We’re just over two weeks away from the Nintendo Switch launch and we couldn’t be more excited. It finally feels that Nintendo have gotten all their ducks in a row and realised exactly what they did wrong with the Wii U and are swiftly rectifying it with the Nintendo Switch.
Yes, getting a new console home with you on day one and discovering new things on your own is exciting, but, it’s hard to ignore the fact that there’s a few really important things that we still need more information about.
It’s possible that Nintendo might have a Nintendo Direct, although with each passing day and several major announcements such as the Zelda Expansion pass just yesterday, it’s looking more and more unlikely.
ONLINE FUNCTIONALITY
Honestly, it’s safe to say that everyone has been incredibly confused about the online functionality since the Nintendo Switch reveal on January 13th. From everything down to their premium online service to the free NES/SNES games that you’d get each month.
We still don’t know exactly how much it will cost per month nor do we know exactly when it will launch in Australia. It’s been confirmed that it will only launch in certain regions this Spring, so what does it mean for Australia? Does this mean that we won’t features such as voice chat until even later?
Speaking of voice chat, a statement initially made by NOA President Reggie Fils-Aime basically confirmed that voice chat and matchmaking would be handled by mobile devices and Nintendo haven’t done much to clarify this. Sure, it’s not the end of the world if voice chat and matchmaking are handled on a smart device, but this would be brand new territory for online gaming, especially for a console that’s already breaking the boundaries in terms of known conventions.
VIRTUAL CONSOLE
You might remember that late last year, there was a massive leak containing Game Cube Virtual Console games. Obviously, Nintendo fans and gamers alike were incredibly excited to have games such as Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi’s Mansion on the go. We were expecting to see some sort of announcement on January 13th.
We’ve literally heard nothing about Virtual Console on Nintendo Switch outside of the fact that we know it exists since Nintendo has already stated that we’ll get free NES/SNES games with their premium service. It was also rumoured that the company that developed the emulation for the NES Classic Mini would be taking over production on the Nintendo Switch VC, which is a great sign as these are some of the best emulations of Nintendo games that we’ve seen.
It’s also important for a lot of gamers to know exactly how Virtual Console works as it’s likely that we’ll be buying a lot of these games for a second, third or even forth time. Will we have to pay to upgrade again? I’d personally be OK with this due to the fact that having potentially every single Nintendo game ever released on a portable console is a game-changer.
USER INTERFACE
The Wii U user interface was simple and acceptable for the system at the time, but by the end of the console’s life, it was far behind what the PS4 and Xbox One were capable of. Nintendo has barely revealed anything about the Nintendo Switch UI outside of a few screenshots. Some documents leaked earlier this week that taught us more about how the UI would perform, but I want to see more directly from Nintendo.
From what I’ve seen, the UI already seems worlds better than the Nintendo Wii U, but I want Nintendo to be proud and confident in what they have created and make sure that they own the message before the console gets out there and more information is leaked.
ACHIEVEMENT SYSTEM
This is a big one for a lot of gamers. Trophies and Achievements provides gamers with a reason to replay games and adds value to their purchase. Whilst it’s an incredible vain thing, it does seem to be important. Some Nintendo games already have their own achievement systems. Mario Maker on 3DS made great use of a three medal system for each level.
Nintendo’s mobile games have all implemented achievements really well. Super Mario Run for instance had a number of challenges that you had to undertake in order to get My Nintendo rewards.
It’s not a huge one for me, but I do think that Nintendo games suit an achievement system better than any other. Most of their games would really benefit from having an achievement system increase replay value and add an extra dimension of difficulty.
The Nintendo Switch will launch in Australia on March 3rd. It will retail for $469.95 AUD.
