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

resetera is that you? lol
In all seriousness it sold more than 5m even before the steam release. That's decent overall and sales will increase as new parts come out due to its episodic nature.

Even if Sony didn't like the numbers for some reason (even though they extended exclusivity and paid for it to be perma-console exclusive), you have to consider the marketing value of final fantasy vii and the playstation brand.

That's worth more than any game's sales could offer.
Wait, FF7R is permanently a PS console exclusive? That kinda sucks 😕
 
I think it's a bit of both honestly. The single A57 core and barely 500 MB reserved for the OS struggles to handle eshop and the NSO page. I think having a communicaitons centre in the OS would slow down the performance beyond acceptable limits as I believe the A57 OS core also handles all networking
I'm no voice chat connoisseur, but didn't Xbox 360 do things pretty well with a weaker processor and 32MB RAM for OS?
 
I'm no voice chat connoisseur, but didn't Xbox 360 do things pretty well with a weaker processor and 32MB RAM for OS?
Me neither, i know 360 uses a tri-core Xenon processor clocked at 3.2 Ghz which was very very powerful for 2005. I also do know the CELL CPU in the PS3 was more powerful than the A57's in the Switch and this showed in how L.A. Noire Remaster was ported.
 
Me neither, i know 360 uses a tri-core Xenon processor clocked at 3.2 Ghz which was very very powerful for 2005. I also do know the CELL CPU in the PS3 was more powerful than the A57's in the Switch and this showed in how L.A. Noire Remaster was ported.
I'm not sure if that was due to the CELL being more powerful or because LA Noire was designed for the CELL's peculiarities. the game was originally a PS3 exclusive funded by Sony after all
 
resetera is that you? lol
In all seriousness it sold more than 5m even before the steam release. That's decent overall and sales will increase as new parts come out due to its episodic nature.

Even if Sony didn't like the numbers for some reason (even though they extended exclusivity and paid for it to be perma-console exclusive), you have to consider the marketing value of final fantasy vii and the playstation brand.

That's worth more than any game's sales could offer.

My issue with this is... Final Fantasy 7 is already strongly associated with the Playstation Brand!

It's not like cinematic RPGs generally sell on Xbox either.
 
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Maybe Nintendo’s hardware team has a mandate to make accessories compatible. But I don’t think it requires pessimism to assume otherwise.
I’m sure we’re getting a new handheld, and I think it would be madness for that handheld to not let you play on the TeeVee, and certainly T239 looks like a new Switch. But I’m not blithely confident about the feature set, hardware production margins, or performance goals for this thing to assert anything so confidently about the form factor.

Active cooling, video streaming, shape changes due to new battery, altered joy-con shapes to accommodate touchpads - all things that might necessitate dock changes. Maybe the factory leaks are all legit and it’s basically the same shell and will work with the OLED dock out of the box, but I’m open to alternatives
I do not work in Nintendo's marketing department, but if I did, I would ABSOLUTELY RULE OUT THE POSSIBILITY OF COMPATIBILITY CHANGES.

I'm sorry, that just seems like market segment self flaggelation to me! If they prove me wrong I'll be happy they innovated more than I expected but if they prove me right, I mean, I'll be happy to have two intercompatible docks. I don't have much to gain or lose in either direction but I definitely think Nintendo does if they don't top-down mandate physical and software compatibility. Backwards compatible games, backwards compatible accessories, just like Wii worked with Wii Remote, Sensor Bar, or Wii worked with GCN controller, DK bongos, etc.

I know this is a speculation thread and not a prediction thread, but I would put 50:1 odds of them NOT breaking compatibility.

Also the Switch has always had active cooling, and honestly, pretty good cooling, overkill even. Adding another fan to force air... Into another fan? That doesn't seem very efficient. Unless the dock fan and internal fan have seperate inlets on the device, which would be... Well, certainly a wild decision.

Just a quick addendum: When I said pessimism I didn't mean "they'll use a new, different dock" is pessimistic, it's not, it's neutral. What I mean is thinking it'll be so much bigger, so much more clunky, so much less efficient that that would be necessitated, that is definitely pessimistic.
 
I think the best way out for Nintendo would be to allow third-party apps to do voicechat work, like discord for example.
As it is a downloadable app, any problem such as hate speech, inappropriate content and other similar issues would not be Nintendo's concern, as it is not something related to the system, but rather an app with its own moderation team.
In addition to allowing chat with basically all platforms today.
 
I think the best way out for Nintendo would be to allow third-party apps to do voicechat work, like discord for example.
As it is a downloadable app, any problem such as hate speech, inappropriate content and other similar issues would not be Nintendo's concern, as it is not something related to the system, but rather an app with its own moderation team.
In addition to allowing chat with basically all platforms today.
Seeing as the other two major consoles already have discord integration, it’d be cool to see Nintendo cave in
 
Imo with how discord is the wild west I don't see Nintendo ever doing that tbh
Discord already has a bad rep with parents, and for good reason. I don't think Nintendo will touch it with a ten foot pole, and last I heard Discod reached out and got no response.
 
Game Freak seems to be recruiting some staff for the next generation.
Research on new animation expressions for the next generation of human characters in consumer game development.
Research on new expressions for the next generation of general effects (battles, backgrounds, event scenes, etc.) in consumer game development.
You will be in charge of research and development of next generation graphics expression and related technologies at our company, which develops games in the "Pokémon" series.
 
Game Freak seems to be recruiting some staff for the next generation.


I'm taking a hopeful view on this:

GameFreak is usually SLOW to adopt a new platform, usually releasing at least one game on the previous console once the successor is out before jumping to the next. If they've already begun development on next gen, as in Gen 10 for Nintendo Switch [REDACTED], that would imply it's probably hitting 2025, which would make sense. Which implies something else will come out in 2024 for Pokémon, again, a safe bet...

But also that before that 2024 Switch game cones out, Nintendo Switch [REDACTED] will. Which, well, I certainly believe. Especially with that 4chan leaker getting so much right and thinking this thing, the device, will be out before early next year... Which would imply late this year.
 
For me, not having a voice-chat integrated to the console's OS is really bad. I want to have both voice and in-game sound in one headphone (and would be great if I could have this without having to use another device and spend more money on accessories to make it work). But that's something I don't expect from nintendo (along with dedicated servers; so I won't really need voice-chat anyway lol).

Streaming capabilities and recording options (other than 30s at 720p and shit bitrate) are features I care about. It would be great to have, even if they limit the feature in handheld mode (as long as it's there in all its glory when docked).

Last but not least, the only thing I remember Nintendo doing that I really thought "wow, this is better than anything I have seen in any console!" was Miiverse. I really enjoyed spending time looking at posts from everyone (friends or not). I believe it was the best feature (outside games) that Nintendo have implemented, ever.

It was also funny to receive some rude messages from japaneses saying I was lagging their Splatoon matches lmao

I really wanted it to stay on Switch (and would love it to come back on switch 2), but I can imagine the pain it would be for them to moderate a community like that on a console that already sold almost 10 times more than the wii u lol
 
I'm taking a hopeful view on this:

GameFreak is usually SLOW to adopt a new platform, usually releasing at least one game on the previous console once the successor is out before jumping to the next. If they've already begun development on next gen, as in Gen 10 for Nintendo Switch [REDACTED], that would imply it's probably hitting 2025, which would make sense. Which implies something else will come out in 2024 for Pokémon, again, a safe bet...

But also that before that 2024 Switch game cones out, Nintendo Switch [REDACTED] will. Which, well, I certainly believe. Especially with that 4chan leaker getting so much right and thinking this thing, the device, will be out before early next year... Which would imply late this year.
I'm personally expecting gen 10 for the 30tg anniversary in 2026, but that begs the question of what until then.
 
I'm personally expecting gen 10 for the 30tg anniversary in 2026, but that begs the question of what until then.
I think it'd be a mistake if they didn't wait until 2026 for Gen 10 for multiple reasons.

But for what until then, I think you can probably make a few good guesses.

2023 - S/V DLC

2024 & 2025 - I'm willing to bet is either standard BW/B2W2 remakes by ILCA and then the year following would be Legends Kyurem, or vice versa. You could even skip the standard remakes and just throw out Legends DLC the next year, people wanted Arceus DLC anyways. Both would be a standard 3 year development cycle since Late 2021, so either works in my mind.

Legends 2, if happening, is almost automatically in a better place than Scarlet Violet was because they already have a working formula. S/V felt like they were scrambling to figure out specific mechanic implementations up until the very last second.

4 years of development until 2026 would hopefully give GameFreak just enough room to breathe and innovate properly and maybe just launch it on the Switch 2 alone.
 
Game Freak seems to be recruiting some staff for the next generation.


Are they recruiting people who know WII U-level programming at last? 😅
 
2024 - Unova remake (last mainline Pokemon game for Switch)
2025 - Legends Unova or Let's Go Johto ([REDACTED] exclusive)
2026 - Gen 10 ([REDACTED] exclusive)
Personally I think it’ll be Gen 10 for Redacted in 2025, then Unova remakes and/or whatever else they decide the additional game should be in 2026-2027 (depending on the DLC timeline for gen 10 and how willing they are to have two Pokémon things in a single year). I can’t see them doing Unova remakes this gen, TBH.
 
I feel like pkmn company wouldn't dare make a [REDACTED] exclusive game till gen 10.
2024 - Unova remake (last mainline Pokemon game for Switch)
2025 - Legends Unova or Let's Go Johto ([REDACTED] exclusive)
2026 - Gen 10 ([REDACTED] exclusive)

Personally I think it’ll be Gen 10 for Redacted in 2025, then Unova remakes and/or whatever else they decide the additional game should be in 2026-2027 (depending on the DLC timeline for gen 10 and how willing they are to have two Pokémon things in a single year). I can’t see them doing Unova remakes this gen, TBH.

I honestly don't want them to make Gen 5 remake on the current switch.
 
GF prolly rides out this year on ScarVio and the DLC episodes, maybe there's a new spinoff game or a remaster of one.

But, imo mind you, the next mainline remake and Gen 10 will definitely be on ReDraketed. Mainline remake likely being before Gen 10, might be cross-gen, Gen 10 should be "next-gen exclusive".
 
Have you ever played the first Xenoblade Chronicles on switch portable? That game is so fuzzy it's almost disgusting
Edit: the switch 2 is supposed to be multiple times more powerful than the og switch why are you saying you'd be ok with it being only a little bit better?
Edit:2 especially on a device where the main draw is portability it's a SEVEN year gap and you're saying you would be ok with only a small improvement

I'm saying I would be OK if the Switch 2 had DLSS artifacting on a small screen in portable mode for games that are really challenging to port. It's not the end of the world, the main thing about the portable mode is to just have a version of the game that's playable. Like it's not like "well the towers 300 feet away in the background are a little fuzzy! That means using DLSS on a 360p image isn't feasible!". Like who cares.

If it means a game that is PS5/XSX only is playable on the system, that's a fair trade off. Like the example of Death Stranding running at 853x480 resolution (DLSS up to 1440p) ... is actually ... fine. If I had to play the game looking like that in portable mode, yeah you can spot some imperfections with the DLSS reconstructing the image from such a low resolution, but it's not like "OMG! This isn't Death Stranding anymore!", lol. It's perfectly playable and frankly looks miles better than low resolution games on the current Switch undocked (like Xenoblade 3).
 
There are enough examples that even don’t reach 720p, and if then it‘s only 30 fps. I also don’t see the pixels even on the OLED switch, so for people with similar vision than mine there would be no benefits going 1080p but all the negatives like battery life framerate…

Offcourse, and in this case probably there would be plenty examples of games dont reach 1080p, but plenty of games would reach 1080p, and 1080p screen would mean a lot if Nintendo going for some VR integration.
 
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Why should "they are not aware of anything" being said (by sources we can't know or evaluate) at GDC be something we care about, though? I don't get this narrative that GDC is a hotbed of info about Nintendo's unannounced plans in the first place. There was no hardware news from GDC in 2016, even though development materials had been distributed since at least October 2015, plus the NX's release date and Zelda launch were announced at that time and it was a huge topic of discussion. It wasn't until Eurogamer's report on July 30 that any concrete information about this massively anticipated new system came out, which Eurogamer said was based on a wide briefing of third parties and other partners. An absence-of-evidence argument based on GDC of all things seems pretty meaningless.
This is true, but its one of the times where a bunch of developers get together, and potentially talk amongst each other about things that are currently on the hush. I know in my industry when you go to various work related conferences, its work during the day and play time at night, meaning everyone congregates at the local bars and tosses back drinks all evening. People tend to talk more than they should in this atmosphere. So assuming MVG is going to GDC this week and is talking with a lot of different developers, if he is interested in trying to get some details surround the next Switch, it seems like that would be an opportunity to so do.

In truth, most of what is going to be discussed and shared at GDC will be under frien-da and be treated as industry talk amongst friends.

Its seems like this frien-da seems to mean I can tell you a few things but don't you dare tell anyone else. This is great for the people getting the information directly, but for the rest of us relying on industry talking head/journalist, it doesn't do us any good for someone people to get some inside info if they are never able to share it. It seems like less and less developers are willing to leak info, and maybe the NDA's are just that harsh these days. In Nintendo's camp especially, they seem to be pretty good at keeping a lid on things. Multiple titles close to release were announced over the course of this generation for Switch without being leaked early.

Nintendo was more open about NX/Switch being a think back in 2015, they didn't have anything to lose since Wii U was selling very poorly, but with Switch they have every reason to keep it its successor a secret until they are ready to reveal it. Zelda TotK will still be pushing sales for Switch hardware and the Zelda OLED will certainly be fairly popular. With Switch still selling well, announcing a successor more than 4-6 months prior to release will only stifle sales for their current platform, and that's not chump change, we are talking millions of unit sales are at risk if they do not play their cards correctly. I'm not ruling out 2024, but with Switch being six years old and the lack of announced Switch titles for the second half of the year looks suspicious.
 
The WiiU was a major disaster because people bet on the idea that there were a lot of people who wanted to play their game system in the living room, but often the TV was occupied. This probably would have been popular if the WiiU in portable mode worked well in different rooms than the room the system it was in but... It did not.

That wasnt even biggest Wii U problem, by far biggest Wii U problem was terrible marketing, naming and branding, year after Wii U launch there were still some people thought that Wii U is some kind of addon for Wii and not Nintendo next gen console.
 
Hello lads, first time on this message board, so if I get things wrong, please correct me.

I feel like the "powerful system" is probably the biggest draw for third-parties. Companies have shown interest in the Switch despite the ass-old hardware, so it's not hard to believe that companies will actually take the time to port modern games to the device. CDPR and maybe Xbox/Bethesda (more likely Bethesda) are probably going to be porting stuff to the system with that addition system legroom, but there's also going to be a lot of 8th gen ports.

What I'm curious about is about Square Enix specifically. If the Switch 2 is powerful enough to run PS5 games (albeit at a lower graphical quality), then it might actually make Square Enix reconsider their third-party exclusivity contracts. Idk, might be a good thing overall.
PS5 is irrelevant, and that’s something I’ll be saying for the entirety of the generation because it’s both a fact and nowhere near as provocative as it sounds. XSS is where a successor needs to be, and it won’t be going anywhere because Microsoft can not and will not drop it without awful consequences. There’s also the fact that you can get better PS5 experiences on PCs now, if you’re patient enough, but I'll let that thought marinate while I sip some tea... Steam Deck is a lower identifiable performance threshold by virtue of being a PC at heart - If one wants to look at portable performance, then Steam Deck is probably the current basement level. The Switch successor will ultimately be better-placed because DLSS and the engineering of its SoC will allow them more headspace and better end results.

“More Power” isn’t the draw some people think it is. PS2 never had it, but it didn’t stop that platform getting many 3rdP titles exclusively at the time, including the Devil May Cry trilogy, Dragon Quest 8, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, and multiple Final Fantasy titles. We had it with the GameCube, and when the likes of Soul Calibur 2 sold best on it in Europe and North America, Nintendo platforms never saw another flagship entry in that series again. It didn’t get GTA, and when the Wii U followed the very successful Wii, it’s often forgotten that it was the most powerful console on the market for a year, but it didn’t get lots of cross-gen titles, while games still came to PS3/X360 - You even had actual EA employees aligning themselves with death-threat sending extremists, and bothering PlatinumGames to put Bayonetta 2 on anything but the Wii U, even though that meant downgrading the experience for PS3/X360. “More Power” isn’t a thing when one considers that games on PCs mean that multiple performance profiles are targeted, including low-spec ones, and levels lower than the consoles of the day. “More Power” isn’t a thing because we’ve seen that 3rdPs are perfectly happy to support XSS!! At this point, it’s worth remembering that XSS will get all of the CODs, the Assassin’s Creeds, the next Witcher title and whatever else CDPR will cook, Final Fantasy games (when the PS exclusivity deals expire), GTA6, and by the same token, Red Dead Redemption 3. “More Power” isn’t a thing, but industry politics are. A forthcoming decade of Nintendo versions of COD casts some light upon this, too.

None of that is to say specs don’t matter - They do, as they have to meet developer ambitions without meaningful compromises, BUT “More Power” is neither a draw nor a unicorn which solves all of 3rdP relations. My example of Soul Calibur 2 shows this, but I can also point to Yakuza developers who were clearly oblivious to Bayonetta being Nintendo-exclusive. Furthermore, we’ve seen games appear on mobiles and Stadia - I would put it to this board that investing in Switch titles and other ports would’ve seen better returns than Stadia.

Square-Enix will be compelled to reconsider, anyway. Misplaced faith in Sony/the PS brand, and being in their pockets isn’t sustainable. Evidence of that already shows itself domestically, and has done for the best part of more than a decade.
 
Nintendo was more open about NX/Switch being a think back in 2015, they didn't have anything to lose since Wii U was selling very poorly, but with Switch they have every reason to keep it its successor a secret until they are ready to reveal it. Zelda TotK will still be pushing sales for Switch hardware and the Zelda OLED will certainly be fairly popular. With Switch still selling well, announcing a successor more than 4-6 months prior to release will only stifle sales for their current platform, and that's not chump change, we are talking millions of unit sales are at risk if they do not play their cards correctly. I'm not ruling out 2024, but with Switch being six years old and the lack of announced Switch titles for the second half of the year looks suspicious.
It is really unnatural for them not to reveal the lineup for the second half of this year.
Are you saying there is only DLC?
 
It is really unnatural for them not to reveal the lineup for the second half of this year.
Are you saying there is only DLC?
It was only 2 years ago that we knew nothing of their 2nd half lineup until E3, where they then announced Warioware, Metroid and Mario Party. I’d say it’s more normal than not to not know anything of their 2nd half at this point in the year.
 
It was only 2 years ago that we knew nothing of their 2nd half lineup until E3, where they then announced Warioware, Metroid and Mario Party. I'd say it's more normal than not to not know anything of their 2nd half at this point in the year.

Somebody already went back through the years. Not normal. Pokémon BD/SP was announced in Feb '21 for release in Nov '21. Just 1 game sure, but not nothing. And oh, wasn't that the year when OLED was announced in July and released 3 months later? lol not saying it'll repeat (though that's my hope/guess) but doesn't make the most sense to refer to that year as the norm to explain this year so far.

No really tho. Almost all the Holiday titles of the past years would have already been announced at this point :

2017: SMO & XC2 (Jan 17)
2018 : Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Mar 18)
2019 : Luigi's Mansion 3 (Sep 18), Pokémon S/S (Feb 19)
2020* :
2021 : Pokémon BD/SP (Feb 21)
2022 : Bayonetta 3 (Sep 21), Pokémon S/V (Feb 22)

The only times we knew as much as today about the Holiday line-up was 2020 which marketing's got disrupted by Covid.

Of course, there's always the "patterns schmatterns" counterargument which I get.
 
Somebody already went back through the years. Not normal. Pokémon BD/SP was announced in Feb '21 for release in Nov '21. Just 1 game sure, but not nothing. And oh, wasn't that the year when OLED was announced in July and released 3 months later? lol not saying it'll repeat (though that's my hope/guess) but doesn't make the most sense to refer to that year as the norm to explain this year so far.



Of course, there's always the "patterns schmatterns" counterargument which I get.
Look how heavily that relies on Pokémon, which do their own thing
 
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The WiiU was a major disaster because people bet on the idea that there were a lot of people who wanted to play their game system in the living room, but often the TV was occupied. This probably would have been popular if the WiiU in portable mode worked well in different rooms than the room the system it was in but... It did not.
That wasn’t the idea of a the Wii U though, the idea that they bet on is that people would like the Nintendo DS, but on a big screen. You know? One of the best selling systems of all time? That’s what the Wii U was able to achieve with the asymmetric format like the Nintendo DS system.


The fact that you can play games off of the TV it was a byproduct, not the main selling point of the system. The games were designed in a similar style to how they would a function if they were made for the Nintendo DS. To make use of both screens*
 
I do not work in Nintendo's marketing department, but if I did, I would ABSOLUTELY RULE OUT THE POSSIBILITY OF COMPATIBILITY CHANGES.

I'm sorry, that just seems like market segment self flaggelation to me! If they prove me wrong I'll be happy they innovated more than I expected but if they prove me right, I mean, I'll be happy to have two intercompatible docks. I don't have much to gain or lose in either direction but I definitely think Nintendo does if they don't top-down mandate physical and software compatibility. Backwards compatible games, backwards compatible accessories, just like Wii worked with Wii Remote, Sensor Bar, or Wii worked with GCN controller, DK bongos, etc.

I know this is a speculation thread and not a prediction thread, but I would put 50:1 odds of them NOT breaking compatibility.

Also the Switch has always had active cooling, and honestly, pretty good cooling, overkill even. Adding another fan to force air... Into another fan? That doesn't seem very efficient. Unless the dock fan and internal fan have seperate inlets on the device, which would be... Well, certainly a wild decision.

Just a quick addendum: When I said pessimism I didn't mean "they'll use a new, different dock" is pessimistic, it's not, it's neutral. What I mean is thinking it'll be so much bigger, so much more clunky, so much less efficient that that would be necessitated, that is definitely pessimistic.

Of all the accessories to maintain backwards compatibility with, honestly the dock is probably the least important. Every single Switch comes with a dock, and very few people have bought a second. Nintendo don't even really consider it an accessory, as on their online stores (the only way you can buy a second dock), they sell them under the "Replacement parts" category. People could conceivably use their old docks for [redacted], but they're probably going to have their old Switches in there, and in the majority of cases I'm guessing the old dock would stay with the old Switch, either sold, passed on to a sibling, sitting in another room, or just thrown in a closet.

It's a pretty big constraint to put on the design of a new device that may sell 100 million units or more for a relatively minor benefit. It would prevent the hardware designers from making [redacted] even a few millimetres thicker than the original Switch. It would even significantly constrain the internal cooling design of the new hardware, as air inlets could only be placed where the existing dock has made space for ventilation.

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that [redacted] will be compatible with existing docks, or even use the OLED dock directly, but if that happens, it's because there was already a decision made to use exactly the same form-factor as the existing Switch, and being able to use the existing docks is a side benefit of that, not vice-versa.

It would actually be very unusual for Nintendo to maintain exactly the same form-factor, though, from one generation to the next. Even in cases where they've kept a similar form-factor, like Game Boy Pocket to Game Boy Color, or DS to 3DS, they've made very clear design changes each time, either for ergonomic or functional differences, or just to create a clear visual identity for the new hardware. I'm guessing that Nintendo will likely want to create a clear visual identity for [redacted] as well, which may involve big enough changes that backwards compatibility with old docks isn't an option.

I'd wager that Joy-Cons will be backwards compatible (along with Pro Controllers, etc), both because lots of people have bought additional Joy-Cons, but also because Nintendo can keep supporting them via bluetooth even if you can't mount them on [redacted]. If Nintendo does make changes to how the new Joy-Cons mount to [redacted], it will still (presumably) come with a pair of Joy-Cons, and as you can't mount more than one pair on a Switch at a time, it's not a big deal if the old Joy-Cons can't mount onto the new hardware.
 
What a deafening silence. On one hand, it is good because I take it as a sign that the audiance of this thread has matured and isn't willing to jump to conclusions anymore.

On the other hand, it makes the wait that much harder - but somewhat more gratifying when the reveal actually takes place.
 
Of all the accessories to maintain backwards compatibility with, honestly the dock is probably the least important. Every single Switch comes with a dock, and very few people have bought a second. Nintendo don't even really consider it an accessory, as on their online stores (the only way you can buy a second dock), they sell them under the "Replacement parts" category. People could conceivably use their old docks for [redacted], but they're probably going to have their old Switches in there, and in the majority of cases I'm guessing the old dock would stay with the old Switch, either sold, passed on to a sibling, sitting in another room, or just thrown in a closet.

It's a pretty big constraint to put on the design of a new device that may sell 100 million units or more for a relatively minor benefit. It would prevent the hardware designers from making [redacted] even a few millimetres thicker than the original Switch. It would even significantly constrain the internal cooling design of the new hardware, as air inlets could only be placed where the existing dock has made space for ventilation.

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that [redacted] will be compatible with existing docks, or even use the OLED dock directly, but if that happens, it's because there was already a decision made to use exactly the same form-factor as the existing Switch, and being able to use the existing docks is a side benefit of that, not vice-versa.

It would actually be very unusual for Nintendo to maintain exactly the same form-factor, though, from one generation to the next. Even in cases where they've kept a similar form-factor, like Game Boy Pocket to Game Boy Color, or DS to 3DS, they've made very clear design changes each time, either for ergonomic or functional differences, or just to create a clear visual identity for the new hardware. I'm guessing that Nintendo will likely want to create a clear visual identity for [redacted] as well, which may involve big enough changes that backwards compatibility with old docks isn't an option.

I'd wager that Joy-Cons will be backwards compatible (along with Pro Controllers, etc), both because lots of people have bought additional Joy-Cons, but also because Nintendo can keep supporting them via bluetooth even if you can't mount them on [redacted]. If Nintendo does make changes to how the new Joy-Cons mount to [redacted], it will still (presumably) come with a pair of Joy-Cons, and as you can't mount more than one pair on a Switch at a time, it's not a big deal if the old Joy-Cons can't mount onto the new hardware.
It would not really constrain ventilation on the new system unless it puts its inlet right in the middle of the rear. Bottom, sides, top or otherwise are all covered.

Understanding the dock as a limitation is to not understand the dock.

The Nintendo Switch Dock with LAN Port HAS additional ventilation unused by any model. It HAS a few extra milimeters of tolerance in any dimension.

And of course, to suggest that the dock couldn't work due to a drastic change in the shell's size and shape is, well, utter poppycock if you're also saying Joy-Con will work, unless you seriously suggest that this device will taper the ends to attach the Joy-Con. Which, really? Really? Do you think marketing would sign off on that?
 
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And of course, to suggest that the dock couldn't work due to a drastic change in the shell's size and shape is, well, utter poppycock if you're also saying Joy-Con will work, unless you seriously suggest that this device will taper the ends to attach the Joy-Con. Which it will not.
It's really not difficult to imagine.
 
What a deafening silence. On one hand, it is good because I take it as a sign that the audiance of this thread has matured and isn't willing to jump to conclusions anymore.

On the other hand, it makes the wait that much harder - but somewhat more gratifying when the reveal actually takes place.
I have suddenly concluded that the new system is exploding and Nintendo is working on a way to stop that.

🫡
 
It's really not difficult to imagine.
Difficult to imagine in a physical sense? Sure, maybe not.

Difficult to imagine Nintendo approving and trying to market?
Absolutely, it would be comical, literally laughagly bad design.
 
That wasn’t the idea of a the Wii U though, the idea that they bet on is that people would like the Nintendo DS, but on a big screen. You know? One of the best selling systems of all time? That’s what the Wii U was able to achieve with the asymmetric format like the Nintendo DS system.


The fact that you can play games off of the TV it was a byproduct, not the main selling point of the system. The games were designed in a similar style to how they would a function if they were made for the Nintendo DS. To make use of both screens*

Yeah, then that was just as bad of an idea because the feel of dual screen gaming is completely different and Nintendo themselves failed to use this at all for several years, lol.

Like, what dual screen features did you see in NSMBU, 3D World, Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, etc
 
Game Freak seems to be recruiting some staff for the next generation.


given Game Freak, it could mean Gen 10 of pokemon rather than a new generation of hardware.
 
Game Freak seems to be recruiting some staff for the next generation.



"Next generation" has no agreed upon definition for job ads so this is completely meaningless.
 
It is really unnatural for them not to reveal the lineup for the second half of this year.
Are you saying there is only DLC?
Its unusual for Nintendo to announce nothing for second half of the year in the February Directs. Nintendo typically announces a marque title or two for the second half during the February Direct. The reason this stands out more than it did in 2020 is because nobody was expecting a successor to launch that year. People speculated about a Pro model, but there was zero reason to believe Nintendo would be announcing and potentially releasing a next generation Switch when Switch was just turning three years old.

It was only 2 years ago that we knew nothing of their 2nd half lineup until E3, where they then announced Warioware, Metroid and Mario Party. I’d say it’s more normal than not to not know anything of their 2nd half at this point in the year.

This is the exception rather than the rule. This was not the case for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. Again, it looks more suspicious because of how old Switch is at this point. Things could look very different if there is a June Direct showing off a bunch of second half games with no mention of new hardware, but for right now there is good reason to be curious.
 
Yeah, then that was just as bad of an idea because the feel of dual screen gaming is completely different and Nintendo themselves failed to use this at all for several years, lol.

Like, what dual screen features did you see in NSMBU, 3D World, Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, etc
I can’t comment on all of these as I didn’t own a Wii U until a few months ago, but NSMBU allowed you to put platforms iirc to help either you or your teammates if you were playing co-op.
 
Difficult to imagine in a physical sense? Sure, maybe not.

Difficult to imagine Nintendo approving and trying to market?
Absolutely, it would be comical, literally laughagly bad design.
A new Switch chassis being 1mm thicker and no longer fitting in the original dock would hardly be 'comically bad design.'

This hyperbole gets tiring.
 
I can’t comment on all of these as I didn’t own a Wii U until a few months ago, but NSMBU allowed you to put platforms iirc to help either you or your teammates if you were playing co-op.
Mario Kart 8 would only display the map on the GamePad display but not the TV for months before an update changed it. Honestly Deluxe still doesn't show a lot of the GUI that was on the GamePad!

Like a complete list of all positions and their items! It's just gone! Shocking! Not that I ever miss it but still...
 
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