Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

Recently beat the first two K levels in Tropical Freeze. Very tough, but rewarding to complete.

So, it's looking more and more like the big first party titles in late 2018 are going to be: Fire Emblem, Smash, and Pokemon. Not a bad lineup, especially if the games turn out to be great. I could see these launching alongside more Wii U ports like Super Mario 3D World or Super Mario Maker.

@KirbyTheVampire It will come down to the feasibility and whether the devs will be willing to make the sacrifices necessary. Obviously you are going to struggle with some games. At the end of the day, these games have to run whilst in 'mobile' mode and with similar GPU power to a WiiU. Not only that, the extra RAM it has over a WiiU is not that fast. It maybe 4GB but its much slower than the Xbox One which has the 'slowest' RAM of the other current consoles. Its CPU has fewer cores and slower too. Before anyone thinks I being 'down' on Switch, I am not - its remarkable what Nintendo have achieved and with such low power draw too. This will limit games and just dropping resolution down is not going to mean that the games can run at an acceptable frame rate.

Obviously games like Doom and Wolfenstein 2 can be ported across and scaled down. The fact that the game is also targeting at 30fps means that the CPU, GPU and RAM has twice as long to produce the next frame. Whether that's the frame render by the GPU, the assets being streamed in from RAM or the AI/Physics calculations by the CPU. Also by dropping down to 30fps, you only have to do half the number of calculations. Take something relatively 'simple' as the position of objects in the world, you only have to calculate its position 30 times a second - whether its stationary (although can still 'move' because of your 'view' or moving itself and how it may collide with other objects).

Games like RDR2 have less room to manoeuvre as they are already running at the lowest acceptable frame rate. Dropping the resolution down to 44% (720p is 44% the size of 1080p and 540p is 25% the size) may save some of the GPU render times but you aren't cutting down the CPU usage - not unless you cut the AI, the amount of objects and/or physics/particles etc. You can dumb down the textures etc to help with the RAM deficit but you can't scale down the workload of the CPU because you can't 'half' it by cutting the frame rate, could mean fundamental changes to the game experience. Games like CoD may well be able to scale down by both dropping the resolution and frame rate but then that then isn't 'CoD' and what has been a defining characteristic. If Activision thought they could make money from it, then they would be porting it across - but I bet Battle Royale wouldn't make it and maybe the number of Zombies would be cut too. They did port BO3 to last gen and that had the campaign cut. I also wonder if they wouldn't because of the online aspect and general negativity to Nintendo's Online subscription, therefore unsure of the numbers of Switch users that would be able to play it. Not going to sell many games if its geared for online gaming and 'few' Switch owners subscribe - I am not sure about Nintendo's Micro-transaction policy either.

I can't see third party devs not bothering with Switch - just because its 'Switch'. I can't see them going out of their way to make games specifically for Switch or dumbing down their 'ambitions' for their games to now include making it possible to port to Switch. That being said, if a game can be ported and retain the experience, then I see 3rd Party devs porting games across - it makes sense to expand your potential market if its possible. The issue is that a lot of 3rd party games are heavily focused on online 'games as a service' or big open worlds with a lot of AI, objects etc that are not able to be ported across - at least not without a lot of changes and work - which would have to be financially worthwhile to do. You wouldn't spend £1m to only get £100k back...

Its why I see a lot of the indies getting Switch releases but the majority of big 'new' AAA's being to complex to port.You may still get remasters or the EA Sports and racing games (these could be scaled down with lower frame rates, lower polygon counts, lower numbers of cars on track etc) getting Switch releases but the big AAA's - especially if they are built for 'next' gen consoles and high-end PC's - will dry up.

@BAMozzy Nintendo's IAP policy is the most consumer friendly.

Where IAPs are seperate store pages for each game and purchsse on PSN or Xbox Live, they are all included on the game page on the eShop. Not only that, they arent hidden, instead being listed clear as day before the specifications chart.

Further, right above the purchase option on the page it gives a warning about IAPs as well as in the description. Compare that to XBLA and PSN which hides that notice part way through the product description you need to expand or Steam that doesnt mention them AT ALL.

They are alarmingly upfront about it.

Let's be frank: I think the Switch's third party support has been better than most people, including me, expected so far. But some games (primarily, Western AAA's) just won't run well on it. We might see more Bethesda releases, but stuff like RDR2, The Witcher 3, etc. is out of the question.

Indies, Japanese AA, and AAA games developed exclusively with the Switch in mind are what will fill 99% of its library.

We will see smaller Western titles, the usual kiddy stuff like Just Dance and LEGO from Ubisoft/WB and any exclusives Nintendo pays for. Oh and maybe the sports titles, but with EA at least thats...well we need to wait and see on that front.

Any remotely large game is a no go at this point. Rage 2? Nope. Doom 2? Probably not. Starfield? Nah. Bethesda's support is pretty much done, going forward there's not much else for them on the system. Activision? We aren't even getting Spyro, so Crash is a miracle. A whopping two games if we include Skylanders. Whoopee.

Even Japanese support isn't great. SEGA is in force with Valkyria Chronicles, Sonic (As usual), puzzle games etc, but only some of them. No Shenmue remasters for some reason.

Capcom, is Capcom. Everything is either late or borked in some way. Their upcoming releases are all good but in one way or another a slap in the face at the same time.

Bandai Namco? I mean cool. Go Vacation. Yay.

SquareEnix cant even develop DQXI on a supported engine for the damn thing, but we get a Nintendo funded exclusive at least.

Konami...one game is all we will get probably. Not even PES is coming. And Super Bomberman R is jumping ship to other consoles at a lower price point with plenty of exclusive content. Funny how it only works that way in reverse huh?

After that, well NIS America seems happy, so plenty of niche JRPGs are coming and assuming Ys VIII does well Falcom too (But it release day and date with Wolfenstein and Crash so....lolno).

Honestly you break it down this is the best third party support since the SNES, so in a good 23 years....but in some respects its worse than what the Wii U launched with, Mass Effect, CoD, Assassins Creed, Sports, so on so forth. Sure it didn't last but its telling. And even the Wii got these franchises.

At this point it's obvious that unless Nintendo figuratively and literally empties their pockets, third party support wont come, at least not to half decent standards with day and date ports, price, physical releases, features and at least respectable content.

EA made it clear with the "FIFA is to test" followed by "We wait until March to see demand for the system before greenlighting anything" that no matter how this system sells, even when it seemingly inevitably passes the Xbox One, third parties just wont care, unless it's the only option, which in Japan is looking to be the case soon if it keeps going.

@YummyHappyPills Eh. Let's wait until E3 before we comment on the state of Japanese third party support. Several companies said pretty openly last year that they were shocked at how well the Switch was selling and would start developing software for it. Wii U got muscular third party support early on because it was the successor to Nintendo's best-selling console and everyone thought it would do well. Switch has the opposite legacy: it has to pay for the sins of its immediate ancestor.

Also, Bethesda has said they would continue to support the Switch, and will soon have released three AAA games for it in little over a year. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt here.

Yeah, Japanese support has been decent, especially from Bandai Namco (DBX2, One Piece Unlimited World Red, Naruto trilogy, and the upcoming Go Vacation remaster), and Tecmo Koei (Knights of Azure 2, Atelier Lydie & Suelle, One Piece Pirate Warriors 3, and the two Nintendo Warriors games, if you want to count those).

That said, I do wish Bamco would announce a Tales (which they've said is coming), Ace Combat, & SoulCalibur. Oh, & DOA from Tecmo Koei, even if it's just the newest version of 5.

@RR529 Yeah, I'm kind of surprised DOA 5: Last Round hasn't been ported yet. It's my go-to fighting game series.

What in the actual hell...

Resident Evil 7 is coming to Switch in Japan...THIS WEEK! Woooo!

But wait, its a Capcom release on Switch, there's at least one caveat to this good thing happening!

You need to stream it! Yep. You STREAM the damn game. On one hand that means it shouldn't take a graphical hit BUT YOU STREAM THE GAME!

The second caveat, 15 minutes for free. Thats right. You dont buy a license and then stream it. You RENT it. 2000 yen for 180 day access.

I need to lie down.

Streaming combined with the weak wifi antennae on the Nintendo Switch is NOT going to be a good combination.

I really hope this blows up in their face. They need to properly port their games, not provide some weird PSNow-esque version of the game.

@Ralizah It's Japan only. Switch + LAN adapter + Japan should work is most cases, unless you live somewhere in a rural town atop of Mount Fuji.

I think this game was never going to run on Switch, this way it looks better than it ever could.

At least it's not full price lol.

This Resident Evil Switch thing is the dumbest thing I've heard in a while. I really hope this doesn't become the norm (or even moderately common) for Switch and ports of big games.

Well, RIP the dream of Wii U ports outselling their original releases.

Hyrule Warriors sold less at launch in the UK than the Wii U version did. Let that sink in.

But at this point, they got Donkey Kong, they got Bayonetta, they got Pokken and Mario Kart. The big ports are done. Now all thats left is spinoffs and niche games.

And we know Captain Toad wont do well releasing the same day as Octopath.

Yeah but the other ports did well didn't they? Hyrule Warriors was rubbish the first time.

@johncalmc Hyrule Warriors is also the best DW game we are getting this year.

And its a 2014 game. That's sad.

I mean I like it. It's a fine game with mountains of content.

But the other ports were all the in-demand popular games. Now we go into niche, puzzle spinoff, JRPG/MMO hybrids, SMTxFE with a dose of JPOP. The good mainstream appeal of the Wii U library has dried up now.

The other ports did well sure but this year is just looking worse and worse, and with the announcement that Resident Evil 7 is now a rental streamed game (Why!) third party support is looking more and more dire.

This E3 better be damn amazing and better have some notable western third party releases lined up, or we are back at Wii U levels.

Anyway in more depressing Pokemon news a rumour has surfaced that Let's Go Overdone Fanservice will only have the original 151 Pokemon.

Now if this is the original 151 plus the evolutions they got later, plus other things in the post game, fine. That's what the other 3 remakes did.

If this is anything less, like the original 151 but their evolutions are locked off arbitrarily but you still get the evolution cutscene that just...stops....like in FRLG, then god no.

@KratosMD Long time fans should be excepppptttt

As of Sun and Moon, "Catching them all" and getting the reward is limited strictly to the 300/400 (Game depending) that are in the regional Pokedex, not every Pokemon ever made up to that point.

Plus, I did the maths. People are very allowed to not be happy about "Just the originals".

Here's the maths.

In Pokemon XY, the Pokedex was 457 large. 111 of those were from the original games. 24.28% of that games Pokedex was the originals, with the rest being left to Gen 2/3/4/5/6.

To make things worse, those 111 Generation 1 Pokemon is a greater number than the actual NEW Pokemon XY introduced, at just 72.

Jump ahead to Sun and Moon, boom, 302 in the Pokedex. 88 are from Generation 1. 29.13% of the Pokedex is Generation 1 stuff, with the rest left for Gen2/3/4/5/6/7.

To make things worse, Sun and Moon introduced 81 new Pokemon. Again, more old than new.

Ultra comes along, shock horror: 403 large Pokedex, 98 are from Generation 1 again! 24.41% is Generation 1 stuff. Ultra took the new Pokemon tally up to 87, and STILL there are more Gen 1 things than new ones.

The past 3 none remake games, have heavily leaned on Kanto straight up borrowing map layouts, bringing back characters like Red and Blue and Team Rocket and having at least 24% of their respective roster be from Generation bloody 1!

How are we meant to be EXCITED about seeing the same 151 damn things that have made up a majority (Considering Generation 1 only accounts for 18.71% of the total Pokemon ever made, that's some heavy weighting to Gen 1 in each dex!) of each of the previous games rosters?

How are we meant to be excited about seeing Red and Blue again, but they just did that LAST YEAR?

How are we meant to be excited about Team Rocket when they just did that, LAST YEAR?

How are we meant to get excited about going back to Kanto when from 1998 to 2010, we did that 4 damn times!

If you've fallen out with the series or not played the recent entries, fine. This is for you.

But for the people who played the recent games, all 15 million of them, this is unappealing, especially of the first home console game.

@KratosMD That was partly why I enjoyed Pokémon Black/White so much. Getting all the Pokémon in the national dex was very achievable, and as they were all new it was genuinely interesting to see what would be round the corner. X and Y felt like a chore because there were just far too many. It was nice to see old ones in 3D, but eventually I got fatigued and couldn't be bothered. I wouldn't mind it at all if the remake only had the original 150. It's a nice number.

People are WAY too into these rumours. What ever happen to waiting until the actual company tell you what this game is going to be instead of listening to RANDON FREAKING PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET. I don't give a damn(excuse my language) how credible that person or these group of people is, WAIT DAMMIT!!! I'm sorry, but I'm so sick and tired of these darn rumours. And it's not just with Nintendo, it's with Sony, Microsoft, and every third party publisher.

This right here is the PRIME REASON why E3 isn't as exciting as it used to be because crap of this game or that game gets leaked out by some random individual and when it turns out be true, THE SURPRISE IS RUINED! Sony basically revealed what their going to be showing because they know it was going to be leaked out anyway. They basically saying there's no point trying to conceal their line up. Same with Microsoft. Grant you their a bit of a wildcard compared to Sony and Nintendo, but people are already throwing out rumors of Fable 4, Scalebound going back into production, an Xbox kart racing similar to Mario Kart(but with avatar characters), and a reboot or remake to Perfect Dark. You can't keep ANYTHING a secret from the media anymore and it's so sad. It's hard trying to avoid these rumors when they flash right at your FREAKING FACE NINETY-FIVE PERCENT OF THE TIME you visit a gaming site like Nintendo Life, Outside Xbox, PlayStation Lifestyle, YouTube, Twitter, or even here.