With still no sign of a first party Nintendo Direct, a reader lays out his theory for Nintendo’s strange behaviour and what their next big game will be.
The Nintendo Switch 2 will be a year old soon and by this point we’ve all got our opinions on how it’s gone. I think the majority believe it’s gone… okay. Not bad, not terrible, but not what you would’ve expected given how long Nintendo had to prepare. And if that’s not what most people think it is my opinion anyway.
I think last year had some strange mistakes for them but it’s this year that confuses me the most, with no proper Nintendo Direct, even though you’d think they’d need one now more than ever. But who can ever understand Nintendo, especially as they have announced Splatoon Raiders for July.
Whatever their big Christmas game is I’m going to assume it’s not Star Fox, but could it really be a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake? I’m going to assume not, because that’s exactly what fans want, but you can’t rule out anything. You definitely can’t predict Nintendo either but I do have a theory for why they’re acting the way they are at the moment.
Now that we know the Switch 2 is more powerful than a lot of people expected I think we need to reassess what Nintendo was planning with the console. It may look very similar to the original console but it’s a lot more powerful, and as we’ve seen from games like Star Wars Outlaws and Resident Evil Requiem it can handle even current gen games very well.
Nintendo didn’t make it that powerful on accident and while they’ll be happy that it gets third party support, I’m sure they wouldn’t have made it that way if it wasn’t primarily to suit them. They made it that powerful because they were going to use it themselves and yet we’ve seen absolutely no sign of that from any game they’ve shown so far, including Splatoon Raiders – all of which just look like Switch 1 games.
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To me, it seems likely Nintendo is preparing some high-tech games that look just as good as these third party ports, which in turn means maybe an Ocarina Of Time remake that looks (kind of) like Resident Evil really is a possibility.
It might also explain why we haven’t heard anything about a 3D Mario yet. Nintendo is famous for not releasing a game until it’s perfect, so maybe it’s just taking more time because of the high-end graphics. After all, that’s not something Nintendo has much experience with, in terms of high-res textures and ray tracing and all that jazz.
I realise I’m clutching at straws here but there has to be a plan of some kind. They’ve obviously got something lined up as their big Christmas game. And the simplest explanations are always the most likely, so maybe the reason they haven’t shown much this year is because they’re just not quite ready yet.
It’s obvious that things have only just begun for the Switch 2 and while Nintendo may seem to be acting illogically, I think it will all make sense in the end, mostly.
They still have some weird priorities, like that Kirby racing game, but I think the Switch 2 was designed to be a high-end console with current gen graphics. Maybe not as good as the PlayStation 5 but leagues ahead of the Switch 1 and probably on par with the Xbox Series S, which I seem to remember was the rumour before it even came out.
I don’t want to sound like a Nintendo zealot by saying just have confidence, and wait and see, but I do think the evidence points towards the Switch 2 being a bit of powerhouse and since Nintendo has not used that power yet, it only stands to reason that’s what’s coming next.
By reader Tom Meadows
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