Switch! (Part 1)

indie thing was this morning/today

Nintendo is vaguely committed to getting content, with some of these being timed exclusives and a few being outright system exclusives

Overcooked is perfect for the Switch. You can meet people and become completely alienated from them a mere 5 levels later!

i totally forgot there was going to be a new Toe Jam & Earl? last time i heard that was just a Kickstarter dream

putting Duck Game on this thing is a good idea

edit- HOLY SHIT, THUMPER is coming to this?? Portable Violent Rhythm game where I can use my nice headphones, wow that’s appealing

Is there a reason you can’t use the nice headphones on the ps4 version? I mean, as long as you aren’t VRing?

no i mean i could, but now i can play this under the covers in the dark of night

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legit.

The hype level around this is so low I barely even realized it’s coming out tomorrow. Gonna be another niche Nintendo console I suspect.

You say that now, but mark my words: new donk city is going to make people wet their pants in anticipation

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i didn’t really pay attention since the Wii, but isn’t it for nintendo
IF (hype == MAX) { device fails }
ELSE // basically: hype == MIN
{ massive success noone saw coming }

? So I kinda expect this to be a wonder that nobody saw coming, and will be puzzled when it turns out to be one.

Any PLATINUM games confirmed for this gen?

Not sure if you mean the Wii when you say that, but in 2006 the hype level was palpable enough I looked around for how to buy Nintendo stock before it came out. (I couldn’t figure out how to buy off the Tokyo stock market though.)

Last year’s excitement over Pokemon Go versus the general snoozing on Switch launch week tells you everything you need to know about where Nintendo’s future is.

I was very excited for the Wii actually, and I felt like it was pretty widespread as well.

The Switch on the other hand…honestly, if I commuted on public transit I would buy this day one. But I don’t commute at all, so I don’t see any need for this.

I think it will do well in Japan. Maybe?

yeah the wii launch was A Big Deal, even in britain where nintendo have never been particularly relevant

this thread is making me feel like it’s going to be ok just walking into a Target on Friday and grabbing a Switch no prob, but that’s just cause SB has the lowest expectations of any popular game related-thing

fingers crossed i can wait a week and pick one up

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I used to keep up with the quarterly sales figures of the 3DS and the Wii U when they were new out of a mix of actual interest and to determine whether the Nintendo sky was actually falling. The 3DS ended up doing fine if nowhere near what the DS did but the Wii U is probably safe to call an actual disaster. As of now its lifetime worldwide total is at about 13.5 million, which roughly translates to about 86 to 87 percent of people who bought a Wii not sticking around for the follow-up. Some drop-off was inevitable, but that’s just a terrible number no matter how you try and spin it.

I have no idea what the size of Nintendo’s core audience is at this point. There won’t be enough systems available at launch as Nintendo always does that, but one analyst today said they expected Nintendo to sell five million of the things by the end of 2017. That’s expecting it in ten months to sell 37% of what the Wii U did in its lifetime. Maybe the Wii U was just a colossal misstep (I mean, it hasn’t gotten a real Zelda game until tomorrow) and they’ll bounce back to Gamecube type numbers. Maybe mixing the home and portable markets together boosts it a good deal. Maybe only the diehards and parents buy Nintendo consoles at this point. I can’t even begin to offer a prediction as to what’s gonna happen with this thing.

I mean, I predict you won’t be able to walk into a store next week and buy one…

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no one buys zelda games except nintendo fans. one the hand, like, duh, but on the other hand all the kids and wii-casual types buy mario and mario kart and mario party, none of them buy zelda. zelda is nintendo’s version of the prestige drama, they make it to keep themselves in certain conversations

Man Twilight Princess sold over 8 million copies. There’s never been a mainline Zelda that’s sold less than 3.

and mario kart wii sold 37 million and probably took 3 months to develop. new mario sold 30 million.

Yeah you mostly right. I’d characterize it more as trying to extract all available profit from market with available skills and historically-bankable brands rather than loss-lead for internet points.

He is right, somewhat. Zelda is still a major player but the key franchises for Nintendo shifted a couple generations back from Zelda and 3d Mario to Mario Kart, Smash Bros and perhaps Pokemon. The New Super Mario Bros series sold very well for a couple entries but dropped off a bit after that.

That said I’d argue that Zelda probably hits a demo that would be best described as “somewhat lapsed Nintendo fans” harder than anything else they have and they need to bring as many back as possible.

Perhaps Pokemon? Like Sun/Moon already sold double what Twilight Princess did, so…

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