Counterpoint: the change from the massively successful Wii to the WiiU was a total and utter failure. Maybe they learned their lesson and are now giving people what they already think that they want -- a much more powerful Switch with a bigger, brighter, sharper screen and better controllers and more great first party games?

Problem with the new 3ds is that there was very little unique software for it that didn’t work with the regular 3ds. It was like the n64 expansion pack. If this switch 2 launches with just enhanced switch games then it’ll die quickly.

A game developer experienced with Nintendo hardware discusses how powerful he thinks the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 is:

Eh, Nintendo seems to do alright with their systems that are just "upgrades". When they innovate a little bit, it doesn't seem to go anywhere, when they changed it up entirely is when things seem to go their way. I don't know how they would improve on the Switch as of right now.

NES (62m) and SNES (49.1m) thrived
N64 (33m) and Gamecube (21.7m) struggled
Wii (101.6m) knocked it out of the park
Wii U was confusing and didn't sell for shit (13.6m)
Switch knocked it out of the park (140m units sold)

I think Switch 2 sticking with the tried and true "but better" was a smart move for right now.

So much of their catalog nowadays are relatively smaller cross platform indie games as well, so a completely new control scheme wouldn't be great, let alone bigger ports. I don't quite remember but with the Wii, were the software sales great, or was it mostly the console selling off of Wii Sports? For sure the WiiU struggled with third party support.

Plus SNES is still one of my favorite platforms.

The stuff that sold well, sold very well on the Wii, but 17 of the top 20 sellers were of course Nintendo which is why the third party devs didn't care for the platform as much (that and being under powered).

Basically, Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Play, Super Mario Kart, Mario Party, Zelda, etc; then Lego and Just Dance

I thought Nintendo had a requirement that they had to utilize the tablet in some way, which must have been a pain (in addition to having to port to an underpowered platform). There were definitely some third party gems (that lego city game was great even if the loading times were horrendous) but few and far between, and at least part of that had to be the "innovation"

Plus if you were making an underpowered game that utilized two screens they had another console that had a bigger install base. So Nintendo moving from the 3DS/WiiU to the switch kind of pushed the developers of both to one console. Like I'm still kind of surprised they didn't port an Etrian Oddysey to WiiU.

I was doing regular Wii, not Wii U

Nothing really did very well on the Wii U outside of Mario games and Splatoon, only 1 third party title made the top 20 on the Wii U (Lego City Undercover) which moved 1 million copies.

The tablet was just confusingly implemented despite the fact I thought it was kind of neat. The Switch just made way more sense.

When has Nintendo really cared about giving people what they asked for let alone 3rd party developers?

But again, I think this is the right move at this time. A more powerful and capable Switch 2 is exactly what Nintendo needs. But it's still a little surprising that that's all it is.

Dang that's early on a school day. I was hoping to watch it live together with the kids.

So do I wait for them to watch it together or just not mention I already watched it.

So, would there be a way to carry saves over from Switch 1 to 2? I know bc but the saves are on the internal storage and not the SD card.

You can back up saves to the cloud if you have Nintendo Online (which I know you do).

How do I do that exactly?

Beautiful.

Today in disappointing news:

Nintendo is killing gold points. You won’t be able to accrue them after March 25th, but you’ll still have a year to use what you have by then.

Also, you won’t be able to use vouchers on Switch 2 exclusives.

Is there something in your link that confirms that about Switch 2 games? Not that I don't believe you, but I didn't see it in your link.

It's in the FAQ

I don't get that post. Do you think we secretly know when the system launches are are just not telling you?
Anything now is pure speculation.

We'll know after the Nintendo Direct which is mentioned above.

Preorders will surely be open shortly after the presentation on April 2nd. Going by the time between the big Switch reveal and that release — 7 weeks — we’re probably looking at late May or (more likely) early June.

Seattle Mariners will wear a huge Switch 2 patch on their away jerseys this year.

If someone wouldn’t mind, whenever this goes on preorder, can you please order me one as well? I never get in on time. I’ll pay straight away and a little extra for the courtesy. Thanks in advance.

I changed my mind.