The Nintendo Switch still has plenty of life left in it
Feb. 21, 2024Opinion | Not everything needs to be about graphics
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To be clear, yes, the Nintendo Switch is really beginning to show its age. While Xbox and Obsidian’s Grounded leading the charge during the announcements today waslargely expected due to recent reports and Xbox’s own acknowledgementwithout naming names, seeing the actual graphics associated with its Nintendo Switch version genuinely made me wince a bit. There’s no denying that some new hardware would ultimately allow for a more powerful little on-the-go console.
There is, however, equally no denying that Nintendo just announced the following video games are all set to release imminently or later this year for the Switch (and, in many cases, other platforms too):
Nintendo Switch who?
You might argue that there’s no huge, massive release in that list. There’s no Zelda, and there’s no Mario. And while that’s technically accurate, there are still so, so many games in that list that immediately excite me and many others. A new version of Shin Megami Tensei V, with an added 80-hour campaign?A remake of Epic Mickey? A new Super Monkey Ball? Theclassic Star Wars Battlefront games, now with Kit Fisto? That’s just scratching the surface, and already my entire year could largely be spoken for.
Sometimes I think that if Nintendo were still putting out 3DS games, I’d still happily be buying them.
Maybe I’m just a sucker for this sort of thing, though. I’ve never really been swayed by graphical fidelity; I’m much more of a mechanical novelty sort of player. If you’ve got something interesting going on under the hood, I can forgive some rough-looking art or cinematics. I’m always more interested in an ambitious idea poorly executed than a boring one that’s technically perfect. Sometimes I think that if Nintendo were still putting out 3DS games, I’d still happily be buying them.
This does in some ways feel like the goal of modern Nintendo. From the outside in, releasing consoles out of step with the Xbox and PlayStation arms race seems to leave the company in a unique position. There’s no real expectation of parity, and Nintendo itself haspreviously saidthat the Switch has broken away from what it “previously considered to be a conventional hardware lifecycle.” The only reason I fully believe all of the reports about the Nintendo Switch 2 is because it seems obvious thatXbox and PlayStation are also looking at what comes next, whatever that is, and so it seems likely that Nintendo would be looking to once again fill the same sort of role, but in a new generation.
But until then, there is plenty to look forward to. While shareholders maybe aren’t too keen on waiting for whatever the next version of the Nintendo Switch ends up looking like, it certainly seems like the future of the current one is arguably just as shiny as it’s ever been. Here’s hoping that Princess Peach: Showtime only further proves my point when it releases in March.
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Even if none of the aforementioned titles are of interest, there is genuinely plenty ofupcoming Switch gamesto look forward to still.
Rollin is the US Managing Editor at GamesRadar+. With over 16 years of online journalism experience, Rollin has helped provide coverage of gaming and entertainment for brands like IGN, Inverse, ComicBook.com, and more. While he has approximate knowledge of many things, his work often has a focus on RPGs and animation in addition to franchises like Pokemon and Dragon Age. In his spare time, Rollin likes to import Valkyria Chronicles merch and watch anime.
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