The Underwhelming Switch 2 Announcement

Sooo the Nintendo Switch 2 was finally officially announced... I'm sure this isn't news. And I would say the word announcement loosely. The announcement video seemed like a quickly created video that did nothing but confirm all the rumors and nothing more. And I'm going to be honest, I'm disappointed that all the rumors were true. Not because they spoiled the reveal. More because all the rumors were so blech that I was just hoping they were wrong.

If I'm going to be honest, the Switch 2 reminds me a lot of what the New 3DS XL was. The New 3DS XL, by no one's estimation was a new handheld for Nintendo, it was a continuation of the 3DS. But it did offer many improvements to the original. It had a better processor and more RAM. It offered a new C stick, 2 nedw shoulder buttons. It added the NFC reader that let you use amiibos on it. And improvements to the 3D aspect. Plus it was bigger. There were also about a dozen games that you could only play on it, and even if you were playing original 3DS games, they'd likely see better performance.

The Switch 2 is doing basically the same thing. We see a lot of minor improvements. We know it has improved processor and ram on board, though they didn't announce specs (Nintendo doesn't really do that anyway). It's backwards compatible, and word is that older games will run better on the Switch 2. It's pretty much the same design otherwise, with some quality of life improvements like a better stand, magentic controllers instead of the rails, a USB on top so that you can charge while playing better... and... it's bigger.

I also think Nintendo just completely screwed the pooch on this reveal in general. I really felt that they should have copied the format of how they announced the Switch. Big announcement in November showcasing its special features and several big games. Release it in March when they get the whole summer to themselves. Even if they wanted to release it a little later, say April or May, they don't really need the short release window here, they can trickle out new games as they have far more support now than they did for the Switch.

But that's it. Nothing new, nothing inventive. Hell even the name of the system is reminiscent of Nintendo's worst named system in history... the Wii U. And the problem that one had was that it seemed like it was just some minor improvements over the previous. Not an actual new console. I know this was the thing because my brother thought that. He loved the Wii (and the switch) but never bought a Wii U because he thought it was just a tablet expansion type deal. And now here we are... This may be the least excited for a new system that I've ever been from Nintendo. I loved the tablet on the Wii U. The only system I didn't get into was the Virtual Boy. Every single other system I bought I was super excited for.

What is Nintendo bringing to the table here though? Maybe a Mouse? Do they think Mario Paint 2 is a system seller? I don't want a mouse, I don't need a mouse for a console. Of course, Nintendo could be, and probably is hiding something still. It could look the same but they may have found a new use. There has been some rumors that havev mentioned that they have come up with a way to use both the TV screen and the switch screen at the same time for dual screen gaming. If that's true, the mouse thing might actually make sense because then they can start porting in DS & 3DS games and using the system like a DS and then the mouse is the touch screen. Is it as good as a true touch screen? Probably not.

It kinda feels like they were intending to do the initial announcement in April at this point which was WAY too late and I think that got proved out by the rampant leaks. Had they done a similar announcement in late November (maybe after Black Friday weekend). Almost all of the leaks would have never happened before the announcement. All the big leaks really happened in late December and early January. I know they were worried about the news of a new Switch canibilizing their sales, but they didn't have a strong game lineup because they had a new system on the way and games were being held back. And EVERYONE KNEW THIS. Everyone knew the Switch 2 was coming, the question was whether it was 2024 or 2025. Once it proved it wasn't 2024... everyone knew it'd be first half of the year in 2025. And it's now looking like a June release? WAY too late. They don't really have the games to cover this span. They didn't even have thte games for Christmas 2024 as it was. They are risking loss of interest at this point solely for lack of games.

Right now, I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the Switch 2. I will probably buy it... eventually. My lean is to wait until the Switch 2 Lite gets announced and hope for a smaller form factor that brings us down to Switch size, maybe with an OLED. I don't like the bigger form factor, I would rather portable systems be portable. Of course, it does depend largely on what we see, though the Mario Kart preview they showed was far from impressive. It looked like about what Mario Kart 8 looked like on the Wii U which is disappointing at this point. Overall... I'm just not interested in this system right now and they have a big hill to climb to get me there considering what they've already shown.