"I Don't Think The Switch Needs A More Powerful Version" Says 'World War Z' Lead Designer

He knows better than most of us.....

Indeed, Nintendo is not a hardware-specs company. They sell games that people enjoy playing. And hardware to play them on.

MS & Sony are purely hardware based and sell you the same games again and again and again, just with a better coat of paint.

They're not gonna till Switch 2 or whatever is the successor to the Switch me thinks. The OLED was the chance to bring out a Pro mode but now by the time that model; has been out long enough for another model, it would be more ideal just to launch the next system.

Here's hoping Nintendo will embrace Backwards Compatibility like Sony and Microsoft have done. I think everyone's done with starting anew for a system library.

Interesting to see the pov of a dev on this. Would love to hear other devs pov.

I do think that sometimes the ambition of some games, even the one made for the switch, are too much for the hardware, like age of calamity or astral chains.
The more powerful hardware are availables, the more ambitious become some game devs, and the switch is restraining them, creating games that really doesn't run well.

With the Wii Nintendo changed direction, before that they always had the more powerful console. It would be nice to see a new console after a couple of years, and most important backwards compatible if they continue the hybrid console format. Who knows what Nintendo is up to, though I hope that that Wii u tech demo of zelda will someday be a full game.

Weak hardware may be worked around, but it's not a virtue.

Of course they need a more powerful version. If they never upgraded we'd still be stuck with NES, and as much as I love the NES games, I also like the SNES ones. Can live without N64 ones, Gamecube only had a few good titles, Wii was forgettable, WiiU was skippable, and I love the Switch but I am also looking forward to whatever comes next.

@Martijn87

The original Xbox was stronger than the GameCube in that generation of consoles. Just saying.

Well, he can take his opinion and shove it. Mobile hardware ages a lot worse than desktop components

Its a handheld though.

But it struggles to play its own exclusives so no this is garbage talk. Look at hyrule warriors age of calamity. Its notorious for running bad. Also look at dragon quest builders 2 when there are lots of builds the game dips to like 5 frames per second, its a joke. It does need just a little bit of a hardware upgrade.

"Nintendo consoles were never about hardware"

This is such a lie or just pure ignorance: The NES, SNES, N64 and GC were all about trying to be at or near the cutting edge of console hardware at the time. The NES and SNES literally had the taglines "Now You're Playing With Power!" and "Now You're Playing With Super Power!". And Nintendo even told you directly in a magazine ad not to buy a PlayStation before the N64 launched because of all the Silicon Graphics power in the N64. The GC was also more powerful than the PlayStation 2 and around the same power as Xbox at the time, and some people will argue to this day that it was actually the most powerful of all three consoles under the hood.

It wasn't until the Wii that Nintendo apparently stopped caring about console power.

Nintendo has actually launched more home consoles that have focused on power than they have ones that haven't.

Now, in the portable space it's been a different matter since basically day one, but portables have rarely been about raw power anyway because of their very nature.

Of course he would say that, they are bringing their game onto the Switch, don't want to offend big N right. Seriously my phone probably runs Switch games better then Switch itself.

Ah yes a non hardware manufacturer who also has no software on the system he is speaking for definitely knows what he’s talking about. Meanwhile I present exhibit a! Outer worlds! Should the switch stop accepting ports due to low power? No. Should they upgrade the system with a more efficient per clock soc and keep the same power envelope? Yes!

Yes... but at the same time I don't want slowdowns on my animal crossing island
I also want decent ports of 3rd party games.

When you see games like MK and Smash running really well, then Link's Awakening have frame dips.

It's a odd bit of kit.

True, nintendo switch consoles were never about hardware. But, now that they have so many ports with alot of them with questionable quality, they need a better hardware.

@Martijn87 I really hope nintendo have the foresight to ensure the eshop and games libraries we are building are playable on future hardware. They sold 100 million wiis and are on course to do it again here but I have my doubts that they can capture that again if it means starting from scratch. Animal crossing and the covid perfect storm played a big part in the numbers imo, and nintendo shouldn't bank on everyone just abandoning switch for whatever comes in the future

@sanderev Sorry, but i wholeheartedly do not agree with your stance. Games and hardware go hand in hand. XBox gamers, PS gamers, Nintendo gamers and PC gamers are all actually gamers and saying that group X or Y play boring games with just a fresh coat of paint is offensive. We all like to play games! That's it! You may not like certain games and someone else may not like the games you do, but that does not mean your games are better, it means people are different and like different things. Now, nintendo lives in its own bubble, and that's fine. They do keep their (awesome) major IPs close and dont let them out onto other platforms (perfectly fine), but many 3rd party games a) require lots of extra work from devs to optimize, and that may be a deterrent for devs, or they look worse due to weaker hardware or run less than 30fps, and that makes it worse for end user. And people these days are used to something better (and that's fine too). We have games running 60fps as current standard and heck, my phone can run some games with 144Hz (and has power to match that). And when i go back to play on my switch (which i love), i see the difference and i can imagine that for someone else that difference will result in a "i dont want to play on switch at all" choice

Do you want to have fun, or do you want to mash a keyboard with your gripes about Nintendo’s processing power forever..

Agreed Nintendo were never about power. Nintendo was always big on gameplay. I've been playing video games for the last 30 years, and the best games were always graphically simple but thoroughly enjoyable to play. Mario games, Zelda, castlevania all outstanding games that never really needed much power.

Althoug I agree with him, Nintendo consoles weren't "never" about hardware.
SNES, N64 and GC definitively were

Which is why Nintendo have not released a Switch Pro, there is no need to, and it's only the core gamers who even wanted one in the first place.

So long as a game runs well on the system, that's all that matters.

I think it's fine for now, but I do wish they had put 8gb of ram inside at the start. Would have helped developers alot. My concern is when the 3rd party developers start doing next gen only games, they will be almost impossible to port! But I reckon the switch 2 will launch around 2023 to help in that regard.

Personally disagree with this. Metroid Dread looks jaggy in some places when playing on the big screen. Kinda lessens the experience for me.

Contrary to what MS and SONY devs would have you believe, specs don't limit creativity. A lack of imagination does.

I like this kind of articles. Thank you.

What a dumb commnent.

Switch has struggled with ports and multiplats since day 1.

A hacked switch with overclocked clock speeds can achieve higher resolutions and fps that a stock retail switch can. The switch itself is already more powerful than it can run with Nintendos locks in place.

@impurekind,

True, but ever since the GameCube they have gone for more modest power, and tried to tap into the wider blur ocean market, did it with the Wii and DS, struggled a bit with the 3DS and Wii U, but have killed it with the Switch, and with the hardware turning a profit, awesome job in my opinion.

Never been interested in the graphics master race and I usually pickup consoles when they're cheap later into their cycle. That said, I do think the Switch is doing alright and I can definitely do without a Pro version for the next 2-3 yrs. I do have a PS4 as well so I can get more demanding games there if I want to. Others who don't have a 2nd option would benefit from a Switch hardware upgrade so I understand that there is a demand for it.

He's a lier it desperately needs more power

@RupeeClock Of course it takes effort to port a game to a system. But just "throwing more expensive hardware at it" has never been a long term solution. Especially for a younger audience that doesn't have the money for a full powered system.

Don’t need new consoles to sell you old games.

@Matthew90 That is not an Nintendo game, plus those games are notorious for being taxing due to the amount of mobs it needs to generate on the screen.
It´s all about optimization and not all developers are equally good at it.
I have plenty of games in my XBOX inventory that run bad even on my new XBox series X. (Cyperpunk 2077, Elder Scrolls online, etc)

Just saying.

@RupeeClock Bullocks! Just see how long the PS3 and XBOX360 were supported and right now PS4 and XBox One (though the latter is more easy due to virtually seamless backwards compatibility.)

Cant even run animal crossing or pokemon at 60fps.....

@RupeeClock Yeah.. no. Publishers support systems as long as there are enough people that still own that system to make a profit. This is why the Wii U failed in less than a year after it's release. This is also why the Switch is doing as good as it does.

Just remember, we have never seen this much third party games on a Nintendo console since the first Playstation was released.

@F_Destroyer And except for the SNES, none of those were huge successes.

Nintendo made successes with (not counting exclusive handhelds): the NES (which was running on old hardware even for its time), the SNES (decently modern), Wii (outdated hardware, but very popular due to its motion control) and Switch (a low powered mobile SoC with again very unqiue controls and mobility)

And you think it's weird that Nintendo doesn't focus purely on power?
Nintendo could NEVER compete with Sony or MS in forms of power per dollar or network services. Nintendo purely relies on game and console sales. Where as Sony and MS are a lot bigger than just Playstation and XBOX.

Nintendo used to be about hardware, especially on the home front that didn't face the perrenial autonomous charge consumption challenges of the portable one. Mode 7 alone arguably empowered more visual advancements and design choices than HD and 4K ever will (especially since I'd be hard-pressed to think of anything the latter actually contributed in this regard). Then the House of Mario started getting elbowed out by... gimmicks like multimedia capability or borderline gimmicks like larger storage capacity (which the majority of involved Gen 5 devs can frankly seem to have spent on cutscenes and FMVs more often than on actual game environment etc). After GameCube, one of its generation's most powerful consoles and a wielder of then-exclusives like Resident Evil 4 and Tales of Symphonia, got significantly outsold by a DVD player... they decided to focus on so-called "gimmicks" - albeit the ones actually related to and enhancing the gameplay - themselves. The rest is history.

eeerrr Nintendo Consoles were about power back in the day!

The N64 had a marketing campaign stating it was the worlds most fastest/powerful games console.

@Total_Weirdo And yet the PS1 outsould the N64 by many times.

Nintendo is not about cutting edge tech (these days), but some of their own games run very poorly on the current hardware. I don't know why anyone would not want there to be an upgrade available. If you're happy with what you've got then no problem, stick with it.

He's not wrong. No Nintendo console has ever needed a mid-cycle refresh to its base specs—but that's never stopped them from doing it, or the market from buying it, or the pattern to become sufficiently established that we all expect it.

I'd rather we just got to a proper successor at this point.

@sanderev

” MS & Sony are purely hardware based and sell you the same games again and again and again, just with a better coat of paint.”

And Nintendo isn’t? The same company who sell people overpriced WII U and other old ports?

@RupeeClock Yeah, but, not a lot of people will want to pay the cost of said console, especially if Nintendo wants to make a profit off of it. Heck, Steam Deck is technically last gen tech, they are recklessly taking massive losses on each system sold and their basic model is still USD$50 more expensive than the Switch OLED, $100 more than the normal Switch, $200 more than the Lite.

Nintendo targets a family affordable market range. Hence why the release of the Switch Lite is so important to them. We won't see an upgrade until manufacturing costs allow them to release one at about USD$300, with the ability to release a low end version at $100 cheaper.

People say games run choppy on it, but at higher specs devs will push the envelope further, thus some games will still run choppy. Nintendo's handheld/hybrid consoles will never run at par with current gen dedicated home consoles. The pricing for a handheld console of that capability would be astronomical.

Frankly, I think the Switch still has a few more years in it. Nintendo has released some of their best games in generations on it, despite the consoles shortcomings.

@MrHonest Ofcourse Nintendo sells ports. And I never said they didn't.

No, I'm talking about gameplay innovation. Which is something only Nintendo does. Or Nintendo does first.

Because just look at the XBOX Series X|S or PS5, what is truly different about them in terms of GAMEPLAY compared to the previous gen? I can't say I know any.

Switch vs Wii U:
1. Play anywhere
2. Sharable controller
3. Table top and handheld play
4. Improved motion controls
5. HD Rumble

XBOX Series X|S, PS5: just another box near the TV.

When Nintendo games struggle with hardware, you know the hardware isn't powerful enough and that's exactly what has happened. Age of Calamity, Bowser's Fury and Metroid Dread all struggle with framerate issues.

It definitely feels like the Switch Pro rumours were true at one point but the chip shortage forced it to be replaced by the OLED model and instead we'll end up with a full successor around late 2022/early 2023.

”No, I'm talking about gameplay innovation. Which is something only Nintendo does. Or Nintendo does first.”

So where is the gameplay innovations? So far Nintendo hasn’t impressed.

” Switch vs Wii U:
1. Play anywhere
2. Sharable controller
3. Table top and handheld play
4. Improved motion controls
5. HD Rumble
XBOX Series X|S, PS5: just another box near the TV.”

So basically a glorified handheld? That’s hilarious lol.

He is right and wrong at the same time. Yes, Nintendo's console was never about hardware and some talent studios show us there is no impossible port, but that ports would take less effort, come to us more quickly and in a greater number if the console had more power.

I think Saber is mainly marketing itself here.
“Who are these devs that think Switch is powerful enough? We should hire them!”

"Nintendo consoles were never about hardware, they were always about something that boosts your gameplay experience, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next."

With a console that struggles to hold constant 30 FPS on more and more games (even 1st party ones), said gameplay experience is in serious trouble ...

@Gwynbleidd Framerate tanked for me whenever Bowser appeared in Bowser's Fury (3D World had no problems) and during boss fights in Metroid Dread (especially later ones).

The Switch is the first time I've ever agreed with this sentiment. I always used to want better and better graphics, and was a big critic of the Wii, but however many years it is since the Switch launched, I'm still not feeling the need for more powerful hardware. It'll come, of course, but I really think Nintendo has hit upon the perfect formula here.

I've also experienced framerate issues with Dread during the latter half of the game (in boss fights) as well as common instability during Hyrule Warriors. I'd be fine with the Switch if it weren't for the fact that their own games often suffer in places.

I'd be perfectly fine with an upgraded switch that could at least maintain 1080/60 in something like Breath of the Wild which shouldn't require hardware that'd alienate the current hardware enabling new titles to at least run on it. Something like that I'd be fine using for the next couple of years and I don't think it's that unreasonable to ask for in 2021.

In the future, once 4K is a lot more widely used by console gamers Nintendo can come in with their next system that utilises that scaling technology they're looking into.

@MrHonest
What other handheld has TV play, tabletop play, sharable controllers and HD rumble? None.

But yeah, the Switch is a handheld. A handheld that can play a lot of the current gen console games. Isn't that INNOVATION?!!

bad take lmao

@sanderev i dont think youve played an xbox or playstation exclusive in your life before

@sanderev Ipad? The hybrid model isn’t new. I wouldn’t Switch innovative.

@Kitoro I've played many.

@MrHonest Switch vs iPad

1. Physical controls
2. A HUGE library of games.
3. Tabletop play out of the box.
4. TV play out of the box.
5. Physical game media.
6. MicroSD card slot.
7. Oh and it's about 1/2 the price.

There has never been a handheld gaming console that could dock with the TV, use normal controllers while docked, could be used in handheld and tabletop mode. Sure there have been handhelds with a TV out, but that doesn't count.

its not like they cant be innovative without making a powerful console , those 2 aren't exclusive , and if its a price issue then I'm sure most people would still buy it if it has nintendo exclusives.

@themightyant put your headphones on and watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA&t=1s

3D audio is nothing new, and can be achieved with 10 euro worth of headphones and a device that can play yt video. Like a Switch.

PS5s are completely unavailable here where I live currently. But I've heard the Sony "3D audio" experience through my Sony wireless headphones.

@Ultrasmiles Okay, Nintendo makes a Switch with about the same power as the PS5. It's still handheld so it needs the most recent mobile SoC. Comparable to that in the iPhone 13.

That Switch would cost around $1000. How many children will get that Switch from their parents?

@RupeeClock Simple: Switch isn’t a phone- it’s the successor to Wii U. Nintendo will always stick to the OG, traditional form of console cycles (4-6 years). It’s Sony/MS that are straying from the formula.

@sanderev Never said they were successfull though, just not true to say that they never did it. GC was a killer when it came out, too bad it never got the succes it deserved.

@themightyant “Herculean effort”? You guys have no idea what you’re talking about, and this very article should prove it to you.

Developers need MONEY AND TIME to port a game. Nintendo hardly funds ports, and PUBLISHERS are to blame for using the “impossible port” excuse to not do their job (properly fund the game for every platform).

It’s sad that everyone is oblivious to this and immediately jump to to hardware while having zero experience on how the technology works.

Y’all are sad.

@sanderev

“ Physical controls”

You can use controller on Ipad too.

“ A HUGE library of games.”

Ipad have ton of games even through many of them are shovelware.

” TV play out of the box.” ” Tabletop play out of the box.”

Do you even try? This is basically nothing

” Physical game media.”

Fair, but not everyone cares about physical media.

” Oh and it's about 1/2 the price.“

That’s interesting since i’ve seen ipad cheaper than Switch.

Dude, this is just sad.

@nhSnork "GameCube, one of its generation's most powerful consoles and a wielder of then-exclusives like Resident Evil 4 and Tales of Symphonia, got significantly outsold by a DVD player"

What a troll. The PlayStation 2, the console I can only assume your trolling is referring to, had one of the greatest software libraries of any generation, with some of the most acclaimed and highly rated titles of all time ... and yes it could also play dvds. If Nintendo had thought that dvd would make a difference, they should have included it themselves or marketed the Panasonic Q worldwide.

Apart from Panic Button, It's great that Saber and Virtuous are taking the time and effort (and risks) to port/develop games on Switch.

I just can't imagine how World War Z would play on Nintendo Switch.
But then I recall that it's Saber!

I dare him to play Age of Calamity and say that again. At the point where their own games struggle to keep a consistent frame rate, then yes, maybe Nintendo should put a little more oomph into their hardware.

Developer/publisher buy in is what counts (and a decent game engine or funds to create or retool one). Not every game is a graphics powerhouse nor does it need to be, but when devs don’t put in the effort or don’t have publisher backing to put in the effort any game can suffer. There are plenty of games that chug on the xbox one x/ps4 pro so throwing a homogeneous hardware solution at the issue isn’t the real answer. Otherwise PC gaming would have died out long ago. Or at the very least would not allow the range in specs that it does. Or for that matter Nintendo would not be able to produce the pretty games it does on the Switch.

Teams used to either be focused on optimization or at least have a specialized port team in house or a go to 3rd party. Now its all about the road map or the vision without actually getting working product out the door. This is common on AAA games so it isn’t surprising that studios that see Nintendo as an afterthought continue to have issues. Granted not even Nintendo is perfect (BOTW Lost Woods) but those are more the exceptions.

I do wish people would stop acting like Nintendo didn’t/doesn’t care about graphics though. The difference is they have a withered hardware policy. They try to pick/build from established but powerful, stable tech that lowers Investment costs but increases profit. When the xbox entered the game it started the specs race (the worst Nintendo had to contend with prior to that was CD vs Cartridge which from a technical perspective they chose the better but more expensive and thus limited tech) for graphics. Before then Nintendo was winning that match up with little effort. There is a difference between a software/movie company where gaming is an arm that they can throw money at until it is lucrative vs an entertainment company that thrives on its own internal development and licensing. People forget the price that comes with bleeding edge: higher price, limited, structured gaming production (look at how many devs have gone under in the past 20 years and how many chase whales now), higher hardware failure and more substantial refreshes (RToD,YLoD, pro and x systems), harder to code for and thus inconsistent porting (PS3).

Nintendo consoles were never about hardware. So why Nintendo 64 was named Nintendo 64? No it wasn't about the over-expensive 64 mb cartridge

You know what boosts my gameplay experience? A stable 60fps and an actual HD resolution. I love Nintendo but they are always stubborn and cheap when it comes to tech nowadays. It's at the point where even 1st party games do not run well on the hardware. See Age of Calamity for more.

@sanderev oh they will get it, instead of getting a switch , switch lite and switch oled. One powerful switch would be enough

@WhiteUmbrella if you consider this trolling, "DVD player" must be the only two words you've read from the entire comment.😅

@Dethmunk well said …. Well said. I do agree with your points here.

That said, I dare Saber Interactive to port Cyberpunk 2077 to Switch. They said there is no such thing as an impossible port right? Why not cyberpunk 2077? I dare them to port that game

He shouldn’t have said that, because every Nintendo fanboy that believes for some idiotic reason that there is a switch pro, will be after his blood now

This guy gets it, graphics do not make great games. Gameplay does and he clearly sees the right sacrifices to make in order to get a game on switch. I'm really tired of the hardware purists that keep calling for a switch pro too.

@impurekind With hardware, Nintendo's approach was always have the best possible performance with the lowest price possible. And each time they had "the most powerful" hardware, it went terribly wrong for them, examples are the N64 and GameCube. And they always prioritize gameplay over horse power, so, saying the contrary is saying something totally innacurate and ignorant.

Reason why all the "rumors" are just crap news. Sites only do them to get clicks and views, that's all.

If we're talking spec revisions that lead to exclusive games and content, then Nintendo was "about hardware" for the Game Boy Color, DSi, and New 3DS. So the majority of their handheld generations so far.

@GrailUK This is exactly my though process behind limitations. As well. I think that limitations help breed imagination. Having something limit you makes it so you have to think of a new way to approach things. And having everything given to you to just make things look better doesn't really breed innovation.

Agreed, Nintendo always bring something new to the table. They have to be working on something cant wait for that reveal some time in the future.

@nhSnork Nintendo didn't lose to a "dvd player", they lost to a superior software line-up, it's as simple as that. Troll away, troll.

@B_BIackNinja_N Agreed

@B_BIackNinja_N maybe Nintendo should "innovate" themselves some decent, stable framerates an online system that wouldn't be embarassed by the competition of 15 years ago, then.

I actually agree as it's selling like hot cakes still. It's the next gen successor that will need it. Not current gen IMO

@WhiteUmbrella I'm not gonna deny that they could and probably should. But in the scheme of things I think that gaming is most often given unique innovations or expressive imagination when there is a limit in place.

I wish more developers had this attitude instead of making lazy cloud games

@sanderev and Nintendo doesn’t sell you the same games again and again? Umm what universe do you live in?

Id tell this dev to go play hyrule warriors aoc and tell me we dont need more power. The slowdown in that game is the perfect showcase for how outdated the switch is

@WhiteUmbrella "the superior lineup" that GameCube shared quite a bit of, with few to no hardware factors preventing the rest from going multiplat as well. And PS2 continued to sell even long after the consumers of this lineup moved on to next generations.

You still seem to be missing the point, fan, but it's your preference to be/act paranoid instead of just clarifying. Still, if I aimed to troll anyone in a fandom, I guarantee it would be much more explicit and caustic.😏

@MrHonest "do you even try" sounds like a daring rebuttal coming from someone whose own argumentation unironically suggests tethering and holder-propping or duct-taping a third party controller to an iPad. 😅

@dres

True, but they were really close. They just made weird choises with the discs, but the rest was impressive.

@BigE
I hope so. If they really use the franchises they have were in for a big treat for the remaining of the switch years and the next.

I would be curious to see what could be wrung out of the system if it stuck around a few more years.

I would respect a lot more opinions here if I knew that those making them actually had experience in what they were talking about. Hard to argue for or against something when all you've seen is from the outside.

Making downgraded ports with graphics settings turned down and audio compressed to garbage is not an indication of an “impossible” port. Especially when the downgraded experience costs more than the premium one. I will never support charging $60 for downgraded PC games, and it’s not magical just because it’s on a small screen.

@sanderev way to fanboy. Wanna talk about all Mario spin-offs? Pokémon?

@nhSnork Just what I would expect a troll to say. Gamecube didn't share any MGS2, MGS3, Silent Hill 2, 3, 4, Gran Turismo 3 and 4, Forbidden Siren and the sequel, Resident Evil Outbreak File 1 & 2, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Killzone, Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, San Andreas but really, if I list them all we'll just be here forever.
Hasn't it been said often enough here, and claimed on Nintendo's behalf, that "software drives hardware"? So really it must have been the software available on PS2 that made it outsell Gamecube so strongly. That, plus Sony having the foresight to predict how important the dvd format would be. I don't imagine innovating online play and including (shock) an ethernet port in later models of the PS2 would have hurt in a time when a certain figure within Nintendo described online play as "just a fad". lol

@BenRK What rubbish. That is like claiming that a person has to be able to build a car in order to give a valid opinion of what it is like to drive it, or that reviewers on Tripadvisor should be able to run a hotel in order to relate the experience of staying there.

@Zeldawakening Exactly right - I’m playing MURDER HOUSE side by Side with metroid dread and I haven’t taken a seconds thought to wonder what the frames per second were on these graphically limited games because i’m too buy enjoying myself.

@themightyant
Yeah this seems to be the general consensus when it comes to a theoretical successor or "new nintendo switch" and i very much agree.

In regards to the situation.
The majority of the time discussion surrounding specs and a potential hardware update come up not when a game isn't hitting 60fps or 4k but rather when a game is struggling to maintain 30fps or dropping to below 720p frequently. (such as MHstories 2 and age of calamity)

its not a "nintendoomed" situation, nintendo is doing fine as it is, its just more just making it so it hopefully feels like less of a roll of the dice when it comes to third party ports, and hopefully when the chip shortage isnt as bad.

Lot of spec obsessed people still sore about no Pro miffed here

@Zeldawakening same

@Dethmunk yeah. But since it had trouble running on the base PS4 and the One S, I don’t see it happening

@Thatsalie wrong it's a hybrid, but it's mostly treated as a home console

@RupeeClock phones have a wider and higher demand then game consoles.

@F_Destroyer yes and the last two didn’t sale well vs the Wii.
Their mobile market proved them a working formula.

@Ocaz but Saber does have software on the Switch.

@swoose I wouldn't say that Nintendo was about power when both the DS and 3DS couldn't even remotely come close spec wise to the PSP or Vita...

Every one keeps mentioning Age of Calamity running like trash... But fail to mention that all of Omega Force games generally don't run well on any platform.

"Nintendo consoles were never about hardware"

most powerful consoles at the time of release:
NES
SNES
N64
GameCube (except for xbox which came out at the same time.)

most powerful handhelds at time of release:
Gameboy
GBA
DS
3DS
Switch

only consoles missing from this list are the wiis. im sure someone will correct me if im wrong.

people need to get a grip with this narrative.

@-wc- Both the DS and 3DS was not the most powerful handheld at the time. That award goes to PSP and Vita. The only reason the Switch is most powerful handheld is cause it had no competition... If we had gotten a Vita 2. It would have probably out paced the Switch due Sony probably trying to make a decent side system to the PS5 and PS4 Pro.

@themightyant And therein is the problem, everyone here (and in general) just regurgitates what they THINK is trusted opinion as an Appeal to Authority fallacy. Either the information is accurate, or it isn't.

I've read the "interview", and watched the Saber documentary- nothing they are doing is extraordinary- they had to rewrite junk code form platforms with higher core counts that literally were not using them (even they admit most of the calls Switch couldn't pull past Core2 were empty modules or dedicated to sound which can be routed to the DSP).

What they're pointing out is that nowadays developers hardly write to the metal anymore (GameBoy, Saturn, etc) so anything that isn't plug-and-play is considered substantial now.

That isn't a Herculean effort, that's doing YOUR JOB as a developer with a different target than the lead SKU. It's literally what you're paid to do. Hardware is irrelevant, because the code can always be executed in a different way that is far more efficient.

Again, stop quoting other people's words and use your own- if you don't understand what's happening under the hood, then just say so and move on. Quoting without understanding is just the blind leading the blind.

NEXT.

@RupeeClock Adhering to that formula is beneficial because the only one sticking to it (Nintendo) is the only one with over 10 billion in CASH. Sony and Microsoft are tied to market cap, and have no real cash flow.

The OG formula works IF your IP is strong enough. Otherwise, you end up creating a subscription service for your $60/$70 SKUs, instantly devaluing them.

Or like previous gen, have AAA games that end up being a 5th of the MSRP within 6 months of launch.

Nintendo doesn't have this problem, so they have no need to break tradition like others MUST do.

@Martijn87 I wouldn't say "always." NES was kind of on its own without any real competition when it came on the market. SNES was up against Genesis and that contest was kind of a toss-up. N64 was technically "more powerful" on paper but it was gimped by the use of cartridges vs. the PS1's CD's and it was harder to develop for than PS1 so a lot of that power was never tapped into by devs. Again, another toss-up. GameCube was definitely the most powerful console of its generation but like N64 before it, it was inhibited by the choice of media format. Those tiny discs meant games couldn't contain as much data as a game on PS2.

As for the handheld side, those were intentionally made with old tech that was massively underpowered compared to the competition. This started with Game Boy, which competed with systems like the Game Gear and the Lynx, and was true all the way down to the last pure handheld, the 3DS, which was up against the PS Vita.

So yeah, power alone has never been Nintendo's focus with their hardware, and it was never really used as marketing bait to hook customers, either. They've always focused on gameplay and how games are played.

A more powerful Switch might be able to run Hollow Knight at 1080p in docked mode. This means we need a more powerful Switch for Silksong. Everything else is irrelevant.

@CodyMKW
Its mostly treated as a handheld. The OLED version and Switch Lite proves that. 😉

@WhiteUmbrella your bullheaded ignorance on what "trolling" means aside, thanks for illustrating my very point. None of the games you've listed were below GameCube's hardware capabilities, so they could have been easily ported (and at least one Metal Gear Solid game factually was) - but even without them, the console still had Baldur's Gate and Beyond Good & Evil, True Crime and Simpsons: Hit and Run, Burnout and Need for Speed, GUN and Prince of Persia, Medal of Honor and Tom Clancy games, Crash and Spyro, Phantasy Star Online and Soul Calibur, NBAs and FIFAs galore, the whole flagship Resident Evil lineup to date... but Sony still had DVDs on its side, although calling it a "foresight" is a stretch - they were simply among the medium's manufacturers themselves and still remained a multimedia juggernaut to the core (which arguably shaped all the PlayStation consoles at least up until the genuinely game-prioritizing PS4). But it was a still a "gimmick" that pushed the technically lower spec console far beyond its competitors' sales figures. As for online (which Nintendo eventually adopted, just like Sony would later adopt the initially dismissed "fad" of motion and touch controls)... somehow it didn't save Dreamcast, so it clearly wasn't THE feature either.

@Shadow_Fox Welcome to the site...looking forward to seeing your input.

@nhSnork DVD is not a "gimmick". Movies are still sold on the format to this day. Also this "None of the games you've listed were below GameCube's hardware capabilities" I don't understand how the fact that any of the PS2 games could have been ported to the Gamecube is even relevant to the PS2 surpassing the Gamecube software line-up. This is a strawman if it doesn't argue against a point I made, and it doesn't.

I think Metroid dread looks pretty bad, but it's because it runs at 60fps. I don't think anyone with the switch as a secondary console thinks there needs to be a switch pro. I'm an insane graphics whore usually, but the switch is fine, especially for 1st party games. If u only have the switch to play graphic intensive games on, i can understand ur pain, but my advice is get a series S for those games that need more processing power. Games u can only play on switch are great, i don't think they would make them look much different if they were making those games to run on ps5 level hardware, so the extra horsepower would be wasted. Sure, they'd be in 4k, but i have learned to play switch games in handheld recently & they all look great there, even Metroid dread looks great in handheld.

FWIW, Nintendo Life needs a feature in the comments section that takes u immediately to the post a person is responding to. It's way too time consuming to try to find every post in a conversation, or to even find where it starts. If there was a button on each post that took us to the post the person's comment responded to, it would be insanely helpful.

Or, u could even put the post number that someone responded to in each post, in addition to their username, so we could manually find it. That would be much easier for your webmaster/s to implement.

I still say the Switch could do with at least 12GB of RAM and at least 256GB Of on board storage and a new CPU/GPU so you can game at a stable 60fps in handheld and a chip in the dock that can upscale games from 1080p to 1444p. This should be enough to add to the Switch OLED. Don't need to change the form factor for the next Switch. This really is a device that can last for years with 2-4 yearly refreshes.

@Martijn87 Exactly. You can argue Nintendo doesn't currently stress about specs. But saying they were never about strong hardware is kind of informant. The NES stood above its competitors, the SNES was stronger than the Genesis/Mega drive and few other efforts caught any market share. N64 took a different path from the CD model, for good and ill. It wasn't a weak system by any means, although the cartridge format had some drawbacks compared to optical media. GameCube wasn't the king of it's gen, specswise, but it did take the silver medal. It was the Wii that changed their focus, and that left the Wii U in an unfortunate position. What generation was it? It was more powerful than its immediate rivals of 360 and PS3, but came out a stones throw away from X1 and PS4.

Yeah, why offer a version that can eliminate performance issues in games like BoTW or ports like Doom. Just let the experience on those game be subpar because one developer says he disagrees.

@Kisame83 Exactly, Nintendo didn't shift away from specs until the Wii.

N64 used cutting edge 3D graphics technology and hardware from Silicon Graphics Inc. Star Wars Rogue Squadron was an amazing game that showed how great the technology was in the N64.

The GameCube had specs much better then PS2. There was a reason why the GameCube version was preferred by people without fanboy bias, before other ports became widespread. It could compete with visuals that came close to Xbox with better frame rates (rock solid) in a lot of games. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II embarrassed a lot of games on Xbox due to the simpler hardware in the GameCube, which made designing games that look great actually faster.

There was a reason why Xbox 360 went with their own version of the GameCube CPU(IBM Power-PC)/GPU (ATI)

Factor 5 was an amazingly talented company. Sad to see them go, all because Lucas Arts had a change in leadership and dropped them. They partnered with Sony and were forced to remove manual controls and instead insert Sony motion alone. Sony ensured the game could never be good and destroyed the company.

Some of you guys just don’t understand.
I agree, the Switch does not need to get more powerful. People will buy it and enjoy it anyway and Nintendo will still make big money.

Nintendo is not competing in the same ballpark as Sony and MS.
And that’s because Nintendo has Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, Animal Crosing, Metroid, Star Fox, Donkey Kong, Splatoon, ARM’s and so on.

They don’t need to compete spec wise when they have so many great exclusive, the lower price and an image of being family friendly.

For Nintendo, we have been on the same power level for about ten years now. The Switch doesn’t have drastically improved improved performance compared to the WiiU for a number of reasons.
But I agree that the current switch doesn’t need a pro version. I don’t think it will get a pro version anymore. I think we will get a switch 2.
The reasoning is simple: Even if we would get a pro. Could we actually use the power? All the games would still have to be able to run on the original switch, so it would never reach it’s full potential.

Well I think there is a need.

I agree. The Switch 2 will be out in a few years, so there will be a more powerful version of the Switch. Probably PS4 Pro powerful.

@sanderev Why do people give praise but insult the same time? Tell me how is Demons Souls Remake, Returnal and the new Ratchet and Clank the same game?

@impurekind All true, though it's also true that with each new powerful console they launched their sales slumped further behind the previous until it hit almost total irrelevance in the market, while the weak portable hardware sold stronger and stronger, and the comparably weak Playstations dominated.

So they were focused on power for a time, and that proved to be a perpetual downward spiral for them. Though Sega's marketing of the Genesis/Megadrive as the power system probably jumpstarted a market perception of Nintendo that gained its own life.

@WhiteUmbrella movie DVDs still being used today also isn't an argument against the fact that they had no relation to video gaming (FMV titles don't count) twenty years ago. But they still hit the bullseye. You must have lost track of the whole topic by now (although it can feel like our entire conversation wouldn't have happened if you kept track of it to begin with😅), but the article quoted a claim that Nintendo was never about spec power, and my point from the start was a reminder of back when they were... only to get curbstomped by the technically weaker hardware that went for something fancy and explicitly extra at the time. All the "software" you listed as "selling hardware" here could have been on GameCube as well, alongside all the cool stuff that actually was - so why did so many projects flock to PS2 instead? Because parent wallets still played the major role in the console market, and they would more readily unzip towards a console that "incidentally" doubled as the cheapest DVD player out there. All the power, all the medium efficiency (fanheads like to bark at its lower capacity but forget the stuff like faster reading speeds), all the select things done even more efficiently than on XBox (aka nominally THE most powerful Gen 6 console)... and none of it translated to higher sales. Heck, not even the fondly remembered controller did. Granted, it bears mentioning that PS2 did have one properly game-related perk over GameCube - the backward compatibility - but calling it a "DVD player" isn't trolling no matter how often you parrot the word, it's the acknowledgement of what truly made it print money, attract all the games you credit as a cause when they were more of a consequence and ultimately play its part in Nintendo's own choices for the generation that followed.

@nhSnork There's nothing wrong with my comprehension abilities, but judging from your opening sentence, yours need some work. If you think I can't keep track of the topic, that begs the question, why such a long missive? I still don't see the relevance of the PS2 software being technically possible on the Gamecube, since it wasn't actually on there. That's like trying to diminish the Switch because absolutely everything it has could easily run on a PS5. Don't you ever let go?

@WhiteUmbrella I'm afraid that's my line.😅 And I don't think I can explain it more transparently than in the previous reply, especially when we both have the context of the entire topic and article at hand - both of which revolve around your kind's allegations that a console needs to be on/above par in hardware specs to get consistent third party support. Whether you missed that part or continue to feign having missed it for the very purposes you accuse others of, I don't think I have much to add that would remedy the situation.

@sanderev if you really have then you would know how they arent the same game repainted or whatever

@nhSnork Clearly, the possibility of a port that never happened has little to do with one console outselling another, and everything to do with the power of the prospective hardware it is being ported to (or not).
Also, your words "my kind"? Perhaps you would care to elaborate on that. Please bear in mind that, depending on your answer, Nintendolife may choose to ban you.

@WhiteUmbrella not sure if you're being sarcastic, but it's the very rhetoric that constantly targets Switch and the one addressed in the article (...you HAVE read the article at all, haven't you?😅).

There's nothing to clarify about "your kind" part either (especially as I'm also an unfortunate specimen of it myself) - I openly named this kind when I called you a fan earlier. And yes, that's an insulting word in my vocabulary; if you have an issue with it (and any fan would be expected to), I unironically advise you to take it up with the mods, not with me. I don't care for and don't dispute bans - being consciously sociopathic comes with awareness of social consequences.

I have to laugh because these type of 'Is Nintendo hardware X powerful enough' threads always create a lot of posts and strong feelings. First....who the heck doesn't want something more powerful than we currently have, always? If you are a core gamer you always want the next thing and you always hope its both BC and plays old games better. So sure bring on the Super Switch Pro 2.0 and I will buy it day one.

As for the current situation....geez ppl the Switch is getting a ***** ton of ports and its getting games/franchises that never saw the light of day on Nintendo. People complain about some of the bad ports, but there are many, many really good ones. Ports from x86 generation that are amazing. I mean getting games like Witcher3, Doom, NBA2K all running and looking nice on Switch is amazing...meanwhile many other last gen ports are quite good and performing acceptably.

Ports are all about software publishers extending the life cycle and profits of popular IPs....the Switch is getting ports because it has sold close to 100M units and is still going strong. Specialist port companies have evolved like Saber and PanicB specifically because they can shoehorn games that shouldn't be possible onto the platform. As for those 'worried' that ports will stop flowing.....all development now is being done to highly scale. Devs are going to continue to support older x86 platforms for a while (ps4/xb1/PC) so games are being made to scale and 'tricks' like dynamic resolution allow games to come to weaker hardware and still run acceptably.

My last point and I make this often......there is currently no true successor to the X1 chipset. Nvidia is surely cooking up something and with the success they have had with Switch surely they are working with Nintendo to some degree to develop the next great mobile SOC. The panicdemic and world chip shortages surely slowed down the development of new SOCs. So when we see Nvidia announcing a new Tegra SOC then I would expect a new Switch announcement to follow. So there is no new Switch currently because there is no chipset to power it, a PRO using X1 could implement higher clocks and more RAM but that wouldn't really provide the punch required to give a noticeably upgraded experience. Most console cycles are lasting 7-8yrs now with both the 2013 x86 boxes still going strong and getting games even after the release of newer x86 consoles last year. If that trend holds then we shouldn't expect the Switch's successor until at lease 2024.

@RupeeClock Yes but it still a very risky business model for company not mainly makes consoles and develops games.

@Floki
DS release date - november 2004
psp release date - december 2004

3ds release date - february 2011
vita release date - december 2011

(i said at the time of their release, not of their generation)

i dont know how old you were in 2004, but i can tell you that seeing DS for the first time was mind blowing, and the term "underpowered" was very far from my mind. actually the same was true for every nintendo console or handheld from the very beginning all the way up to wii.

as far as the switch having no competition as the "only reason" it is the most powerful handheld, im not sure how that's relevant or even provably true. Have a nice day! ☺️

@-wc- Both the PSP and DS would have been marketed around the same time, so no body would have even looked at the DS as the strongest handheld, even at the time of release when the PSP would be releasing just a coupe of weeks later.

In terms of the handheld and portable space the Switch hardware wasn't even all that impressive at launch. It was the price that made it impressive. It didn't require selling a kidney like other handheld.

Even now with things like the Steam Deck, GPD WIN... etc. None of them can even compete in the same space as the Switch due to price.

@Floki
Q: was the DS the most powerful handheld on the day it was released?

A: yes it was.

as far as the vita, it was released almost a year later so i can see why you've quietly dropped that angle.

this is like arguing with a politician. I'm not sure why i keep returning. I'm right on this, bud.

i understand what you are saying but I'm still not wrong and especially my og comment as a whole is not wrong.

edit: I'm not going to touch your latest point about the switch as I'm not sure that even made sense. the switch wasn't impressive compared to what portable handheld console that already existed in 2017, exactly?

@-wc- Both the GPD Win1/2 was offering better handheld game vs the Switch 2017. But their $600+ price tag made them more or a none competitor to the Switch.

Switch has literally done well do to any other portable console being too over price.

The Steam Deck is the only portable/handheld system that has managed to break in competiting range of the Switch due to sub $600 price tag.

@Floki
Ok, fair enough.

But, are you familiar with the expression, "the exception that proves the rule?"

edit - i decided to google GPD win 1/2, as i admittedly had never heard of it/them.
so, now i know you were trying to pass off a 6-900 dollar PC as a portable gaming console. bad sport! it isnt so. though, i wouldnt mind having one.