Nintendo Bets on Nostalgia and Fun with Swap 2
And thus it commences. Nintendo has lifted the veil on its upcoming generation of hardware to showcase… precisely what everyone anticipated.
Officially announced earlier today after months — no, years — of speculation, rumors, and leaks, the Nintendo Switch 2 is, at first glance, what most individuals desired. It’s essentially the same widespread concept, just a bit larger, more powerful, and featuring some enhancements, along with hints of several innovations not thoroughly explained in the trailer. We also caught a glimpse of a few seconds of a brand new Mario Kart.
This is great news for Nintendo enthusiasts and a relief for those of us who were waiting (though it appears there’s another wait until a Nintendo Direct in April and an official launch date announcement). Besides the official confirmation of the name and design, we don’t really know anything beyond what we did at the beginning of the week.
Many of us are eager for something new after the substantial success of the Switch, and today’s announcement reassures us that we’re about to get something very similar. We had hoped to see some of Nintendo’s signature eccentricity emerge today, but the Switch 2 appears to reflect the company at its most polished. It’s a smart move, for sure, yet it does lack some of that quintessential Nintendo spirit.
Perhaps there’s more on the horizon. Some believe that the almost-confirmed mouse-like capability could be a game-changer, but it’s difficult not to view the Switch 2 as a temporary solution at this point. This is a direct sequel to a groundbreaking console that gives Nintendo another era to decide its next move – and I don’t think Nintendo has another eight-year cycle to iron that out.
Don’t get me wrong: I love the look of this device and the click of the bright, gratifyingly larger new Joy-Con connecting to the dock, and Nintendo will likely extract fresh interactions from the familiar design. I imagine we’ll be racing the responsive Joy-Con across tabletops, using that optical sensor for actions beyond mouse movement, and connecting various devices through that USB-C port on top for all sorts of quirky peripheral fun to surprise and delight.
However, the base offering seems to be the least exciting home console the company has released since, what, the GameCube? And that had the advantage of a significant graphical upgrade over the N64’s visuals, plus a novel shape. Mario Kart seems fairly good when you analyze the main features, but nothing that couldn’t presumably be done on the current Switch (leading some at NL Towers to speculate it could also be low-gen).
Nonetheless, everything Nintendo has done with the Switch has been more influenced by its earlier handheld lines than its home consoles, and as we and other observers have noted before, the Switch 2 closely resembles the 3DS to the Switch’s original DS, just without the gimmicky features.
The Steam Deck and Lenovo’s lineup of handheld PCs are the most notable, and Valve recently indicated that Steam OS will be available on more devices. Additionally, Sony’s PlayStation Portal acknowledges gamers’ increasing desire to enjoy console games away from the television. With Nintendo having demonstrated that there is a strong market for portable gaming, rumors of both Sony and Microsoft working on new handheld devices suggest that the market is poised to become even more competitive.
This is undoubtedly a good thing. Competition fosters innovation, and it is in Nintendo’s DNA to creatively utilize tried-and-true technology in unexpected ways. We are eager to see what developers can achieve when they take another pass at this. Plus, having extricated itself from the specs race a few years ago, Nintendo is in its own realm.