It's reasonable to say that I use my Switch a lot...mostly for "casual" rogue-like games, as my Year in Review kindly points out. I'm say about 90% of my gaming is currently done on it, mostly in handheld mode, in quick, short sessions (rarely more than 15-20 minutes at a time). it's rare these days that I sit down for a prolonged gaming session.
As such, the final announcement of the Switch 2 is a fairly big thing for me. It has big shoes to fill, and I think it's reasonable to say that Nintendo have never quite landed the awkward second album well (mostly referring to the Wii U here). It looks like they have gone very safe initially, with a similar form factor...just bigger. There have been lots of leaks about the internal performance, but I think it's been proven that the internal power is not their focus. in no particular order, here are my hopes;
- Battery life is similar/better. I get ~3-3½ hours out of mine. Bigger screen, and more powerful inners hopefully doesn't mean short battery life.
- The older joycons can be used as spare controllers for the new one. This would be a big encouragement for upgrading...I have 4 joycons (which gives me Mario Kart in a box), and being able to have 2 spare controllers for 4-player party games would be great, as well as reducing eWaste
- Good games. Obviously Slay the Spire 2 is on my radar, and Mario Kart 9 is all but announced. Hades 2, and my dream is the remakes of FFVII
- Weight - I mainly play in handheld mode, though I have had prolonged sessions in docked mode before...just not got the setup in this house yet
- Reliability - I did have one joycon get drift. It was replaced rapidly (even thoguh technically out of warranty), but there are plenty of solutions. Having slightly better buttons on the Joycons would be nice as well
- Better screenshotting - a constant weirdness is how hard it is to get media off the Switch...there is a dedicated screenshot/video clip button, but it's then hard to get it off onto "anywhere but Facebook" via the native tools. I don't know how many 30 second videos I have of me killed the Spire Heart, of shots of finishing builds in Hades, but very little I can do with them.
- Better virtual console - I'd love to see some more modern generations being made available in the online service. The Switch is an amazing old-games-emulator, but the games selection is underwhelming (at least to me). I have a 90's childhood that needs reliving.
Anyhow, roll on 2nd April and more information. Gill is tempted to get one as well (shes looking at cosy games like Stardew Valley).
Comments
While I'm not in the market for a handheld, this doesn't really feel like a "2". It's just another one. Sort of a 1c. Or am I missing something? A Steam Deck might be better bang for your buck given many of your games already work on it.
I've considered a Steam Deck, or one of the variants, however quite honestly the games I play don't work on it. I've been hoarding free Steam and Epic games on PC for a while, but playtime is absolutely minimal. For in-house (or with a bit more faff streaming, but I think that wll have to wait for improved networking in the house/street) PC gaming away from my desk, I'd probably go down the Moonlight route, using a tablet (or the Shield under the main TV) and an xBox controller. For longer term away-from-the-house PC gaming, I simply take my laptop and a controller, which kicks the ever-living shit out of a Steam Deck.
So the Switch 2 has been anounced and confirmed. I've qualified for a pre-order from previous behaviour. Gill has expressed a desire to have my current Switch, so I'll proably be taking the slot up, thus avoiding any scalper fun!
In terms of interest to me, from the list of announcements;
Mario Kart world, while expensive, I think is worth the money. I think in Steam land, we're spoiled for great games that are dirt cheap. The rest of the world isn't. It looks like a great device!
I'm not super into them pushing the price for standard edition games to 80 dollars. The price of the machine being high is less egregious the economic reality of physical goods is just what it is.
The wheelchair game looks fucking weird
Nintendo have always had high prices for their first party games. Pretty much all other games are regularly discounted.
It looks like Switch 2 may be delayed in the USA due to the whims of the tangerine man.
yeah I guess so and with first party the level of polish nintendo manage is always top tier
I expect we'll have to pay for the tariffs trump adds. It may even end up be more expensive than a dozen eggs currently is
They are also going to charge for using the "c" button in that it's online subscription only not really too worried about that one not a feature I really care about since discord exists for chatting and is free
Then there is the tutorial "game" which demos the system capabilities which will cost you 10 dollars. Feel like that's more money grubbing charging for a tutorial. Depends a lot on what the game component to that is I guess. Astobots playroom on PS5 was a very fun game that served to demo the features of the PS5 controller and might have been worth 10 dollars although Sony shipped it as a free pack in so not sure how I feel about charging for something like this.
I don't really think I'm target market for either of those, so not too worried. The tutorial looks fairly dry, and if it's a choice between that for free, or Mario Kart @ ~50% off, I suspect I know which way most would power-slide.
I can understand the paid Chat/Video chat functionality...and I can get the target demographic as well. I bet you Switch 2 has more young kids playing with grand parents than ever before (Grand parents who I hate to break it to you are not a million miles from our age, and gre up in the 80's and 90's when the internet was a sweet, young and innocent playground). The grand-parent buys the console (and one for themselves), and then they get to see little Timmy playing his game. All while avoiding the wild west of the actual internet as it is in 2025, which is basically a shitshow.
Well my pre-order option came in, and it's been exercised. Switch 2 + Mario Kart should be arriving some time in June. It might motivate me to finally paint my office, and get the TV wall-mounted in here (it's been covered in a blanket for 18 months by the wall).
Gill is already looking at what she can get for my OG Switch for games more in her vein (Professor Leyton and "cosy" games mostly).
Seems like for some reason they've hit the pause button on the US preorders they're still projecting the same release date (which make sense at this point those US allocated units are all made at this point and likely already on a ship). They'll maybe bump the price even higher to cope with the tarifs
Thanks Obama!
OBAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!