StarTopic Future Nintendo Hardware & Technology Speculation & Discussion |ST| (Read the staff posts before commenting!)

[ReddDreadtheLead]

Drake can't possibly end up like the Wii U, right?

Never be surprised at Nintendo messing up a transition

They have a hit, what they do? “Oh let’s throw that away ”

 

[iag]

Do we think 2024 is the last year Drake (as we know) could be released? As in, it would be too weak/old for a 2025 release?

 

[Adulfzen]

I see spending time in the hardware speculation thread means some people have fully lost a grip on reality if they think this is Nintendo flailing or repeating past mistakes.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Do we think 2024 is the last year Drake (as we know) could be released? As in, it would be too weak/old for a 2025 release?

It could be edited to be fine. I'm intrigued by the idea of NVIDIA introducing some built-in hardware that makes frame generation at lower framerates more viable.

 

[kalosmani]

So Team 2023 do you really think Nintendo will launch Switch 2 without a new Mario and Zelda. If that 2D Mario game is the big Switch 2 launch game it would have been revealed with Switch 2. If you expect a new 3D Mario for Switch 2 at launch would it be the right strategy to release a 2D Mario and 3D Mario within a month of eachother? If it just launched with Zelda TotK port as the big launch game that's also not really a big deal. If you don't expect a new Mario or Zelda to launch with a Switch 2 then what do you expect to launch with it. It's can't be Mario Kart either as they will release another DLC pack for 8 Deluxe in the fall.


My prediction Switch 2 gets announced in April and launches in September. Launch period games will be Metroid Prime 4 (Cross Gen) 3D Mario, Mario Kart 10. Also 3rd part heavy for launch Call of Duty, FIFA, Street Fighter 6 and Diablo 4

 

[AshenMortality]

So in my oblivious eyes, there is a chance for H1 2024….

 

[eye0h]

It's super weird that we haven't seen metroid yet. I wonder if things are going well with development. Or if they want to show it off in the best quality on a new system....

 

[HankyPanky]

It's super weird that we haven't seen metroid yet. I wonder if things are going well with development. Or if they want to show it off in the best quality on a new system....

it will be shocking if MP4 isn't at least cross-gen at this point. seems like the ideal game to showcase hardware capabilities.

same goes for a potential F-Zero remaster.

unless of course both these games are to fill out 2024 as no new hardware is coming (lol)

 

[Hermii]

by this logic they could wait several more years as long as software sales remained reasonable. consumers like choice, a higher priced model would sell, as would cross-gen software. i just feel Nintendo are getting it wrong with the timing. they can afford to wait but it's not ideal.

And the decision to go with an early 2022 timeline for developing the soc would be all the more baffling the longer they wait.

 

[ziggyrivers]

You know, briefly before Switch was revealed, Nintendo had a 3DS software Direct... How interesting.

Switch was revealed October 2016. That’s year earliest Direct was March.

 

[eye0h]

I do worry a bit. I just hope whatever it is ends up not being too underpowered. I'm tired of not getting 3rd party stuff on my platform of choice.

 

[D36]

The problem with late-stage Wii was that the software stopped coming for Wii owners while they were trying to transition to an HD game development pipeline (along with launching the 3DS). Nintendo is still maintaining a steady release of quality software, so I don't think they'll have much issue with the transition period.

I wonder if they can keep that up until late 2024.

 

[YugamiSekai]

So Team 2023 do you really think Nintendo will launch Switch 2 without a new Mario and Zelda.

If we're going by mainline Zelda releases then we might as well wait until 2029.

 

[ReddDreadtheLead]

It's super weird that we haven't seen metroid yet. I wonder if things are going well with development. Or if they want to show it off in the best quality on a new system....

I don’t really think it’s weird, let’s look at the facts that we know of: the game was restarted in 2018/19, and we have seen zero footage about the title. I think the only information on the title is “development is going smoothly“. I think it’s pretty clear at this point that if in 4 to 5 years we have seen not a single thing about this new title, they completely restarted development from the original developer of the original Metroid Prime 4 game and carried nothing from the original game that was being made since 2017 or whenever MP4 was originally announced.


And thus, due to the actual game being restarted, it’ll go through its full development cycle of those that are AAA in nature like we see these days which is 5-7 years of development/release/marketing, etc

 

[Thraktor]

So Team 2023 do you really think Nintendo will launch Switch 2 without a new Mario and Zelda. If that 2D Mario game is the big Switch 2 launch game it would have been revealed with Switch 2. If you expect a new 3D Mario for Switch 2 at launch would it be the right strategy to release a 2D Mario and 3D Mario within a month of eachother? If it just launched with Zelda TotK port as the big launch game that's also not really a big deal. If you don't expect a new Mario or Zelda to launch with a Switch 2 then what do you expect to launch with it. It's can't be Mario Kart either as they will release another DLC pack for 8 Deluxe in the fall.

Regardless of when it launches, it's not launching with Mario and Zelda. Switch having both Zelda and 3D Mario in the first year was a co-incidence of how their development schedules lined up as much as anything else, and anyone expecting it to launch with a new Zelda game is probably Team 2028 at best, given development timelines.

Nintendo don't have hard rules about their consoles having to launch with series X or Y, and the only sort-of rule they had (Mario on launch day) was broken by both Wii and Switch, which did pretty well without it. It's arguably even less important if they've got full seamless backwards compatibility, as the system will have access to titles in all their major franchises from day one. What's important is that they have compelling titles that people will buy the hardware for, whatever franchise they're part of.

 

[Concernt]

I'd say judging by on what hasn't been shown keeps 2023 on the table.

Agreed. Nothing mega big revealed... Yet.

 

[Tentacle-tropes]

by this logic they could wait several more years as long as software sales remained reasonable. consumers like choice, a higher priced model would sell, as would cross-gen software. i just feel Nintendo are getting it wrong with the timing. they can afford to but it's not ideal.

They very well could but at that point you are risking what you fear which is coming in too late. It’s not just about sales but also engagement with the console. That is to say if some bought ToTK, are they buying other software. This was a problem for the Wii outside of overall middling to okay sales.
I think 2024 is the ideal time for Nintendo since, it seems, Nintendo is matching up with their dev pipeline. Software sales & engagement will still be pretty strong then + adding in a new device will shoot them back up.

It's super weird that we haven't seen metroid yet. I wonder if things are going well with development. Or if they want to show it off in the best quality on a new system....

We’ll probably see it next year for both systems.

 

[dotnetguy]

The year is 2030. People are still predicting the announcement of Wind Waker/Twilight Princess HD for Switch, and the Switch 2 hardware, in the upcoming Nintendo Direct video.

 

[HankyPanky]

The year is 2030. People are still predicting the announcement of Wind Waker/Twilight Princess HD for Switch, and the Switch 2 hardware, in the upcoming Nintendo Direct video.

Metroid Prime 4 development is still progressing smoothly. Pikmin 5 is announced. and every year more & more SNES games are getting remastered.

 

[eye0h]

I don’t really think it’s weird, let’s look at the facts that we know of: the game was restarted in 2018/19, and we have seen zero footage about the title. I think the only information on the title is “development is going smoothly“. I think it’s pretty clear at this point that if in 4 to 5 years we have seen not a single thing about this new title, they completely restarted development from the original developer of the original Metroid Prime 4 game and carried nothing from the original game that was being made since 2017 or whenever MP4 was originally announced.


And thus, due to the actual game being restarted, it’ll go through its full development cycle of those that are AAA in nature like we see these days which is 5-7 years of development/release/marketing, etc

I think it's weird that we haven't seen it. Not that it isn't coming out. Nintendo were probably pretty embarrassed that they had to restart development. I'm just thinking why haven't we gotten any teasers or anything.

 

[Concernt]

Switch was revealed October 2016. That’s year earliest Direct was March.

I'm not sure how that's relevant.

The Nintendo 3DS Direct was September 1st, 2016.

 

[HankyPanky]

I think it's weird that we haven't seen it. Not that it isn't coming out. Nintendo were probably pretty embarrassed that they had to restart development. I'm just thinking why haven't we gotten any teasers or anything.

it's probably tied to new hardware and we'll see the next-gen version first when it eventually gets shown.

but i said the same thing (lack of footage/info) about TOTK.

 

[Hosermess]

Correct me if I'm wrong, nothing in August/September. Then:

Detective Pikachu Returns - October 6, 2023
SMB Wonder - October 20, 2023
WarioWare: Move It! - November 6, 2023
Super Mario RPG - November 17, 2023

They did leave the 2 Pokemon DLC undated though so they can slide those in anywhere I suppose.

Nothing about MP4 obviously, but also nothing about Splatoon 3: Side Order DLC.

I mean that's a steady 5 week release schedule pre-Xmas. And as far as I can tell, Smash Bros has been the only major first party Switch game to be released in December. But still think they could still reveal another big game or two. Or I'm just being greedy.

 

[Hocot8]

It's super weird that we haven't seen metroid yet. I wonder if things are going well with development. Or if they want to show it off in the best quality on a new system....

Or they want to lock down a release date before showing it again. Or they just waiting until September's direct. Gotta have something for that.

 

[ziggyrivers]

I'm not sure how that's relevant.

The Nintendo 3DS Direct was September 1st, 2016.

My bad! I did a quick search and only found a March Direct

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Yeah, I think this is definitely the "Switch 2 Fall 2024 at the earliest" confirmation.

Very full lineup for the rest of 2023 and already some stuff announced for 2024.

I don't see why jump straight to fall. We never thought Switch 1 software was going to stop completely when the new thing arrived, and things like "Luigi's Mansion 2 HD" and "Some Kind of Peach Thing" aren't as calendar-clearing as a new 2D Mario platformer.

 

[Eclissi]

Correct me if I'm wrong, nothing in August/September. Then:

Detective Pikachu Returns - October 6, 2023
SMB Wonder - October 20, 2023
WarioWare: Move It! - November 6, 2023
Super Mario RPG - November 17, 2023

They did leave the 2 Pokemon DLC undated though so they can slide those in anywhere I suppose.

Nothing about MP4 obviously, but also nothing about Splatoon 3: Side Order DLC.

I mean that's a steady 5 week release schedule pre-Xmas. And as far as I can tell, Smash Bros has been the only major first party Switch game to be released in December. But still think they could still reveal another big game or two. Or I'm just being greedy.

September Pikmin 1&2 HD retail

 

[ShadowFox08]

Let’s not kid ourselves, Mario RPGs sells like 4M tops. Tops

I'm gonna disagree with you right there.

I think it will at least sell as much as the Ubisoft Mario rpg game crossovers, and a good chance it will surpass it. It has Mario all over it.

I don't expect it to sell as much as the new 2D Mario game. But I would not be too surprised if it gets closer to 10 million. Nintendo must be pretty confident with it to be putting it on release in November.

it will be shocking if MP4 isn't at least cross-gen at this point. seems like the ideal game to showcase hardware capabilities.

same goes for a potential F-Zero remaster.

unless of course both these games are to fill out 2024 as no new hardware is coming (lol)

It definitely will be.

What I'm more curious about is if Prime 2 and 3 will be released within the same year/few months before MP4 launch, like Pikmin 1 and 2. Going from what we heard several months ago, Prime 2 and 3 might just be 1080p ports of the Wii version and not the MP remastered face lift.. I guess we will see.

Anyway, my personal take away is that it's less likely than before we'll get Switch 2 this year, based on what's revealed. It rally feels like they're trying to squeeze the switch for sales, before a 2024 successor release. If it wasn't for the Mario RPG remake, I would have thought switch 2 was just as likely as before.

But yeah it seems like they are banking on 2D and RPG Mario games back to back to get 15 million.

It could get revealed this year still. I think Q1 2024 is still in the cards. MP4 seems like th obvious showcase..

 

[fwd-bwd]

I’m not sure how much I’d read into the software release schedule of Switch 1 as an ironclad indicator of the Switch 2 launch timing.

1. Based on what we know about the potential specs of Switch 2, it is unlikely to be priced below $399. → Switch 1 and Lite will need to remain in the market to cover the lower price range.
2. Furukawa declared that Switch 1 was “at the mid-point of its life cycle” on Nov. 5, 2021 (4.5 years after launch). → Taking it at face value, Switch 1 and Lite will be supported till Q1 2026.

Some core gamers may turn their nose up at titles such as Just Dance and various remasters, but they will play an important role of keeping the Switch ecosystem robust and Annual Playing Users high (an all-important metric to Nintendo). I believe that these games will continue to be released for a few more years, and they are not the tea leaves from which one may determine when Switch 2 will be revealed.

Nintendo is relatively unique in that they maintain healthy sales of full price single player titles with little to no post-launch support. I would imagine Nintendo's aim here isn't to become like other videogame publishers, but rather to become like other media. In books, music and movies, you'll typically see years and decades-old titles selling well alongside newer titles, often at similar pricing. I'm sure Nintendo would be very happy if their latest Mario game had the same shelf life as The Godfather or Led Zeppelin IV.

Yes, that’s my point. I still have to pay full price for a The Beatles album today. Why should a game (good ones at least) be devalued despite that it can still run on the user’s hardware? A “generation” agnostic eShop will allow Nintendo to keep the evergreens going as long as they can, and help the niche titles reach potential buyers over time (“long tail” effect).

Edit: typo

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Nintendo's big launch games for the Switch 2 being a remake of Mario RPG and a new 2D Mario seems incredibly unlikely.

It's hard to see how those games scale up in cross-gen to be hyper impressive launch titles that cause people to buy a Switch 2.

Why wouldn't Nintendo announce the Switch 2 first as well so they could show Mario RPG and Mario Wonder with better visuals? Both games look fine, but not incredible.

And if those two aren't the games that would push the Switch 2 at launch, are they really slotting another game into October/November? Really?

The Switch 2 is not this year.

 

[fwd-bwd]

Let me see if I understand the narrative.

A no-name Twitter account posts a bunch of tweets in “Japanese/Chinese.”

Then, randomly, in August they post a fake leak about a game based on trademark post.

In September they sell that account to someone else who is, apparently, in the market for a Twitter account but doesn’t want to create one, something you can do anonymously with a burner phone bought at wallmart for 20 dollars.

That person then deletes all the tweets, renames the account, and starts posting gaming leaks.

Yeah, the story was fishy, but plausible under certain circumstances. There are black markets of social media accounts. People sometimes purchased them to build bot farms, conceal their identity, and/or circumventing their country’s legal ban.

 

[niconiconick64]

Or they want to lock down a release date before showing it again. Or they just waiting until September's direct. Gotta have something for that.

Does it still make sense to have a direct in September anymore? Nintendo live will be a showcase for the current switch and current switch games held within that same month.
Maybe we can cope until around mid september for a direct releasing after nintendo live ends considering the current fiscal year calendar ends Sept. 30th.

Don't know if I should believe in a october 2023 or february 2024 direct either.

 

[ReddDreadtheLead]

I'm gonna disagree with you right there.

I think it will at least sell as much as the Ubisoft Mario rpg game crossovers, and a good chance it will surpass it. It has Mario all over it.

I don't expect it to sell as much as the new 2D Mario game. But I would not be too surprised if it gets closer to 10 million. Nintendo must be pretty confident with it to be putting it on release in November.

That’s asking a lot for a Mario RPG. Like, a lot.

The game would need to be revolutionary like how BOTW was for the Zelda series in which it caused the games to have a nearly 4x effect in its sales potential, and just do not think it’s realistic to expect this to explode to such a degree when it’s a remake of an old game.

 

[Skittzo]

Yeah, the story was fishy, but plausible under certain circumstances. There are black markets of social media accounts. People sometimes purchased them to build bot farms, conceal their identity, and/or circumventing their country’s legal ban.

Apparently this person was legit too. Really weird how this wound up.

 

[ziggyrivers]

Does it still make sense to have a direct in September anymore?

Tokyo Game Show

 

[niconiconick64]

Tokyo Game Show

Did we see anything from nintendo during TGS 2022?

 

[Hocot8]

Tokyo Game Show

basically this. We can argue about whether Nintendo "needs" to do a direct but that's black and whiting the discussion a bit I think.

 

[Deleted member 4629]

Yeah, i'm team H1 2024. I think in March or April of that year, just after they closed out this fiscal year.

Metroid Prime 4, the Peach game and Luigi's Mansion will in my opinion be crossgen games released in H1 2024.

I think the OG Switch will probably continue to be supported with new/crossgen games until holiday 2025.

 

[Chijin_08]

Let me see if I understand the narrative.

A no-name Twitter account posts a bunch of tweets in “Japanese/Chinese.”

Then, randomly, in August they post a fake leak about a game based on trademark post.

In September they sell that account to someone else who is, apparently, in the market for a Twitter account but doesn’t want to create one, something you can do anonymously with a burner phone bought at wallmart for 20 dollars.

That person then deletes all the tweets, renames the account, and starts posting gaming leaks.

I have no idea what games are coming in tomorrow’s Direct. I have no idea who this person is. I have no idea what their legitimacy is.

I do know that is the dumbest fucking cover story I’ve ever heard.

This makes them getting everything right even funnier

 

[Deleted member 887]

Im split on this one. My worry is, that they are loosing the wider gaming media / landscape, the ones that usually are loud, good in making buzz, and the first one to adopt a new platform.

In what way are they losing them, over how much they had them? Nintendo games tend to be excluded from streaming charts, simply because they're single player experiences, but Tears broke into the top 10 last month, which hasn't happened since Breath of the Wild.

Every review of the emerging handheld space compares the hardware to Switch and Steam Deck - unfavorably, almost universally.

Nintendo seemed briefly to have a sort of hold based on port begging, but I think that was short lived and is far gone. Those folks moved onto the Steam Deck a while ago, but I think they're well positioned to get those folks back with a new, more powerful handheld - and that's still at most a million people.

They can't seriously be repeating the same mistakes as the end of the Wii, are they? The only solace here is that Drake can't possibly end up like the Wii U, right? ........right?

No. Switch is outselling Wii 2 to 1 by this point in it's lifecycle - actually, more than 2:1, closer to 5:2. The last 12 months of the Wii's lifetime only had 6 first party games

Kirby's Dream Collection - an unremastered collection of games, sold less than half a million
Xenoblade Chronicles - sold ~2.5 million units
New Play Control! Pikmin 2 - unremastered GameCube game, sold less than half a million
Mario Party 9 - 3 million
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - 7.5 million
PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond - three quarters of a million.

SMB: Wonder will outsell all of these combined. Assuming a holiday 2024 launch, Switch's last year already has Wonder, Super Mario RPG, Prime 4, Hyper Peach Drifter, and Dark Moon. Add the inevitable yearly Pokemon/Kirby spinoff, and we're already doing better than Wii. Add the basically confirmed Fire Emblem remake, a HD Zelda, Prime 2+3 uprez (ala the Pikmin releases today), and another GameCube remaster, and does that look anything like the Wii's final year?

PS4 had a banger of a final year...

Ghost of Tsushima - 10 million across multiple consoles and PC
The Last of Us Part II - 10, same
Dreams - Sony never said, but best guess is 2 million
Death Stranding - 5 million
Sackboy: A Big Adventure - unknown, apparently a flop, so sub 1?
Patapon 2: Remastered - never mentioned, sub 1.
Spider-man: Remastered: 1.5 million
Spider-man Miles Morales: 6.5 million

And in terms of the games that, as @Aether said, the extremely online gamer cares about, this is a stronger year. But for those folks, Sony is just a stronger platform. In terms of sales, however, Nintendo is going to get most of the way there on Mario alone.

And it should be noted that this was effectively the first party launch slate for PS5 as well! If Nintendo is giving us this number of remasters and smaller franchises in the final year, doesn't that imply they're holding games for a launch slate?

Nintendo can never have 2017 again. No one can launch the first AAA handheld a second time. They can't have a launch library that depends on starving your previous, unsuccessful console of development resources, padded with AA games that no one played because you launched them on said console.

That doesn't mean that they can't have a successful launch of a new device. It just means a more traditional launch built on next-gen exclusives - 3D Mario, a new Mario Kart (DLC will be over for 2 years for Mario Kart 8 after all), a new Monolithsoft game, some Dread-style reinvention of top down Zelda, a new IP that may or may not hit... I dunno sounds good to me?

PS5 and Xbox Series are likely to also have 8 year generations, Nintendo is executing a pretty solid final year, and has plenty of franchises to hit in 2025 with next-gen versions. The "holy shit no way" vibe of launching The World's Most Powerful Handheld in 2023 is gone, but that isn't a fatal blow. It might not be what us hyperfans want, but are we going anywhere?

 

[BDGAME]

Doom-posters must be seething after this Nintendo Direct lol. "They won't announce any games past June" they said, "They're keeping them all for the next console" they said...

I ate a big crow. First I was thinking that Pikmin 4 is a crossgen game, and after that, I was thinking that any new announce Nintendo would do is from a crossgen or next gen exclusive game.

Now I don't Know what is gonna happens. I hope that the configurations that people are discussing here are for a console that launches early next year or soon after that. A console for the end of 2024 I really hope for something better, like DLSS 3.0 and UFS 4.0 support.

 

[Aether]

Honestly, Holiday 2024 i don't want to pay 400€ for a 8GB/128GB HDMI 2.0 system with a 60Hz 720 screen.
I know, Drake wont be "old" by then, but if there is no bump in specs,
or a smaller node for that price, i wont buy on launch and will wait for a bundle with smash 6 or the next big Zelda.

If they want to release it that late, then i hope for jumps into 120Hz gaming. No, i dont expect stuff like Zelda or Metroid in 120, bust stuff like the 2D mario games, stuff like that peach game, etc.
I don't see them really benefiting from drakes power that much, they are already 60fps on switch.

Fidelity will not be the big aspect, if nintendo wants to focus on first party, AA and indies, but the sealing in asset creation work. Great animations are rather independent from rendering power, and many of those lower budget indie games or jrpgs simply wont look exceptionally better on Drake. So at least give us the option to have them be smoother. Thats something that could be a clear step up for many.
I was never as much in the "Switch 2 needs 120Hz HDR" as i am now after this Direct.

 

[Deleted member 887]

This makes them getting everything right even funnier

Yeah, I wasn't surprised but I was definitely amused.

Their hard claims: 2D Mario, not "new", a remake of an SNES classic

Their soft claims, based on liking of tweets: Super Mario: Wondersomething, Super Mario RPG

Their hints: Detective Pikachu, Yoshi, Metal Gear Solid

So there was at least one thing that sits in the realm of "plausible deniability" that didn't seem to match up. I think "new game with Yoshi in it" is about as risky a prediction as "the earth will not crash into the sun tomorrow." But the rest seems strong. Considering it was a mix of first and third party stuff, you suspect a media person who had access to a presskit early.

 

[LinkURL]

The timing of the announced games is very strange, 2 games for October and 2 for November, with nothing for August, September or December. I think we are really in the last year of the Switch. I can totally see an announcement cycle like the Switch one, teaser in October, some nice Christmas bundles with plenty of hype over Mario to milk the rest of this year, and a presentation explaining everything in January, launching alongside Metroid Prime in March.
Next year DK2D, Mario Kart, Mario 3D later in the year, it all lines up.

 

[Skittzo]

Yeah, I wasn't surprised but I was definitely amused.

Their hard claims: 2D Mario, not "new", a remake of an SNES classic

Their soft claims, based on liking of tweets: Super Mario: Wondersomething, Super Mario RPG

Their hints: Detective Pikachu, Yoshi, Metal Gear Solid

So there was at least one thing that sits in the realm of "plausible deniability" that didn't seem to match up. I think "new game with Yoshi in it" is about as risky a prediction as "the earth will not crash into the sun tomorrow." But the rest seems strong. Considering it was a mix of first and third party stuff, you suspect a media person who had access to a presskit early.

Or another Youtube employee like that brush person.

 

[Mr.Gamerson]

2D Mario looks great and will sell a lot, Zelda will keep selling. The only thing I was expecting to see but didn't was Tomadachi Switch with 2D mario to help secure the holiday sales, maybe they will announce it later. Team 2024 April or later with Metroid Prime 4 Cross gen launch for me!!!

 

[Paxie]

Yeah, I wasn't surprised but I was definitely amused.

Their hard claims: 2D Mario, not "new", a remake of an SNES classic

Their soft claims, based on liking of tweets: Super Mario: Wondersomething, Super Mario RPG

Their hints: Detective Pikachu, Yoshi, Metal Gear Solid

So there was at least one thing that sits in the realm of "plausible deniability" that didn't seem to match up. I think "new game with Yoshi in it" is about as risky a prediction as "the earth will not crash into the sun tomorrow." But the rest seems strong. Considering it was a mix of first and third party stuff, you suspect a media person who had access to a presskit early.

The Yoshi was specifically the Big Yoshi from SMRPG, so it was them clarifying their "remake of a SNES classic" Tweet

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

So 2D Mario and Super Mario RPG Remake are both fake rumors?

NOPE

 

[Hocot8]

2D Mario looks great and will sell a lot, Zelda will keep selling. The only thing I was expecting to see but didn't was Tomadachi Switch with 2D mario to help secure the holiday sales, maybe they will announce it later. Team 2024 April or later with Metroid Prime 4 Cross gen launch for me!!!

My one thing is would Nintendo actually launch a new system with Metroid Prime 4? I just can't see it. Mario Kart or 3D Mario would have to come sooner. It's the one holdup I have with the theory of Nintendo treating Prime 4 like BOTW lol.

 

[Aether]

In what way are they losing them, over how much they had them? Nintendo games tend to be excluded from streaming charts, simply because they're single player experiences, but Tears broke into the top 10 last month, which hasn't happened since Breath of the Wild.

Thats a Zelda thing, less a nintendo thing. But sure. I did not say they lost the audience, but in discourse (outside of Zelda being zelda) the enthusiasm for the platform and hype for new releases seems to slow down. Till now it worked, we will see how long it can work. Maybe im completly off in my assessment. Still feels like they will drag it out a little to long, if its Holiday 24. On the other hand, if they announce it this fall for a Spring launch, i could see it working.

Every review of the emerging handheld space compares the hardware to Switch and Steam Deck - unfavorably, almost universally.

And thats nothing im suprized. For a handheld to work, you have the software side sorted out, and outside of nintendo (obvious, developed FOR the system) and and Valve (investing way more in the software layer since they benefit from store sales) none of the competitors has the incentive and cause of that also cant get a competitive price with of the shelve components.

Nintendo seemed briefly to have a sort of hold based on port begging, but I think that was short lived and is far gone. Those folks moved onto the Steam Deck a while ago, but I think they're well positioned to get those folks back with a new, more powerful handheld - and that's still at most a million people.

Don't know, for me its more "nintendo exclusives" or "sony/pc exclusives".
I love the form factor of switch, but currently the lineup is just empty for me, i don't know how they will handle digital purchases in the future, and im standing there, thinking: be an early adopter of switch 2,
or go the pc/ps5 route and buy a switch 2 way later in a bundle.

Then again, so many people have to much disposable income so that it will be sold out for the first months regardless, and then the momentum argument is mute, so... don't know. Probably just my situation then.

Still feels like a more gradual transition would have been more healthy. Or at least a confirmation that the digital library moves with us to the next platform, so that i don't get antsy if i should stop buying indie games and non exclusives on their store, currently i stopped because of that, and i have heard the sentiment of people stoping to buy non exclusives on switch cause the series s or their laptop can run them better.

(switch was my first launch timing buy in a loong time ... or ever i think. I just felt the value is there from the start with the anouncements, and the hardware)