Nintendo Switch 2 Reveal Reactions!

[00:00:10] Hey folks, this is Jake. Just a quick disclaimer on this episode. This was originally intended to be our Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 episode, but as we were talking more and more about the Switch 2, we realized that we just weren't going to have enough time in the evening to discuss all of our thoughts and give a proper review to Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. So that will be added later.

[00:00:30] The other disclaimer is that I wasn't able to get this episode mixed and out before I had to leave for a weekend long trip. So pricing about pre-orders for the Switch 2 were in the United States were unknown at the time when we recorded this. And so our opinions have since changed when it comes to the pricing model.

[00:00:51] So what you hear in this recording is a bunch of optimism and us trying to be happy about the prices that we had at the time. Folks, thank you so much for your patience. Enjoy the episode and we'll be back with Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 later this week. Thank you.

[00:01:09] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the Pre-Air Bonus Podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Cameron Warren, and I'm joined as always by the Pixel professor Jacob Thelonious Price. That is not his actual middle name. Jake, it's April 3rd, 2025. We're back to talk about video games. But first, we need to talk about a video game system because the Switch 2 has been revealed.

[00:01:36] And let me tell you, this guy right here is pretty excited about Nintendo right now. And I haven't been excited about Nintendo, I feel like, in a little bit. I don't know if Jacob, is that how you're feeling? How are you feeling about this? It's been a hot minute. I think there were some games that, you know, I've been interested in. We've talked about them before. I think Metroid Prime 4 and Pokemon Legends ZA.

[00:02:05] I want to say, I want to say, are the things that have probably had my attention most. Maybe since Tears of the Kingdom. There's been some, I mean, we talked, you know, in our special topics or favorite games from the Switch system. But, yeah, it's been a great sort of refresher for Nintendo hype, this Switch Direct 2 or the Switch 2 Direct.

[00:02:31] I'm just going to say, I think they used every single of their 60 minutes really well to hype up this machine. Yeah, let's, I mean, most of you probably already know this or watched it.

[00:02:45] But basically, we got the breakdown of the new system, got a pretty close look at it, doing some interesting things like it's a 1080p screen up to 4K, can go up to 120 frames per second when docked, which is kind of crazy to see 120 frames like on a Nintendo presentation. It's kind of weird.

[00:03:37] But, yeah, so they talked about their new, like, social suite of features. The C button, it turns out, is just chat. That's all that is. Yeah, not exciting. People were speculating, like, a million different things for that, and it's literally just game chat. Game chat button. But it looks like you now have, like, actual online for Switch, right? Like, it's no longer like an app on your phone, which was always janky, right? But, no, I mean, they did all that stuff.

[00:04:06] I mean, the hardware looks cool. Like, it looks good. It's not some crazy new thing, which I think everybody expected, right? That it's just kind of like an upgraded Switch, which I think that's what most people wanted, right? Like, I don't think... Yeah. I don't think people were really hoping for something too much beyond what we saw. In fact...

[00:04:31] But as we predicted, as we predicted, and you can continue your thought, they spent, like, 15 minutes on the mouse. Because that's the gimmick of this new thing, right? It wouldn't be Nintendo without a gimmick. Listen, the mouse feature, they, like, presented it in the most Nintendo way possible. If that makes sense. It's like, check out this... We asked this dev team to make a game exclusively using the mouse.

[00:05:00] And they made this wheelchair basketball game, which has a concept, honestly. I was like, oh. This is... I mean, I think it's kind of cool as a concept to use the mouse controls, right? It's the new arms, right? Yeah. I feel like who... I can't... I don't know who the studios that did it. Some Nintendo studio, right? But, like, given the task at hand, which is create a game that features dual mouse controls,

[00:05:29] they did a phenomenal job of making a game where that makes sense, right? Now, the game itself, it looks like a pretty generic basketball game with kind of, like, cyber techie aesthetic. It's what Nintendo does with every new console, right? They have a game that highlights the gimmick. Yeah. This game happens to be the mouse functionality of the Switch mouse. Here's the thing that I'm figuring out.

[00:05:58] I'm trying to figure this out. Is everybody... Is Nintendo going to sell, like, a lap table now? Like, I'm trying to think about the back pain that's going to be caused from people, like, leaning over on their couch with their two Switch mice or, like, leaning to the side of their, you know, couch to try and, like, use the mouse functionality of the Switch? You know, it's going to be... Yeah. It's going to be this.

[00:06:27] It's going to lap thing, but it's going to be one of the... Just, like, question mark cubes from Mario. It's going to be super obnoxiously bulky. And you can either... You can either put your hands with the mouse, like, on top or on the sides of it. And it's going to fit snug over your knees or something. And totally block your view. That's my only... So, the one game they showed off where it was actually pretty nifty was Metroid Prime 4.

[00:06:55] Obviously, using the mouse controls to, like... So, it's like a, you know, first-person shooter, right? Yeah. Like, you're playing a PC game, right? So, you got the remote in one hand and then you got the mouse in the other hand. The problem is, where do I put that mouse? Do I put it on my lap? Is it next to me? Like, that's not going to be very comfortable. Does it work on your thigh? Yeah. Does it work on your thigh? And is that going to be... Am I just going to be like, screw it? I'm just going to use the stupid remote. I don't want to... You know, that's kind of where I'm at with the mouse. Yeah.

[00:07:24] I mean, I 100% agree. I did think that probably the best, like, moment that caused me to realize, oh, wait. This will change quite a lot how a lot of people play games is when they showed Civ 7 with the mouse controls. Oh, yes. That's a great call. I was like, oh, okay. I get it now. Having the mouse control... I was thinking exclusively for some reason, like, if you're playing Fortnite on Switch, you could compete with mouse and keyboard because you have a mouse on Switch, right?

[00:07:54] But I wasn't thinking about all these, like, strategy games that make a ton of sense on a Switch as well. And I'm like, oh, yeah. All these PC games that are mouse and keyboard, suddenly they become much more viable on the go on a Switch outside the Steam Deck, of course. It's a great call. I mean, yeah. You got Civ 7. I mean, it's a great call if you're not playing it in docked mode. But if you want, like, a laptop situation, right? Like, you've got your...

[00:08:23] Basically, your mouse. You can play Civ 7. You can play Factorio. You can play whatever other strategy games that end up on the Switch 2. Sitting there on your desk, like a laptop. That's kind of interesting. You just reminded me of that. That's actually a pretty interesting fact. Jake, let's talk about... Before we get into, like, the goods of the actual games that were shown off, I want to talk about two things.

[00:08:51] What were the weird things, right? Nintendo always does weird stuff. What was, like, your top two weird things from this presentation? I mean, weird, not negative, was definitely the wheelchair basketball game. Because it was just, like you said, it's the gimmick game. It's the gimmick game. They have to have it. Yep. One of the other weird things, and I think I know what one of yours is, so I'm not going to say it. But they...

[00:09:17] We heard a peep from IO Interactive about their James Bond game that's coming up. Because Hitman... Yeah, we got, like, the first teaser for this huge IO Interactive game at the Switch 2 presentation. I mean, they showed off that Hitman World of Assassination is coming. And it's like, okay, very cool. This is an excellent game. Glad it's going to be on Switch. And then they're like, here's 10 seconds of the famous looking at the rifling of the barrel from James Bond. By the way, this game is also coming to Switch. And it's like, whoa.

[00:09:47] I was like, wait a second. Wait a second. This needs to be longer than 10 seconds. We haven't heard anything about this, dude. Don't give this 10 seconds. So, that and the... I feel like... Hold on. I'm going to squeeze in one more. Go ahead. Why is the tech demo cost money, Cameron? Oh, dude. Okay. That's my number one. Okay. So, I'll pass the baton. But why in the world... This literally... This is the most...

[00:10:16] This may be the most baffling weird Nintendo decision of all time. Man. You make a literal tech demo that's about showing off the features of the Switch 2. Where you're walking around like a Switch 2 console and playing tech demo minigames with your mouse. And then you charge money for it? How is this not a pack-in, Jake? What was... Explain to me the executive room thinking around that. Ah, woof, man.

[00:10:49] I have freaking no idea. I guess I just wanted to recover costs. But who's buying it? I'm literally baffled. That is the weirdest, weirdest thing that I've ever... Like... I mean, placed... PS5 packed in Astro Bot, for goodness sake. Right. Wait. Like Astro Bot Playroom. And then they're not packing this in.

[00:11:17] This is just very, very, very strange. Like, very strange. It's... I want to see on June 5th or June 6th, right? The right when the Switch 2 launches. I want to see the sales numbers of the tech demo. I want... Yeah. Yep. And I want to know what Nintendo learned from those numbers. That is insane to me. I mean, that makes literally no sense. I can't...

[00:11:47] I couldn't sit here for several hours and come up with an argument other than... I seriously... I literally could not come... I could not do the mental gymnastics to figure out why you charge for a system presentation tech demo. It's the most baffling gaming decision I've ever seen, like, in a lifetime. Do we know how much it is going to be?

[00:12:16] I'm going to laugh if it's like 40 bucks. It's going to be like... It's 40... Like $40. $39.99. And then you get the deluxe edition for, I don't know, $59.99. Oh, my gosh. Other weird things... The game share thing seems like it's really convoluted. I don't... I don't know how that's going to work. That's going to be interesting to figure out. What? I don't...

[00:12:44] Where you're, like, sharing your games between systems, but it only lasts... Like, so it leaves your system, and then it goes to the other system, but it only lasts, like, for eight hours or two weeks or something like that. But this just seems... I don't know. I don't know, man. It's weird. So, is the game share system the same thing as the virtual cartridge? Because it doesn't look like it. I don't think it is. So, I think it's actually different.

[00:13:11] That's why it's even more convoluted, because they introduced this virtual cartridge thing for Switch. And now, on Switch 2, there's this game share thing, but it's weird. I don't know why you have both systems. Now, the idea of game share sounds great to me in that, like, in our family, we're not planning on selling our Switch. We're just planning on getting a Switch 2. And so... That's what we're going to do. So, great.

[00:13:35] Like, you have some compatibility between the older and the newer system, and so more kids can play Switch simultaneously. Right. But, yeah, I just don't get why you have multiple paths to do that. I don't know. Strange. Strange. Bizarre. Let's talk about the games. First up... I mean, let's just do this. Tell me what's your... I mean, there's a lot of games showing up.

[00:14:05] First off. First off. I will no longer... I will not be playing Gollum on Jake's stream. Oh! Just to be clear. Okay. Yeah, please provide the rationale. Actually, I'll still play Gollum, Jake, if you want me to. Provide the rationale here. I won the bet because... Because... Yeah, let's hear it. Silksong. Silksong was there. But wasn't there supposed to be a release date? We just got 2025 out of that.

[00:14:35] It was 2025. That's... That's not a release date. That's a release year. It was there, man. It was there. That's... I have to... You know what? Was it the dumbest thing ever? It was literally in a sizzle reel. Team Cherry. What a... Team Cherry. You suck, man. I can't... Like... You disappointed everyone. You disappointed your fans. You had an opportunity to be a highlight trailer for the Switch 2. And you were in a sizzle reel.

[00:15:04] That you put 2025... Why would you even put a date on? I... Why would you do that? Okay. So I was... Just before we started recording, I was listening to a streamer who's playing Liza P right now. Varam Dex. And this streamer was talking about the Switch 2 announcements. And somebody brought up Silksong in chat. And their response was, the fact that I got three seconds in a sizzle reel tells me that there is zero confidence that it will come out in 2025.

[00:15:33] And I'm inclined to agree. Yeah. I... Yeah. I just... It's okay, Jake. You know what? I'll make you a compromise. I'll still play Gnollam on stream. But no large pizza? And we can still get a pizza. Okay. We're in, folks. We're back. But... Podcast saved. Podcast saved. No, that was just... That was actually...

[00:15:58] I literally, like, was drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper and almost spit it out when I saw the sizzle reel. I saw it in the sizzle reel because I was like, wow, this is the dumbest. Blink and you miss it. This is so... You blink and you miss it. It was, like, such a joke. No. Mario Kart Worlds... Yeah. Was the top of the hour showcase coming at launch. I mean, new Mario Kart, right? It's basically like Forza Horizon Mario Kart. That's pretty dope.

[00:16:29] Man. The more... I made the mistake of watching, like, 30 minutes of the Nintendo Treehouse this morning with my kids. Oh, no. Gosh dang it, dude. My kids, we were watching it and they're like, Dad, this looks really cool. Dad, look how you can jump off the wall. Dad, look how you can grind on the rails. Look, you can do free roam. Dad, look how you can find a shortcut. Dad, look at this. And I was like, all right, man. You got me. I was like, you got me Nintendo.

[00:16:59] I'm gonna sign up for... You have to buy this now. I have to buy this and I have to buy it in the bundle because I don't want to spend 80 bucks on this. And so there goes. You got me, dude. We'll talk about that in a minute. Yeah. 80 bucks. But... Shoot. Dude, I... Don't get me wrong. I mean... It looks really good. Like, it looks incredible. I love Forza Horizon 5. I'm not typically a big fan of racing games. But dang, did they sell that really well.

[00:17:28] Yeah, dude. They... I mean, just that as a concept, like Mario Kart, Forza Horizon is an insane concept. Like, and that's basically what they're doing. Yeah. And that's crazy. Yeah. That's just wild. Forza Horizon 5 is no longer coming to Switch 2. Microsoft saw that and they're like, you know what? They already have this game. I mean, look. Switch for me is... They showed up a whole bunch of third-party stuff, which I think is cool. They showed Cyberpunk. They showed Elden Ring.

[00:17:58] Obviously, we predicted that they would show both those games, like, running there. Obviously, they showed Switch 2 upgrades to Switch games. Sounds like you're getting Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom 60 frames and, like, HDR upgrades. Mm-hmm. If you have Switch Online. So, you'll get those as part of Switch Online or as an upgrade pack. Now, they didn't reveal the price of the upgrade pack. Well... I'm sniffing that they're going to make this 20 bucks. Okay. For...

[00:18:29] It did come out in a press release later that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will get free upgrade packs with Nintendo... Assuming you have Nintendo Switch Online. Switch Online. Right. The other ones, Kirby and the Forgotten Land plus the DLC Star-Crossed World. I believe that that is either a $70 or $80... I need to get the price. $70 or $80 if you're buying the Switch 2 version.

[00:18:59] And I think it's a $10 or $20 purchase upgrade. I was thinking it was going to be a $20 upgrade, Beth. Right? I think it is. Folks, hold on a second. I am going to check and see. I want to get those details correct. Speaking of which, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is one of the most underrated games on the Switch. Incredible video game, by the way. I was excited to see new content for that.

[00:19:23] Definitely will be just giving Nintendo all my money because they're asking for every dime. They are... We'll talk about that in a second. Okay. Let's see this. Yeah. Okay. So, if you buy Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Nintendo Switch 2 edition plus Star-Crossed World. So, fresh. You don't previously own it. It is an $80 game. $80 digital. Just like Mario Kart. Yep. Now, the upgrade. Let's see.

[00:19:53] The article that I found does not say. But, folks. I mean, do the math, right? I'm pretty sure this retailed for $60. Yeah. $20 upgrade pack. It's probably going to be a $20 upgrade pack. Yeah. I mean, I definitely am going to want that Tears of the Kingdom upgrade. I'd love to replay that game in 60 frames. Like, for sure. Yeah. Now, from what I understand, Tears of the Kingdom, same thing.

[00:20:22] You buy the Nintendo Switch 2 edition and it's $80. You buy the Breath of the Wild edition, it's $70. But, if you do Nintendo Switch Online, they're really, honestly, Nintendo is... Nintendo Switch Online kind of launched with nothing, but it has snowballed into quite this powerhouse where Nintendo can say things like this. And you're like, okay. I think maybe... It has GameCube now. And it's going to get GameCube, right?

[00:20:48] So, that package is looking awfully, awfully enticing these days. But, yeah. Those two, your upgrade cost will just be kind of rolled into your Nintendo Switch Online membership. Right. Before we talk about Donkey Kong, which I think I win a prediction from the beginning of the year. I think you do. That's right. I think I do.

[00:21:16] Because I think, if I remember my prediction correctly, that I predicted that Donkey Kong was going to come first. Oh, my gosh. And Mario was going to come later. That's how I remember it. But, yeah. But before we talk about that, Jake, never in a million, billion, billion, billion, billion years could anyone ever, in a million, billion, billion years, ever, ever... Just to make it clear.

[00:21:46] That you would see a FromSoft multiplayer game directed by Miyazaki himself that's exclusive to the Switch 2 console showing off in this direct. That is insanity level. Like, I was literally yelling at the screen.

[00:22:16] Because I was like, this looks so much like a Bloodborne sequel. It's hilarious. I was watching this with my kids. And my kids were like, Dad, is this a scary game? I was like, it kind of looks like it. But then I saw, like, at the very beginning of the trailer, there's like a feminine, coated hand reaching up and, like, touching this guy's masculine hand. I mean, that gave it away, right? Yeah. That gave it away to me. I was like, dude, this is FromSoft.

[00:22:45] Because only they do these super weird, like, animations in cut scenes. Mm-hmm. I think of, like, dude, this is all over Elden Ring. But I think of, like, remember when everybody was first playing Elden Ring and everybody made it to the roundtable hold? And then you first meet Fia and you have that really uncomfortably slow. You have a weird hug. Hug animation, right? Like, I saw that animation of the hands, like, touching. And I was like, dude, this is giving me big Fia vibes right now.

[00:23:16] But, of course, there's this giant moon outside the window. And I'm like, no, but they wouldn't put a moon in there. But then I was like, but maybe they would, right? Dude, if you claim to have predicted that FromSoft was going to mention anything of this, you are a liar. No. You are... Not to mention multiplayer. Yeah. Nobody predicted this.

[00:23:38] What's hilarious is that after it's been revealed, people are digging up this old interview that Miyazaki did two years ago where he said he was looking at Escape from Tarkov as inspiration for a game. And here you have it, folks. Oh, interesting. Okay. That's... Wow. Interesting. Wow. How did Nintendo lock down that exclusivity, man? Dude, that's... That is... That's huge. That's literally huge.

[00:24:08] I can't even like... I mean... FromSoft had to have had a bidding war, right? That's crazy. Xbox, I believe, would be, you know, watering at the mouth of their opportunity for an exclusive FromSoft game. Oh, dude. Yeah. You know they are. I mean... Dude, Phil Spencer would give his left arm. Yeah. He would... For an exclusive FromSoft game. Any size. Like an expansion. Oh, yeah. Like anything.

[00:24:37] You know they would pay, like you're saying, an arm and a leg to get something exclusive from FromSoft. 100%. And we know that Sony has done this in the past, but I also believe that Miyazaki himself was a little miffed by Sony because of the Bloodborne. Yeah, yeah. With Bloodborne. Yeah. But, dude, I would imagine being a fly on the wall where you have Phil Spencer and Doug Bowser in a room. I just imagine this, you know, plane, office, you know, police interrogation room.

[00:25:06] Miyazaki's on the other side of a desk that's lit by a single light bulb. And Doug Bowser and Phil Spencer are just yelling at each other. They're yelling numbers at each other. Miyazaki's sitting there calm. Absolutely. Calm as can be. Just twitting his thumbs.

[00:25:21] Do you think Phil Spencer got on his laptop in his corner office in Redwood and watched the Nintendo Direct with a cup of coffee and then spilled it all over himself when he saw it? What's the title of it? It has a sick title, too. The Dusk Bloods. The Dusk Bloods. My goodness.

[00:25:53] He's watching it. He's sipping his coffee. He's like, oh, yeah, look, they got all these old games. We already have them. And then he's watching that and then sees. And then he's like, no. He spills the coffee all over. That's totally what happened. Yeah, dude. He ruined his favorite pair of jeans spilling coffee all over him. 100% ruined his $300 jeans. I also imagine that he hit pause on the direct, called Satya Nutella and was like, dude, give me a blank check. Write the F now.

[00:26:21] Because we know that Xbox shelled out cash or made some sort of deal for Team Cherry to break their console exclusivity with Hollow Knight Silk Song. This was like, I don't know, 17 years ago, I think this happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, like, Phil Spencer. 25 years ago, I think, when, like, the Sega Genesis was. Yeah. Do it again, man. Do it again. Shell out the cash. Get that baby on Game Pass.

[00:26:51] Tank the company if you have to. Do they have to contractually say in the trailer that it's a temporary exclusivity? So, could it just be temporary? I mean, it could be. So, here's the thing that kind of cracks me up is that this point of the stream, I was losing my marbles because it froze in the middle of this trailer. So, my kids are like, dad, it's not working. I'm like, I know it's not working.

[00:27:20] So, I, like, quickly on the TV, I switched from, like, the Nintendo of America to the German one. Okay. Because it was still working. Yeah. I, like, caught the second half of this. My kids are like, dad, we don't understand German. I was like, well, we're learning right now. We must be watching this. We're watching. We're finishing. Yeah. So, I need to go back and watch this in a language that I fully understand.

[00:27:47] But, I mean, the vibes were still there. Dude, I don't know. It's weird. Is this, Jake, is this, okay, you say, is there some sort of history I don't understand here of Miyazaki being miffed from Sony and that relationship? And him throwing a middle finger to Sony by essentially making Bloodborne 2 exclusive to Nintendo?

[00:28:12] So, I have been deep, deep in the Reddits, which I really am not. But I have a deep looking. Is this on a FromSoft Reddit somewhere? Like, Reddit thread? Yeah. I've been deep in, like, social media, people picking this apart. So, from what people have pieced together. And, folks, this is hearsay. This is, like, recompiled history. So, do not take this totally at face value. Do your own research here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:28:41] But from what I understand is that they were kind of unhappy with how some of their Sony exclusivity deals have turned out. Which is one of the major reasons why Elden Ring launched on all platform, on Xbox as well. And I want to say that there is, yeah, there's just some bad blood there, if you will. Right? Right. Which is why they have strayed away from doing other Sony exclusive games.

[00:29:11] And I think we see this with, like, Armored Core 6, Elden Ring, and then Elden Ring Night Reign. Right? Like, this is all big. It's going everywhere all at once. It is well known, though, that Sony owns the IP to Bloodborne. And that when Miyazaki has been quizzed about doing a Bloodborne remaster, he says it's out of his hands. That essentially he doesn't get to make that decision.

[00:29:38] And I kind of think at this point with, From Software is a different company now that Elden Ring has sold so much. It's done incredibly well. They are in a position where they can kind of do things as they please. And I think we're seeing this with Elden Ring, Night Reign, and with the Duskbloods. Like, they have cash to greenlight all of their ideas, and so they are.

[00:30:00] And I kind of think at this point that From Software, if they had the power, they would have done a remaster of Bloodborne and launched it in other locations yesterday. But they cannot. I think that's probably a good guess at what's happening, right? Because it just makes way too much sense to have seen some sort of Bloodborne thing by now. It just really doesn't make any sense that it hasn't happened.

[00:30:30] So that makes me think that him saying it's out of his hands was like saying basically, Sony wouldn't let me do what I wanted to do. Yeah, that's how I interpret that at this point. And so he went somewhere where he could do what he wanted to do. Which my guess is Nintendo offered him a boat, a shipload of money. Oh, yeah. And he was probably, you know, it's a Japanese company.

[00:31:00] From Soft's a Japanese company. Probably some comrade there. I'm sure he's a big Nintendo fan, probably. Right. Right? He's like, why not? You know? Like, why not? Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah. Phil Spencer kicked his table so hard that his big toe broke, though, when he saw this. Yeah, I'm sure he's pissed. Because you know, like, you know for a fact that those negotiations are constantly happening with FromSoft. Oh, yeah. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. I mean, at this point, it's not even totally private information.

[00:31:30] Like, a lot of companies have tried to buy out FromSoft after Elden Ring's success. And they're just like, I mean, and they have a parent company and I get all that too. But they're also just like, no. I mean, they're in a position to really do what they want. And so, the final thing I want to say about this. Yeah. Why would they want to lose their freedom? Yeah. They wouldn't. Why? And I'm sure they're looking at all these other acquisitions. Like, we can just target Embracer Group, for example, and be like, nah, dude. We're not playing that game. Right?

[00:31:57] Plus, they are technically, I don't know who their parent company is, but they already do have a parent. So, I'm sure that's complicated as well. Yeah, I'm sure it's very complicated. But yeah, the Duskbloods, I think, looks really cool. I know people in the Die Hard Souls folks are like, it's not a real Souls game. It's PvPVE. And it's kind of like, you know what? Let's wait until we see more about the game. It still looks amazing. And maybe it plays amazing. Yeah.

[00:32:26] My last opinion that I want to share on this is like, people have been begging From Software for a long time to make like a seamless co-op experience. And they're doing that with Night Rain and with the Duskbloods. So, why are we still complaining? Can we just be happy that we're actually getting something that people have been asking for? Gamers, you know, they want their comfort food. And when they see something that's not their comfort food, they immediately hate on it. Yeah.

[00:32:55] Instead of just going, hey, why don't you just trust this studio who became one of your favorite gaming franchises of all time by doing weird crap that no one else was doing? Why don't you just let them cook? Yeah. And just see what happens. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I feel like right now in the industry, there are a few companies that are in a position like From Software that have lots of money and lots of goodwill and lots of retained creative talent. It's like, yeah, exactly. Just let them cook, man. Get out of the kitchen.

[00:33:24] Just let them cook. So, yeah, that's still crazy. Last thing I want to talk about with Switch was two things. First off was price. Let's talk price. But first, let's talk about, dude, Donkey Kong, man. Dude, Donkey Kong. Dude, this game looks so good. Dude, there's just something. This is Donkey Kong's Mario Odyssey moment that he hasn't had since Donkey Kong 64.

[00:33:52] And just out of nowhere, you're getting this ridiculous looking. I don't know if it's open world or open zone or whatever it is. Like Donkey Kong mining game. Like traversing through that. Like just. It looks so good. Like it blew me away. There's something. There was something about that trailer. Just watching Donkey Kong kind of rampage about and just punch the world and rip it to shreds. And having this totally open and destructible environment.

[00:34:23] I was like, yeah, dude, Donkey Kong Unleashed. This is a giant, powerful character. Let him be giant and powerful, man. So good. So I don't know. I thought it looked awesome. It's going to have some weird, wacky Nintendo story. That's complimentary, right? Like it just freaking looked like a good time. And to me, it looked like, yeah, this is the first time since DK 64 that DK gets to be a giant kind of happy-go-lucky gorilla. And it just looked like a ton of fun. I'm super stoked on it.

[00:34:52] That's probably one of my favorite things from the reveal. Is this, do you think, this is obviously like the marquee game, like launch game in quotes. Because it comes out like a month after launch, right? Yeah. Do you think that we still get a new 3D Mario in the fall? Or do you think they're just going to buy their time and we'll have some smaller releases in the fall? And we just, they're just going to space it out. What do you think?

[00:35:20] Dude, I really don't know at this point because I was kind of shocked at how many things they put out there for 2025. Metro Prime 4, Kirby Air Riders, Hyrule Warriors, Age of Imprisonment. Oh, that's right. Yep. Like we actually got quite a lot of games, Pokemon Legends, ZA, right? We have quite a lot of really big franchises releasing games in the fall.

[00:35:47] I think they could get away with not releasing a Mario this fall. I think that's totally possible. I wouldn't be surprised if they did because a Mario bundle with the Switch 2 is going to sell incredibly well. But... I mean, if they're releasing Mario Kart at launch, Donkey Kong in July, and then Kirby Air Riders, I wouldn't consider that to be... I mean, because that's like another racing game, right?

[00:36:16] So it's like, well, you already got Mario Kart. That's interesting that they're putting that in 2025, right? Yeah. So that to me signals that there's something... There's another big first party game for fall because they want to push Holiday big time for the new console. But something beyond Hyrule Warriors and Pokemon Legends ZA? Like... Maybe Pokemon Legends ZA is the fall game when they just do all that. But I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, when Switch launched, we got Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild in the same year.

[00:36:47] So... Yeah, I don't know. I just... I guess at this point, it feels like to me that Nintendo has an extremely busy final... The latter half of this year, so starting June all the way through December, is going to be busy with big titles. I don't think they need the Mario game. I really don't. They probably don't need it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you're right. I think you're right. And I mean, plus they could always drop like a remaster too to fill the slate, you know? Yeah, something tells me that in the next Direct, at the very least,

[00:37:17] we'll probably see some Nintendo Switch 2 version of Super Mario Bros. Wonder and or Odyssey. Oh, yeah. Yeah, with like a Bowser's Fury type situation. Yeah, I really wouldn't be surprised if that's what we ended up getting instead of an entirely new game. I could see that. I mean, we know there's a 3D Mario. There has to be. Yeah. Whether it comes out in Q4 or Q1 2026 is the question. Yeah. I just think at this point...

[00:37:46] I don't think it comes out any later than Q1 of next year, though. Oh, okay. Yeah. That could be the case. Because Mario... Donkey Kong is big, but Donkey Kong ain't Mario. And you want Mario. Yeah. Mario is Mario for a reason, right? Like, he's the console... He is the everything for Nintendo, right? So, like, he's got to be out within that first financial wave. There has to be a Mario game. And there was no Mario...

[00:38:16] Well, I guess it's Mario Kart. So, maybe that is the... Maybe that's it. Maybe. It's funny because Mario Kart, I feel like, originally is a spinoff, but it's become so big that it isn't. Right? It's like its own thing. It's kind of its own thing. But, I mean, what are the top three Nintendo IPs? Is it Zelda, Pokemon, and Mario? Does that sound right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I get... Listen, folks. I get that Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment is like a spinoff Zelda game. It doesn't really count, though, dude. It doesn't.

[00:38:46] It's a Mosu game or whatever. Mosu. Did you play Age of Calamity? Hyrule Warriors? No, because I just don't like that type of... I don't think it stands toe-to-toe anywhere close to, like, a Zelda. Oh, no. I agree. I really liked Age of Calamity, though. But the performance was just downright awful. Like, infuriatingly so. So, I'm actually really excited for Age of Imprisonment because it's like, okay, it's going to perform well this time, though, right? Yeah.

[00:39:15] So, it should be a lot of fun. But you're right. And Pokemon Legends ZA, seeing that in, like, 60 frames, 4K, dude, that... I loved Legends Arceus. Yeah. So, I'm like, dang, I'm... Dude, I'm down for Pokemon and 4K60. Like, 100%. Dude, yeah. So... It looks super good in this presentation. That is, like, a guaranteed Christmas gift.

[00:39:41] And I'll probably do it like I did Arceus last time, which is I'll get the gift early and play through the gift myself and then repackage it for my kids. Dude, I'm so hyped on Nintendo right now. I went and bought my son Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for his birthday. Dude, nice! It's like the one big first-party Switch game that I don't own. I use my Switch as a... It's a Nintendo-exclusive console. Yeah.

[00:40:10] That's basically all I play on it. Pretty much. I basically buy almost every, like, Nintendo-exclusive game. Almost. And that was, like, the really big one that I hadn't bought yet. So, I'm like, you know what? This is definitely gonna get some beefy upgrade pack for Switch 2. Yeah. I'll just get it for his birthday. He'll be stoked. And we'll have it for that. But, yeah. Dude, that was, like, totally, like, marketing. Totally works on me. I'm ready. I opted in. Like, I'll say at the end of it, and we can talk about price.

[00:40:41] I'm all in, dude. Pre-order. I'm getting a Pro Controller. Like, I'm getting Donkey Kong. Like, I'm giving Nintendo every dime I have. Nice. Dude, nice. Your kids are gonna love you for it, though. I'm so stoked for this. I'm really excited. That being said, Jake, are you going to pre-order? Ann, what's your reaction to, A, the price of the console, but B, the exorbitant game pricing? Oh, man.

[00:41:10] I really wanted this to be $400. Yeah. Because I wanted to spend less than $500 for whatever the first bundle is, right? Like, all in. Yeah. Um, so, it's... I don't know, man. You look at the specs of the Switch 2, and I consider, like, most of the games that I'm playing on Series X and PS5, and aren't they kind of the same?

[00:41:36] I feel like I'm playing most games at 1080p 60 frames, or, like, 4K, you know, something. Sometimes it's 30, sometimes it's 60 FPS. And the Switch 2 is saying that it can do that. So, should I be that annoyed that it's $450 to buy? It feels like... Listen, it's not as powerful as the Series X or PS5. I get that. Even though I'm not, like, a specs guy.

[00:42:00] But I just almost kind of feel like, I don't know, I'm getting similar quality for a slightly... For slightly less. So, I'm... I don't know. I'm kind of on the fence. I wanted it to be $400, though. That would have been an easier price point for me. Um, but... Yeah. But, to be totally frank, looking at the cost of games, $70, $80, I'm getting choosy, man. I'm gonna get really choosy with what games I want to buy. Absolutely. And... Which is a shame.

[00:42:30] Or, what I'm gonna end up doing, probably, is... Um, go to my local... My local video game store a month or two after launch and pick up a used copy. Even if it's just, like, $50 instead of $70, right? Right. Yeah, because an $80 price tag is a little painful to look at. Which, again... And retail... And retail box is gonna be $90. That's a lot, man. $90, dude. That's almost a hundred... That's with tax.

[00:43:00] That's essentially a $100 purchase to buy a Nintendo game. It's a lot, man. It's a lot. And it's kind of a shame because I feel like we had this trend there for a second where we were seeing high-profile games priced at, like, $40 or $50. Like, Elden Ring Night Reign, I think, is $40. I want to say Prince of Persia Lost Crown was $40. Split Fiction was $50. And so, to see that number dip a little bit and essentially then get doubled is a little painful.

[00:43:29] So, as excited as I am for all of these Nintendo games that are coming, I kind of just am thinking which ones are my top priority. And honestly, the ones that stood out to me are DK Bonanza and Pokemon Legends ZA. Those are the ones that I want to get. And I wish that there was a bundle with DK because I would have been entirely sold on that. But I'm probably going to end it. I'm sure there will be in the fall.

[00:43:58] There will be in the fall, right? You know what? My kids were actually really sweet because we were talking about the Switch today. And I was like, I don't know, guys. It's going to be kind of expensive. And they're like, you know, if we have to, Dad, we can wait. We can wait until the fall. Nice. I was like, guys, stop. Now I'm going to pre-order the bundle. Now I'm going to do it, dude, you guys. Now you're... Did you do... Jake, did you do the opt-in on the website? Oh. Nintendo website? I need to do that. It's on my list of things to do. So, this was a nice...

[00:44:28] Despite the price. This was a cool thing that they did where you go to your Nintendo profile on Nintendo.com. And you basically opt in, like register your interest. And they're only going to offer like order links through Nintendo.com if you have Nintendo Switch online and 50 hours of gameplay on your Switch. Yeah. That's a cool... That's a pretty dope thing to like...

[00:44:53] Hey, we're reserving a certain number of units just for like actual people who are fans of the console and like want to buy one. Not the freaking scalpers who buy up all the inventory. Yeah. Scalpers suck, bro. They suck a ton. I hate them. You all are bad people. Sorry. But... Like you can guarantee that almost every unit on Best Buy, Amazon, Target, it's going to be bought by scalpers. Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:45:23] And you know that thing is going to go for a thousand bucks. Yep. A hundred percent. And it won't be bundled. And then you'll have to buy... And if you are buying stuff from a scalper, shame on you. You're part of the problem, man. Please don't. You are part of the problem. Yeah. I'm with you though. I think this kind of... This plan here is awesome. Love to hear it. Love to know that they're doing it. That being said, this is insane pricing. I mean, it is kind of insane.

[00:45:53] But it is clearly one important thing to note on this. This is going to be a really long episode, folks. So buckle in. Because we also need to talk about KCD2. We probably could have made this its own episode. We probably could have. We just ended up going longer, I think. Because there's a lot to talk about on this. Yeah. This is really expensive. Like $450 for the console.

[00:46:22] I can actually stomach... I can see that. Right? $450 for the bundle. If you do $450 with a Mario Kart bundle, you're getting Mario Kart essentially for $30 off. Right? Right. But that bundle is $500, right? The bundle is... Is the bundle $500? I think it's $450 for the console and then $500 for the bundle. $450 for the base console? Okay. Gotcha. Yeah.

[00:46:45] So $500 basically gets you $30 off Mario Kart World, which you probably want to do that so you can get a discount on a game, right? But I think I can stomach that just to your point. That's pretty comparable, if not a little under what the competitors are selling their consoles for similar power. Now, we don't know the exact technical specs. All we know is it's a custom NVIDIA chipset. Right.

[00:47:15] CPU, GPU, which assuming we include some sort of heavy upscaling, probably, right? For the form factor and given it's a handheld and so on and so on. But dude, $80 games. This, I think, confirms to me that GTA 6 is going to retail for at a minimum $90.

[00:47:41] I think GTA 6, because Nintendo came out and basically kicked off the price leaps of the new generation. Yeah. I think Nintendo was like, hey, we know this is coming. We're just going to do it now. And we're just pulling the ripcord. They pulled the ripcord. Games are $80 now. That's the new standard. I could absolutely see. And I totally agree. I heard this on a podcast, right? They're just talking about like, look, Rockstar now.

[00:48:10] They can just come out and sell GTA for $100 base. Yeah. That's the world we live in now, folks. That's an expensive video game, man. But I think you're right. I think the floodgates are open. Prices are just going to go up from here. I've seen probably way too many opinions on this. A bunch of people saying, well, we've been talking about supporting devs and how they're underpaid. So price increase makes sense.

[00:48:36] And other people saying, well, this is kind of making an already expensive hobby even more expensive. So you shut out a lot of people from being able to access a lot of games. And my kind of opinion on that is that all sides are right. All sides are right here. We want game devs to get paid better and to crunch less. But we also want more people to be playing games than ever. I don't think there's like an easy solution here, right?

[00:49:03] And of course, this is the assumption that with the price increase, that extra money is going to the devs and not just the top dogs. But we don't know that. In the case of Nintendo, you're probably more right that it's maybe going to the devs more. Maybe. Maybe. Right. Maybe not. I don't know. Right. But like, who knows? Probably not. Because of corporate greed.

[00:49:26] But Nintendo maybe gets a little bit of a free pass on the corporate greed just because I think they have some decent, according to what we understand, they have some relatively decent corporate practices around how they treat their employees. But, you know, that being said, Japan is a completely different culture, right? Yeah. In terms of, you know, people work themselves to the bone. So like who in Japan, right? Compared to how we work here. Anyway, yeah.

[00:49:55] We're in between a rock and a hard place. The thing with gaming, gaming is an expensive hobby, but it's also not. I think gaming is like, it is. But I think pretty much in the year of our Lord 2025, pretty much every hobby is expensive. I would say for the vast, I mean, at least when you think about like hobbies and most other than like sitting on the couch and watching Netflix, which I don't think is a hobby. I think that's just the thing people do, right? Dude, it's everything.

[00:50:25] Everything is crazy expensive. Everything. Yeah, I mean, I get that. It's all expensive and things are getting even more expensive for various reasons we won't touch right now. I'm not saying that I like it or support it. I'm just making a statement. I'm just like, dude, it's all. These companies are just going to take as much as they can possibly get. And Nintendo believes that this is not going to stop enough of us from buying their games. I mean, that is in this.

[00:50:54] I think actually this is the root of it all is that they can charge 80 bucks for Mario Kart World. They can charge 70 bucks for DK Bonanza and people will buy it as much as gamers are kicking and screaming online about these prices. Don't kid yourself, man. Either grow Backbone and don't buy it at launch or just admit that you're going to buy it. You know, like don't don't kind of play this. Don't play a victim and don't play like some, you know, pious.

[00:51:23] I don't know, gamer. Just kind of face reality of what you're actually going to do. And the vast majority of gamers are just going to buy the thing if they can. Right. I think I did read this interesting thread, though, about how this is really these price points. Ten bucks, 20 bucks doesn't seem like a lot to people who are in North America and Europe. But for like the global south, for the gamers in Mexico and Brazil, these price hikes are going to definitely block out a lot of people from buying games at launch.

[00:51:55] Because it's just going to it's going to hit that much harder, I think, when you get to currency conversion and like what people make in a paycheck. So it's listen, it's a complicated scenario. I don't think there's a right answer for it. But I think a lot of gamers who are really bought into this hobby. Don't kid yourself. You're probably going to buy this. Yeah, but that's not really the calculation.

[00:52:23] So the calculation Nintendo makes is the mom whose kid says, Mom, I want the Nintendo system or they're buying their kid for Christmas. Nintendo is going, we think that that mom's still going to get it anyways for their kid for Christmas. Right. This is not going to stop. It's going to stop a few of them. But with that with the extra 20 bucks, 50 bucks, that's going to make it up and more. Yeah. That's the calculation that they're making. I think that's true.

[00:52:52] And I think Nintendo is probably the one main company that can go toe to toe with kids who because I mean, a lot of kids, they ask for V bucks, right? Instead of games, they ask for whatever in game currency of whatever game it is, you know, live service game that they're playing. Right. But I think you're right where like with Nintendo, the kids might ask for a game. Right.

[00:53:16] You don't have little Timmy who's nine years old, begging mom and dad to buy the new Call of Duty. I just don't think you have that. Right. But you do have them saying, hey, for Christmas, I would love the new Pokemon game. I've been so good this year. Dad, look at this. I mean, Mario Kart. You think the families who spent all their time playing Mario Kart during COVID and bought switches are not going to buy the new Mario Kart? Mario Kart. Yeah. They're going to buy it.

[00:53:45] Dude, Mario Kart sold like 50 million copies. Mario Kart 8. Yeah, they are. They're going to buy it. I mean, it's super hard not to, especially with game share. Right? You just made it for families. You just made your, you just extended the life span of your regular old Switch. I don't know. Well, yeah. Yeah. Let us know what you think about the price.

[00:54:14] Are you going to hold off from buying this? Are you going to not buy this thing because of the price? Is that what's holding you back? I think the price, I think the price of the console is okay. It's decent. It's not great. It is expensive, but I think it makes sense. But yeah, just reiterating price of the games is an $80 game world. I thought it was bad when we went to 70. Now we're in an $80. It feels like we really quickly went to 80. Yeah.

[00:54:43] Like really quickly. We did. The time between 60 and 70, that $10 price hike was much longer than 70 to 80. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been our Switch 2 reactions. Lots to talk about. We didn't even talk about everything that was shown or all the features or all that.

[00:55:03] But yeah, dude, I'll say all in all, I am, as I already mentioned, this got me excited for Nintendo again. Man, I haven't been excited about Nintendo stuff in a while. I usually get excited on like a big release and definitely buy it right for the, for Nintendo. But between the new Elden Ring game and the new Donkey Kong game and like the cool stuff they're doing with, with Mario Kart. Like I'm super stoked for this.

[00:55:32] I'm definitely, if I get that link to pre-order, like I'm going to do it. They got me. They got me for sure. So that's me. I thought it was a great presentation, but yes, to your point, Jake, $80 games. And I'm someone who really only buys exclusive games on Switch anyways. But yes, $80 games becomes a battle to be very, very, very scrutinous with what games you buy.

[00:56:02] Yeah. It is. And I was, I was already kind of, I'm already kind of like this, right? Like you and I both, like we'd look at reviews very closely. We're very selective about the games that we buy. Like we want to make sure that we're going to have a great experience. Now I think it's even more, right? If there's even the slightest hesitation that I might not get the juice out of the squeeze, we're out, you know? Because it's just too much money. Yeah.

[00:56:30] So this was, this was fun to watch and yeah, I'm excited for Nintendo. Jake, what's your final thoughts on the Switch 2? Similar thoughts. It was an excellent presentation. The hype is there. Switch 2. It's funny because Nintendo has kind of bowed out of the console race quite a long time ago. But with the massive list of third party games that are coming, these just mega monster hits, Cyberpunk, Elden Ring. I have a list here. Hogwarts Legacy, for example.

[00:56:57] All these really big triple, Split Fiction is coming as well. Sid Meier 7, right? Civ 7. Man, it's funny. They're not in the console wars and those console wars are long dead and gone. But they're back. You know, it's like Switch 2 competes. And I think the Switch 2 to me is kind of proof of like, you know what?

[00:57:22] Maybe our machines have kind of, they're pretty close to the ceiling in terms of what people really want out of their consoles. And Nintendo played the long game and it's going to pay dividends for them with the Switch 2 and all these games that are coming to it. Yeah. And Nintendo doesn't take a loss on their hardware either. But I don't think any of these companies are going to take a loss anymore. So get ready for PS6, $600.

[00:57:52] Yeah. Wouldn't surprise me. Calling it. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been another episode of the Pre-Ordal Bonus Podcast. We will do an episode on Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. And in fact, Jake will put a disclaimer at the beginning of this one. This was actually going to be the introduction to our episode on KCD2. But we ended up going a full hour. It's 58 minutes. Yep. So we decided to just make this its own thing. Hopefully you liked our reactions and our conversation around the Switch.

[00:58:22] Let us know your thoughts on the Switch 2. Sound off in the Discord. Shoot us a mention on Blue Sky. Yeah. Let us know what you think. We're super curious to know what people think. Are you going to buy the Switch 2? Which games are you most excited for? Are you not going to pick this one up? What do you think about the price? Let us know. Give us a review on your podcast platform of choice. Helps people find the show. And if you want to support us, you can go to patreon.com slash podcast where you can get

[00:58:46] this episode plus way, way, way more extended editions of our regular episodes, special topics which are only for collector's edition full-scale members. You can get tons of different tiers. Jake's Indie Impressions. Go check that out. Thank you so much for listening. And have a great night. Thanks for listening. Thank you.