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Nintendo in 2021: the possibility of new hardware, and the promise of some blockbuster games (Switch Pro, Breath of the Wild 2 and more)

Moogle11

Banned
I dont understand this need that Nintendo have to make a new Switch now. They don't. The Vita came out in 2011 and was the better handheld on paper and Nintendo never really saw the need to drastically improve their handheld until Switch. They have a nice spot where they are either the only gaming platform people own or they are the complement to gamers system of choice (Xbox/PS/PC). They released an underpowered home console in 2017 and it is selling gangbusters. There is no rush to enter the power market with a possibility of backfiring like Gamecube.
I don't think any of the rumors are about a new console to replace switch. Just a Switch Pro akin to what the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X were. Totally optional for people who want to play the same games with higher resolution, higher frame rates etc.

That would be a money maker for them as it would get some people to upgrade and they always sell their hardware at a profit from day one. Hell, I have a launch Switch and as Switch Light and I'd probably upgrade to get 4K upscaling and better frame rates in games like BOTW, Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity etc.
 

Dick Jones

Gold Member
I don't think any of the rumors are about a new console to replace switch. Just a Switch Pro akin to what the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X were. Totally optional for people who want to play the same games with higher resolution, higher frame rates etc.

That would be a money maker for them as it would get some people to upgrade and they always sell their hardware at a profit from day one. Hell, I have a launch Switch and as Switch Light and I'd probably upgrade to get 4K upscaling and better frame rates in games like BOTW, Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity etc.
I'd rather they work on improving the quality of the joy cons. The best system improvement would be battery life than graphical. I dont see the person buying Nintendo caring about cutting edge tech. The Wii and Switch sold well despite the power disadvantage.
 

Moogle11

Banned
I'd rather they work on improving the quality of the joy cons. The best system improvement would be battery life than graphical. I dont see the person buying Nintendo caring about cutting edge tech. The Wii and Switch sold well despite the power disadvantage.
Hopefully an upgrade would do and both add a bit of power to up resolution and frame rates in some games and improve things like Joycon drift and battery life.

Like I said, I’d buy one. BOTW had terrible frame drops and I passed on the new Hyrule Warriors after how bad the frame rates were in the demo.

Mid gen refreshes are always primarily targeted at getting hard core gamers to double dip. The other skus usually stick around as a cheaper option for the budget conscious crowd. Maybe the base Switch would stop being made, but Switch Light would likely stay around (much like the base PS4 got discontinued but the Slim was still made after the PS4 Pro came out to have a cheaper model available).
 
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Intoxicate

Member
I'd rather they work on improving the quality of the joy cons.
What improvements do you want?
Other then the joystick drift the Joy Con are pretty fine. So they mainly only need to fix the joystick, luckily I never had drift on my Joy Con.
I.d like to get more themed ones (e.g. classic NES Style) and some way to get a fix point for gyro aiming.
 
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Kamina

Golden Boy
I expect BotW2 this year
I do not expect Metroid Prime 4 this year

This is my personal expectation, and this is with several things slipping to 2022 or not being localised:

May - Metroid V
what the hell is Metroid V?
 
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Dick Jones

Gold Member
What improvements do you want?
Other then the joystick drift the Joy Con are pretty fine. So they mainly only need to fix the joystick, luckily I never had drift on my Joy Con.
I.d like to get more themed ones (e.g. classic NES Style) and some way to get a fix point for gyro aiming.
I only have issues with connection. The right joycon works when connected to the switch. Disconnected for multiplayer it doesn't recognise it. The quality of the controllers are shoddy. Neighbour had the same issue and he bought some kit off wish.com to repair it.
 
My prediction: Nintendo Switch Pro with a remaster of Super Mario Odyssey as a launch title.

Ngapa GIF
 

Soodanim

Member
Breath of the Wild 2 in flaawless 1080p30 with a 1440P UI is what I'm expecting. Wow me Nintendo.
While it’s realistic to only expect 1080p30, the phrase “Flawless 1080p30” makes me chuckle.

I am looking forward to how BOTW2 turns out, and if the Switch Pro hardware does something different I might be interested. I just need to keep in mind that I’ll instantly need a 3rd party controller factored into the cost, too.
 

StormCell

Member
I'd rather they work on improving the quality of the joy cons. The best system improvement would be battery life than graphical. I dont see the person buying Nintendo caring about cutting edge tech. The Wii and Switch sold well despite the power disadvantage.

What you are saying was fine for the first three years of the system's life. This current iteration of the hardware is tapping out. Recent big releases are slideshows. Many of the system's very best games play sub-optimally and would benefit from just a modest hardware refresh to bump resolution to 720p and smooth out the framerate. I literally don't get why you or anyone would be against this or act shocked that Nintendo needs to do this. If they continue down the path of the Wii, then they deserve the Wii's future....

I would hate to see that with this awesome game library, but we just need something a little bit better to handle the software.
 

Animagic

Banned
I have plenty of games to play on this. Anything new they release will just be a sweet bonus at this point. Would love a new StarFox adventures or FZero, but who am I kidding... never going to happen.

I really hope the new hardware keeps the hybrid functionality (I mean, this is Nintendo after all... they tend to be a bit crazy) and redesigns the joycon analog sticks and joycon boards themselves.
 

StormCell

Member
My expectations are pretty low. I anticipate no new hardware in 2021. I figure we'll get some hardware in early 2022, and maybe that will coincide with BotW2. My guess is BotW2 may be the holiday title, or maybe it will be in early 2022 thanks to COVID.

I expect one blockbuster title this year, and it won't be Metroid Prime 4. I do expect we'll get that Trilogy along with some Zelda ports.

This year's big release will be Pokemon remakes.

The rest of the year will be pretty barren with the ports and trilogies filling in the gaps between a few Nintendo AA releases. I think we've already got the schedule through April or May, so it's not hard to see how they intend to fill out the rest of the year.

As for what they've been working on, it's all guesses. I suspect they've got a new Mario, a new Mario Kart, and possibly some sort of Donkey Kong, but a lot of this is probably prototype or in an alpha state while they experiment.
 
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StormCell

Member
An absolutely bold prediction.
guy fieri omg GIF by Shark Week
It's what I get for posting on a coffee-less morning... I'm clearly living in the past, man!

I fixed it. I really don't expect Nintendo will release new hardware this year, but I hope they prove me absolutely wrong. They could do it during the holidays, and that wouldn't be surprising.
 

Animagic

Banned
It's what I get for posting on a coffee-less morning... I'm clearly living in the past, man!

I fixed it. I really don't expect Nintendo will release new hardware this year, but I hope they prove me absolutely wrong. They could do it during the holidays, and that wouldn't be surprising.
Yeah, I could see it going either way: in the spring or next year... I’m there whenever they decide to do it.
 

StormCell

Member
The system is nearly 4 years old. I want a premium Joycon and/or a revision to the Pro controller.

At this point, do we really trust them to make or sell a premium controller?

After 4 years, I guess I'm kind of livid that my Pro controller began experiencing bad stick drift. Nothing subtle about it. Plus that D pad was bad from day one.

Not even going to get into the joycons.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
I want a Zelda collection. Either hit 30fps for the N64 versions or give us the 3ds remakes of both OOT and MM.
Plus finally bring Wind Waker HD from the Wii U over ffs....
 

Aldric

Member
I'd rather they work on improving the quality of the joy cons. The best system improvement would be battery life than graphical. I dont see the person buying Nintendo caring about cutting edge tech. The Wii and Switch sold well despite the power disadvantage.
They've already improved the battery life significantly in 2019, current Switch has around 9 hours max of battery life compared to the original's 6. Rumors point towards this year's Switch revision being able to display 4K graphics thanks to Nvidia's DLSS technology. I have a hard time believing it but there's a lot of smoke behind the idea.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
At this point, do we really trust them to make or sell a premium controller?

After 4 years, I guess I'm kind of livid that my Pro controller began experiencing bad stick drift. Nothing subtle about it. Plus that D pad was bad from day one.

Not even going to get into the joycons.
True.

I'm holding my breath that Hori comes out with a new iteration of (wireless!!) joycons. Their wired controllers and their handheld-mode joycons are top quality this generation. I'd probably trust their brand more than I'd trust Sony or Nintendo's own quality control. Anyway, I'm rambling. It's sad that controllers across the board do not have the quality of some of the older consoles.
 
The 2D Metroid game that has been rumored since the end of 2019 or so.
I would say earlier than that. Possibly sometime after the release of Samus Returns, because that game hinted at a new 2D Metroid when you would view the final piece of the Chozo Memories.

ChozoMemory11.png


When it is unlocked, the triumphant prologue music comes to an end and a distorted screech sounds. The colors on Memory 10 are replaced by an ominous red tint and the heavy contrast distorts the image. When it refocuses, a new picture (labeled 2d/10 the first time it is viewed) appears that keeps the red and black coloration. An eerie track plays over the scene before the memory fades, but does not play when the image is viewed subsequently.

The six Chozo overseers and scientists lie on the ground, dead or dying with smoke rising from their bodies. The Chozo commander (the same individual introduced in Memory 10) is turned towards the battalion, arm outstretched while issuing an order. The Chozo's right arm bears an Arm Cannon like Samus's, smoking from recently being fired. The warriors continue to stand at attention, unphased by the events before them. The motivations behind this are unknown.

So I think that "2d/10" could be Dread as in Metroid Dread (Metroid 5).
 
While it’s realistic to only expect 1080p30, the phrase “Flawless 1080p30” makes me chuckle.

I am looking forward to how BOTW2 turns out, and if the Switch Pro hardware does something different I might be interested. I just need to keep in mind that I’ll instantly need a 3rd party controller factored into the cost, too.
Breath of the Wild, when near the master sword, ran at 15 fps. Resolution ran at 720p on Wii U and 900p on Switch. On ANY other hardware, that would have been absolute disaster. Monstrous.

When I say flawless 1080p30, I just mean stable. I get you finding humor in it, but the fans know to not ask for the sun and the moon here. Honestly, if Switch PRO gave me Breath of the Wild 2 in 1080p30 locked I would literally be thrilled.

Nintendo enjoys delivering frequent kicks right to the nuts. If we hadn't learned any lessons long ago we would all be infertile.
 
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Soodanim

Member
Breath of the Wild, when near the master sword, ran at 15 fps. Resolution ran at 720p on Wii U and 900p on Switch. On ANY other hardware, that would have been absolute disaster. Monstrous.

When I say flawless 1080p30, I just mean stable. I get you finding humor in it, but the fans know to not ask for the sun and the moon here. Honestly, if Switch PRO gave me Breath of the Wild 2 in 1080p30 locked I would literally be thrilled.

Nintendo enjoys delivering frequent kicks right to the nuts. If we hadn't learned any lessons long ago we would all be infertile.
You're absolutely right, and Nintendo are very much unlikely to give us hardware that could run BOTW 1 or 2 at 60fps any time soon given their runaway success doing the opposite.

Thanks for reminding me of what WiiU BOTW is like, I'm sure I tried everything I could to make it a bit better when I ran through there. I'd say they're fools to let that happen again, but they'll do whatever they want. They seem to be exempt from the rest of the industry.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
I don’t think we’ll see new hardware or BotW 2 this year. I think Monster Hunter Rise will do very well and we’ll finally get the Metroid Prime Trilogy port, and hopefully the Pokémon Diamond/Pearl remakes. Think we’ll get a Switch revision in late 2022.
 

Zannegan

Member
I'd rather they work on improving the quality of the joy cons. The best system improvement would be battery life than graphical. I dont see the person buying Nintendo caring about cutting edge tech. The Wii and Switch sold well despite the power disadvantage.
Honestly, I think our best bet of getting a joycon upgrade is a "pro" console. Otherwise, they would have made improvements ages ago. I still don't think it's super likely, but the wii remote plus and new 3ds controls give me a little hope.
 

Hardensoul

Member
I'd be down with rumored Dock supplemental upgrade, which was also part of the patent before Switch launch. I'm still on my launch Switch and I don't game on portable anymore.
 

Moogle11

Banned
I'd be down with rumored Dock supplemental upgrade, which was also part of the patent before Switch launch. I'm still on my launch Switch and I don't game on portable anymore.

Yeab I hope it’s just a dock upgrade too. I do a lot of portable gaming, but have a Switch Lite for that. I’d rather just upgrade my dock as my launch Switch has some screen damage and broken plastic around the fan from an unlucky drop so it would be hard to sell or trade in to upgrade. Would be nice to just slap it in a new dock and get better frame rates etc.
 

Indyblue

Member
They have no need to release new hardware this year. Sales are not slowing at all. I could see them maybe releasing an upgrade holiday 2022 with a full successor in 2024 or 2025.
 

Zannegan

Member
They have no need to release new hardware this year. Sales are not slowing at all. I could see them maybe releasing an upgrade holiday 2022 with a full successor in 2024 or 2025.
This is true, but there's something to be said for maintaining momentum and striking while the iron is hot.

Adding a (more expensive) pro into the equation while the thing is still selling gangbusters might stoke the fires. Putting one out when it's already on the downtrend will get some renewed interest, but likely wouldn't have the same impact (or sell as well). They don't want another Wii U situation where they wait too late to try to transition and have to start the hype from 0.

I agree that a "pro" this year (though I'd say spring) followed by a true successor in 2024 seems about right, that or no pro at all and the successor in 2022. Of course, knowing Nintendo (and my terrible track record for predicting them) we'll get no pro, but an XL with a pen for old people, a micro, a Wario alarm clock that won't stop making farting noises until you do the correct pose with the joycon, an ereader, a console-only Switch that's somehow weaker than the base model and can only uses wired controllers, AND THEN we'll get a successor in 2025, which will be a phone running MariOS or something. Lol.
 
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Hudo

Member
Sorry for being late, but it goes far, far beyond "protecting their IPs"
Nintendo is not the first company to do this and they won't be the last. And they do this because they're interested in recruiting these hackers. But because hackers might be involved in shady shit, companies investigate them first so that after they hired them, it doesn't turn out that those hackers did some illegal shit and have to go to court/prison, harming the company's reputation. People that are appalled by this are quite naive. This is a practice done by almost all big tech companies.
 
Sorry for being late, but it goes far, far beyond "protecting their IPs"
What Hudo said.

Nintendo is not the first company to do this and they won't be the last. And they do this because they're interested in recruiting these hackers. But because hackers might be involved in shady shit, companies investigate them first so that after they hired them, it doesn't turn out that those hackers did some illegal shit and have to go to court/prison, harming the company's reputation. People that are appalled by this are quite naive. This is a practice done by almost all big tech companies.
 

Woopah

Member
They have no need to release new hardware this year. Sales are not slowing at all. I could see them maybe releasing an upgrade holiday 2022 with a full successor in 2024 or 2025.
I think they'll want to do it to keep sales high. Afterall Switch sales were good in 2019 and that didn't stop them releasing the Lite.

I see a strong possibility that the Switch Pro simply replaces the current model, which is then phased out. That way they still are only offering 2 models and can keep their 2 current price points.
 

Zannegan

Member
I think they'll want to do it to keep sales high. Afterall Switch sales were good in 2019 and that didn't stop them releasing the Lite.

I see a strong possibility that the Switch Pro simply replaces the current model, which is then phased out. That way they still are only offering 2 models and can keep their 2 current price points.
I want them to push the envelope with the pro and add a new price point of $400 to their lineup (assuming the hardware is actually worth the upgrade, in the same way that the PS4 Pro was a significant jump over the base PS4).

Alas, it'll probably be a lame jump for a $50 price hike, so I'd welcome a modest jump that replaces the base Switch at the same price as you suggest.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Breath of the Wild, when near the master sword, ran at 15 fps. Resolution ran at 720p on Wii U and 900p on Switch. On ANY other hardware, that would have been absolute disaster. Monstrous.

When I say flawless 1080p30, I just mean stable. I get you finding humor in it, but the fans know to not ask for the sun and the moon here. Honestly, if Switch PRO gave me Breath of the Wild 2 in 1080p30 locked I would literally be thrilled.

Nintendo enjoys delivering frequent kicks right to the nuts. If we hadn't learned any lessons long ago we would all be infertile.
Tho I think it's very possible for BOTW2 to be much better optimized for Switch, they literally had no time to optimize it for the system since it was done for Wii U and basically some months before the Switch released they were told to make a port and "have it done for release date". Lead devs said that in a GDC in 2017 as a matter of "joke but real" lol.

It's not like some say that it was "basically emulated", it's just not taking full advantage of Switch hardware even with the patch.
 

Woopah

Member
I want them to push the envelope with the pro and add a new price point of $400 to their lineup (assuming the hardware is actually worth the upgrade, in the same way that the PS4 Pro was a significant jump over the base PS4).

Alas, it'll probably be a lame jump for a $50 price hike, so I'd welcome a modest jump that replaces the base Switch at the same price as you suggest.
400 dollars is too much in my mind. When the PS4 Pro launched it was the same price as the PS4 launch price. Switch is still at its launch price and I think if they go 100 dollars higher then the number of people who will pay that is pretty small.

The objective of the Pro is to prolong the Switch's lifecycle, so it needs to be something the mass market is interested in.

If it uses DLSS the Switch revision could offer a decent boost. But the main boost will come with the successor in 2023 or 2024.
 
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