Another yr, and right here we’re once more — questioning if the following 12 months may ship maybe probably the most thrilling factor for any Nintendo fan: new {hardware}.
It seems like years now that we have been reporting on and discussing one other potential Nintendo system, and that is as a result of it has been years. Whispers of a ‘Switch Pro’ have been doing the rounds quickly after the unique console launched in March 2017, and whereas Switch Lite and Switch OLED reconfigured the bottom system in modest methods (and the unique Switch received a ‘silent’ inside improve with higher battery life), it has been almost seven full years now since we have our palms on completely new Nintendo tech.
On one hand, it is a results of merging handheld and residential console strains into one product — there are of course going to be 50% fewer {hardware} reveals than in earlier generations. But for an trade and viewers that thrives on shiny new issues, it feels uncommon to have Switch approaching its eighth yr at retail with none public announcement or acknowledgement of a successor.
It’s true that Switch is a exceptional system, and we have seen builders carry out miracles on it. However, it is also true that its cellular chipset wasn’t innovative even when it launched, and the work concerned to deliver third-party titles to Nintendo players lately could be considerably simpler in lots of circumstances if devs had a little extra horsepower to play with. Obviously, no sane individual is anticipating PS5-level efficiency from ‘Switch 2’, however utilizing some 2020 or 2021 classic silicon, maybe, would give a large enhance over the mid-2010s tech powering the present console.
HOWEVER! Surveying the final yr of Switch releases, with GOTY-level gems like Zelda and Mario Wonder bolstered by Pikmin 4, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, Persona 5 Tactica, Super Mario RPG, Sea of Stars, Blasphemous 2, a Red Dead port, Octopath II…, it does not really feel like a daily console’s seventh-year lineup (and that solely scratches the floor). In truth, we regarded again on earlier Nintendo methods’ seventh years and it is clear that Switch’s impolite software program well being at this level in its lifecycle is a trait inherited from its handheld ancestors, which typically take pleasure in an extended shelf life than their home-based brethren.
