My coworker asked me for my thoughts on the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct. Since he was in a meeting, I took notes. And since I took notes, here they are.

  • Mario Kart World
    • New Mario Kart was the one thing I figured was guaranteed since MK 8 was 11 years old
    • Looks really nice - feels like PS4-era graphics?
    • Like the idea of a circuit as one continuous race
    • Free roam is a cute feature
    • Only saw 1 new racer but I think it was one of the cows from Moo Moo Meadows. lol
  • Hardware features
    • GameChat
      • Did not call the C button being for game chat.
      • Nintendo just straight up lifting Discordā€™s voice UI is a bold choice
    • GameShare
      • Welcome back, one of the best features of the DS!
      • Online play via GameShare is wild, though
    • Hardware details
      • 1080p up to 120 fps, with 4K docked, makes me more certain this is basically a PS4
      • Iā€™m really hoping magnetic joycons feel less flimsy/fragile when attached and used in handheld mode compared to the rails
      • No mention of the joysticks being Hall Effect; hopefully theyā€™ve fixed the drift issueā€¦
      • Two charging ports is smart. More handhelds should do this.
  • Enhanced games
    • Super Mario Party Jamboree: Neat and all but this is still my least favorite Mario Party in a whileā€¦ itā€™s so sloooooow
    • Switch Zeldas: Very cool to see. Donā€™t think I necessarily need to play these again, but they look nice. The phone thing is a fun gimmick, but at least Nintendo is thinking about stuff like that.
    • Kirby and the Forgotten Land: This is basically DLC, right? Fun game but man this was WAY too hard at points for a Kirby game
    • Metroid Prime 4: Switch 2 Edition: This is how Iā€™ll probably wait to play this. Kinda wild to see Nintendo offering graphical settings
    • Pokemon Legends Z-A: See, now Nintendo is making problems for me: I want to play this game but I donā€™t want to buy it once and then buy the upgrade pack too to play it on Switch 2.
  • Mouse Mode games: Give me Mario Paint 2 or give me death
  • Third party games
    • Elden Ring: Well, didnā€™t see THAT coming. ā€œTarnished Editionā€ is right; gameplay looking a little rough.
    • Hades II: Not surprised, and thisā€™ll be great. Hades still probably the most-played game on my original Switch. However, I already have it on Steamā€¦
    • Street Fighter 6: Local wireless and exclusive game modes, but no mention of allowing the Switch into the current online play. Pass
    • Daemon x Machina 2: Day 1 purchase for me, no questions
    • Split Fiction: Already playing this! Itā€™s actually a great couch co-op game, my wife loves it
    • Sports: zzzzz
    • Hogwarts Legacy: didnā€™t play it before, not gonna play it now either
    • THPS 3+4: Yeah, probably a day 1 purchase for this too
    • Hitman World of Assassination: I havenā€™t played this Hitman game, but in general modern Hitman games are really fun. A James Bond crossover is interesting. Playing on Goldeneye nostalgia?
    • Bravely Default HD: I have a funny comment about this that is also a story spoiler so if you havenā€™t played it Iā€™m just gonna say: Bravely Default is very fun and Iā€™ll probably get this.
    • Yakuza 0: Iā€™m not gonna buy it and play it again but Yakuza 0 is one of the best games Iā€™ve ever played, happy to see it on Switch. Expect the rest of the series to follow.
    • Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment: it might be nice to have a Hyrule Warriors that doesnā€™t run like garbage (a thing we havenā€™t had since the Wii U, of all things). Iā€™ll end up picking this up.
    • GameCube library on Switch Online membership: this just continues to be worth the money. F-Zero GX definitely the one Iā€™m most interested to play right off the bat.
    • Deltarune: This another one of those ā€œnot surprised to see it on Switch, happy to see it on Switch, but I already have it on Steamā€ moments
    • Borderlands 4: Theyā€™re still making these? Sure, why not. Borderlands is fun.
    • Civilization VII: If they fix the problems the PC version has, I might pick this up, but the PC one launched in really sad shape for a premium AAA title.
    • Survival Kids: Okay, itā€™s extremely funny to see a Konami franchise last seen on the Game Boy Color in like 1999 come back for the Switch 2. This may or may not be good, Iā€™ll probably hold off on picking it up.
    • Enter the Gungeon 2: This should be extremely good if it runs well.
    • Starseeker: I donā€™t know what this is, and the animation looks a little rough, but it gives me No Manā€™s Sky vibes, so might be worth a look.
    • Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition: Is this finally what gets me to play CP2077? Guess weā€™ll find out.
    • FF7 Remake Intergrade: I had a lot of fun with Remake after adjusting my expectations. This is pretty cool to see on a Nintendo platform again.
    • The lightning round at the end (most of these I had no opinion on other than ā€œthat looks coolā€):
      • Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S: Glad to see this series finally getting more consistent US localizations. Another good couch game.
      • Star Wars Outlaws: Maybe Iā€™m underselling the Switch 2ā€™s hardware capabilities. šŸ˜‚
      • Grimdark Pac-man and Raidou Remastered are also on my to-buy list
      • Professor Layton and the New World of Steam: Wait, thatā€™s not a Switch 2 game, thatā€™s coming out THIS year for Switch 1. (And Iā€™ll probably get it.)
    • The Duskbloods: Okay, Nintendo scoring a Fromsoft exclusive is huge. A lot of people who have been begging Sony for a new Bloodborne for years are gonna love this: this feels like itā€™s trying to evoke Bloodborne without explicitly being set in that universe. But a multiplatyer vampire extraction shooter? No thanks.
      • "Run! It's Bloodborne!" "It looks like Bloodborne but due to international copyright laws - it's not."
  • Kirby Air Riders: I cannot imagine this is the game a lot of people wanted from Masahiro Sakurai, but man, Kirby Air Ride was fun. Iā€™ll play this for sure. (Did he really have to say that the first one came out on the Gamecube over 20 years ago though?? My bones hurt.)
  • Donkey Kong Bananza: I honestly cannot believe it took this long to get Donkey Kong in a 3D platformer? With what looks like completely destructible environments, too. This looks extremely fun.
  • The price: 450 is approaching the point of a PC handheld.