Summary
I’m a huge fan of theNintendo Switch, but there’s one area where the system is really lacking, and it doesn’t have anything to do with graphics or performance. The original promise of the Switch was kind of a magical thing, packing the ability to play in a proper at-home setup and on the go into a slim, effective package. After the undeniable clumsiness of the Wii U, it felt like an elegant idea and execution in a way that hearkened back to Nintendo’s best consoles, and power compromises were well worth the price point it was able to hit.
To date,the Switch is the only console that’s ever been a day-one purchase for me, but its successor,presumably coming in 2025, will almost certainly be the second. While other consoles haven’t given me much reason to immediately leap to the next generation, I’m excited about anything that iterates on the Switch’s strengths, and the time has certainly come for the system to get a refresh. Even if some catch-up in the performance department is what the Switch 2 most fundamentally needs, it isn’t the area where I would be most excited about an update.
Nintendo Is Hoping To Fix A Major Gaming Problem With Switch 2’s Launch
There’s a big problem that makes new console releases difficult, but don’t worry - Nintendo already has a plan for the Switch 2 to fix it.
The Switch 2 Should Bring Back The Personality
The Switch Is Blander Than Other Nintendo Systems
The Nintendo Switch has a particularly clean console design, and the user experience generally matches that, from a minimalist home screen design to reserved use of snappy sound effects.What the user experience doesn’t have, however, is personality. When comparing the Switch to its predecessors in the DS and Wii product lines, it’s missing a lot of what made their user experiences memorable, and that gap is something that’s nagged at me for all seven years that I’ve owned one.
It’s not like the Switch is the first to emphasize clean design, and the original DS and Wii both featured interfaces that hold up surprisingly well alongside graphical trends of today. Unlike the Switch, however, those systems also tossed some unique ideas into the mix. Transitioning from the process of booting directly into games that defined older consoles to a focus on home screens wasn’t something that Nintendo did haphazardly, and there was always something to give that extra step a dash of flavor.
10 Nintendo DS Games That Should Come To Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch Online library could definitely benefit from the addition of some Nintendo DS games, and some would be especially compelling.
The relatively bare-bones DS dedicated one of its four main home screen options to PictoChat, a communication feature that got unjustly banned at my elementary school for simply being too fun and inventive (that’s my angle, anyway).I’d argue that the Wii is a masterclass in UI and sound design, and the countless remixes of tracks like the Wii Shop Channel’s theme have cemented an enduring cultural legacy that goes beyond the console’s many owners. On the Switch, there’s absolutely no eShop music, which feels criminal considering the legacy that it’s abandoning.
Nintendo Showed How Creative It Can Be With The 3DS
StreetPass Still Feels Innovative
Although the 3DS wasn’t an integral part of my childhood in the way that the DS and Wii were, it’s another system that I still occasionally use today, and the difference between it and the Switch is night and day.One big selling point for the 3DS is custom themes, which make it possible to give the home screen a lot of life in place of a white background. I’ve never cared for microtransactions enough to have purchased any of the paid ones, but my 3DS still has a freeSonic The Hedgehog25th anniversary theme splashed across it.
Even without a theme, it’s possible to customize and shuffle around the icons that display on the 3DS home screen, another feature that the Switch lacks.
The real magic of the 3DS might be the StreetPass system, which lets devices exchange Miis, send assists in games, connect in mini-games, and more. As a local wireless connection, it’s something that persists in spite of other 3DS service shutdowns, and a certain number of 3DS owners are still willing to carry their systems around for the sake of StreetPass alone. At a panel with game developer Suda51 that I attended at this year’s MomoCon, the host propped his 3DS up in front of his mic to invite StreetPass connections, over thirteen years after the service was introduced.
The Switch 2 Needs To Succeed Where The Switch Failed
There’s No Reason To Waste This Opportunity
There’s no doubt that people will still be playing games on the Switch six years down the line, but it’s hard to imagine what else they could still be doing on the system. If theSwitch 2 has comprehensive backward compatibility, I doubt I’ll have much personal need to keep booting up the first one, because it doesn’t do much else besides simply playing the games. I have no attachment to the blank white screens and the frequent silence that characterize the Switch, and I have no meaningful way to connect with other players that a successor won’t also offer.
Nintendo Switch 2’s Impressive Features Hinted At In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Code
Code discovered within Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door could suggest that the Nintendo Switch 2 will support a long-rumored feature.
I can’t really be confident that the Switch 2 will turn away from the blander aspects of the Switch, as thetrend toward unobtrustive style choicescan also be seen in plenty of other initiatives from Nintendo. It does feel like there’s a good shot, however, as re-introducing a more exciting console experience could be an easy assist in selling the system and distinguishing it from its predecessor. Considering how much Nintendo has started to gear its Online membership and the Rewards program around digital perks like profile icons, tossing in more customization features could also support those systems.
I’m not frustrated every time I see the Switch’s flavorless UI, and I don’t think about the fact that it’s missing features like StreetPass every time I boot it up. But I also never experience joy when I’m not actually in a game, and joy is something that Nintendo has often managed to bake into every aspect of their console experience. I’m ready for Nintendo to make the experience exciting again, and theNintendo Switch’s successor might be the only shot at re-injecting that creativity for years to come.
Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch is the successor to 2012’s Wii U console. The Nintendo Switch allows gamers to easily switch between playing on a TV to a handheld console. The first model was released in 2017, followed by the Nintendo Switch Lite, which is strictly a handheld console. In October 2021, Nintendo released an upgraded Switch console with an OLED screen.
