Dear Nintendo fans in the Giant Bomb forums

The original Nintendo Switch is about 5 years and 7 months old, currently, in the middle of its life cycle, so I would like to share my early speculation for the successor of this, even though it hasn't been announced yet.

Hardware Power:

I predict it will be in between the PS4 Pro/Xbox One X to PS5/Xbox Series X, just like how the original Nintendo Switch's performance is in between the PS3/Xbox 360 to PS4/Xbox One (Both Vanilla models), capable to run a lot of PS5/Xbox Series X's 3rd party multiplat games (Release in 2023 & beyond).

Gaming Peripherals:

To me, its Joy-Cons and Pro Controller Pad will be even better than its predecessor by having an improved control response, buttons and many other features but I doubt it will feature analog triggers so it retains to use digital triggers instead.

I'm unsure if there are any future Nintendo Switch successor racing games that will support force feedback for the racing wheelbase, but the last one I've known was Logitech Wii Speed Force Wireless Wheel, but it's inferior to the Thrustmaster T500 RS for PS3/PC and Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S for Xbox 360/PC when it comes to the build quality, force feedback and pedals, unfortunately.

If Bemani develops a new installment of Dance Dance Revolution (A rhythm game franchise published by Konami) for Nintendo Switch's successor, I want them to develop the dance pad/mat so the players can have the proper experience.

Social feature-wise:

The return of Miiverse and the ability to send messages from friends to friends, using the mic for voice chat (No matter if it's in-game or party chat) and having the built-in camera so they can share photographs.

Library of games wise:

I'm expecting the Nintendo Switch's successor is going to have a good variety of games (No matter if they're 1st or 3rd party), I'm still hoping F-Zero & Excite Truck return. Mario, The Legend of Zelda and many other Nintendo's first-party IPs will have more & exciting future installments. Plus more new IPs will appear too.

I'm still doubting there will be a Simcade racing game as realistic as Gran Turismo PS6 installment & Forza Motorsport Xbox Series X's successor installment in terms of handling model, just like how GRID Autosport's handling model feels less realistic compared to F1 22, Gran Turismo 7 (PS5 & PS4) & Forza Motorsport Reboot (Xbox Series X/S & PC).

Also, I do know the Nintendo console's library of driving games feels so much different compared to the PC, PlayStation and Xbox (1st & 3rd party combined) but not saying they're bad.

Sidenote:

For video games, if they're ports for whichever specific platform, as long they're well optimized, there is nothing bad if people play them because everyone can play whichever game they want to (Based on what sort of genre, sub-genre and many other things to describe that they like).

I do think we're finally getting to a point where talk of a Switch successor is more reasonable unlike the pretty unsubstantiated rumors that have been going around for years.

Assuming it will be based on something similar to the newer Nvidia Tegra SoCs, I would expect something approaching the PS4/Xbox One level of power - probably focused on better framerates and a targeted 1080p output (maybe some DLSS-like upscaling to push something closer to 4K). I'm just bullshitting and guessing here, but if people are expecting something closer to PS5/Series X, it's not going to happen.

I assume they'll maintain backwards compatibility with the current Switch library - people would be pretty pissed if they don't. It was pretty easy for them to break away from support of Wii / Wii U with the formfactor change with the Switch, but unless Nintendo does something crazy and unexpected, the next console will still be very much a new Switch.

Hopefully we do see some advancement in Nintendo's approach to online and the support of the legacy "virtual console" platforms, but I'm sure it will still end up being nonsensical in some way.

@chaser324: Thank you for appreciating my speculation on this console, yeah rumors can be true or false.

I remembered that back in Q1-Q2 2016, there were rumors saying the Nintendo NX is going to use cartridges instead of discs, which is true as it turns out to be a hybrid console (Shown in the First Look at Nintendo Switch trailer, posted on October 21st, 2016).

It will be good to have backwards compatibility for the Nintendo Switch's successor so those who haven't played these games or either they wanted to relive their fun memories of playing them.

Already been hit on, but backwards compatibility is absolutely key. Both for the eshop and the cartridges. Seeing Switch games not look like trash on 4k TVs would be enough to guarantee my money, as well as seeing eshop purchases carry over to the new generation rather than being made to re-buy favourites on a new system. Nintendo have such a terrible track record on this historically that I have no faith that they will actually do this, but I also feel that they may have reached a critical mass audience for the Switch and with the world being far more online now than 10 years ago I think it will enrage people if they don't do this... It will enrage me any way, such that I may actually not buy it if this is the case.

The online experience in general will hopefully improve, but again, it's Nintendo so there's every chance it won't.

Hoping OLED will be the norm, though I can see it again being an eventual upgrade to keep base model costs down, or perhaps even different SKUs from the start for those who care.

Improved joycons would be nice... I don't hate them, but I would love full sized buttons and a little more... solidity.

If there's a sensible way to make putting a cartridge into the console less of a total pain in the arse I would love it... But I understand the practical usefulness of that rubber flap, so this isn't a deal breaker.

A little more... whimsy? I love the Switch... I've owned pretty much every major console for the last 25 years and the Switch is real close to the top of the list for me... But I do feel like it's a touch... Corporate? Not quite the right word... Safe? Regardless, there's been a little old school madness missing, perhaps.

+1 on hoping for an F-Zero return, by the way.

I believe it will have the power of a PS4/Xbox One. I do believe it will have DLSS for 4K upscaling of their games. It will also have a streaming ability for the more graphic intense games the system can't handle. I don't believe there will be backwards compatibility. This is Nintendo we're talking about folks. What will happen, is that many of the Switch's most popular games will get a Remaster for the new console and sold at full price, which will be 70 dollars. Yes, many people will complain, but we've been here before. At the end of the day, Nintendo fans will still buy it, as Nintendo knows all too well. And of course, they'll use the security and piracy excuse to justify it. Not to mention the trend Sony is starting by remaking games that aren't that old and charging full price for it as something Nintendo fans will point to, justifying the decision. The online will not improve much, but the price of it will rise. This is my two cents on what's going to happen once the follow up to the Switch is announced.

@av_gamer: Yeah, Sony Interactive Entertainment is so arrogant in this generation as they manipulated Naughty Dog to increase The Last Of Us Part 1 Remake to $70 USD, which doesn't make any sense to me. For Nintendo Switch's successor, we will find out what its 1st party game price is going to be like.

@schnool: Pretty interesting speculation.

If Nintendo really is gearing up for a Switch successor, I do think it'll be closer to a 'Switch Pro' than a new console. I feel like if they were planning an all new thing we'd have gotten some sniff of whatever weird gimmick they want to focus on next. They strike me as a company that feels like they always have to do something new and weird with their products.

Instead I imagine whatever comes next will just kind of be a stronger Switch. Maybe they'll double down on games looking and running nice in handheld mode. I don't imagine much will change with the joycons aside from maybe ironing out the drift issues. I could see them introducing more stuff like the ringcon and the leg strap accessories and trying to incorporate those into more of their games.

I don't think Miiverse is ever coming back, aside from the echo of it that lives on in Splatoon 3. The NSO app they have might have some bigger presence or connectivity on the new UI. If it is a "New Switch", I can't see it not playing original Switch games but that also means it won't be the quantum leap some people are hoping for.

My extremely tepid expectation is that whatever it is will basically be a way to play Switch games like Hyrule Warriors or Rune Factory 5 without the framerate dropping to single digits.

You mean the same Nintendo that released the Wii with full Gamecube capability, including GC controller and memory card ports? The same Nintendo that released the GBA, which supported all GB Color and original GB games? The same Nintendo that released the DS, which supported GBA games? The 3DS which supported DS games? The Wii U which supported Wii games?

Nintendo has supported backwards compatibility more often than they haven't, and cases like the Switch where it is not included make sense since the Switch form factor could not reasonably accommodate a disc drive to play Wii U games. The Wii U was also performed terribly, the Switch is a huge success. With over 100 million Switch owners, there is huge incentive to transition those people to the new console seamlessly. Knowing all their existing games will work and possibly look a bit nicer is an easy way to ease that transition.

If the Switch follow up is another hybrid console running on Tegra based hardware, they would really have to make a conscious decision to not support backwards compatibility, since there would be little in the way of technical barriers.

Honestly, there's only one thing I want to see. Full backwards compatibility with Switch.

@ll_exile_ll: The problem is, that was then. A lot of video game companies and developers have gotten pretty greedy over the years. It seems like the main focus is "what can we do to squeeze another dollar off of these pathetic gamers", not "Lets make things easy and convenient for them". This is why I believe the remaster approach, not the backwards compatibility approach will happen with the new Switch. You will get to play an improved version of Breath of the Wild 1 and 2... as remasters, not because the new Switch improved the performance like what a PS5 did for many PS4 games. If I'm proven wrong, then that's good news for everyone, including myself. I would love to play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on a better running Switch.

@av_gamer: At this point, that's just speculation. Since 2000, every console Nintendo has released that could have had backwards combability has had it. They have released 7 systems in that time (GBA, DS, 3DS, GC, Wii, Wii U, Switch), the only 2 that don't have backwards combability had technical barriers. Playing N64 cartridges on the Gamecube was not feasible. Having a disc drive on the Switch was not feasible, nor was supporting 3DS games without a second screen. Every system they've made since the turn of the millennium that could technically support backwards combability has done so.

I understand your point about profit driven decision making, but saying "It won't have backwards combability because it's Nintendo" doesn't make sense when their track record in this area over the past 2 decades does not support that reasoning. You want to talk about things like supporting digital purchases across multiple platforms? That's a different story. They've been absolutely terrible about that, but that's a different topic.

yeah- this is table stakes for me. i've had a great time with the switch, but if i need to re-up on my purchases there, i'm comfortable sitting out the next gen.

i also feel like it doesn't make sense to cast off all the leverage Nintendo acquired during COVID in the hopes people buy new hardware. there were an awful lot of parents that were previously no-video-games households that bought the fuck in, and you lose some of them if there's a non-compat harware refresh.

It'll be the Switch again, but with a Mario themed RTX 4090 duct taped on to the back of it, and they'll bring back the GameCube's lunchbox handle.

@av_gamer: The thing is if the new console is backwards compatible, that's a lot of content that people might not have purchased that they can still keep selling to new and old customers for no effort if the hardware is similar enough. If they go out of there way to not make it backwards compatible yes, they can remaster and sell a handful of old games for a good bit of money, but money will have to be spent porting and updating. And all the thousands of potential sales from old smaller games on there store would be lost. They would be potentially sacrificing many potential small amounts of money for old games for a few high priced remasters. When they can still remaster old games and sell for a higher price, and still be backwards compatible and sell old content for dirt cheap.

And they can still do the old Nintendo thing of removing there old cheap version of a game for the last gen system that is getting a remaster if they want. And Nintendo games even on sale are still ~$40 years after release. So they can keep milking money even with a new system for there first party games, and old third party games also get sold for dirt cheap and still make Nintendo money, and consumers are happy.

So i would argue the better overall way to get money out of consumers is just make it backwards compatible.

@ll_exile_ll: We're all speculating. That's the point of the topic.

@lego_my_eggo: A lot of good points. But there have been a lot of things video game companies could've done to make things simple for themselves and the consumers, but chose to go another path. Hopefully, Nintendo doesn't do this with the new Switch.

@mindbullet: Pretty good speculation.

@ll_exile_ll: We have to take it easy on users' speculation on future gaming products in general.

@facelessvixen: That's an interesting joke about the Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics card strapped with Mario.

When I was browsing through the old 3DS videos, I really wish the Switch's successor to include the AR feature.

I think more than focusing on graphical power they should focus on three things:

1) More storage and RAM so that while the games might be at 1440p with OLED, those worlds can be big with more assets. I think for handhelds the sweet spot is under 4K; so the real upgrades should be frame per second, big memory footprint, and how many assets the system can juggle quickly.

2) Lighter. They don't need wild features those matter less than a system taht is EASY to carry everywhere. Light weigh and play the games you want. Maybe have teh fastest charing battery in teh industry. So not a bigger battery, by maybe one that charges at 120W fast charging fully from 5% to 95% in just about 15 minutes.

3) Once and for all Nintendo should join us in 2022 with a robust functional online presence. Buying, storing and moving games should be easy and secure. Texting, voip, and other communications should be there with a backend like Xbox and PS. Nintendo has to stop pretending the internet doesn't exist.

These are very good speculation and I totally appreciate it.

I feel Nintendo finally nailed it with the Switch. For the successor I really just want another Switch, but more powerful. Agree with the others that backwards compatibility is a must. For my money the Switch has the best (legal) gaming library of all-time. It'd be a shame to lose. But knowing Nintendo, they'll probably opt out of this so that in five years or so they can re-release their Switch games one at a time from the "vault" with minor graphical updates or offer them in an online service.

I think Sony has proven with the PS5 that having full backwards compatibility isn't much of a huge barrier to porting games to the new system anyway. Sure, some people complain, but I'm sure they've turned a profit on games like Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut, Uncharted Legacy of Thieves, and Last of Us Part 1. The PS4 versions of all of those games were backwards compatible, some of them even running better on PS5, but Sony still ported them to PS5 and put out new full priced boxed copies. If the rumors about Horizon Zero Dawn getting the same treatment are true, they plan to continue this.

I can totally see Nintendo going this route of releasing remasters of Switch games on the new Switch even though they are already playable via backwards compatibility. We've even seen them do things like that before. They released a handful of Gamecube games on the Wii under the "New Play Control" line, doing nothing more than adding tacked on motion controls. All of those games were already playable on the Wii. They also put out HD remasters of Twilight Princess and Wii Sports on the Wii U when the Wii versions of those games were already playable on Wii U via backwards compatibility.

All they really need to do is call those games remasters, checking the box of higher resolution and/or framerate, and they can easily re-release them even if the original Switch versions are already playable on the new system.