Well, That Was A Hell Of A Show!
Since I laid out my predictions for Nintendo’s Switch 2 Direct, I thought it only fair to examine how I ended up doing. Some things were pretty obvious – though not even all of those came true – and others were some bigger swings, and I think we can all agree it was a damn good show regardless of my accuracy. Let’s get into it.
The Technical Details – Results
I think I was largely pretty accurate here. Nintendo has historically been somewhat light on complex technical details in their main marketing, whether video or written updates. They’re the sort to simply show their games looking really nice rather than to go into the details of how technologies like DLSS or mesh shaders are making them look that way, and indeed, those kinds of technologies went unmentioned in the Direct. It wasn’t until a while afterwards that Nintendo was pressed to lightly discuss DLSS and ray tracing support in an interview with IGN, and only after that Nvidia themselves finally broke their silence with a blog post speaking more openly about the features of their custom chip – though even here, they didn’t mention T239 by name or reveal specific clock speeds, preferring to focus on things like their superior ray tracing cores, or the tensor cores powering both DLSS and GameShare/GameChat features like face tracking and background removal. They also went with my multiplier approach to explaining performance, only they say 10x instead of 9x – no complaints here.
That said, while I didn’t bring this up in my predictions, I did find some of the places they went to surprising. Their strong focus on 4K output and 120fps gaming was understandable for casual viewers but still more than what I expected, and seeing the full resolution and framerate details for Metroid Prime 4: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition’s four different graphics modes so straightforwardly laid out in a trailer was a touch surreal. It feels as though Nintendo, despite including features such as mouse functionality and camera support in the Switch 2, are almost treating its raw power and higher output capabilities as the main “gimmick”, if that term can even be honestly used anymore.
Hardware Features – Results
3 for 3 here – we did indeed get to see the C button, the mouse functionality and the new Pro Controller, but when it came to the specifics, I was largely off. I couldn’t decide what I thought the C button most likely to be, so while one of my suggestions – Chat – was basically correct, I certainly didn’t see all the details of GameChat coming. Certainly not the surprisingly in-depth camera integration, a direct usage of some of Nvidia’s video streaming features. Mouse-Con is, sadly, not actually called Mouse-Con, merely labelled as mouse functionality for the Joy-Con 2 controllers, but it was absolutely there, demonstrated on actual games – even a new title, Drag X Drive, that was designed specifically for it – and looks like a fun and worthwhile feature, especially when the IR sensor is combined with the controller’s gyro support.
My main whiff here was with the Pro Controller. While I was right about it being shown, my hopes that it would actually be a pair of Pro Joy-Con (or, I suppose, Pro Joy-Con 2) were thoroughly dashed. The actual Pro Controller is a pretty straightforward upgrade of the current one, with the main additions being the obvious – a slight colour alteration and a C button – and the slightly less obvious inclusion of a pair of programmable back buttons, a very welcome feature that I would’ve also wanted to see on the Pro Joy-Con 2. Didn’t get exactly what I wanted here, but it’s still a fine piece of hardware, definitely the cheapest way to enjoy back buttons on a modern console, and I’ll hold out hope that Pro Joy-Con 2 eventually show up as a separate product, even if from a third-party.
First-Party Games – Results
Whew, a real mixed bag here. OK, just to get the most obvious one out of the way – I was right about New Mario Kart showing up. Or, as we now know it, Mario Kart World – a bold title that the game really does seem to live up to. But given how it was literally the one game shown in the first-look trailer and the sequel to the literal best-selling Switch game, that barely even counts as a prediction. I was also right about there being no brand new Legend of Zelda game or sequel to Kirby and the Forgotten Land. However, my positive predictions were wildly off. Splatoon 4 was nowhere to be seen, Metroid Prime 4, Super Mario Party Jamboree and Drag X Drive being the primary first-party showcases of the mouse functionality. There was no Legend of Zelda remake, though the recent confirmation of the live-action film’s release date really has me thinking that an Ocarina of Time remake is in the cards. No Kirby sequel either, though Kirby Air Riders was not even remotely on my radar. The real whiff came at the end of the show, though – I was so damn sure we were going to get a full new 3D Mario title, and we DID get a full, open 3D platformer from Super Mario Odyssey’s developers (Nintendo Entertainment Planning and Development, or Nintendo EPD), but not starring everyone’s famous plumber. I’m not about to complain, though – Donkey Kong Bananza (excellent title) came out-of-left-field in the most positive way, and it’s immediately one of my most anticipated launch games. The terrain destruction mechanic is especially exciting – and it let some genius in MaximilianDOOD’s chat produce the joke title of Red Faction: Gorilla, an absolute all-timer.
Third-Party Games – Results
Another extreme mixed bag here. I was correct that third-party games showed up, and I am at least a little proud that Elden Ring was both my first prediction and the first game to show up. The “Tarnished Edition” subtitle is a little too ripe for tired “lol worse graphics” jokes, but I’m very glad we’re getting such a huge game on the first portable non-PC console possible, as soon as possible. I was also half-right about Hollow Knight: Silksong – it showed up! For like… three seconds. The 2025 confirmation was nice, but it wasn’t the blowout I was thinking of.
Past this, though, I was largely off. No GTA. No Resident Evil. No Doom: The Dark Ages or Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, either – Microsoft actually had zero presence here, a bit of a surprise after they pledged a while ago to bring their games to the Switch 2. Maybe they’re planning on doing that on their own terms? Also, my wording of “I think it’s going to be largely big, recent games” was kind of a miss – there were a lot of third-party games announced here, big and small, with Nintendo obviously wanting to make it clear that the days of a lot of third-parties not making it to any of their platforms are over. We even got a Luigi outfit in Hitman: World of Assassination, which just… fits so well, somehow.
Also, I did NOT see the FromSoftware exclusive multiplayer game coming, but honestly, I don’t think anyone called that.
Upgraded Games and Backwards Compatibility – Results
I was mostly pretty accurate here. The ability for Switch games played via Backwards Compatibility to just use the Switch 2’s extra power automatically, at least within the bounds of each game’s resolution and framerate caps, has been confirmed – on the other hand, it was confirmed in an Ask The Developer interview, rather than the main Direct. On the other other hand, the Direct actually… directed viewers to that article, so I say it counts, damn it. The hypothetical feature of games running in their docked modes while the Switch 2 is in handheld mode, however, is not confirmed and seems unlikely at this point. However, following the Direct Nintendo confirmed that we’ll be seeing several Switch games get free updates specifically for when they’re run on Switch 2 – some of these are for adding GameShare functionality (unlike the system-wide GameChat, GameShare must be programmed directly into each game by the developers), but others are about improving visuals and performance, and this is where some games like Super Mario 3D World or Pokemon Scarlet/Violet will see improvements.
Others, however, will be getting the now-properly-confirmed Switch 2 Editions, and I was right that they would take up a major chunk of the Direct – 6 were confirmed, and that’s just the first-parties! These are NOT free updates, and do indeed use the Sony-esque $15 upgrades that I mentioned – unless they contain significant extra content, in which case you can double that. My prediction of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom getting these was bang on, and Metroid Prime 4 is indeed getting a Switch 2 Edition with a huge visual update – but, curiously, remains without a release date. My other mentioned games were less accurate – Super Mario Odyssey is only getting one of the free updates detailed above, and the Super Smash Bros franchise went entirely unmentioned, with games like Super Mario Party Jamboree and Kirby and the Forgotten Land getting Switch 2 Editions – there was also confirmation of a future addition in Pokemon Legends Z/A. As well, some third-party devs confirmed Switch 2 Editions of their games, such as Civilisation VII.
Price and Launch Date – Results
Wins and losses here. The console is one step more expensive than I and I think many others were expecting, going to US$449 and AU$ 699, but it is indeed coming in June, June 5th, in fact, a little earlier than I would’ve guessed. The pre-order date situation is quite a mess, however. My expectation of pre-orders popping up soon after the Direct was actually correct… for us, and a few other countries. The April 9 leak, in the end, was also correct, for the US and Canada… right up until it wasn’t, as Nintendo seemingly needs more time to analyse the Absolute State of America’s tariff idiocies and how they will affect the system’s price, given its various parts sourced from around the world.
Final Thoughts
Overall I’m reasonably proud of my results, and very excited for the launch, now only two months away. The launch lineup is technically a little light in terms of actual new games, but if I’m being honest, I’ve got quite a backlog of Switch games that I’ve been waiting to play on newer hardware. I don’t even plan on playing Mario Kart World immediately, despite the newness and exclusivity – finally starting Tears of the Kingdom in a buttery smooth 1080p 60fps is first on my list. What we’ve got here is a solid, powerful hybrid system with probably the largest number of control schemes ever packed into a single device – it’s going to be excellent for gaming and excellent for the industry. Hopefully those two months go by fast.
