The first Nintendo Switch 2 trailer.
Me, last summer:
So, what exactly is Nintendo going to announce next spring? Are they going to take another risk on "think different" while the Switch is still strong? That seems difficult to believe after the lesson learned from the Wii U. I don't get the impression they're going to try to replace the Switch with something based on that notion. I can see a somehow next-level console that retains backward compatibility with the Switch, as the 3DS was to the DS.
The "first look" trailer is indeed little more than a look at the hardware (briefly showing additional content for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, if not for a sequel).
No Wii U-esque marketing mistakes this time, I suppose. It's not the "Switch-Up" or the "Switch Yes," but the "Switch 2": the sequel to the Switch. The back of the device prominently shows the Switch's squarish glyph followed by a bold "2." Nintendo's done plenty of iterative or successor consoles with backwards compatibility, but I believe this is the first time they've used a name followed by "2" for a console as opposed to a game.
I find myself a little apathetic. Part of that is a carry-over from the original annoucement of the Switch: I loved the Wii U, and gently resented the Switch's general change of direction, as well as the marked compatibility cutoff and disavowing of the traditionally free online service, though I acknowledge they were good choices for the health of the company. I bought a Switch some time after it released and use it many days of the year, but I've amassed for it my smallest game library of any Nintendo console – just a handful of titles – and the modern span during which I've turned more often than ever to older consoles to play and replay games.
The other part is the strange Apple-like-ness of the trailer. The music is a touch more synthesized and distinctly playful – not quite an attempt to resonate with the fore of pop culture sensibility like Apple does - but it's the same imbuing of hardware components with Pixar-like behaviours while stretching their proverbial limbs, plus an animated transition from the original Switch's form that feels like it wouldn't have been conceived without the 2018 iPad Pro's reveal video.
And the new form: along with the lengths of most edges, the radii of most corners are longer, giving the shapes a more organic character, particularly the addition of roundedness to the dock's upper edge. The original Switch's form, with its smallness and tightness, its clear distinctions between quarter-arcs and rectangles, seemed to know and proclaim what it was: a little gaming device that neatly clicked and fit together. Today's visual statement strikes me strangely. It feels like a sort of evolution for evolution's sake, just a riff on the original. The original had a choice of two dark grey Joy-Con, or one bright reddish and one bright bluish. The Switch 2 shows two that are dark grey, but with accents of the inherited red and blue beneath the control sticks and along their sides, where they would typically be hidden when attached to a grip or console. A one-word sentence – "odd" – feels fair.
But I'm guessing, and hope, some of the seeming design whims are in service of the experience of using the thing, such as the shape when holding it. Oh, and the reliability. I know because I availed myself at least twice: when a Joy-Con's relatively flimsy control stick began to inexplicably drift, Nintendo let you mail it in and sent you a working one, with barely a word. They never asked me for a warranty, a console serial number, or anything. There was clearly a system in place for this. No prior Nintendo console's controller has ever stopped working properly for me. That told me they knew they'd made a mistake with the Joy-Con's reliability, they knew they didn't want people talking about it (or presumably suing over it), and they were so successful enough with the Switch that they'd simply take whatever hit was necessary to keep everyone happy who might otherwise complain. It is hard to complain about that: and I don't know whether I'll ever encounter a swifter or more graceful example of a company recognizing they did something wrong and making it right. The Switch 2's magnetized handheld controllers, and a briefly featured full rotation of a slightly bulkier control stick, felt like a disguised and humble nod to those affected.
Thankfully, the backward compatibility story is the traditional one: they'll presumably keep supporting the library of games released since 2017, particularly with online connectivity, which finally feels like a rooted, expected, and indispensible element of Nintendo's releases today. They can try to get some new and dedicated customers to upgrade or buy the Switch 2 without leaving their current and passive customers hanging.
The singular curious featured aspect of the main unit is its length-spanning kickstand that lowers the display to a tablet-like angle, as though prompting thoughts about art and drawing, which the original Switch on a tabletop, especially with its utterly minimal built-in stand, would never have stood for.
I kind of sigh about my generally correct guess from last summer. It's extraordinary that consoles and games like today's can even exist, but I was ready for Nintendo to venture once again to a frontier nobody else was seeing. But goodness knows I have plenty of existing games still to play, I'm happy so many people are enjoying the Switch so much, and I'm certainly happy Nintendo, which has found its footing in merchandise, theme parks, and movies, is doing so well. If I feared this was some indication that the people at Nintendo are losing their imagination or willingness to keep exploring the abstract, I have but to look to their specialty sensor-driven alarm clock. I look forward to the Nintendo Direct on April 2, where I sincerely hope we'll encounter not just chintzy voiceover artists, but traditionally direct addresses from the staff.