Topic: The Nintendo Switch Rumor and Speculation Thread

heh, interesting point RE: HowLongToBeat. Lets maths this! Grabbed about half a dozen games that are on Wii U and Switch and compared their completion times plus the completion time for emulated/PC versions of the same games. DK:TF, BotW, New SMB U, Bayonetta, 3D World, Rayman Legends. Titles where there's enough of a sample size for Wii U to make it not entirely random

Across all of them, on average, the Switch completion time is about 3% faster than Wii U and the PC/Emulated version is about 8% faster than Wii U. To be clear, for some of these the Wii U version has the fastest time, presumably because of other version differences or just a different set of users recording their times. Rayman Legends for example. But then there are games like DK:TF where the emulated version has a completion time that's over 2 hours faster than Wii U and almost 1 hour faster than Switch. And for a game that takes ~10hrs to beat..... that's not insignificant

On the specific question of Zelda:
BotW: ~49hrs Wii U, ~51hrs Switch, ~45hrs Emulated
TotK: ~58hrs Switch, ~51hrs Emulated

A quick observation, I think people forget how decent the Switch was at launch and what it was lining up against. Something that's lost a bit when people are setting their expectations on what the Switch 2 will be. Just to set the scene, this is what the landscape looked like when the Switch launched in terms of relative power and how old all of these competing platforms were:

3DS ~6 years old
360 ~12 years old, retired
PS3 ~11 years, retired
Wii U ~5 years
Switch
XBOne ~4 years
PS4 ~4 years
PS4 Pro ~6 months

While by the time Switch 2 launches the landscape will look a bit like this
Switch ~8 years
XBOne ~11 years, retired
PS4 ~11 years, retired
PS4 Pro ~8 years, retired
Switch 2
XB Series S ~4 years
PS5 ~4 years
XB Series X ~4 years
PS5 Pro ~ 6 months

....... why anyone is surprised by where this spec sounds like it's going to land I don't really get. It's landing, more or less, exactly where the Switch did

@skywake Oh wow that lines up quite well! I think Nintendo wants to do a similar launch as the Switch considering how successful it was. Launch in March-early May 2025 seems like the key time to release it.

Rumor: Nintendo might have some unannounced changes to Paper Mario: TTYD

In an article (on the Nintendo Switch's news page) about TTYD's new features, there was something on the bottom that said something really interesting and could hint at some other change in TTYD.

"OK, that's all for now. It's possible that there are a couple more surprises to find, but we'll leave that in your capable hands!"

(Context: the article was talking about 7 new features, so when it says "OK, that's all for now.", it is referring to the fact that the article is done listing new features.)

So, the "couple more surprises" seem to be implying new features. This is very likely just slight changes to something late-game, so they want to avoid spoiling it. Less likely, but it could also be hinting at something new post-game (whether something bigger or smaller) that they also didn't want to spoil before the game releases. This could also just be nothing, however I think that's less likely because why would they hint at something that doesn't exist?

Usually a cancellation of staggering Preorders there's something changed and delays will happen because stock carts will have to be stopped and new productions will have to reset to change those currents.

@SwitchForce
Yeah, nah. You're trying to tie in the US physical pre-order cancellation thing to this rumour of more content in the game that @PikminMarioKirby is talking about. They're not recalling TTYD and doing a new run for that. Even if, somehow, they've decided last minute to throw in some new content which in itself is an absurd suggestion digital distribution is a thing. They'd just throw that content in a day 1 patch

I reckon what's happened here is that the pre-order demand for TTYD is higher than they expected. As I understand it they over-estimated the demand for physical copies of Super Mario RPG. So in response they've probably undershot and been conservative with TTYD

@skywake @SwitchForce
It will most likely not delay because:
1. When pre-orders were cancelled for Walmart, Walmart specifically said that they hoped to see the people in stores when it releases on May 23rd
2. Nintendo recently posted a 1-week notice
3. The game has already downloaded on some people's devices (it already has on mine!) so there's not really much they can do at this point
4. Nintendo would've already made an official statement
5. We'd see a lot of other stores taking down pre-orders at this point

Gamexplain had a great editorial piece here that pretty much sums up my concerns with a Playstation/Xbox-esque graphics bump Switch 2 and how that kind of hardware direction really hasn't worked out all that well for Microsoft and Sony. However, Joey is a bit more optimistic here that following in this direction but not quite going as far as PS5/XBSX is fine, but I think at the very least they still need that hardware twist they've done for the last few generations or else they're just as guilty of falling into the graphics trap and susceptible to similar issues. A graphics bump just feels so un-Nintendoey and set up for failure, if they've really done a complete 180 and disregarded what they learned during the Wii/DS, Wii U/3DS, and Switch generations, I fear that the Switch 2 will suffer from what they called out their competition on in the past.

Sony and Microsoft appeal to snobs (the people that haven't twigged yet that it's not specs that limit creativity, it's imagination.). If you still have a sense of imagination, then specs don't matter half as much as folk who need realism. If you have a good idea, your imagination will always make it timeless. If you don't, then what is realistic today will always look laughable in another 10 years time. Animation is probably the sticking point here. Some games look great as screen grabs...not so much when faces start talking etc.

Saying that makes us Nintendo fans sound like the snobs. 😆

tbh, I am a total Nintendo snob

@FishyS Lol, quite the opposite I reckon! I'm not much of a snob...but man, I have always thought Nintendo make the best games!

@GrailUK
Incoming sea of saucy text! Caffeine kick is in full effect.
A PS5 or XSX are obviously for the people that wan't to play certain titles that aren't available on Switch, or just to play multi-console releases that happen to perform and look better. As much as i hate my PS5, I'm glad I got it specifically for the latest batch of modern Resident Evil games > 2R, 3R(Both of which run at an awesome 120fps), Village(PSVR2...What an experience that was!) & 4R, all of which have been pretty outstanding experiences. Other than that, I've been let down by nearly 95% of everything i've purchased digitally.

It doesn't help that the PS5 boasts a depressing sterile UI and ugly controller, plus an awful theme that sounds like funeral music for dying robots' with tacky distracting lights blasting through the duel sense's touch pad. Neither the PS5 or XSX aesthetically speaking(Console & Controller designs) or in terms of UI evoke any sort of fun compared to Switch. The former two take themselves too seriously. But that's kind of been the case, ever since PS2 & XBOX reared their heads. 90's console designs were easily the best by a land slide. When console and controller designs actually had character and we'ren't limited to being two-tone simple boxy Black and white or coloured designs.

It's the PS3, XBOX360 & PS4 all over again for me personally. Sigh. I just can't get into most of the western AAA stuff which ultimately leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth. Instead, I'd rather fire up a retro schmup on Switch that I have yet to play for a more challenging in and out experience that doesn't demand a life time of devotion to complete.

I've been pretty much exclusive to Nintendo ever since the Gamecube came out, with a hint of PlayStation on the side. Back in 95, The PS1 was FANfrikkinTastic, as was the Genesis+Sega CD, even the Saturn(if you factored in it's JPN lineup), Dreamcast(Ahem, the last greatest non-nintendo console imo, and the final console of the 90's!) but shortly after the 2000's, I've never really cared for the direction that either Sony and MS have taken.

Switch may have a phenomenal robust lineup of games and is a retro lovers dream machine, but i just don't care for the joy-cons(terrible replacement for the Wii remote Plus & nunchuck), the high input lag coming from the Pro Controller, The gyro motion has no proper reference(Think Sensor bar) for reliable accurate cross hair aiming, in something like House of the Dead Remake etc. And i'm not a huge handheld guy anymore. 3DS was my handheld swan song, which included 3D, Mixed Reality, Dual Screens, the first ever handheld Virtual Console, SWAP NOTE, including it's beautiful launch cake layered aqua blue design. 3DS didn't exactly have the strongest library of games, but it's features were incredible.

I just feel like the Switch just lacks a bit of the magic that graced the Wii + Virtual Console generation. Then again, i was in my early to late 20's when the Wii debuted, and was at a happier, more excitable, and passionate point in my life. The birth of the VC was brilliant back in 2006, especially when you played your Wii on something like a 32" Sony WEGA Trinitron CRT(using component cables) since you only had to deal with the input lag creeping up from the emulations themselves, rather than HDTV lag + emulation latency like these days. Plus the Wii remote's motion is superior to gyro and perfectly reliable under controlled lighting conditions, so there's that too.

Can't believe it's been around 17 years since the Wii launched. Starting to already miss those days!
Metroid Prime 3, Wario Land Shake it!, Super Paper Mario, Klonoa, Mega Man 9, Wario Ware Smooth Moves, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, Super Mario Galaxy, Zack & Wiki, Elebits etc etc.

And i may have been gaming since the late 80's, but the Mainline traditional Castlevania games practically escaped me growing up for whatever reason. The Wii's Virtual console properly introduced me to the franchise with Castelvania, II: Simon's Quest, III Dracula's Curse, SCIV and my personal favorite 'Rondo of Blood'. Then you've got the Zelda killer StarTropics(Which many of us missed out on), Mega Man 1&2, Double Dragon, Splatterhouse 2, and so much more. One of my biggest regrets was not stocking up on TurboGraFX VC games. Oh well, there's always the Tubro EverDrive Pro when paired with Analogue's Duo.

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by 'Western AAA'? I don't always pay much attention to what country a game is made in, but I was just glancing at the list of PS5 exclusives and (not surprisingly) more than half of them appear to be made by Japanese developers. And Stellar Blade is Korean. I guess Spider Man is 'Western'. And Baldur's Gate 3. But I don't really know of any particular trend.

I'm not asking to make a point, I'm actually curious. I don't own a PS4 or PS5 myself, but there have always been a trickle of games I wish I could play. If by western you just mean xbox, I don't think any xbox exclusives appeal to me at all so I guess there is that. 😆

@FishyS
God of War series, Spiderman, Ratchet & clank, Jack & Dexter, Gears of War, Halo, Fall Out etc etc.
There was a strong western influence that kicked off during the XBOX360 & PS3 era, where certain JPN devs followed suite.

And speaking of Stellar Blade. Love it's soundtrack, but you couldn't pay me to play through that. The demo's controls felt clunky and i just couldn't for the life of me get on board with the combat. It almost felt like a PS2-era hack & slash with a modern coat of next gen paint. Bayonetta 2 is far more my cup of tea, and feels like something that could of debuted on a Dreamcast 2 if there ever was one. It has that fun balls to the walls arcadey' sega spirit to it.

@NeonPizza Nice post! I had enough of AAA half way through owning an XBox 360 lol. Before that, gaming went through a boring patch (outside of Nintendo) and occassionally stuff like Burnout reignited my interest (I mean, remember when no one wanted cars to crash in video games hahaha!) It's very stale and samey samey at the mo and alarm bells ring for me when folk talk more about narrative and setting instead of gameplay lol.

@NeonPizza I've never played any of those series but I've always been curious about Ratchet and Clank simply because I like platformers and it was made by the same developer as Spyro which I love. If I had a PS5 I would probably play Ratchet and Clank, Baldur's Gate 3, the recent final fantasy games, possibly stellar Blade. 🤔 Not too many. Which is why I don't have a PS5.

One of my favorite music streamers has been covering a zillion Stellar Blade songs. Your description of ' PS2-era hack & slash with a modern coat of next gen paint' actually makes it sound really good to me 😆I would tbh love more retro hack n slashes with new types of art style. I've never played Bayonetta either (except Origins). I want to but there is no demo and the combat looks a little convoluted for my tastes.

@GrailUK
Thanks! It was the exact same thing for me. Had an XBOX360 for just over a year, was done with it. While my PS3 quickly succumbed to being just a DVD/Blu-ray Player. lol At that point i was purely focused on Wii+Virtual Console, The DSLite, first year or so of the 3DS and 8-16 bit retro gaming.

I feel like the tail end of the 80's & 90's truly were the greatest time for gaming. We don't get those big momentous generational leaps in graphics anymore. Once you hit PS4-tier power(Which is where Switch 2 is heading) the gap starts close. By that point, you would need two console generations of lets say PlayStation to match the giant console generation leaps of the late 80's & 90's.

And the thing is too, Nintendo has so much artistic merit, they do wonders with the power they've been given. They truly know out to squeeze every last drop of juice in there to get the most out of what they have. Plus, i couldn't care less if something like future Mario sequel winds up looking like a pixar film 10+ years from now. I think Nintendo will be just fine with PS4+ Power strictly in terms of their own cartoonier exclusives.

Metroid is really the only franchise i can think of that would benefit from more power. Besides, I typically hate realistic graphics unless you're a Resident Evil, or maybe in the case of the upcoming Silent Hill 2 Remake.

That Sony and Microsoft are struggling to release 1-2 first party games on every year now, or zero like with PS5 during this year. This really shows how incredibly unnecessary the obsession of graphics are.

Nintendo will release more first-party games just during this year than what Sony has managed on 4 years with their PS5. More and more gaming companies apparently can't keeping up the insane demand from their customers, that everything had to be ultra-realistic with ray-tracing even if it's night in the game, 8K with 400fps etc...

I don't even dare to think how few games PS6 will get... While Nintendo will continue to release +10 or a bit below 10 games every year on their next console. I'm still certain of that "Switch 2" won't be more powerful than Xbox One., just at same level as the best. Yet It will still be so much more than enough. It's just snobs on internet who loves to bickering about specs, but the actual Nintendo customers out there outside internet will LOVE "Switch 2" with Xbox One specs which is a HUGE upgrade from Switch.

Despite of that Switch doesn't have folders, themes, VC, virtual reality, AR, mii verse, mii's, Netflix, ray-tracing, 4K, tera-flops, Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival, background music on eshop, weather channel, Twilight Princess HD + Wind Waker HD, off TV play, gamepad, Zombi U + Devil's Third, it still managed to sell +140m in just 7 years, and that without single price-cut!

I don't think that Nintendo will change that much with "Switch 2", since just during the Switch-era Nintendo made more cash than all of their previous consoles combined together... Just a "Switch Pro" upgrade, 2.5x to 3x more power, perhaps 3.2x...

@FishyS
I have the latest Ratchet & Clank on PS5, and good lord was it a stinker. It looks impressive, but the never ending constant game play disrupting cut scenes were just unbearable. Am i watching a pixar movie or playing a video game here? Other than that, it makes good use of the Duel Sense's Haptics & Adaptive triggers, but it's a total soulless snore fest. More Digital dollars straight down the toilet.

And keep in mind, I've only played the demo for Stellar Blade 2, and i didn't even complete that, so take my opinion with a with a grain of super salt. lol But based on what I've seen, I'd much rather just listen to some of the sound track than actually force myself to play through it.

The Happy console gamer & ElectricPlayGround both mentioned how it absolutely feels like a modernized PS2 game, for better or worse depending on the person.

What are the chances of Nintendo actually creating a new advanced sensor bar, or some form of reference for reliable accurate Gyro aiming for docked play that doesn't force the player to press a button to realign the cross hair? I want Wii Remote Plus accuracy, not another down grade. House of the Dead 2&3 Return for example plays perfectly on Wii with Wii remote aiming.

It would be pretty cool if they ported over something like House of the Dead: Scarlet to Switch 2(or PS5) but neither the Switch's Joy-con & Pro controller or PS5's duel sense gyro would work properly. cross hair aiming would feel just as drifty, and stupidly busted as it does for that mediocre House of the Dead remake.