RE: Nintendo Switch 2 Direct

 

Well, it's finally here, the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct~! I've been patiently awaiting this for months now, and was quite exciting to see. Although I didn't watch it live, I did wake up right after it finished airing and watched the recording immediately. I don't get many opportunities to talk about it, but I'm an avid gamer, and I love my Switch, so Switch 2 is something that I've been very interested in. That said, I have some mixed feelings on this Direct, it showed what I wanted to see, but not enough of it. I understand they want to compete with other consoles, but Switch 1 game re-issues and games already available on other consoles don't interest me a whole lot, but they did show some stellar looking exclusives and a lot of other interesting details.

First, let's talk about the games themselves. The new Mario Kart, dubbed Mario Kart World, was definitely the main game showcase here, and wow, this game looks absolutely insane. The whole world aspect looks very interesting, and I wonder how driving to and fro between tracks will work, will it be like those classic cartoon grand prix racing specials?

Anyways, lots of bonkers stuff in the preview, like that part where they took control of a big rig, and a lot of other little details. Also that many racers looks like pure chaos, hopefully they're mindful of item drops in it, since getting blue shelled by 20 racers would be torture. This game looks amazing though, I absolutely love Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but it's a tough game to follow considering how perfect that release is, they needed to mix things up and this new game certainly looks like it will do just that. Additionally, awesome it's a day one release, I was hoping it would be a launch title. I liked the graphics too, Peach looks cute as she should, nice costumes too, and interesting free exploration and photos and stuff.

The other big game showcase was the new Donkey Kong. I used to play an old Donkey Kong game as a kid, we got it from our babysitter, haven't really touched the series since childhood but I'm all for more 3D platformers being made, and the whole go wild and destroy everything aspect is a fun looking gimmick. I know the DK redesign is controversial but I honestly couldn't care less about that.

Kirby Air Riders also looks interesting, I used to play the original in Sunday School as a kid, lots of fond memories of that game, so a long-awaited sequel is both very unexpected but also very welcome. Pretty curious about this game and what it will entail, the trailer was incredibly vague but I'm excited for it.

It's also awesome that NSO Expansion is being expanded to include the Gamecube. I played Gamecube a lot in Sunday School, but sadly never actually owned one (and never got around to buying one later in life). The line-up of planned games looks amazing, especially Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness, I always really wanted that game as a kid but never played it, so I'm pretty excited for that to eventually become available to me. Also Soul Calibur II will be a blast from the past, I used to play Soul Calibur a ton on my Uncle's Dreamcast, and I was a fanatic on IV I believe, like was pro-level for a good while, so that will be fun.

Also, as I saw people joke prior to the Direct, seems they really are re-issuing games and doing dual-platform releases. I'm actually excited for Pokemon Legends ZA, I always wanted an urban Pokemon game, and it also being on the Switch 2 is excellent. I'll see about any of the other Switch 2 versions of games as they release, I certainly won't be re-buying any games though.

They teased a lot of games in the Direct, as said prior, re-issues and stuff from other platforms doesn't excite me too much, I already own a billion consoles. I also noticed that a lot of the teased third party games had stuff like "(Text Here) Edition" -- which I'm assuming is code for "not the same as the PS4/PS5 version".

They were some obvious tech demo games too, bizarrely the game that showcases the new features of the consoles is paid, seems like something that should be free (perhaps even pre-installed on the console). There was also that bizarre looking wheelchair basketball game, very unusual.

As for the tech itself, a lot of interesting stuff that I'm curious how it will be utilized in games. The main thing that stands out to me is the camera, and as shown in the Mario Party trailer, it can be utilized in games, so it seems like we're getting a spiritual sequel to when game consoles were randomly doing camera games, like the PS2 camera and all that jazz. Perhaps we'll get a re-issue of that one Cardcaptor Sakura PS2 game for the Switch (I know that would never happen, but would be funny). I do like motion controls though in games, so I'm curious how many games will implement the camera. Also curious if motion controls will be improved, Switch 1's motion controls were far lacking compared to the Wii, so I'm looking for an improvement.

While speaking on improvements, I hope the internet is better, especially with how more demanding this looks. The whole C Button, chat, live streaming, and so on, it will need much better internet to handle all of that without constantly disconnecting. So I'm hoping for better internet.

Going back to new features, the mouse is silly but interesting. As with the camera, I'm excited to see where developers take it and how it will be utilized in various games. It's certainly an interesting idea.

Also, I was weirdly really curious about how Switch 2 games will look physically, and I'm happy they showed they will be red, pretty nice and will be obviously different from Switch 1 cartridges. Now that said, I'm curious how the actual packaging will look, they're still using similar branding but they need to be mindful of consumer confusion, so I'm curious how different the cases and packaging will be (if at all).

I know they plan on showing the games more in the future, but that's my thoughts so far on the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct/current information. Now if I can actually get one is another question, took a long time for me to get Switch 1, so I'm hoping I can pick one up sooner than later. That said, getting game consoles later also means there's more games available (and cheaper used copies), so you win some you lose some.