The Switch 2 is amazing tariffs confirmed!

[Dark Jaguar]

In the first five seconds you see blocks merging to form a sphere so I'm calling it now, Tetrisphere 2 confirmed, day 1, I get your dollars for that one.

Actually Nintendo does, because second thing we confirm is that the US version will cost $120 more than the Japanese version.  Thank you you tangerine nightmare!

Open World Mario Kart (and that one's not even a joke, that's a thing they are doing apparently).  So like, they BETTER have a full story mode like we've been wanting Mario Kart games to get ever since Diddy Kong Racing and Crash Team Racing showed just how amazing a cart racer's single player mode could actually be.

Oh and we got them making a HUGE deal about these... "virtual cards".  It's basically Steam family sharing, but more limited.

Also, confirmed that a number of games won't actually have all the game on the carts.  Physical is pointless confirmed!

Backwards compatibility is roughly where we expected it to be, with the main "broken" games being the ones that relied on certain controller functions the new system doesn't have, like LABO cardbordium stuff.  Expected, so hold onto that hacked Switch 1 of your's.  Also, they're testing the 15,000 games on that system to have a full list of what works and what doesn't.  First party's already done, so now they just have to test the absolutely flood of asset flip slop they allowed onto their store without ANY vetting process at all, hence the straight up porno games on Nintendo's family friendly console.

There's a small handful of confirmed patches to add Switch 2 enhancements to select Switch 1 games.  Link's Awakening is on that list.  It'll get a smooth frame rate, and MAYBE let us turn off the danged screen edge blur effect.  Not confirmed, as what new features they're patching in will vary from game to game.  I just wonder if there's a universal "accelerated" mode you can just toggle on like what the PS4 Pro/PS5/PS5 Pro has, to speed things up without needing patches necessarily.

Anyway, clickety widget, they got voice chat!  It's a brand new ancient feature from the original XBox finally properly integrated into the Switch!  Finally, you can listen to 8 year olds call you the N word because you didn't pick the right team character!  It's also using SD Express, for MUCH much faster access times within at least a ballpark range of M.2 drives in modern consoles and PCs.  I expect it'll probably require SD express cards too as the games will be designed expecting those kinds of load times.

They got Gamecube Classics coming now too!  Which, alright they'll let you rent Gamecube games, but they STILL won't let you buy their retro catalog any more!

Anyway, from From, we got Not Bloodborne!  I'm sure it'll be amazing, but I think they're going to defy expectations by making it NOT open world and instead going back to that tightly woven style like Dark Souls and Bloodborne did so well.  Exclusive to Switch for maybe a year before we get an improved version on PC and that'll be the one you really want.

DONKEY KONG BANANZA!  They're doing the Sonic Generations thing with some 3D sections and some 2D sections, so as one of the only two people in this entire world that loved DK64 (the other one being a lego piece), I'm sure I'll love this game.

Anyway, no Mach Rider sequel so terrible direct, worst ever.

[Dark Jaguar]

You know what?

....

Never mind.

https://kotaku.com/switch-2-price-trump-...1851774438
https://kotaku.com/switch-2-preorder-pri...1851774764

The Switch 2 looks like it's going to be dead in the water.  I'm certainly not going to be buying one when I have to seriously consider if I'll be able to afford BREAD in a year's time, and certainly not at $600.

It looks like Trump broke the world.  Literally everything I think or do now has Trump as a direct factor in my decision making process, including just trying to enjoy my silly video game hobby.  I have a friend who's recently married a Canadian who now is worried they can't bring their spouse into the US without a risk of arrest and deportation or worse.  An orange man is now a direct third wheel in their relationship!

And yes, I'm using "Trump" as shorthand, because it's the whole damn system.  Even the major news networks have been scared into early compliance, not willing to say what needs to be said about the administration any more.  It's all a nightmare.

The only positive news is that this party and their policies and their destruction of both the bread AND the circus that normally keeps us placated is likely going to result in some real riots, not peaceful protests like we're used to.  Trump may meet his end being drawn and quartered at the hands of a hungry and undistracted mob if he doesn't reconsider what he's doing.

[Dark Jaguar]

Nintendo says the price hike in our region isn't because of the tariffs.
https://kotaku.com/switch-2-price-tariff...1851775036

Nintendo, do you see how that's WORSE?

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, $450 was the pre-"Liberation Day" tariff price.  The new US price is as far as I know unknown.

I thought that the announcement video was mostly good.  I probably will get a Switch 2 early, though the final price is a factor of course, how high will it go?

As for the game announcements, the first party library is good, but as someone who mostly uses my Switch to play Mario Maker 2... well, there were no Mario Maker related announcements here, unfortunately.  A SMM2 update like those other nextgen updates would make this a must get immediately -- mouse control for level creation would be amazing, for instance!  I hope it happens.

Other than that absence, the Kirby expansion with new content is pretty cool.  I will definitely need to play that, the 3d Kirby game was really good.  A bit more content would be fantastic, though, it felt a bit rushed at the end.  Donkey Kong Bananza looks like a lot of fun, I definitely want to play that one.  Kirby Air Riders... that's a shocking one, I never thought they'd do a Kirby Air Ride sequel!  I both like that game and don't, so I hope that it builds off of the good things about the original while not copying its worse features.  Like, use more than one button, have actual circuits this time, let you see your objectives DURING the games instead of only from the main menu, etc...

As for Mario Kart, I like MK games decently well enough but have always found them a bit too luck-based to love.  I much prefer F-Zero, which is why it's probably been a few years now since I played a MK game at all (MK8 for the Wii U is the last one I played, I still haven't played the Switch version of 8) while I play F-Zero 99 sometimes.  The new MK game looks good I guess though.

[Dark Jaguar]

I can't consider the system a must get right now, not at these ridiculous prices.  It's a shame considering how much I've anticipated a system that absolutely should have been called the "Switcharoo", AND how excited I am for many of these games.  I guess I'll end up hoisting the colors this time around.

[A Black Falcon]

... Well that's surprising!  Somehow, at least for launch, Nintendo is able to not raise the price of the console.  Not sure how they managed it and if the tariffs hold maybe it will have to go up later, but for launch it'll be $450/$500.

Accessory prices are going up by $5 each, though.  $85 for a Pro Controller 2, ouch...

[Dark Jaguar]

ABF, they DID raise the prices for the tariffs.  Nintendo lied.  The price is over $120 HIGHER in the US than in Japan.

And, they just jacked up the prices of accessories on top of that.

[A Black Falcon]

ABF, they DID raise the prices for the tariffs.  Nintendo lied.  The price is over $120 HIGHER in the US than in Japan.

And, they just jacked up the prices of accessories on top of that.

The Japanese one that's $120 cheaper is region-locked and will only play Japanese-region software.  Other Switch 2 systems, including a more expensive model in Japan, won't be.

[Dark Jaguar]

You see how that's WORSE, right?

[A Black Falcon]

Nintendo just confirmed that that cheaper Japanese Switch 2 will only play games in Japanese unless the game has an in-game language option.

It's definitely a very weird experiment.  I guess they are thinking that they will make enough from software sales -- that people buying them will have to buy official Japan-region games and not import something cheaper, if people were doing that  -- to make up for whatever losses the lower price incurs?  I don't know...


In other news, when Switch 2 preorders opened yesterday, I managed to get one.  It took a while of waiting but I got one.

[Dark Jaguar]

I didn't.  In fact I didn't even make the attempt.  I'm not rewarding either Nintendo or the market as a whole for what's going on here.

[A Black Falcon]

One day remains.  I am kind of excited... like, there are reasons not to be -- I'm not exactly the biggest Mario Kart fan (I still have never played the Switch version of MK8, only the Wii U version and that was years ago...), and I don't like open worlds most of the time so the big launch game is 'eh maybe I'll like it? or not?'; it's expensive for quite behind the curve graphics compared to PC, Xbox, or Playstation; there's no Mario Maker enhancement or sequel yet; and more...

But still, yeah, I'm looking forward to it for sure.

[Dark Jaguar]

Hopefully your's isn't one of the preorders that got cancelled.  I understand Best Buy still exists, though I suspect it looks like one of those post apocalyptic "reclaimed by nature" warehouses by now.

[A Black Falcon]

The cancelled preorders were at Wal-Mart, a store I don't shop at ever.  Best Buy was fine. They had plenty, actually.  The Switch 2 seems to have shipped in large enough quantities to actually stick on the shelf and not sell out instantly, which is nice.

As for Best Buy stores, it is a little weird now since they have gotten rid of all the physical movies and stuff so now it's like, scattered displays of hardware and computers and washing machines and stuff without any actual media other than a few videogames still hanging on, but otherwise it's the same it's always been: a good place to get hardware, not so great for software.