Nintendo Switch (Currently Plagued) - Here we shit post about the new Nintendo console, The Switch

I’m glad Nintendo is taking their time on a Switch successor because nobody gives a fuck about 4K/8K gaming, the public seems satisfied with 1080p.
I would hope so. High Definition was always basically a scam.

Here's what says it all... I loaded up an old anime, Devil Hunter Yohko, on an HDTV for a group of friends. All of them were wowwed at the HD quality.

I then pointed out this was literally a DVD released in 2006.

Now, I personally can see the difference between DVD and HD, but its one of those things so miniscule that its hard to care. Same goes with 1080p and 4k. Really the best thing that came out of the HD revolution was that DVDs were suddenly worthless, meaning I could finally get shows and movies that used to cost a premium, and then sometimes it led to obscure stuff getting re-released (like Discotek's "SD-on-BD" releases).

For gaming though? Who cares.

In fact I recently watched this video about Oblivion's graphics settings, and one thing that came up in the comments was that sometimes not only did the game actually look better in lower graphics modes, but it sometimes played better... or at the very least, the decrease in graphics didn't make the game any less fun.
 
Like, what the hell could a Switch 2 do that the Switch 1 can't?
Play games better? Handle ports better?

Nintendo also feels the need to have a gimmick so the Switch 2 can’t just be a Switch Pro.
The whole gimmick thing was only really a thing during Satoru Iwata's tenure as president. Everybody seems to forget what an anomaly that era was for Nintendo. Nintendo didn't use gimmicks under Hiroshi Yamauchi, and aren't using them now.
 
Play games better? Handle ports better?
That's gonna come down entirely to the people making the games and ports.

I'm seriously kinda shocked that the attitude of "if games/ports turn out bad, its the hardware's fault!" still exists. What, would Outpost or Battlecruiser 3000 A.D. have been masterpieces if only 3ghz PCs existed at the time? Bad optimization and poor programming will always exist, and only a poor artist blames the canvas for their inability to paint.
 
Like, what the hell could a Switch 2 do that the Switch 1 can't? And I mean something actually useful, not something that only Moviebob would ever benefit from.
A hybrid hardware that will fully close the gap between home consoles and portable ones, and makes easier for the remaining japanese third-parties (like RGG Studio or From Software) to develop/port their titles without too much workaround. It's still going to be "under-powered" against a more recent stationary hardware obviously due of the form factor that doesn't allow as much heat and power consumption. But as others have pointed out, there is already a stagnation as gains between generational gaps have increasingly become minimal, enough for mobile tech to catch up. There is a huge leap of progress between Vita/3DS to the Switch that people tend to forget.

A "Switch 2" being able to play the EDF games (2, 3 and 4.1) through backwards-compatibility plus new ports of EDF5 & onwards would be a dream machine of mine. In addition to the catalog of games, already immense on the current Switch alone.

That said, I don't expect a successor anytime soon. Nintendo is currently planning to ramp up the production of Switch consoles and there are too many other factors out there that makes the Switch situation into a truly unprecedented territory here. Many people compare it to the Wii, but the Wii was nowhere near as strong this late into its launch cycle. The Wii mostly ended up being more of a fad, whereas the Switch really landed with all kinds of people and feels more of an innovation in gaming. The vidya lineup has been much stronger as well, between strong support of Nintendo itself and various third-parties (a good amount of them that had more of a history with Sony). And the console has sold as well without a single official price drop too.
 
That's gonna come down entirely to the people making the games and ports.

I'm seriously kinda shocked that the attitude of "if games/ports turn out bad, its the hardware's fault!" still exists. What, would Outpost or Battlecruiser 3000 A.D. have been masterpieces if only 3ghz PCs existed at the time? Bad optimization and poor programming will always exist, and only a poor artist blames the canvas for their inability to paint.
Hardware does matter. Hardware is a hard limit on what games can in fact be run, and no amount of graphics tweaking can fix that. The Witcher III is a prime example. Yeah, they got it to run on Switch, but they had to make so many concessions in graphics and performance, it almost wasn't even worth it.
 
One of the reasons why the Switch was a hit was because it was devoid of gimmicks. Nintendo may finally break free from the Iwata-era mindset of needing a gimmick. So maybe it just becomes a Switch Pro. I’m glad Nintendo is taking their time on a Switch successor because nobody gives a fuck about 4K/8K gaming, the public seems satisfied with 1080p.
The Switch has a gimmick though, it's the worst of both worlds (portable and a proper console that you plug to your tv). As for the second part, this is pure cope. Sure, 4K/8K is a meme but it would be nice if the games would play at 1080p and with a constant framerate without having to downgrade the graphics of old games. Technology has evolved since they announced the Switch, I'm sure they could make a Switch 2 or Pro that is more powerful and still affordable.
 
The Switch has a gimmick though, it's the worst of both worlds (portable and a proper console that you plug to your tv).
While that definitely could count as a "gimmick" in that its something that is used as a selling point of a product, its integrated so well into the experience that it feels less like some additional gimmick added on to a product, than as a core feature of a very solid product. Technically, for instance, the gimmick of any handheld device is that you can take it anywhere. But most people don't complain about those because its a legitimate selling point and something that is interwoven into the very product itself.

Sure, 4K/8K is a meme but it would be nice if the games would play at 1080p and with a constant framerate without having to downgrade the graphics of old games. Technology has evolved since they announced the Switch, I'm sure they could make a Switch 2 or Pro that is more powerful and still affordable.
This is a fair point and exactly what I was saying, but lets be honest; no modern console can consistently run games at 1080p, 60 frames per second, even though that should be the industry standard by this point.
 
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: Vyse Inglebard
Just bought the Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy for the Switch, and holy shit does Crash 1 suck. If you're going to make a 3D platformer, why have it take place in a hallway? You might as well just make a 2.5D platformer, like Donkey Kong Country or Tomba.
Because they had the power to do so, and they did, despite it being a terrible decision. I guess it was the right move, considering it did something we'd never seen before, and it made a name for Crash right away.

Crash Bandicoot and Donkey Kong Country 3 came out less than 3 months apart, and Crash came first. That's pretty crazy to think about.
 
  • Feels
Reactions: Vyse Inglebard
Hardware does matter. Hardware is a hard limit on what games can in fact be run, and no amount of graphics tweaking can fix that
Case in point, there never was an actual 3D Nintendo game until stuff like Ocarina of Time came out on the N64; but even then, it looks like they were cutting an few corners.



The Witcher III is a prime example. Yeah, they got it to run on Switch, but they had to make so many concessions in graphics and performance, it almost wasn't even worth it.
So, what's going with the Witcher? I'm not really interested in buying it, but I'm kind of curious on just how much the Switch can handle
 
So, what's going with the Witcher? I'm not really interested in buying it, but I'm kind of curious on just how much the Switch can handle
It runs. But its running on the lowest possible settings it can without just being polygons on a screen, and even then, framerate leaves much to be desired. Its still something of a minor miracle they got the whole game on that cartridge, but boy did they had to make concessions to get it there.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Vyse Inglebard
Given what the Steam Deck has managed, I'm sure that Nintendo will be able to make a perfectly good system if they go with Switch 2. Especially if they release it around the same time as Sony/Microsoft's next systems, which are supposed to come out in 2026/2028.
Crash Bandicoot and Donkey Kong Country 3 came out less than 3 months apart, and Crash came first. That's pretty crazy to think about.
Holy shit, it's true. For some reason, I thought the psx came out later than that.
 
The Switch has a gimmick though, it's the worst of both worlds (portable and a proper console that you plug to your tv).
heh I used to think like that before I actually owned the system, but the experience will widely depend on one's personal vidya tastes.
For a main focus on japanese and indie games, the Switch does the job pretty well. For western titles especially AAA yeah, unless playing them in handheld is truly necessary, it's going to be miserable.

So, what's going with the Witcher? I'm not really interested in buying it, but I'm kind of curious on just how much the Switch can handle
It's a rather impressive port despite the visual downgrades as The Demon Pimp of Razgriz pointed out. You can also change a bunch of graphic settings, like the amount of foliage or disable bloom/motion blur and it's possible to cross-save between the PC & Switch versions. I did enjoy it on Switch but it's a long game that suited better on a handheld format than on PC, for me.
 

Attachments

  • 2022092809570900_c.jpg
    2022092809570900_c.jpg
    144.8 KB · Views: 17
  • 2022090318570100_c.jpg
    2022090318570100_c.jpg
    273 KB · Views: 21
  • 2022091921051000_c.jpg
    2022091921051000_c.jpg
    263.3 KB · Views: 19
  • 2022100122572800_c.jpg
    2022100122572800_c.jpg
    294.1 KB · Views: 15
  • 2022100121373000_c.jpg
    2022100121373000_c.jpg
    164.2 KB · Views: 19
Batshit insane Switch 2 prediction: it's a TV-only console and they launch a Switch 2 app for the original Switch so that you can stream the 2 to the OG through the cloud. But, in a Nintendo twist, you have to pair the OG to your phone and use a phone app to switch between them. This is how they solve backwards compatibility because you can also do the same in reverse, stream the OG to the Switch 2. This way, they can justify selling the original Switch forever!
 
I actually was expecting some kind of switch that could only be used on the tv tbh, mostly because I think thats the most likely way to create one that could have better cooling and higher clock speeds
Yeah, earlier, in this thread I made this long prediction about the Switch 2 just straight up separating the handheld and home console into two different units again, and finding some way to share the library:

An alternate idea would be to go in the opposite direction and separate the home console from the handheld again, but have them sharing functionally the same library. Nintendo's own statistics show that the vast majority of their users only use it as either a tv console or a handheld, with few using it as a hybrid. The holy grail that Nintendo could never obtain was unifying their handheld and home console libraries, because the technology just wasn't there. The technology is here now, and they can do that without the hybrid setup, which has its own flaws. The hybrid design's main issue is that its a jack of all trades and a master of none. For a handheld, its got a big, bulky, and not very ergonomically done design that even in your hands feels more delicate and breakable than the denser, more compact, and more stout handhelds of old, and it can no longer be comfortably carried around in, say, your pocket. Also, it has a terrible battery life for a handheld, with the only fixes being things that weaken its pickup and carry nature, like a battery pack. As a home console, it underperforms its competitors by a noticeable margin, and even when connected to the TV, the console's capabilities are limited (even BOTW stuttered in places, and this feels like the first console that actually limited Nintendo themselves due to its technical limitations). Because it must also be a handheld, there is little Nintendo can do to up the power, in that form factor, that won't also jack up the price.

Separating the two back into two separate machines would fix these issues while allowing the same cross-format gaming. The handheld could be designed from the ground up as a dedicated handheld again, with a better form factor (more in line with the Switch mini or even smaller if Nintendo wanted) and a stronger battery life. The home console can be more powerful and more in line with modern capabilities (such as being able to use external hard drives like the Wii U), and not be limited by technical limitations. The two consoles would share the exact same library, and Nintendo could do this one of two ways. First, Nintendo could have both consoles use the same cartridges, thus making them interchangeable. If you put the cart into one console or the other, the game would detect the console type automatically and adjust the game's settings automatically to fit whatever console it was in, emulating the "docked" mode and "handheld" mode that the Switch currently uses. Or, second, Nintendo could have two different media for the two; the home console (which I would tentatively call Nintendo Switch 2 Home) would use a CD based medium (maybe blu-ray, maybe another third party proprietary disc like HVD, or a Nintendo created disc system), while the handheld (which I would call the Nintendo Switch 2 Mobile) uses cartridges. This second option has two benefits: first, it would allow Nintendo to formally separate the libraries of the two consoles, so that, while they would be mostly identical and have the same games, they could each get games that were unique to one or the other should the game developer choose to focus on one over the other (such as Rockstar Games choosing to prioritize giving Home a version of GTA, while ignoring the handheld due to hardware limits), and second, lets face it, optical media is the superior storage medium due to how much more data it holds, so there is no need to hamstring the home console by tying it to the inferior media.

To encourage people to buy both consoles, Nintendo could have them interact in some way. For instance, to take your wireless TV streaming idea, I'd suggest that the home console would be able to stream wirelessly to the handheld, and vice versa. This would allow, for instance, Wii U style off tv play, for the handheld to be used as a controller, and for the handheld and tv to be used at the same time, just like the Wii U, but with none of the Wii U's downsides, because its actually two consoles, not one. You could also setup a situation where the two consoles could be physically connected, like the Switch and its dock, allowing them to share processing power and unlock even better gameplay, like full 4K, but this would require a high capacity connection, like a Thunderbolt connection, but its theoretically possible with today's tech. Other than that, both consoles would share everything between software wise: apps, games, information, profile data, etc. can be accessed on one or the other via one's account, though individual games would need to installed or updated on each console separately. The Switch's games could be backwards compatible for whichever console gets the cartridges.
 
Last edited:
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: Vyse Inglebard
Just bought the Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy for the Switch, and holy shit does Crash 1 suck. If you're going to make a 3D platformer, why have it take place in a hallway? You might as well just make a 2.5D platformer, like Donkey Kong Country or Tomba.
While I'm not a Crash fan, I have to question this take. To me this is a little like complaining that Contra doesn't play like Mario 3--the latter has omnidirectional scrolling and secret areas while the former only has one straight path you can take. Crash vs something like Mario 64 is the same sort of deal, just in 3D.

It stinks too much of the AVGN attitude of "all games must play like the ones I like."


Case in point, there never was an actual 3D Nintendo game until stuff like Ocarina of Time came out on the N64; but even then, it looks like they were cutting an few corners.
Yeah but nobody is advocating we go back to 1990s technology or denying that hardware has in the past been a handicap.

What I'm saying is that NOW hardware is at a point where the gains are minimal and anyone who can't make games work on something like the switch is probably just incompetent.

I mean in the 1990s, a concession would be something like "we had to cut out the actual ending to the game because it was an FMV and cartridges didn't have space." On the Switch, "concessions" are often just retarded design decisions (Mortal Kombat 11) for games that could've easily been ported, just they didn't wanna figure out ways to optimize the graphics or whatever.
 
Didn't Nintendo just say they were increasing Switch production to meet demand? Not the kinda thing I'd expect if Switch 2 is on the horizon. I bet we'll get the Switch Pro that was only delayed for to chip shortage, and why Scarlet/Violet ran poorly, it was optimized for the Pro hardware. BotW2 is probably also going to run like shit on Switch 1, and might be the selling point for the Switch 1.5.

If so we're probably a year and a half away from Switch 2.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Vyse Inglebard
Didn't Nintendo just say they were increasing Switch production to meet demand? Not the kinda thing I'd expect if Switch 2 is on the horizon. I bet we'll get the Switch Pro that was only delayed for to chip shortage, and why Scarlet/Violet ran poorly, it was optimized for the Pro hardware. BotW2 is probably also going to run like shit on Switch 1, and might be the selling point for the Switch 1.5.

If so we're probably a year and a half away from Switch 2.
There is actually a chance that Tears of the kingdom could run better than botw, mostly because it is being developed only for switch
 
and why Scarlet/Violet ran poorly, it was optimized for the Pro hardware.
No amount of extra hardware power would have changed the outcome and the fact Gamefreak cannot into 3D development.
If you look at the 3D spinoff titles (Snap, Stadium, Coliseum, etc), they were all handled by different studios (HAL Laboratory, Genius Sonority, Bandai Namco) that were more competent.
 
Back