This is part of our story The Future of the Game series, a three-site look at the game’s cutting-edge technologies, players and manufacturers.
For decades, the gaming industry has followed a trend that began with Nintendo’s inception. Game Boy In 1989. Versatile handheld consoles are the future, even if they date back more than 30 years. Valve, Ayaneo, Asus and even Game station Now there are manual play options. But none of them have Mario, Link, or Samus.
How Nintendo Follows Transition, one of the greatest and most unique video game consoles of all time? Given the state of the industry and Nintendo’s penchant for outlandish innovation, here’s what we’d like to see from the next console — whether it’s actually called the Switch 2 or something else entirely.
A strong first impression
First: the next Nintendo console must be another hybrid model that can be played either in handheld mode or in dock mode. The rest of its design is secondary, if not less important.
A major part of the Nintendo Switch’s brilliance is its attractive design: rectangular with gently rounded corners, familiar button layouts, and a refreshing pop of neon blue and neon red on the left and right Joy-Cons. If “Switch” is anywhere in the branding, the next console should use the same neon colors.
For handheld games, bigger is not always better. More power and a nicer screen usually means more weight and shorter battery life. With the Switch OLED at £0.93, longer handheld sessions can be tiring, and your average Steam Deck is more than double the £1.50. Chronicle of video games reported in October Nintendo is considering a cheaper LCD display as opposed to OLED, but the best way forward would be to offer both options at different price points like their competitors.
Eye opening Xbox Series X|S the split could do wonders for the next Nintendo console. Imagine a heavy, powerful Switch that can work mobile, but can handle the biggest new AAA games when docked. Then there’s another lightweight, cheap, highly mobile alternative that’s digital only. Standard, simple and professional variants can all be launched simultaneously, and each can meet strong demand.
Right now, you can spend anywhere between $350 and $650 on Steam Deck. What if Nintendo had $199, $350, $500 options?
Joy-Con news
The Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons easy to love and easy to hate. They are stylish and happy to touch the edges of the console, but they are famous for it. sliding issues, in some cases after only a few months of use. Nintendo’s next generation of input devices should be more robust to limit these issues or at least make the replacement and repair process smoother.
It would be nice to see existing hardware remain compatible with the Nintendo Switch 2. Every gadget these days uses USB-C, so it seems possible as long as the Switch 2 doesn’t bend too much to fit into the Switch dock.
What if, instead of Joy-Cons, Nintendo approached the next generation of controllers similar to Microsoft? Xbox Design Lab? Anyone can design a custom controller with grips, back paddles, and custom finger sticks. The Switch’s successor doesn’t need to do anything nearly as drastic, but could give gamers a more ergonomic and custom button selection to improve comfort.
Internal
The standard Nintendo Switch comes with a paltry 32GB of internal storage, while the OLED has 64GB. But The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom takes up about 16.3 GB. You can’t let the flagship game take up more than half of the console’s total memory! The Entertainment Retail Association (ERA) thinks so 89.5% of all video games sold in 2022 was digital downloads, so memory is already in high demand on every platform. Especially as the new generation of Nintendo games grows, the new Switch needs more hard drive space.
If Nintendo opts for an internal solid-state drive, then it will reduce load times (which can be a major problem with some Switch games) and make it easier to introduce more onboard storage. Most devices offer different price points based mainly on internal storage. Broadly speaking, the Nintendo Switch 2 should feel “next-gen” compared to its predecessor in terms of image quality, graphics processing, and overall power.
All current versions of the Switch have a 720-pixel display when handheld and 1080-pixel display when docked. The frame rate usually stays at 30 FPS and caps at 60 FPS, but a few games use this high result, and some older Switch games get excited when there’s too much going on on the screen. The graphics usually look good but not great, but Nintendo’s cartoonish design style makes everything work.
There are many players contractions about Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomgraphics of Nintendo gets an A for ingenious gameplay and art design, but still TotK‘s Game of the Year candidate status, let’s be honest: It looks better Breath of the Wildwhich came out six years ago.
The next-gen Switch should run at 1080p in handheld mode and go up to 4K when docked. The reports Gamescom 2023 Switch 2 demos show that the next console will use NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). This neural graphics technology uses artificial intelligence to dramatically increase frame rate and resolution without taxing the processor too much. What could be more useful for a portable gaming platform?
Extensive informants Gamescom previews of Nintendo’s new hardware It is said to include a tech demo called Unreal Engine 5 in September The Matrix Awakens. If the Switch 2 can run games made in Unreal Engine 5, that’s a strong indication that it will be a huge leap forward in terms of graphical fidelity.
While it likely won’t be able to directly compete with the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, Nintendo has proven time and time again that its hardware doesn’t need to compete with each other for graphical superiority to sell well. Just need to justify upgrading from a previous console.
Bells and whistles please
I still have stress dreams about watching Netflix on my Wii in college. The Nintendo Switch didn’t really help alleviate those unresolved feelings. There’s Hulu, YouTube, and all the important anime streaming services, but little else. Most TVs these days have all the major programming, so why can’t Nintendo’s new video game system do the same?
Interesting patent for new dual screen handheld console It looks similar to the Nintendo 3DS, and it could shed light on Nintendo’s plans. If Nintendo is going for its next console, this is a great opportunity to bring the two-screen classic to something like Nintendo Switch Online and call it the Nintendo FlipSwitch (you heard it here first). If it had more software, it could be the perfect portable streaming screen for everything.
The Switch 2 should also improve friend lists and voice chat. Yes, Nintendo’s products are geared toward kids, but many of those kids have grown up, too. “Friending” your former college roommate to visit his favorite tropical island shouldn’t be any harder than applying for a credit card. At least pay attention, note, notice, please note more relaxed security options for mature players. Let’s have a party chat without having to juggle a second device with a separate app.
Most fighting games have satisfying and fair online play. Why not? Smash? Say Nintendo remasters Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for this new generation system. If it had fixed the network issues as well, it would have been a truly timeless classic.
Games
The biggest mistake Nintendo could make with the Switch 2 might be backwards compatibility, especially since gamers continue to pay top dollar for first-party exclusives on the Switch. Consider paying $69.99 Tears of the kingdom You won’t even be able to play it on a new console in May 2024 and then a year or two later. Not so nice.
One February 2022 Q&A sessionNintendo hinted at plans to capitalize on the Switch’s player base 132 million indicates that backward compatibility with the next console is a priority. If there is some sort of upgraded Switch 2 cartridge, it would be nice to see Nintendo do something similar to the Nintendo DS, with a smaller slot for DS games and a larger slot for last-gen Game Boy Advance games.
And the games themselves? For starters, I’d like to see the Switch 2 adequately handle major cross-platform AAA games and the most popular free-to-play titles. As a multi-platform franchise Madden and Call of Duty remain reliably in the top 10 best-selling lists every year, but the Switch is too weak to handle them well. It’s made Nintendo Switch 2 the best place to play major free-to-play titles like this and more Fortnitethen it can become the most important gaming device of this century.
The Switch owes much of its early success to it Breath of the Wild as a launch title and the best case scenario for Nintendo is a game with a similar wow factor. Nintendo Insider Zippo claimed back in August that the “new basis Mario title” was in the works for the next system using Unreal Engine 4. That would definitely fit the bill.
When Nintendo let developers test the next-gen Switch at Gamescom, the new hardware reported shown with improved Breath of the Wild demo. These demos raise an interesting prospect: What if Nintendo remastered the Switch’s greatest hits?
Nine years after its first release, Mario kart 8 was 11th best selling video game 2022 on all platforms. Even Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a few weeks later, despite turning five, he made it into the top 20. Both titles remain at the $59.99 price point and are in high demand. These multiplayer games are so comprehensive, with dozens of characters and maps, that it’s hard to imagine Nintendo making actual sequels anytime soon.
A set of high-quality remasters is enough to convince many players to invest in the updated version. Nintendo Switch Online it’s more like Xbox Game Pass, with souped-up versions Mario kart 8 and Super Mario Galaxy as part of a package deal. Heck, even if you had the Switch versions of these games to unlock the next-gen upgrade, that would be a huge selling point.
So when will the mighty Nintendo Switch 2 finally grace our hands?
It’s likely that Nintendo doesn’t want to announce anything before the 2023 holiday season. Otherwise, it could reduce sales of the first Switch. If we had to make an educated guess, that would mean an announcement in early 2024. release date in the back half of the year.