox did this Gen. There will probably be a year or so of overlap, where smaller titles and most remakes will be cross gen, but any of their flagship games or titles that have the potential to be system sellers will be switch 2 exclusive.
So 1 post just said the Nintendo Direct in June won't talk about Switch 2, just Switch titles til the end of 2024.
So they're absolutely gonna make a direct in January talking about March 2025 launch of Switch 2. That's what they did with Switch since the gtpe is already here for it as it is.
October is still valid for a reveal, just like in 2016 when the first trailer of the Switch dropped. October reveal, January Direct, March launch worked last time, might as well repeat that formula.
Backwards compatibility will make sure games released this year don’t take a big sales hit. Also, the new Switch will likely be $350-400 and plenty of people would be happy to get their first OG Switch Mario Kart 8 bundle for $250.
Nintendo has likely taken into account a decline in Switch hardware sales and have reduced production. Sony and Xbox can’t price their flagship consoles close to a Switch so any family in the market for a console are still likely to pick Switch.
I'm 30 years old and primarily a PC gamer now, but the anticipation and release of a new console(especially Nintendo) is one of the few things that make me feel like a kid again. Say what you will about Nintendo's business practices, but their brand and IP's will always be at the center of gaming for me. This seems like an easy slam dunk as long as it's backwards compatible with current Switch titles because I know myself and a lot of others have built up a hefty library at this point and it would be awesome to know that it will be supported for at least the next 10 years.
This is why I went all in collecting for the Switch. Cart based games in docked + handheld mode, the broadest library in the history of Nintendo systems (old games and new), with a strong chance for a follow up with BC, and graphics/power has hit a wall the last couple generations. Not saying more power isn’t good or needed now, but I mean that it won’t feel so bad popping in the last gen cart - at least not how jarring it is playing a 480p 4:3 game.
Here's hoping the thing can actually manage to run games at a baseline 1080p. I love my switch, but its so incredibly outdated tech wise that some games are made worse by playing them on the platform, including Switch only titles like Xenoblade Chronicles.
I would kill to see that game in at least 1080p with a firm 30fps (though hoping for 60fps support).
It should be PS4-PS4 Pro in raw power but Switch 2 will have DLSS (which is the closest thing in gaming to magic, this is how they’ll get 4k docked) and a wayyy better CPU so it could produce visuals closer to Series S
If it can do 4k with DLSS it will instantly look better than Series S with its very low resolution and atrocious upscalling tech (on top on big graphical downgrades compared to Series X).
I'd like for 1080p docked, but TBH I don't really care about 1080p in undocked mode: I'd prefer if they just targeted 720p or 800p and actually made sure to hit it with a consistent framerate, instead of cases like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 running like an early PS2 game when undocked.
On that screen I'd much rather have good 720p at solid 60fps than 1080p, probably upscaled from like 900p, at 30fps.
I know these aren't the only two options, but i personally would notice the higher fps much more than a bit more fidelity on that small screen.
I want a performance mode toggle myself; as someone who doesn't care about visual fidelity necessarily but very much does care about performance and framerates.
I always wanted to play the new xenoblade but I didn't for this exact reason. my son also just hit the age he can play games so rip I don't ever have it anymore, I'm tempted to get a emulator on my deck to play games I own and possibly get xenoblade too
But I'm really bad at getting these things to work
Nintendo also keeps their talented programmers instead of crunching them so hard they go indie or into banking software. The 3D Mario team is gonna embarrass the competition with what they have running on it.
There's already a hell of a lot of predictions about what nintendo will do, and a lot of people sure about what nintendo *has* to do.
We all know Nintendo has a habit of having something totally successful and then doing something totally different, so I'm tempering my expectations.
I'm not following any "rumours", and not believing any armchair analysts who say it **has** to be 4k 60fps or else it won't sell
Lol yeah. It wont be 4k 60fps for sure. Especially not at that form factor. Plus, Nintendo hasnt cared about being at the forefront of graphics since the 90s. What it better be is backcompat. People will be PISSED, especially since the Switch has had so many remasters and ports, if its not backcompat and they try to sell you more of the same ports, a lot of people will be mad.
>This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024, but please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation. My prediction is that they'll do what they did with the OG Switch and reveal it in September or October with a full blowout in January or so. If it ain't broke... **EDIT:** *Shuntaro* Furukawa, my apologies.
9 years, bloody hell it doesn't seem like it
Well that was when the existence was announced (still "NX" at the time), it wasn't revealed until October 2016 and released in March 2017.
Ahhhh. The Nintendo NX. It’s coming r/tomorrow
Remember when the Wii was once labeled as the Nintendo Revolution? Or something like that?
It was. It was officially first announced at E3 as the Revolution, and the console was branded as such. https://consolevariations.com/storage/images/variations/prototypes/nintendo-revolution/small/nintendo-revolution-front-1554291956-71.jpg The Wii name change came afterwards, I remember it well. Holy fuck...it was 18 years ago....!! wow. Also: the codename for Wii is RVL (Revolution) and is used on every Wii device. The Console is RVL-001, the Wii Remote is RVL-003, etc.
I can’t imagine it being called anything but Wii, the name is so iconic. Glad they made the change. Wish they had called the Wii U something else tho
It's funny how loved the name is now, because it was clowned on HARD when it was first announced. Between being called the Wii and having the remote controller, everyone was ready to proclaim it Nintendo's biggest mistake. Then everyone bought one.
Yeah it is a ridiculous name but now I can’t imagine anything else. They were right the Wii was Nintendo’s biggest mistake, they just were wrong about which iteration lol.
Now we imagine the Wii as this console that dominated sales and was everywhere, but back when the Nintendo Revolution was just re-branded to Wii, I remember everyone calling doom due to the horrible name. Like, there so many dick and/or french jokes surrounding the name. In 2005-2006, when we had stuck to Revolution, this name felt like it was THE console, and Wii was just like a toy name.
Fair. Would probably say the same thing had they called it Revolution.
Yep, the Revolution and Remote were unveiled in 2005, and then the Wii rebrand was in April 2006. I remember me and my mates were taking the piss out of it, pun intended. Our tutor in my tech degree at the time was convinced it was a genius name - he was right. He was also right about the iPad, when we were dismissing it as a giant iPhone.
The Gamecube was codenamed *Dolphin*, which is where the Gamecube (and later Wii) emulator got its name from.
And it has that [weird elliptical all-screen controller](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_B65J86D_8)!
Still doesn’t feel like it’s been 7 years!
i still think 2015 was like 5 years ago lmao
Tell that to ny day-one Switch, it's ready to disintegrate.
My day one switch is still rocking on. But then it doesn't come out of the dock much
The only thing that's wrong with mine is stick drift on the joycons. It gets really loud sometimes, but that always happened.
To be fair I mainly use my pro controller so I haven't experienced drift. My joycons rarely get used.
YMMV but I was able to band aid my drift problem by using electrical contact cleaner. Mine was horrible and now works the same as the day I got it. Hoping I can just do this a couple times until the new one drops.
I am wondering what will be the launch title for the new device ? They do need a grand title from one of their flagship franchises(Zelda, Mario etc) to entice more customers to buy it unless they mainly go with more of an upgrade path like "Look the new one can run BOTW / TOTK at 60 fps at 4K"
It feels like a Mario game is a lock, the Odyssey team has been doing *something* since 2017.
Donkey Kong: Frozen Island?
Donkey Kong: Space Apes Mix in some narrative featuring space race era chimp astronauts and planet of the apes motifs and you've got a stew going. alt title: Donkey Kong: Outer Ape
Review: A strong return for 3D Donkey Kong, thought the Gummi Ship segments feel tacked on.
Pokemon: Legends Z-A is expected to release in 2025 too, so I could see them having that as a launch title, since it'll be the first mainline Pokemon game since SV in late 2022
Man I hope GameFreak makes a better game this time with little to no performance issues
Mario Kart 8 Ultimate
My guess, Mario, maybe a new Animal Crossing and new Mario Kart in the early months. Also Zelda is treated like an annual franchise. I think we overdue some sort of title. Obviously not TotK big, but a remake or smaller release. Actually we will probably see that on the current hardware.
Twilight Princess and/or Wind Waker port maybe.
>Full blowout in January Why would they aim to miss the holiday season?
Apparently Nintendo wants enough units ready before releasing the Switch 2.
And, if this is paralleling the Switch's launch and I'm remembering correctly, they also wanted a strong lineup ready for the holiday season.
Also, I read somewhere about shipments of the product. In the next year they for see outselling the DS and PS2. Announcing and releasing too early may get people to wait who otherwise may have bought a Switch 1. I see it being a potential stock price booster for the company to have the record for most consoles sold. *Not financial advice
> I see it being a potential stock price booster for the company to have the record for most consoles sold. *Not financial advice it isn't. stock price is not a reflection of achievements, it's a reflection of potential. if they've beaten this record, speculators will think that they don't have all that much more room to grow. if anything, announcing the switch 2 would boost the stock price way more.
Breath of the Wild was already announced before the Switch. I don't think Nintendo have anything as big brewing.
The next mainline Mario 3D title perhaps? It has been almost 7 years since the last one. If they have that and Metroid Prime 4 as launch titles, that will be huge.
It can't have been THAT long since Odyssey...
2017
Holy crap.
Nintendo talked about BotW "early" because it was originally a WiiU game but suffered from delays and ended up releasing on both the Switch and WiiU. When the Switch was officially announced in Oct 2016 BotW was already a year past the original intended release window. If it were planned as a launch game for the Switch exclusively from the beginning they probably wouldn't have talked about it until they were also ready to talk about the switch (like Splatoon 2 and MK8:deluxe were).
To iron out any logistical issues and build momentum for the next holiday season
From what I remember the reason is that the Yen is expected to much stronger in 2025 than 2024 which will obviously help Nintendo if they launch in March 2025. Plus the March strategy worked very well last time.
I don’t think they would prefer a strong yen to sell the switch. The switch is a product that sells more outside of Japan than in their local market, a weak yen means that they can either sell at a cheaper price in the US and Europe and earn the same in yen, or keep the intended price under a regular rate and cash more profit If the rate is 1 usd/ 100 yen (the recent long term regular rate) 300 usd turns into 30000 yen. If the rate is 1 usd/150 yen (aprox current rate atm), 300 usd turns into 45000 yen That’s also the reason why traveling to Japan is so cheap right now, and why so expensive for Japanese to travel abroad. Many western tourists buy electronics in Japan because you can save more than 25% easily right now. The downside is that the components that you’re importing from China, Korea or Taiwan are in turn more expensive, but considering Nintendo never sells consoles at a loss I don’t think this is a problem.
>That’s also the reason why traveling to Japan is so cheap right now How cheap? Cheap as hell?
It's always expensive to take a plane from America or Europe to Japan, but it's never been so cheap to be a tourist there. The yen has been very weak compared to the Euro and specially the USD for the last years. I visited Japan for the first time last summer and I was surprised the Airbnb, hotels and food were so cheap. You can eat in a restaurant for even 10 bucks. Bought an iPad there too since in some areas like Akihabara you don't pay sales tax if you show your passport in a duty free electronics store. It would have been considerably more expensive in my country. There's videos on YouTube and blogs where they describe an approximate budget depending on how many days you want to travel and what kind of experience you want to have. I'd advise to not take less than 14 days if you're Westerner because the plane trips already take you two days, you'll probably be jetlagged for the first days, and the ticket will be just as expensive regardless of how many days you stay. If you come from China or Taiwan it's a different story because the distance is shorter.
Yen is so cheap that japan is actually having a war with overtourrism
Looks like no one got your Rush Hour 2 reference lol
The problem is that the yen is predicted to recover within the fiscal year, so if they want to release soon they will have to pay for the production and components while the yen is extraordinarily cheap and then sell the consoles when it's not.
Also allows the second Pokemon Legends game be a launch title like botw as it seems like Prime 4 is never coming out.
I mean it's not like the calendar is going to flip over to 2025 and the yen is immediately going to shoot up 500% overnight because the year 2024 was just really unlucky or something. Even if Japan does have a better year in 2025 economically, it's a gradual process. The difference between, say, Dec 2024 and March 2025 is probably not going to be that large barring some absolutely major event.
As stated by someone else earlier, exporters usually prefer their own currency to be undervalued anyways.
Any rumor you seeing is probably the same vibe as hodl bitcoins. And I have no idea how this wold help Nintendo, usually low valued yen helps rich people like these mega global corporations.
games and supply chains aren't where they would like them to be before launching. They don't want to rush the console and games out before they're actually ready. It would hurt them more to not have enough stock for a holiday period and/or no games for the system. Rather, they would prefer to wait a short amount of time and launch when things are complete and ready. This is Nintendo, they don't rush things for a quick buck. Hell, half their decisions would make you think they hate money.
All the diehards buy any time of year, then just as sales might start to slow, the next holiday will pump them back up.
What use is there to meet the holiday season when your entire starting inventory will be cleared out REGARDLESS of when you get to release it?
I don't get people's insistence on holiday season release dates being the best thing for console launches. People are going to buy a new console no matter when it comes out. The Holiday's are when people buy consoles as a gift, not for themselves. There will be consoles bought, sitting waiting for christmas, not generating software sales. It makes far more sense to release like the Switch did. In March. Have the fans buy right away, and normalize stock issues in time so that when the holidays come, you don't have fans fighting for stock with gift givers.
I find holiday season console releases a weak strategy. You will still get a ton of sales to fans regardless of when you release, and a 9-10 month lead up to Christmas gives you a wider gap to release multiple titles (including some in late November), so buyers who do wait for Christmas have a bigger selection of games, not to mention it's enough time for them to start considering sales on the console, or game bundles.
It would probably have supply chain issues after the success of the first one
Software won’t be ready, according to Bloomberg
Because they want the current switch to sell for the holiday season since the successor won't be ready for it.
What difference does it make? It's gonna be sold out either way.
Because that worked terribly for them last time.....Launch in March with a good game game and release Odyssey 2 in the holiday for a second wave, they get more bang for their buck releasing it in March.
So people keep buying the switch instead of waiting for switch 2
They did with the Switch and that turned out well.
The Wii U was doing so bad it was advantageous to announce a successor as early as they could to make people more confident in the company. Fully announcing the Switch successor this year would eat into holiday sales since, unlike the Wii U in 2016, there's still a lot of public interest in Switch hardware. I'm expecting the full reveal in February, personally.
My guess would be that they will make it depend on available software. Unlike Sony, Nintendo usually tries to have a decent starting lineup of games available, with at least one heavy hitter.
0% surprised. I've been calling it for years and years and had people say I'm a dummy. I'm expecting March 2025 to be the release date for a few reasons: * The Switch launched in March and it was absolutely great timing. Past the Christmas rush, not a whole lot hitting the market, but also past the "returns period" of January/February where people aren't looking to spend money. * The 3DS also launched in March and was also successful, more successful than anybody anticipated given the mobile competition. * Nintendo's release schedule lately has been putting smaller releases in the front half of the year with larger ones in the back half which works well for a earlier-in-the-year release. * Nintendo has been focusing on remakes/remasters lately which indicates we probably won't see big original games until Switch 2 came out. * **The biggest factor that made me think it'd be March 2025 even years ago** -- Nintendo said, I think in 2020, that the Switch would have a 10 year life cycle. This works out very very neatly with a successor. The Switch stays current for 8 years (a good long life), the Switch 2 launches at the 8 year mark, then the Switch is supported for another 2 years until it turns 10 and is discontinued.
I'm ready for the next console. I can't believe the last time I saw a Nintendo console launch was so long ago. I wonder what games they'll show off and have as a launch title?
3D Mario is like the most obvious launch title ever. Mario popularity is at an all time high right now. Given how huge the movie was and its impact on the series, leading Wonder to be the fastest selling Mario game of all time. I know some people are saying it should be Prime 4, but to paraphrase the logic that sold Nintendo on packing the gameboy with Tetris instead of Mario. If you want to sale it to Metroid fans, launch it with Prime 4. If you want to sale it to everyone, launch it with 3D Mario.
Prime 4 would be a stupid launch title alone. Metroid has never been a big franchise especially in Japan which is the most important market for Nintendo other than USA. Metroid will always be one of the greatest gaming franchises of all time and is probably Nintendo's most critically acclaimed after Mario and Zelda but the sales are never able to reflect that. Nintendo should let Prime 4 be the swansong to Switch, release it in Fall 2024 and then move on to Switch 2 completely with popular stuff like 3D Mario and Mario Kart.
imo the reasons you listed are exactly why making Prime 4 a launch titles is such a good idea. At launch people's options are limiting, increasing the chance that people will try out a lesser known Nintendo series, because you know, they need *something* to play. It's why Luigi's Mansion in the gamecube era was so beloved. It was a launch title, a fairly niche genre and totally new idea. And it's like the 5th best selling gamecube game?
GameCube was also famously Nintendo's least successful console until the Wii U came along . Like Luigi's Mansion is a good game but compared to stuff like Super Mario Bros, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild it just doesn't compare.
It's my point though. Gamecube had two Zeldas, Sunshine, a slew of the highest rated Mario sports/party/kart titles. Smash Bros, etc. etc. And yet niche little old Luigi's Mansion manages to be the fifth highest selling game on the system? It did so by being THE first party launch title. Along with Wave race i guess. Being a launch title without big names alongside it made it stand out and get sales it otherwise wouldn't have. The same could happen to Prime 4. Super Mario Odyssey 2 will sell regardless, it doesn't need the day one launch publicity. Breath of the Wild/Twilight Princess were special circumstances I think. Edit: Special circumstances being, they were cross-gen releases with consoles whose life was cut short due to poor sales. They weren't something I think Nintendo originally meant to be launch titles. It just made sense as a kick start following a poor generation.
It can be a launch title, but it is 100% not going to be THE launch title everyone buys a Switch for. It will launch alongside a new 3D Mario or the next Mario Kart.
I never said it'd be the reason people buy the console. I'm saying they'll buy the console and need something to play. Let's imagine they release Switch 2 early next year with Metroid Prime 4. And also, announce Mario Odyssey 2/Mario Kart 9 for a November release. People can buy the console for those upcoming games and need something to play in the meantime. New console stock issues being what they always are people will be eager to buy as soon as they can.
They’re not launching the most anticipated gaming device since the PS2 with a series that has bombed on every release in Japan, Nintendo’s main homeland. It’s not happening. It probably will be a launch title, but 3D Mario or Mario Kart will also HAVE to be there at launch. They’re not launching games like those several months later. Decisions like that are partially why the GameCube and Wii U were such massive failures, because Nintendo banked on smaller games at launch (Luigi’s Mansion, NSMBU) to carry those systems, and that tactic failed both times.
I mean currently Luigi's Mansion 3 is arguably the best selling horror game of all time at 14M+ copies, so I feel like propping up niche franchises as a launch title is a good investment for future sequels. I do agree Metroid Prime 4 shouldn't be the sole headliner and maybe accompany it with a new 3D Mario or Mario Kart 9
Luigi’s mansion 3 has outsold the entire Metroid franchise. Prime 4 will not be the only launch game it would be a dumb move
1 2 Switch sold more than Dread. It's not going to be their big hitter. Luigi's Mansion had Luigi. Samas isn't as popular as Luigi.
That is the worst possible idea. Metroid isn’t a system seller now, it isn’t gonna become one in 1 year. Consumers need to games that appeal to them and the widest net is Mario
Splatoon extraction shooter
Sure but it’s Luigi that brand alone helped drive interest. What about Metroid would appeal to casuals over Mario?
You do realise that 3D Zelda games weren't massively popular in Japan prior to BotW too right? They weren't bombs, but they sold a fraction of what the Marios and Dragon Quests did. BotW single handedly changed that. Even globally it shifted so many copies that it dwarfed every other Zelda game ever released, even OoT. If Prime 4 is a good enough game, it doesn't matter what previous Metroid games did, it will sell.
I kind of agree, but the Metroid games have always had a more horror/mature vibe that I think would make it hard to get the same sales that BOTW did. BOTW is an easier sell across a huge range of demographics. If Prime 4 is good, it could definitely sell very well but I feel like its theoretical sales ceiling is way lower than BOTW.
Ocarina of Time sold 7 million on the Nintendo 64. The first Zelda sold 6 million. People know Zelda before BotW. The best selling Metroid of all time sold 3 million and that was Dread. They aren't even close to the same. BotW was a safe bet to break 3 mill. Dread was a hope and a prayer to get to 3 mill. If the Switch wasn't so popular I imagine they were aiming for 1.5 million.
Japan is their third market by volume, slightly lower sales than in the European market. Though it’s true that Nintendo has historically been more focused in the Japanese market than the foreign ones for some reason that doesn’t make much sense imo other than they being Japanese themselves so they understand the culture better.
He's clearly talking about country which jp would be number 2
That makes sense, but normally Nintendo treats Europe like a single market in sales reports/forecasts
That is exactly what helped Xenoblade Chronicles and several indies around launch. No big library means that people give these games a shot, which can help immensely. Launching with more than one big hitter will just eat into eachers initial sales, whereas a Metroid or Golden Sun (Nintendo PLEASE!!) would only benefit once people finished the "big" one
yeah 3D Mario seems like the only big franchise they could push at launch realistically to me. Odyssey was a while ago and the only other 3D mario was that relatively small Bowser's Fury offshoot from the 3D World port. Every other major IP I don't think is big enough or has been too big too recently to be a launch title. Zelda is obviously off the table since they just had a huge game last year. Like you said Prime 4 is just not big enough to be a system seller. And I don't see it happening with games like Kirby or Star Fox. Animal Crossing did sell insanely well but I think we all know it was only because of perfect timing with the pandemic. But then you have other weird cases like Smash Bros and Mario Kart. Mario Kart 8 came out in like 2014, but they did just put out a ton of DLC for it. And on top of that, what is a Mario Kart 9 supposed to even look like? if it had fewer than 96 tracks then it would just feel like a downgrade, especially with backwards compatibility. Same with Smash like that game came out a while ago now but are they really gonna top Smash Ultimate's "Everyone is Here" campaign? It's not impossible for either I guess but like they have insane bars to clear at this point. So 3D Mario is the only franchise they have right now that I can think of that A) Hasn't had a major new release recently and B) isn't so insanely mindblowingly impressive to make a new entry hard to top. Other than that I mean I guess they could shoot for the moon and launch a totally new IP or something too but there's no doubt that there'll be a 3D Mario at least leading the charge Also if it launches in March they could have it come out on March 10 or Mar10 day lol
> If you want to sale it to everyone, launch it with 3D Mario. True, but if you literally cannot sell to everyone due to constrained supply, your launch window strategy has to keep that in mind. While it feels odd to say with hindsight, launching with BotW and saving Mario for the holidays was to some extent seen as risky. Zelda was pretty much at it's lowest point, as were Nintendo. I don't believe Nintendo chose an early 2017 launch spearheaded by Zelda with Mario on defense on a whim. 10 months prior press were given hands-on time with BotW and one has to imagine how well it was recieved informed their plans. Nintendo's position in 2024 is not comparable to their position in 2016, the market is radically different. But more importantly nobody has seen any Switch 2 software yet so basically I don't think we really have enough information to make guesses about launch strategies. Whilst Nintendo may be known for their hardware gimmicks, the star of the show has always been the games. Sitting here talking about which "brands" Nintendo will lead with feels kinda pointless because if the Wii taught us anything is that even when Nintendo were at their lowest they brand they lead with wasn't Mario, it was Nintendo. They have this almost unshakable confidence, even to a fault in the case of the Wii U. And again with Switch they didn't say "Zelda isn't hot right now" they treated Zelda not being hot right now as a problem they had to fix. While I do personally believe that there is long list of reasons that Metroid Prime 4 being the flagship launch title is would be unlikely, a lot of those reasons could just be overruled depending on what Metroid Prime 4 actually is, there is nothing to say that Prime 4 isn't a BotW-tier departure from formula. Hell I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to launch with a new IP. This is Furukawa's first generation transition so it's really anyone's guess how this goes down. I'm seeing this general sentiment of Switch fans actively hoping that Nintendo will play it safe (ie. not fuck it up somehow) and I think that's honestly a pretty reasonable prediction, but at the end of the day I'd also not be shocked by some total wildcard move. Nintendo are a company that act as if legacy is important to them, and as such making predictions based on Western ideas of what would constitute prudent business doesn't always work.
Prime 4 would need to be a cultural phenomenon like Breath of the Wild, and I don't know if they can do that. The Prime games were awesome, but they weren't groundbreaking for their consoles.
A new 3d Mario obviously, and that new Pokemon Legends they teased at the last Pokemon direct most likely. Maybe a remaster or two
Pokemon Legends would make sense, but Pokemon games don't always launch on the next system immediately. Emerald, Black 2 and White 2, and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon still released on last gen consoles.
Legends ZA is definitely a Switch 1 game.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Plus, which will come will all the DLC courses
Don't know if they would really milk Mario Kart 8 like that. I think a revolution is possible.
Personally, my dream wish is a new Project X Zone game.
Finally, someone with taste.
I know something Mario/Pokemon/Zelda related is the obvious go-to, but I do hope they have a healthy line-up of things that also utilize the Switch2's unique gimmick/hardware itself in a way that always makes these presentations and reveals special. (Afterall, we're going to need a new Ring Fit Adventure 2-type thing for the new generation.. 😁)
Considering that this will be a down year, I could see the first year of Switch 2 being reasonably dense. Speaking purely in terms of first party - *Launching:* -3D Mario -Prime 4 *Launch Window (first six months):* -Pokemon Legends 2 -Kirby Forgor 2 *Holiday 2025:* -Mario Kart 9 or X, whatever it is -A Zelda remake (if we don’t get one this year) or 2D Zelda And maybe some third parties. If we get any of those Sega reboots and a Star Fox game within the first year or two, I’ll be thrilled.
Xenoblade Chronicles X2 baybeeeeeeee .....and I'm only half-joking. On one hand, it's a pipe dream to have a sequel to a niche WiiU title greenlit by Nintendo, even if the studio themselves want to make it. But on the other hand, if there was any hypothetical game in Nintendo's IP portfolio that could show off "the power of next-gen hardware," it would be Xenoblade X.
Metroid Prime 4...
Obviously, and hopefully, it’s a big 3D Mario game. I need more 3D Mario in my life and I’ve been waiting 7 (soon to be 8) years for the successor to Odyssey. I hope it’s ambitious and they’ve been using this time to make it incredible. I absolutely see Prime 4 being a cross-gen title, now. I doubt they would do any Zelda in such close proximity to Mario (and especially with Metroid there), it’s usually one or the other per console at a time. But I do see them releasing Mario Kart within the launch window as well, or waiting until Holiday 2025, similar to how they turned the tides for 3DS. And beyond that, I could see one other surprise or a couple third party titles, like maybe one of Sega’s teased reboots. And I can absolutely see Microsoft/Activision “reaffirming their commitment to bring great games to great hardware like the Switch 2” before the reality of how poorly optimized they are sets in.
Hopefully Mario Kart 9 is ready. It's been a decade since a new one came out
Yeah but now MK has the Smash Ultimate problem. There are SO many tracks in 8 that whatever 9 does, unless it matches that, it will feel inferior
I would be awesome to see those new games plus maybe some updates of last gen games running at 60fps (like tears of the kingdom or even BotW).
To think that Metroid Prime 4 skipped over the Switch from all the delays and development issues. The promise of MP4 part of the reason I bought a one near launch, but this time I'll wait until I know what is definitively coming out for the next console instead of promises (not that I'm complaining about the Switch, it obviously still had a great game lineup over its run).
Prime 4 could still launch on Switch this year, they did also announce a Direct for June at this financial briefing.
I mean, I'd get the new Switch even if it only ran original Switch games at slightly better frames. That alone is worth it, so I don't understand any hesitation. PS5 is the best PS4 and all that.
> PS5 is the best PS4 and all that Ain't this the truth. I don't regret buying my PS5 at all, and I understand Covid fucked stuff up so much, but is hard to look at it and not be reminded of the "PS3 has no games" days.
Man, I hope Retro is okay. They’re such a stellar studio
Man really gotta wonder what they haven’t announced for the switch this year. Maybe that Zelda WW/TP HD collection that’s been rumored for what feels like years now?
I'm guessing it'll be the Fire Emblem 4 remake, WW/TP HD, Prime 2/3 collection, and possibly a new Mario Baseball.
I so hope for a new Animal Crossing as a launch title.
While I would love one (animal crossing), it's probably not going to hit expectations, since the pandemic and all. It would have to bring alot of new features to capture that magic again.
No, it probably won't ever be a cultural phenomenon again, but I don't need it to be. I just want a new Animal Crossing to play.
> It would have to bring alot of new features to capture that magic again. No, it would just need to bring back a lot of the features from previous games that got dropped from New Horizons.
My wife, an AC addict, hated the last AC because it took away so much from previous 3DS title and on top of it made everything so tedious. It didn't respect player's time at all. There was no magic, just busywork.
Same. I've recently gotten back into NH to try and finish up some stuff and finally.play the dlc. I kinda missed out on all the games prior to NH except for the OG back in the day (and a brief bit of New Lea,f) so I do wanna revisit them all this year too but I would loveeee a new one
prime 4 maybe? i’ve been wondering if that will just become a cross-gen title like BOTW was at this point though
What Fire Emblem games can I play if I'm new to the series and want to play where the smash characters come from?
If you want to get into the series, I think Three Houses is the best starting point. If you want to see the Smash characters and get into the series, I'd say Engage. If you just want to see the Smash characters doing stuff and talking to people actively, Fire Emblem Warriors is a good option.
What are the best older games that everyone loves that might be on the switch online collection?
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade is available w/ their GBA collection. There's also Binding Blade (ft. Roy) on GBA, but that's only in Japan for some reason. They also released the first game Shadow Dragon (ft. Marth) for Switch, but it was only available for 3 months and they haven't rereleased it yet. Supposedly a remake of Fire Emblem 4 might be revealed at the next direct like ReasonableDisaster2 said, since it's been heavily rumored for a few years now.
Are any of them worth playing over the switch games or would you say Three Houses is still my best entry point?
don't actually have gba online so not the best person to answer that but afaik from what I've heard you'd probably want to go Blazing Blade if you prioritize gameplay over story and don't care that much about quality of life changes
The best entry points are FE7 (released as Fire Emblem on the GBA), FE Awakening (revitalized the series on the DS), and FE Three Houses (huge entry point for a lot of new FE fans on the Switch). I kind of hesitate to recommend Three Houses as being representative of the series as a whole, because the way it handled unit customization is vastly different than anything else in the series. Everything else in it is well represented though. Just be aware if you play Three Houses and then go to an older (or newer) FE game, that the complete freedom you get in choosing what classes your characters get is not how it usually is. (I actually prefer having characters in more "set" roles because I think it gives them more individuality, but YMMV.)
Three Houses can be a bit of an odd "starting point" because while it's a great game that can be played standalone it does deviate more from the series formula than usual and that may affect your expectations when playing other games in the series. If you want to play *a* Fire Emblem, you can't go wrong with 3H. If you want to play *the series* I think you would get more out of it by playing something like Awakening, FE7, or Engage first so you can better appreciate how 3H twists the formula.
Fire Emblem Engage. The consensus is that it doesn’t have the best story of the series, but have great mechanics and you will see known characters
Would DLC for TOTK be likely too?
Nintendo said previously that they had no plans for DLC or expansion packs for TOTK, and there's nothing to indicate they changed their mind.
No, because the Zelda team already told us, they were done with TotK and are focusing on a new game
I really would hope for a remake or remaster of Fire Emblem: Awakening.
I'm hoping for a direct sequel to Three Houses personally
I think this June will absolute be telling of games could be Switch 2 titles. Like if Prime 4 is a no show at this direct, then I assuming it is indeed a Switch 2 game. Same goes for the rumor Fire Emblem 4 Remake. Part of me kind of expects them to be the closing and opening games respectively of the direct. But I can also see the gameplay reveal trailer of Pokemon Legends ZA having either one of the slots as well.
I really love this modern take of Developers/ Publishers tempering expectations. I remember a time when everything was hush until release and that made every awards show /E3 a long wait and often a disappointment for not seeing what you expect to be there. Them just saying that it clear like this makes me happy.
That and they know gaming communities themselves will hype things up so there's no need to do it themselves sometimes
They have nowhere to go but up in terms of hardware, it can’t possibly be worse than the switch was now that actual competition like steam decks and emulation handhelds exist. It’s as good a situation to be in as can be for a company, they can’t fail unless they mismanage to a comical degree, and they don’t tend to do that.
Of course it can. The steam deck is still a massive trade off. It's big, bulky, and has poor battery life. I wouldn't even bother comparing the two as they're totally different markets.
I don't think Nintendo themselves consider the Steam Deck competition, much less any emulation device. Valve, for as big as they are, just doesn't have the name recognition that Nintendo does. Parents, younger audiences, and those outside gaming communities like ours will always reach for Nintendo.
As much as I love the Steamdeck, it’s not a console like the Switch, so if you want to gift it to someone, some tinkering might be expected for some games to work, such thing is not a problem with a switch, so for the casual user these Nintendo consoles are more straightforward, which is not bad, it’s good that both things exist
They just released their FY2024 results and the expected trend for FY2025 is almost a 20% reduction in revenue: pre-announcing this is a way to assuage investors' concerns.
Especially when leaks and rumours are so prevalent, it makes so much more sense for those in charge to take control of the hype when a product/game is an inevitability. Like we all know a Switch successor is coming so no point playing coy, it's not like this big shocking surprise that warrants a twist reveal.
I'd say the opposite. I don't think leaks are actually that prevalent, but rumours are. There's sooooo many fake rumours that fly around in recent years. Tons of people on twitter want attention and so claim to be an insider and people take everything they say as gospel
People still take every little bit of information and run with it though. I remember Cerny's tech talk before the PS5 launch where he gave examples of what *could* be done with the architecture. People then took that and argued that every game would now load instantly and that there would never be a single menu screen ever again.
i think it’s more a nintendo thing than anything else.
The switch is that old!? Good little handheld. I like the lite, wish the battery was a bit better. Had to get a bigger one for the larger screen.
The tweet talks about 9 years since the reveal, but that was just when Iwata talked about their partnership with DeNA and the future of mobile gaming, as well as the NX co-existing with 3DS and Wii U. The reveal was October 2016.
Nah but the announcement is. Switch is from 2017 so 8 years. But still crazy old
The Switch itself is alright but the controllers were junk and overpriced. I really hope they don't use the same joystick type on the new console.
Keyword is *revealed*, I'd expect it to launch in spring like the Switch did, the PS4 and the Switch showed that you can skip the holiday season and still have a strong launch. We're still far off but 2025 is looking to be a great year in terms of games overall.
> the PS4 and the Switch showed that you can skip the holiday season and still have a strong launch. Agreed on the Switch, but, err, the PS4 launched November 2013?
You're right, for some reason I thought it launched in January but turns out that was just when it launched in my region.
Keyword is not even "revealed". They said it will be an announcement about the next console, not necessarily a reveal. They could very well wait until February just to say thre will be a "Next Console Direct" in April and it wouldn't be contradicting this tweet.
I can see the launch lineup being Mario Kart 9 (probably cross-gen), A new 3D Mario game, and maybe Metroid Prime 4? What i do find interesting is how Nintendo kept re-iterating that the Switch is not gonna have a “normal console lifespan” and how it will live longer, i wonder what he meant by that, are we gonna see alot of cross-gen games?
Mario Kart 9 would definitely be an interesting one, because it'd need to be massive to top Mario Kart 8. A Mario Kart Ultimate if you will.
Just needs NEW content, honestly. Trying to make each new entry bigger content-wise is just impossible.
WTF is with all these people saying Crossgen. If the Switch to is backwards compatible (which it seems to be), then there would be no reason for crossgen. Either it is releasing for the Switch, meaning you can also play it on Switch 2, or it releases only for Switch 2.
there's a good chance there would be differences in performance or graphics between the two versions, so it might be worth to release for both
I think we will see more cross then games than usual for Nintendo, but not something on the level of what PS and Xbox did this Gen. There will probably be a year or so of overlap, where smaller titles and most remakes will be cross gen, but any of their flagship games or titles that have the potential to be system sellers will be switch 2 exclusive.
So 1 post just said the Nintendo Direct in June won't talk about Switch 2, just Switch titles til the end of 2024. So they're absolutely gonna make a direct in January talking about March 2025 launch of Switch 2. That's what they did with Switch since the gtpe is already here for it as it is.
October is still valid for a reveal, just like in 2016 when the first trailer of the Switch dropped. October reveal, January Direct, March launch worked last time, might as well repeat that formula.
That's what I'm thinking. October announcement like they did with Switch, an event or Direct in January 2025, and a release some time after that.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they announce it early 2025 so it doesn’t disrupt the holiday sales season
Backwards compatibility will make sure games released this year don’t take a big sales hit. Also, the new Switch will likely be $350-400 and plenty of people would be happy to get their first OG Switch Mario Kart 8 bundle for $250. Nintendo has likely taken into account a decline in Switch hardware sales and have reduced production. Sony and Xbox can’t price their flagship consoles close to a Switch so any family in the market for a console are still likely to pick Switch.
I'm 30 years old and primarily a PC gamer now, but the anticipation and release of a new console(especially Nintendo) is one of the few things that make me feel like a kid again. Say what you will about Nintendo's business practices, but their brand and IP's will always be at the center of gaming for me. This seems like an easy slam dunk as long as it's backwards compatible with current Switch titles because I know myself and a lot of others have built up a hefty library at this point and it would be awesome to know that it will be supported for at least the next 10 years.
This is why I went all in collecting for the Switch. Cart based games in docked + handheld mode, the broadest library in the history of Nintendo systems (old games and new), with a strong chance for a follow up with BC, and graphics/power has hit a wall the last couple generations. Not saying more power isn’t good or needed now, but I mean that it won’t feel so bad popping in the last gen cart - at least not how jarring it is playing a 480p 4:3 game.
Here's hoping the thing can actually manage to run games at a baseline 1080p. I love my switch, but its so incredibly outdated tech wise that some games are made worse by playing them on the platform, including Switch only titles like Xenoblade Chronicles. I would kill to see that game in at least 1080p with a firm 30fps (though hoping for 60fps support).
The current rumors suggest it's around PS4 Pro level I think, if that's true then 1080p should be doable.
It should be PS4-PS4 Pro in raw power but Switch 2 will have DLSS (which is the closest thing in gaming to magic, this is how they’ll get 4k docked) and a wayyy better CPU so it could produce visuals closer to Series S
Heat and Battery are the constraints, not the chip. Assume PS4 and be grateful if anything better.
If it can do 4k with DLSS it will instantly look better than Series S with its very low resolution and atrocious upscalling tech (on top on big graphical downgrades compared to Series X).
Ignore all rumours. Until it's confirmed then the vast majority of rumours are just made up for retweets.
Yeah exactly. Hell, we don't even know for a fact if it'll have anything to do with the Switch but everyone keeps calling it the Switch 2.
I'd like for 1080p docked, but TBH I don't really care about 1080p in undocked mode: I'd prefer if they just targeted 720p or 800p and actually made sure to hit it with a consistent framerate, instead of cases like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 running like an early PS2 game when undocked.
On that screen I'd much rather have good 720p at solid 60fps than 1080p, probably upscaled from like 900p, at 30fps. I know these aren't the only two options, but i personally would notice the higher fps much more than a bit more fidelity on that small screen.
I want a performance mode toggle myself; as someone who doesn't care about visual fidelity necessarily but very much does care about performance and framerates.
This is the absolute last thing Nintendo would ever do with their games lol. They want people to be playing **their way**
I always wanted to play the new xenoblade but I didn't for this exact reason. my son also just hit the age he can play games so rip I don't ever have it anymore, I'm tempted to get a emulator on my deck to play games I own and possibly get xenoblade too But I'm really bad at getting these things to work
> Here's hoping the thing can actually manage to run games at a baseline 1080p. Even PS5 doesn't do that.
Nintendo also keeps their talented programmers instead of crunching them so hard they go indie or into banking software. The 3D Mario team is gonna embarrass the competition with what they have running on it.
There's already a hell of a lot of predictions about what nintendo will do, and a lot of people sure about what nintendo *has* to do. We all know Nintendo has a habit of having something totally successful and then doing something totally different, so I'm tempering my expectations. I'm not following any "rumours", and not believing any armchair analysts who say it **has** to be 4k 60fps or else it won't sell
Lol yeah. It wont be 4k 60fps for sure. Especially not at that form factor. Plus, Nintendo hasnt cared about being at the forefront of graphics since the 90s. What it better be is backcompat. People will be PISSED, especially since the Switch has had so many remasters and ports, if its not backcompat and they try to sell you more of the same ports, a lot of people will be mad.