As the Nintendo Switch 2 looms the best console ever turns 8 years old today

A tough act to follow (Nintendo)

The original Nintendo Switch is celebrating its eighth anniversary but given its huge success is there any way the Switch 2 can match or surpass it?

On March 3, 2017 Nintendo released their follow-up to the disastrously unsuccessful Wii U console. By the time the Nintendo Switch launched, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 were already over three years old and this marked the first time Nintendo, or any other major console manufacturer, had released two main consoles in the same generation. It was an act of desperation on the part of Nintendo and yet it proved to be their greatest triumph.

Within a shockingly short amount of time the console surpassed both of its competitors and, at over 150 million sales, will undoubtedly beat the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 as well. Although how it will compare to its successor, the Nintendo Switch 2, is much harder to predict.

The Nintendo Switch 2 will be unveiled in full via a special Nintendo Direct on April 2, with the console’s release generally imagined to be somewhere around June. Although Nintendo is notoriously difficult to predict and officially we know almost nothing about the console yet, other than what it looks like and that it will have a new Mario Kart game.

When it come to hardware sales, Nintendo’s history is one of unpredictable highs and lows. They rarely do things by halves, in either direction, and given how little we know about the Switch 2 at the moment there’s really no way to predict how it might fare; other than there already seems to be a strong appetite for it amongst fans and that, by following the same general formula of the original Switch, it should do well.

That formula is easy enough to explain but extremely difficult to pull off, and even harder to repeat a second time. It comes in two parts and first requires a new style of console design that is so completely different to the norm it immediately attracts both keen gamers and more casual customers. It then needs a steady stream of high quality games, ideally based on recognisable franchises but reimagined in new ways.

How did the Nintendo Switch become so successful?

As impossible as that plan seems it’s exactly what the Switch achieved, with a hybrid design – half home console and half portable – whose benefits were instantly recognised by all.

The obvious problem is that you can’t reinvent the wheel twice and so far Nintendo doesn’t seem to be trying to. Most outsiders have advocated keeping the same general hardware design for the Switch 2 and while we don’t yet know how the mouse controls will work or what the mystery button does, it seems unlikely that the Switch 2 is hiding any secret so big it’s going to completely change how the console is perceived.

The problem is that so much of Nintendo’s success is based on giving people what they never imagined they would want or enjoy. Few will complain that Switch 2’s hardware design is playing things safe but, at the same time, it seems to be missing the obvious innovation that was such a big part of the original’s appeal.

The problem for the games is very similar. The Switch has amongst the best entries ever in The Legend Of Zelda, Super Mario (both 3D and 2D), Animal Crossing, Super Smash Bros., Metroid, Fire Emblem, Luigi’s Mansion, Pikmin, Kirby, and Super Mario Party franchises, most of which were radical rethinks of their traditional formulas.

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The only real failings have been the disappointing nature of the last two Pokémon games (which technically isn’t down to Nintendo) and a very safe Splatoon sequel (which was nevertheless hugely successful in Japan) but beyond that and a new Mario Kart – which has already been unveiled for the Switch 2 – the new console has very few obvious routes to take, for Nintendo’s biggest franchises.

Where do you go with Zelda after the groundbreaking Breath Of The Wild? Now that Pikmin has been reinvented, and has proven considerably more popular than ever before, do you really risk reinventing it all again? Even Super Smash Bros.’s own creator has admitted it’s very difficult to imagine anything topping the size and spectacle of Ultimate, so what comes next?

What games will the Nintendo Switch 2 have?

These are not questions anyone but Nintendo can answer. From what little we know of their line-up though, everything not only makes sense but seems to align with exactly the priorities we’ve implied. The new Mario Kart appears to be a major deviation from the series norm, the first person Metroid Prime 4 will be considerably different to Metroid Dread, and while it’s only a spin-off the recent first look at Pokémon Legends: Z-A was a promising one.

There’s absolutely no suggestion that Nintendo is resting on their laurels, merely that their job is that much difficult with a follow-up to the Switch. And in all probability they will find new ways to reinvent their series, even if they’re not quite as extreme a makeover as before. Plus, given the new console’s increased power, they can look to fill out their release schedule, not with Wii U ports but a much larger number of third party games than before.

How much we’ll truly learn about Nintendo’s plans in April, beyond the immediate launch window, remains to be seen but despite the difficulty of the task ahead there’s nothing so far to suggest they’re unaware of the pitfalls.

The June release date is based on only very vague rumours, so it’s not necessarily accurate at all. The Switch could still be Nintendo’s primary console for the majority of this year and it still has new releases scheduled – officially Metroid Prime 4 and Pokémon Legends: Z-A are both ordinary Switch games, with no sign yet that they’ll be playable on Switch 2 via anything other than backwards compatibility.

What is the best video game console ever?

The exact point at which the Switch is superseded is irrelevant though. Its glory days are clearly behind it, even if they will be long remembered. There are many contenders for the best console of all time – the SNES, the PlayStation 2, the Xbox 360 – but it’s very hard to judge without being swayed by either nostalgia or recency bias.

But it does feel as if the Nintendo Switch deserves the title: the device itself is innovative and highly influential, and its line-up of games is not only of exceptionally high quality but, according to raw Metacritic data, superior to any other console in history.

If the Nintendo Switch 2 is better than the original Switch it will be something truly extraordinary. If it’s only half as good, it’ll still be one of the best video game consoles ever made.

The Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t going to have trouble attracting a family audience? (YouTube)

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