An unexciting but successful reveal (YouTube)
GameCentral muses over the long-awaited Nintendo Switch 2 teaser trailer and tries to decide whether it was a disappointment or a finely judged annoucement event.
So now the Nintendo Switch 2 has been officially unveiled, and we know that all the rumours were true. For those that have been following the news they will have learnt nothing new from the reveal trailer on Thursday, apart from the existence of Mario Kart 9. But for more casual customers – who are always Nintendo’s primary concern – it was an effective, if clinical illustration of what the Switch 2 is and some of the new things it can do.
There are clearly many secrets left to reveal, not just the mysterious new button but how exactly transforming the Joy-Cons into computer mice will be used. Likewise, while you would assume the Switch 2 is more powerful than its predecessor, the reveal trailer made no such claim and Mario Kart 9 did not make it obvious either.
Those few seconds of footage did hide more clues than it first appeared though, with hints at 24-player online action and possibly open world, or at the very least off-road, gameplay. Both would be major deviations for the series, which is great, because Mario Kart seemingly having hit an evolutionary dead end was one of the major concerns for Nintendo’s next generation console.
Despite all the positives, there’s no denying the trailer was rather impersonal and unexciting. In terms of footage of previously unannounced games it was no different than the reveal trailer for the original Switch but it was shorter, with no live action framing or third party games – even though there are clearly many waiting to be unveiled.
The failure of the Wii U will have been foremost in Nintendo’s mind while planning the reveal of the Switch 2 and you can interpret the trailer as an attempt to get across one single, but vital point: that this is a new console. The uncharacteristically sensible name gets that point across, but you would have thought footage of a game that is clearly impossible on the Switch 1 would have helped hammer the point home.
Super-fans picking through every frame of the trailer for hints may have realised the implications of Mario Kart 9, but the first question from casual and non-gamers, when talking to more invested friends and family, is almost certainly going to be: ‘Is it a new game?’
That’s not really the first question you want someone asking about the only game you showed for your new console. Even something as uninspired as a comparison video with a remastered version of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild would’ve got the point across more clearly.
It’s already a popular fan theory that the teaser trailer is a knee jerk reaction to the leaks but that would be a very un-Nintendo kind of thing to do and, before the reveal, ex-staff were suggesting that Nintendo was studiously ignoring the leaks and continuing with their original reveal plan.
A reveal in January certainly seems the optimum time to make an annoucement, now there’s no concern about adversely affecting Christmas sales, and a Nintendo Direct in April is exactly the same span of time between the original Switch’s reveal and it’s first major Direct (which led to a launch two months later – which would put the Switch 2 on course for a June release).
Given their longevity, and the extraordinary highs of their most successful products, a more casual observer would assume that it’s best not to speculate and that clearly Nintendo knows what it’s doing. Longer term fans will know that’s not necessarily the case.
The teaser trailer isn’t necessarily a mistake though, it’s just a surprisingly reserved way to announce a follow-up to a massive cultural and sales success like the Switch. However, it has certainly got people talking. As we write this the Nintendo of America YouTube trailer is just about to hit 10 million views and despite what the vocal minority would lead you to believe, the feedback is 97% positive.
That alone is a significant achievement and helps to put in context the reveal’s seemingly modest ambitions. But while Nintendo is worried people won’t realise it’s a brand new format others will be concerned that it’s not just the annoucement video that seems too cautious.
It’s often said that it’s impossible to predict Nintendo but even without any leaks everyone assumed the new console would just be called the Nintendo Switch 2. At the same time, many fans have written in to us over the years speaking of their hopes that the new console would just be a refined version of the current Switch and nothing ‘crazy’ – more powerful but with the same basic form factor.
It seems as if those people have got their wish. And yet is it not, on at least some level, disappointing that the console proved to be so predictable? Even Mario Kart 9 – which was never leaked – was guessed at by many, as an obvious launch title. In our feature about what Nintendo might do for the next entry we even suggested a focus on larger scale online play.
Fans seem to be getting exactly what they want… except for that impossible-to-predict sense of innovation which drives Nintendo’s best hardware and games. What everyone wants most from Nintendo is something they can never ask for, because it is the one thing they never even imagined. There is still every reason to assume that the Switch 2 will provide such experiences, in terms of both hardware software, but the teaser trailer did not show it.
Everyone’s been hoping for a Switch 2 reveal for at least the last five months but if that seemed a slog to get through the wait until the new Nintendo Direct, on April 2, is going to feel like forever. That’s when the Switch 2’s full games line-up is expected to be unveiled, but there’ll no doubt be a steady stream of third party leaks leading up to it. Or perhaps officially sanctioned reveals, now that the Switch 2 is something that can be spoken about in public.
The prospect of a superpowered Switch 2, with unique new features and the games to take advantage of them, is hugely exciting but even after the teaser trailer all that still lies almost solely in the imagination. We know that the Switch 2, and Mario Kart 9, exists but we don’t know much else and that can’t help but be frustrating.
What aren’t they tell us about Mario Kart 9? (YouTube)
The Nintendo Switch 2 reveal: clinical, cautious, and successful