Nintendo played it safe with Switch 2 and I’m already disappointed – Reader’s Feature
Did you feel the Direct was a let-down? (Nintendo) A reader is unimpressed with the Switch Nintendo Direct and complains that only a minimum effort is being made with the games and hardware. I had a bad feeling about the Nintendo Switch 2 from the moment it was unveiled. Even before that we had lots of people demanding it be just a souped-up Switch, with the same basic look and design, and I always thought that was a boring and very un-Nintendo idea. But they got their wish and here it is: the Switch 2. Or rather Switch 1.2, amirite? I’m not going to pretend that the Switch 2 Direct was a disaster or that I’m not going to buy one – I probably will eventually – but everything I’ve seen of it so far is disappointingly predictable… and predictable is the last thing I usually associate with Nintendo. The mystery ‘C’ button has turned out to be a chat feature nobody’s ever going to use (and you need a webcam for anyway), there were no other major secrets about the design and mouse controls really were just mouse controls. It all looks perfectly fine but nothing about it excites me yet, and that worries me. In terms of games we got Mario Kart World (aka Mario Kart 9), Metroid Prime 4 (which looked to be doing nothing different to the previous 3) and an upgrade for Super Mario Party Jamboree that clearly nobody is ever going to play more than once, while shrugging their shoulders and going ‘Is that it?’ The Zelda remasters are such minor improvements you’ll need a tedious Digital Foundry video to explain what the differences are. Meanwhile, that wheelchair basketball game looked like something a junior programmer knocked up in an afternoon. Welcome Tour, on the other hand, looks like something they made while on the toilet. There was other stuff in the trailer that doesn’t seem to have been playable, so we don’t know how it is, but it all seems like smoke and mirrors. A third Hyrule Warriors game, for the three people that like that, and a sequel to Kirby Air Ride for the even smaller crowd that like that (seriously, why that of all things when we already have Mario Kart?). Oh, a new FromSoftware exclusive that turned out to be a very unexciting sounding multiplayer game. Urgh. Where was Splatoon, Animal Crossing, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Fire Emblem, Pikmin, and all the rest? Where was the new IP that showed off how the mouse works, considering Mario Kart and Donkey Kong don’t use it at all? That was clearly the point of the basketball game but was that really the best Nintendo could do? And why was it so grey? In the end, all we got that was new was the Donkey Kong game, which looked… okay? I can’t say it blew me away in any way. Given they’ve had eight years to come up with a groundbreaking line-up I cannot say that the Direct exceeded my expectations or even really met them. Everything seems so safe and unsurprising. It wasn’t a terrible reveal, but it does feel like the minimum effort necessary not to be one. You can tell it was a disappointment because people immediately started inventing conspiracy theories about there being a secret big name game being held back for Christmas. But I don’t think so. There’s actually a ton of games with 2025 dates, that we don’t know the exact time for yet, but it’s all the boring junk I already mentioned, like Hyrule Warrior and Kirby. You could argue the SNES was just a souped-up NES, so it’s not like just making the same thing but more powerful can’t work, but the SNES had tons of great games right from the start and I don’t see that for the Switch 2. Maybe Nintendo is holding back but I really don’t see why they would. This is it and it’s not that great. By reader Olliephant Donkey Kong Bananza – not a sequel (Nintendo) The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at [email protected] or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email. ArrowMORE: Switch 2 game prices are the fault of gamers not Nintendo - Reader's Feature ArrowMORE: Why the Xbox 360 is still Microsoft’s most successful console – Reader’s Feature ArrowMORE: Sony’s PlayStation exclusive policy is a disaster that’s killing the PS5 - Reader’s Feature
A reader is unimpressed with the Switch Nintendo Direct and complains that only a minimum effort is being made with the games and hardware.
I had a bad feeling about the Nintendo Switch 2 from the moment it was unveiled. Even before that we had lots of people demanding it be just a souped-up Switch, with the same basic look and design, and I always thought that was a boring and very un-Nintendo idea. But they got their wish and here it is: the Switch 2. Or rather Switch 1.2, amirite?
I’m not going to pretend that the Switch 2 Direct was a disaster or that I’m not going to buy one – I probably will eventually – but everything I’ve seen of it so far is disappointingly predictable… and predictable is the last thing I usually associate with Nintendo.
The mystery ‘C’ button has turned out to be a chat feature nobody’s ever going to use (and you need a webcam for anyway), there were no other major secrets about the design and mouse controls really were just mouse controls. It all looks perfectly fine but nothing about it excites me yet, and that worries me.
In terms of games we got Mario Kart World (aka Mario Kart 9), Metroid Prime 4 (which looked to be doing nothing different to the previous 3) and an upgrade for Super Mario Party Jamboree that clearly nobody is ever going to play more than once, while shrugging their shoulders and going ‘Is that it?’
The Zelda remasters are such minor improvements you’ll need a tedious Digital Foundry video to explain what the differences are. Meanwhile, that wheelchair basketball game looked like something a junior programmer knocked up in an afternoon. Welcome Tour, on the other hand, looks like something they made while on the toilet.
There was other stuff in the trailer that doesn’t seem to have been playable, so we don’t know how it is, but it all seems like smoke and mirrors. A third Hyrule Warriors game, for the three people that like that, and a sequel to Kirby Air Ride for the even smaller crowd that like that (seriously, why that of all things when we already have Mario Kart?). Oh, a new FromSoftware exclusive that turned out to be a very unexciting sounding multiplayer game. Urgh.
Where was Splatoon, Animal Crossing, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Fire Emblem, Pikmin, and all the rest? Where was the new IP that showed off how the mouse works, considering Mario Kart and Donkey Kong don’t use it at all? That was clearly the point of the basketball game but was that really the best Nintendo could do? And why was it so grey?
In the end, all we got that was new was the Donkey Kong game, which looked… okay? I can’t say it blew me away in any way. Given they’ve had eight years to come up with a groundbreaking line-up I cannot say that the Direct exceeded my expectations or even really met them.
Everything seems so safe and unsurprising. It wasn’t a terrible reveal, but it does feel like the minimum effort necessary not to be one.
You can tell it was a disappointment because people immediately started inventing conspiracy theories about there being a secret big name game being held back for Christmas. But I don’t think so. There’s actually a ton of games with 2025 dates, that we don’t know the exact time for yet, but it’s all the boring junk I already mentioned, like Hyrule Warrior and Kirby.
You could argue the SNES was just a souped-up NES, so it’s not like just making the same thing but more powerful can’t work, but the SNES had tons of great games right from the start and I don’t see that for the Switch 2. Maybe Nintendo is holding back but I really don’t see why they would. This is it and it’s not that great.
By reader Olliephant
Donkey Kong Bananza – not a sequel (Nintendo)The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.
You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at [email protected] or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email.
ArrowMORE: Switch 2 game prices are the fault of gamers not Nintendo - Reader's Feature
ArrowMORE: Why the Xbox 360 is still Microsoft’s most successful console – Reader’s Feature
ArrowMORE: Sony’s PlayStation exclusive policy is a disaster that’s killing the PS5 - Reader’s Feature
