this is it, i believe, but would rather have the 2TB card. oh well. 1TB isn't bad.

Just going to pay full price for one today rather than try to find a deal between now and June?

I said this in the tariffs thread but all switches are much cheaper in Japan because of exchange rates and how week the yen is.

That may be true but there has to be some tariff protection built in.

we'll see. i like to future proof and these don't always go down. i've priced before.

Future proof? Are you worried SD cards are going to disappear from the market in the next couple months?

Enjoy your shiny new SD card that'll sit in its package until June, I guess.

So it’s not specifically tariffs but just the weak yen? Still… that’s a bitter pill to swallow. >$100 cheaper for the console and $20 cheaper for the games is just insane.

Nintendo is really cashing in on their good faith fan base they’ve built up this generation.

Really curious what the scalper situation will be like.

Yikes. Pretty deflating presentation. We knew most of these details about the hardware already, and anything new was underwhelming.

That launch price along with such a weak first party line up was not expected. I'm personally not interested in anything the C button does, mouse controls, or playing higher resolution versions of games I played years ago. The new dock is nice, but the Switch is strictly a handheld for me.

Metroid looks great, and I am looking forward to playing Wind Waker, since I skipped that when it launched.

Can't believe that Switch 2 tech demo is a paid game.

Sure. I did just check my switch lite and it was made in China, however most of my carts say Made in Japan, and to my knowledge tariffs haven't been raised against Japan (yet). I'm just saying there's also a huge difference between Japanese switch (1) prices and US prices that have nothing to do with tariffs, so the price increase isn't due primarily to that.

For comparison
Switch OLED in Japan retail: 37980 yen = about 250
Switch OLED in US retail: 350

Also the Japanese price includes tax.

Yes they do. Memory is like the ONE thing in life that ALWAYS gets cheaper. NEVER buy more memory than you need right now. 🙄

I just pre-registered for the bundle. Thanks for the link! Any have any ideas on how hard it will be to get one on release day?

Official announcement on Switch accessories. So good news there. Seems like basically everything is compatible that’s to be expected.

All controllers are backwards compatible. Just charging issues of course.

Charging for the tech demo "game"
That announcement would have made more sense yesterday.

Sorry. I don’t mean to spam this thread but it all seems like good information to share. I’m on mobile right now and it’s just a lot easier to share Wario64s posts.

Nintendo is introducing Game Key Cards. Basically it’s a physical game but then links for you to download the game.

I mostly buy my games physically for collecting purposes and I still don’t fully trust Nintendo with digital games after what they have done in the past. So I REALLY hope this will be a limited use case scenario.

The only example I can find is I guess they’re repackaging the Switch Zelda games and they’re basically going to have the Switch 1 game with the download for Switch 2 enhancements on the card. So no reason to buy it over just buying a the Switch version and just upgrading it. Very odd choice from Nintendo. The cynic in me thinks they just want a new UPC so they can start selling it to suckers without any discounts. I’d rather just have the full enhanced game on the cart but I’m sure that’s just me.

Seriously. That might be the most appalling thing about this whole direct. I mean the crazy new prices are already appalling but the fact that Nintendo has the gall to charge for that tech demo??? I mean it didn’t even seem like a tech demo. It looked more like an interactive FAQ. They are REALLY burning through some positive Nintendo fan Karma with these announcements.

Especially considering Sony’s awesome Astro’s playroom and the incredible tech demos that come with VR headsets. This is like a slap in the face.

except that the Pro doesn't have the C button. but, if you don't play online, i guess this isn't a factor.

Basically removes the benefits of physical games (besides storage space) unless you just want a placeholder case. It would actually be more convenient to just have a digital code in a case like they do for some games because at least then you don't have to put in the cart for a license check.

Also it doesn't seem like the download for switch 2 enhancements is on the card, it still makes you download it from the internet, or am I reading that wrong?

It is greedy, but this is basically something like 1-2-Switch except they named it weirdly: a bunch of tech demos that you pay for. The difference between this and VR is that VR really needed a tech demo to sell the system, and there are enough diehard fans that want to show off their Nintendo system that they will buy it full price (this has to be a non full price"game" right?)

Correct. The Switch 1 game is on the cart and includes the enhancements. How this will work if it’s just a code in a box or encoded on the cart itself isn’t revealed yet.

that’s why hopefully this is a niche use case. I’m hoping that MP4 will just be a Switch 2 release although it doesn’t seem like it… so that’ll mean that it too will likely be a $90 game $70 for a AAA first party Switch game then $20 for the enhancements.

I guess so. But 1-2 switch seemed much more like an actual game. This just seems…SO bad for a paid game.

So, if I understand this correctly, basically you are paying $10 extra for physical copy. Seems like someone sort of tried this in the past and it didn't go over so well.

To be fair, this is the only Switch2-related impulse buy OB is able to make with his Amazon credit today, so OF COURSE he's got to do it.

Maybe I'm just misunderstanding your wording but that says the game and enhancements are NOT on the cart, but that it's a key to download the game from the internet. At least for the game-key card concept. I guess the benefit is that you can freely share it like a physical game card because it limits the license to whoever has the cart, instead of the account. This is pretty much how disc systems work, the disc is primarily a license check (and an initial install option), though that's mainly because the entire game needs to be saved to the HDD for speed purposes. I have no idea why they'd introduce this in a cart system, though.

But maybe you're saying there's yet another version of this for Zelda that includes the switch game and something that lets you get the enhancements for a combined price? They are going to confuse sooo many people with this nonsense.

I guess we don’t have any pricing yet for the enhanced versions. I am curious how much it will be. Hopefully just $10. But this way they can sell BotW and TotK for full price $60 and $70 + the enhancements vs getting the Switch versions on sale like they have been numerous times before.

Good news is there will be some Switch games that will have enhancements for free. Hopefully to fix some of the games that for some reason run terribly on the Switch.

I guess we don’t know for sure. On the Zelda packaging it says includes the Nintendo Switch game and the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack.

On the Keycard FAQ it says that an initial download is required to play the game and after the download you still have to put the physical game in to play.

Since this “feature” has only been shown on the Zelda games and MP4 I’m assuming they just repackaged the Switch games and you’ll have to download the enhancements. I guess they could not have anything on the cart and just link it to a full digital download but I hope that’s not the case. Hopefully you’ll at least save some memory by having the main game on the cart itself if you have to insert it anyways to play. I also wonder if you can just play the original Switch game without the enhancements. But I guess you wouldn’t have any reason to do that.

A lot of questions and a lot of assumptions. Like I said I hope this is a niche use case. Probably a transitionary way to make it “easier” to distinguish if you’re getting the Switch version or the Switch 2 version of games that will come out on both systems.

Also cheaper for them to manufacture. Although why can’t they just make a Switch 2 version and package it that way. Without all this game key crap. Especially for games like MP4 and the Pokémon game that haven’t even been released yet.

Now I’m mad again

The game-key explanation explicitly says it gives you a license to download the game and that's it. I don't think there's even a playable game there if, say, you don't have initial access to the internet. Because the "enhanced" games work a little different, it makes some sense for Nintendo to have a "bundle" that has the switch game and some kind of download for the enhancement if only to get rid of their remaining stock, but I don't think that has anything to do with this game-key thing. It's like a sneaky way to move everyone to digital altogether.

I just hope this game-key thing is an option and not the default, but I have a hard time believing they'd be selling regular games AND game-key cards for the same games on the same retail shelves.