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[tr1p1ex]

I mean, at the end of the day, its a gut feeling. We never expected the Wii, until it happened. We never expected the Wii U, until it happened. The same for the Switch.

My gut, more than anything, tells me there will be a cross gen period because: The Nvidia partnership will almost certainly happen. It would make no sense to change things now, after so much success. The 3DS had a "cross gen" period, where Nintendo still supported the 3DS for two good years into the Switch. The support was light, but it was there. And that support happened because Nintendo needed a financial safety net for the first year while the Switch gained traction. Which brings me to my third point: Nintendo might want a safety net for the first or second year of the Switch 2 while it gains traction. And the Switch will probably be not only the best selling console of all time, but also the most profitable Nintendo console of all time. So it only majes sense to lean on it for a year or two.

Same architecture doesn't mean cross gen. Their history says this.

And supporting the old system after a new system comes out is not the definition of "cross-gen" either.

Nintendo's titles tend to sell well for a long period of time so 'safety net' is not a concern. Really both of the cross gen titles they have done that I know of, the 2 Zelda games, were done not to get sales from the old platform as a safety net but to escape the old poor performing platform that could only limit sales of a big franchise and really only were released for the old platform because they were promised.

And again Nintendo just hasn't been one to support simultaneous release of the same games across old and new platforms. I think their new platforms are about new ways to play. And once that platform launches, they want to give people a reason to get that platform. I think cross-gen releases work against that long term even though they might have some immediate short term benefit in game sales.

I think when they launch a new system they also feel they've mostly exhausted the old system of ideas. And are ready to move on. IF they are still going to get great sales on the old platform with new games then why would they move on in the first place would be a question you would have to ask yourself if you were Nintendo.

Also people that still want to stay on the old platform still have a ton of games to play. Most people don't own very many games.

btw, the 3ds was supported for longer than usual because the Switch was $300. That was much higher priced then their handhelds have been in the past. And because Nintendo was moving to 1 platform from 2 previously.

 

[iQuasarLV]

Things happen. It was originally being developed by Namco and Nintendo (without revealing the developer) came out publicly to announce that they were starting from scratch with Retro.

Uh, that was literally years ago. We should be seeing the beginnings of PR this year, but noooooo. That excuse only works until you realize its never coming on the Switch if ever.

 

[Walter Matthau]

Uh, that was literally years ago. We should be seeing the beginnings of PR this year, but noooooo. That excuse only works until you realize its never coming on the Switch if ever.

So you think that back in 2017 when Nintendo announced Metroid Prime 4, they took advantage of the “gullibility of the buying masses” as you put it by leading them to believe they were making a game for the Switch when they actually planned to make it a Switch 2 game all along?

Do you think that it might be ever so slightly more realistic that they intended for this to come out for Switch and the development didn’t go as planned?

The quote from Takahashi in 2019 is that they were going to “restart development from the beginning” with Retro taking over and a new director and Nintendo stock took a hit right afterward. Then they started hiring high profile industry veterans as you can read about in the wiki: here

AAA games take forever to make these days. TotK took 6 years to make and had BotW as a foundation to work off of. Further, Nintendo has completely changed their philosophy in recent years when it comes to marketing future titles. The days of announcing something years away are over (which may partially be due to the MP4 fiasco). Meanwhile, there are games that both PlayStation and Xbox showed in their pre launch showcases that have yet to release but I guess Nintendo are the only ones trying to hoodwink consumers.

Metroid Prime 4 may very well end up a Switch 2 exclusive, but that clearly wasn’t their original intent when they announced it in 2017.

 

[Raploz]

No, it won't be cross gen. It will be exclusive to Switch 2.

 

[Woopah]

They announced it for Switch so they will release it on Switch at the minimum, just like Twilight Princess or BOTW.

Well as a rule of thumb Nintendo doesn't do cross gen games. I mean they've only done 2 in their history afaik. Both of them Zelda. I was really only talking about MP4.

Obviously it's easy to make a game for the lesser platform and put it on the newer more powerful otherwise similar platform too. Even if it isn't 2d. IT's the other way around that I was thinking about.

I am not sure Nintendo would have held back Zelda for the next platform for a cross gen release if the next platform was a lot more powerful. It might give the wrong message about what is new about the next platform.

So with MP4, if they make a decision to "switch" development to Switch 2, I assume they will go all out and make a proper Switch 2 version to take as much advantage of that next platform as possible. And we won't see a Switch version. I also figure there has to be more to Nintendo's next system than just a faster slicker Switch.


I assume Switch 2 will have b/c. Because I assume they will stick with Nvidia. And they've done b/c pretty much every gen since GAmecube/GBA days iirc. Only the Switch didn't have b/c because of the big change in architecture.

Nintendo doesn't normally do cross gen, but neither did Sony really until PS5.

 

[tr1p1ex]

They announced it for Switch so they will release it on Switch at the minimum, just like Twilight Princess or BOTW.


Nintendo doesn't normally do cross gen, but neither did Sony really until PS5.

Except they announced MP4 6 years ago with the bare minimum that they are working on it for Switch. And haven't shown anything since and haven't had a rough release period.

Contrast that with TP and BotW which I think had rough release periods and content shown before being delayed maybe a year to launch on the next platform simultaneously.

So I think they feel much less beholden (much less pressure) to release MP4 on the Switch like when they released TP and BotW on GC and Wii U. They had those games pretty much done when they made those decisions. MP4...for all we know could end up being canceled. We know nothing.

And yep Nintendo could always change and do cross gen releases. But I think it is low odds for reasons stated before. ie, Their games sell long term. They want to give people a reason to get the new system. They don't want to make people think the old system still will play the same games. They like to give their new systems new ways to play their games. ...I think with Sony and PS5... they are generally making the same thing but with more power/higher resolution/more frames/more polygons. Nintendo thinks different. I expect them to add a new wrinkle to their next platform. Not just a more powerful Switch.

And I feel like if they are going to dual release their games on Switch after Switch 2 comes just to sell more copies in the short term...then why even bother with Switch 2? I don't think Nintendo is going to do the dual release thing.

Also remember Nintendo is notorious for not repeating games on a system in the same generation. 1 is their favorite number of releases for a franchise/game in a generation. 2 is their second favorite number. And the other numbers don't exist. You'd have to go back to probably Mario Party on GC to find an example of the same game released more than twice. (I think they had 4 or 5 MP games on the GC.)

But anyway the point being, they already aren't about repeating their games/franchises. Even more so their big ones. All the more evidence/reason that they aren't going to turn into doing a bunch of cross-gen releases.

But again it's not a law of physics. And they obviously won't implode if they do that either. But it doesn't sound like Nintendo.