The Nintendo Switch Lowdown!

Today is one for the record books for Nintendo gaming will never be the same again. We have just been given our first look at the future of home gaming consoles and already new details are starting to emerge and we have those details all throughout this article, but just in case you haven’t seen the preview trailer yet, see it now:

Right of the bat we can confirm that the Nintendo Switch, (going to take a lot of getting used to saying that,) is still slated for a March 2017 release and going by the footage we have seen, Breath of the Wild is very similar to its Wii U counterpart. The new console does in fact use cartridges and gamers can expect to play Splatoon on it, as well as what looks like a greatly improved Mario Kart 8 (or even Mario Kart Switch,) and a new Mario game was also briefly shown.

Now one thing that does have to be said about this Splatoon game though, is that from what we’ve seen and what we at Miketendo64 are hearing, is a port of the original game, it does feature new weapons and hairstyles will be customisable and that they won’t be the only changes we see in the Switch version and the Nintendo Switch supports amiibo.

But if you think that is exciting stuff, then you really need to read through the official press release, because not only does it provide details on the console, the Joy-Con controllers and hear what Reggie Fils-Aime has to say about it, but the press release also includes a huge list of who will be supporting the Nintendo Switch, and trust me, third party is not in short supply:

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 20, 2016

“In an introductory video released today (http://www.nintendo.com/switch,) Nintendo provided the first glimpse of its new home gaming system and revealed that it is called Nintendo Switch. In addition to providing single and multiplayer thrills at home, the Nintendo Switch system also enables gamers to play the same title wherever, whenever and with whomever they choose. The mobility of a handheld is now added to the power of a home gaming system to enable unprecedented new video game play styles.

At home, Nintendo Switch rests in the Nintendo Switch Dock that connects the system to the TV and lets you play with family and friends in the comfort of your living room. By simply lifting Nintendo Switch from the dock, the system will instantly transition to portable mode, and the same great gaming experience that was being enjoyed at home now travels with you. The portability of Nintendo Switch is enhanced by its bright high-definition display. It brings the full home gaming system experience with you to the park, on an airplane, in a car, or to a friend’s apartment.

Gaming springs into action by removing detachable Joy-Con controllers from either side of Nintendo Switch. One player can use a Joy-Con controller in each hand; two players can each take one; or multiple Joy-Con can be employed by numerous people for a variety of gameplay options. They can easily click back into place or be slipped into a Joy-Con Grip accessory, mirroring a more traditional controller. Or, if preferred, the gamer can select an optional Nintendo Switch Pro Controller to use instead of the Joy-Con controllers. Furthermore, it is possible for numerous people to bring their Nintendo Switch systems together to enjoy local multiplayer face-to-face competition.

“Nintendo Switch allows gamers the freedom to play however they like,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, President and COO, Nintendo of America. “It gives game developers new abilities to bring their creative visions to life by opening up the concept of gaming without boundaries.”

“Developers can design their games supporting a variety of play styles, which gives gamers the freedom to choose an experience that best suits them. Some of the publishers, developers and middleware partners announcing support for Nintendo Switch are as follows:”

505 Games
Activision Publishing Inc.
ARC SYSTEM WORKS Co., Ltd.

ATLUS CO., LTD.
Audiokinetic Inc.
Autodesk Inc.

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.
Bethesda
CAPCOM CO., LTD.

Codemasters®
CRI Middleware Co., Ltd.
DeNA Co., Ltd.

Electronic Arts
Epic Games Inc.
Firelight Technologies

FromSoftware, Inc.
Frozenbyte
GameTrust

GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE INC
Gungho Online Entertainment, Inc.
HAMSTER Corporation

Havok
INTI CREATES CO., LTD.
KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.

Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
LEVEL-5 Inc.
Marvelous Inc.

Maximum Games, LLC
Nippon Ichi Software, Inc.
Parity Bit Inc.

PlatinumGames Inc.
RAD Game Tools, Inc.
RecoChoku Co., Ltd.

SEGA Games Co., Ltd.
Silicon Studio Corporation
Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd.

SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
Starbreeze Studios
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.

Telltale Games
THQ Nordic
Tokyo RPG Factory Co., Ltd.

TT Games
UBISOFT
Ubitus Inc.

Unity Technologies, Inc.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Web Technology Corp

“Today’s video incorporated short glimpses of representative gameplay to demonstrate the liberating nature of the Nintendo Switch home gaming system. Full game demonstrations, the list of launch window titles, as well as launch date, price, product configuration and related specifics, will be shown and announced prior to the March launch.”

But even then that is not all because we also have an official announcement from Nvidia as well, which illustrates just how involved with the Nintendo Switch they are and provides additional details:

“The first thing to know about the new Nintendo Switch home gaming system: it’s really fun to play. With great graphics, loads of game titles and incredible performance, the Nintendo Switch will provide people with many hours of engaging and interactive gaming entertainment.

But creating a device so fun required some serious engineering. The development encompassed 500 man-years of effort across every facet of creating a new gaming platform: algorithms, computer architecture, system design, system software, APIs, game engines and peripherals. They all had to be rethought and redesigned for Nintendo to deliver the best experience for gamers, whether they’re in the living room or on the move.

A Console Architecture for the Living Room and Beyond

Nintendo Switch is powered by the performance of the custom Tegra processor. The high-efficiency scalable processor includes an NVIDIA GPU based on the same architecture as the world’s top-performing GeForce gaming graphics cards.

Nintendo Switch: The Nintendo Switch’s gaming experience is also supported by fully custom software, including a revamped physics engine, new libraries, advanced game tools and libraries. NVIDIA additionally created new gaming APIs to fully harness this performance. The newest API, NVN, was built specifically to bring lightweight, fast gaming to the masses.

Gameplay is further enhanced by hardware-accelerated video playback and custom software for audio effects and rendering.

We’ve optimized the full suite of hardware and software for gaming and mobile use cases. This includes custom operating system integration with the GPU to increase both performance and efficiency.

NVIDIA gaming technology is integrated into all aspects of the new Nintendo Switch home gaming system, which promises to deliver a great experience to gamers.

The Nintendo Switch will be available in March 2017. More information is available at https://www.nintendo.com/switch.”

As of right now, this is everything we have, besides a bunch of photos, which you can find below, but more NX news is promised and soon and when it does hit the net, you can expect to see it here! Thank you for reading,

Just kidding, Image & Form have revealed that they are also official Nintendo Switch Devs and they’ve even done a video on it as well and too right they should, they are Europe’s first revealed Nintendo Switch Developers: