The Nintendo Switch, after an incredible run, is nearing the end of its reign and so, like always at this stage in the console lifespan, there’s a lot of excited speculation about what Nintendo will do next. It’s got me in a permanent Nintendo hype mood, so I thought I’d join in!

Trying to predict or even guess the future behaviour of Nintendo is, I’ll happily admit, often a non-starter. They throw a lot of curve balls, I mean. It’s a company that once turned around and said: “Boom, Labo! A bunch of Wii-style accessories that you make out of cardboard. Also, there’s a giant robot game and the joy-con controller can become a remote control car.” And from what I gather (I haven’t tried it), it works and was pretty great! I’m not throwing any shade here; I love these Nintendo curveballs. My point is only that it’s hard to predict what they’re going to do. (They also once said: “Look how awesome realistic Zelda is in this GameCube tech demo, now Boom, Toon Style! Again, no shade. Wind Waker is amazing, and I like the Toon Style. But I gather that it was also a bit of a curve ball). But for all that, it’s fun to make predictions, especially about an unpredictable company. So, let’s do this!

The first big question is what the next console is going to be called. The current favourite, that I keep seeing on various forums and websites, is Switch 2. This would be a kind of un-Nintendo-like name (they’ve never been inclined towards numbering) but I quite like the simplicity of it. It’s to the point and I already really like the name Switch and am happy to retain it. But then, there are a few other suggestions which also retain the name Switch. The idea I keep seeing from other Nintendo fans is “Super Switch.” This does feel a lot more Nintendo-esc than Switch 2. It recalls the old Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), the successor to the NES. And, as indicated, when Nintendo retains a console name, they prefer adding a new term instead of a number. They went from the Gameboy to the Gameboy Advanced (and the Gameboy Colour if you count it as a generation – opinions differ), from the DS to 3DS and from the Wii to the Wii U. And it’s that last one that concerns me.

The Wii U failed for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest was confusion. A lot of people straight up didn’t realise that it was a new console and it’s easy to see why. But the name was a part of it as well. After an almost endless slew of “Wii insert term” product accessories (like the Wii Wheel, Wii Balance Board and Wii Classic Controller), naming their new console the Wii U was not overly clear. It might just be an accessory. That the advertisements never showed the console and just focused on the Gamepad (side-by-side with standard Wii remotes), didn’t help here. (The YouTube channel Scott the Woz has some great videos about the Wii U’s failure). The only name perhaps more confusing than “Wii U” was the 3DS hardware revision: “New Nintendo 3DS”. Allowing people, forever more, to use the confusing statement “my old New Nintendo 3DS.” So, from a business standpoint, and I want this console to succeed, it just seems like the name should be really clear. And Switch 2, is pretty clear. Though that assumes that they do keep the Switch motif. They could through the ultimate curveball and call it the Wii Double U (we’re bringing it back!).

This also assumes that they stick to the hybrid concept, but I think they will. Nintendo is on to a real winner with the home/handheld hybrid. They’ve found a new and popular niche that, time of writing, could make Switch 1 the best-selling console ever. It also allows them to focus all their game development efforts on just one console. This has massively reduced the likelihood of a software drought – which has killed a lot of old Nintendo consoles – and will be even more important for the Switch 2 since (as discussed on the forums) they won’t have the game library of a failed console to pull from during a drought. Backwards compatibility seems likely for the same reason, especially since they’re still releasing new switch games. Although I don’t think their main teams will have a release for a while, though I might be wrong about that. Presumably, they’ll hold back releases to build up a large sleight of launch titles (this may also explain the launch delay, it gives them more time to make those early games). It seems quite likely that the new console will be, essentially, a more powerful hybrid with, as per various rumours and reports, upscaling tech (which will hopefully improve Switch 1 games as well). And honestly, a more powerful system is all I want. But then, Nintendo does like curveballs. So why not think big? My dream scenario is for a hybrid that also does VR (mainly because I think F-Zero VR would be awesome) and hey, they did experiment with Switch VR as part of Labo.

But a console is made by its games and, as briefly touched on already, there’s reason to think that the launch titles for Switch 2 (or whatever it’s called) will be great. Most substantially, there’s going to be a new 3D Mario game, I reckon in the open-world style of Bowser’s Fury (which kind of felt like a new blueprint for Mario). There hasn’t been a big 3D Mario game since Odyssey, and I’ve got to assume that the Mario team has been doing something since then (besides the above-mentioned Bowser’s Fury). There have been some rumours about them making a new Donkey Kong game, which would be awesome, but it has been seven years since Odyssey – a new big 3D Mario is due. I reckon they’ll do Mario Kart 9 as well (8 came out in 2014, which makes me feel old). There’s been a lot of Mario Kart DLC recently, but I’m fairly sure that it was made by a different team (or at least someone told me it was), so the main team will have had time to work on it. These are fairly safe game predictions though. So as a curveball, I’m hoping they’ll release the announced, but ever-mysterious, Metroid Prime 4 near launch (it will probably come out on Switch 1 as well). Metroid is a sadly underappreciated series, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t a launch title (though being one would give it a boost). Still, if they wanted a game to show off the Switch 2’s graphical capability, I think Metroid Prime is a… prime contender (I stand by that pun and will not apologise for it! Well maybe I’ll apologise a little, sorry). Though this may be wishful thinking – I want Metroid to be bigger. There will probably be a tech demo game like Wii Sports or Nintendo Land which will be cool, those games are normally fun. But the big launch title will be 3D Mario because, well, it’s 3D Mario!

-Dexter