Switch 2 Speculation corner!

 Hey friends, last week, I went off on a bit of a rant about the dangers of unchecked rumormongering, so this week I'm going to talk about some of the details about the Switch 2. It was officially announced last week, along with a short trailer that showed the system off along with the first game, which looks to be Mario Kart 9. This has been a weird week, so let's just jump into it a bit today.

It's About Time!

    Nothing was all that surprising this time around, especially since, as I mentioned last week, the leaks have been ridiculous the last few months from different retailers and accessory companies. We knew that the new console was going to look more or less like the Nintendo Switch, but a little bit bigger. We still don't know anything about the specs of this new machine, but we at least know what it looks like, which is exciting. The now larger Joy-Cons snap onto the sides of this new console using magnets, the screen is bigger than the original model (or the OLED), and the stand is much more flexible than the one that came on the first iteration of the console, and other than that, we don't know much about it. It does feel good to see the thing in an official capacity though. The biggest mystery surrounding the hardware is the inclusion of an extra button on the right Joy-Con this time around, and it seems likely that it's going to have some sort of extra feature that they want to push for this new console. I've seen some suggest that the button would be similar to the "capture" button that's already on the current Joy-Cons, but it would be easier to post it on social media with this button or something, effectively making it like the PS5's "share" button, but I certainly hope it's something more exciting than that. I have no idea what it would be, but I would definitely like to see some extra utility that Nintendo hasn't done before with this button. Another feature was actually teased by the trailer itself, which is the possibility of the Joy-Cons attaching the straps, and acting like a computer mouse somehow? I'm not sure how it would happen, but I've seen people talking about it. If it does have that capability, I'm very curious as to what it could be used for. Mario Paint 2, anyone?

    Along with the console, they briefly teased Mario Kart 9, which, if that's what it is, will be the first fully original Mario Kart game since 2013 with Mario Kart 8 on Wii U (as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was mainly just a port of the Wii U title to the Switch, though it did add an extra game worth of content on top of it with the Booster Course Pass as DLC). Sure, Mario Kart Tour came out for mobile devices a few years ago, but it's a bit of a different beast. Very little is known about this new game so far, because it only showed about 10 seconds of footage, but again, people on the internet have been looking through that footage with a fine comb, and there have been quite a few things noticed from it. For one thing, there's evidence that the number of racers in one race could be massive, with as many as 24 racers per race. A lot of the characters seem to have gotten major graphical overhauls, with Mario being brought into the more cartoony artstyle that originated in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Donkey Kong seemingly getting an appearance inspired by his original arcade game, as well as the Super Mario Bros. Movie. I don't have much else to say, other than the new game could potentially be teasing much larger racetracks, as the end of the trailer just has the racers driving on a long straight pathway. Obviously it's far too early to tell exactly what the deal is with this new game, but I hope that you're as excited as I am!

    That's all I have for you this week, friends, though there's supposed to be a Microsoft Developer Direct tomorrow, and hopefully we'll get something exciting from that. It's hard to say, really, those presentations are never super entertaining, but I hope we'll at least get some information on Doom: The Dark Ages. Either way, it'll be a good time. Thanks so much for reading this post, friends. I hope you're as excited for the near future of Switch 2! Do you have any games that you're hoping for when this new console comes out? I'm hoping for a new Super Smash Bros. at some point, but we'll see how that goes! I hope you're all doing well, and know that I'm thinking and praying for you in the weird and hard days ahead. Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed Nintendo fan, and I'll talk to you again soon!