Nintendo Switch reveal event hype is high heading into Thursday’s showcase, and everybody has their own predictions about what we’ll see with regard to the console’s price, release date and games lineup. In the interest of contributing to that discussion, here are our own thoughts on all of those subjects.
Price : The pricing of a console is integral to its success. In relation to their competitors, the lower tags of the Wii and PS4 are critical to the meteoric sales of both systems. The Wii U and Xbox One, on the other hand, struggled out of the gate partially because gamers felt the hardware was too expensive.
In the case of the Switch, we believe there will be at least two skus of the unit in two basic flavors. The base unit will retail for $299 and several game-accessory bundles will top out at $349. We’ve often predicted Laura Kate Dale’s estimated $249 wholesale price means the Switch will be a bit more expensive for consumers, and we stand by that now. With lots of custom chips and unique designs, we can’t see it costing much less.
Specs And Battery: With regard to specs, we feel that pretty much everything we heard from Eurogamer a few weeks ago is right on the money. The Switch will not compete with PS4 and Xbox One and will instead be more of an improvement on the Wii U than anything else. Its screen will be 720p multitouch, but 1080p resolution will be supported on the dock. Oh, and at least one of those Joy-Con controllers will have a motion sensor.
If there’s anything that truly dampens the hype of the Nintendo Switch reveal event, we think battery life will be it. Based on what we’ve seen on devices like smartphones, tablets and the NVIDIA Shield, we’d guess the Switch will probably last somewhere between four and five hours with a heavy game. For smaller downloadable experiences and Virtual Console titles, it could be a fair bit longer. We personally don’t find this to be too offensive, but we suspect the internet will react strongly to it anyway.
Release Date : Release date speculation is somewhat silly to begin with, but we’ll do it regardless. With the exception of the Wii U, which launched on a Tuesday, most recent Nintendo consoles have actually hit retailers on Sundays.
Given that Nintendo is desperately trying to market the Switch as a total departure from the Wii U, we might see a Sunday launch again. With not much more evidence than that, we predict the Nintendo Switch will be at retail stores worldwide on Sunday, March 19.
Games Lineup : We actually think the Nintendo Switch release day lineup will be somewhat sparse, but the reveal event itself is still going to show off lots of games that will be available throughout the calendar year. Here’s what we think will be shown or announced during the proceedings.
- Super Mario Switch: This will be the 3D Mario game we’ve all been waiting for, and it will be available on day one. We also expect some sort of multiplayer co-op too because Miyamoto has wanted to do that in a 3D Mario game for years.
- The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild: Of course it will be there, and it will be a launch game. We’ll see a new section with fairly intense graphics too.
- Skyrim Special Edition: This will be the main showcase title for Switch third-party support. It will launch on day one with restricted mods.
- Mario RPG Rabbids Game: There’s been lots of talk about a new Mario RPG featuring Rayman’s Rabbids, and we think it’s a real day-one title with tactical gameplay.
- GameCube Virtual Console : We’ll see Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Mario Sunshine running on Switch. They’ll be available in the first half of the year.
- Ports Of Mario Kart 8 , Splatoon and Super Smash Bros.: They’ll have some augmented features and new characters. Mario Kart will be close to launch, Splatoon in June and Super Smash Bros. this fall.
- Metroid: This will be the “one more thing” of the event. Retro has been working on something for a while, and we think it’s this game. We won’t see much beyond a teaser, though. Maybe more at E3?
The Nintendo Switch reveal event takes place on Jan. 12 at 11 p.m. EST. A Treehouse presentation has been scheduled too.
That pretty much covers everything we predict will happen, but what do you think? Is there something we missed? Tell us in the comments section!
