Nintendo: Switch 2's Launch Titles Are "Sort Of" Genre- And Franchise-Defining

Not really much to say here, of course he’s going to talk up the upcoming games if he works at Nintendo. Only time will tell if they live up to the hype (and the price tag).

Mario Kart maybe, it definitely looks like it's doing a lot of big shakeups to the formula.

As for Donkey Kong even getting past the ugly design I don't understand why I should care about a completely different genre of game for it. I like Donkey Kong for 2D platformers, some plodding pseudo-beat-'em-up doesn't interest me whatsoever because it plays nothing like what I want out of a DK game. In general while I kind of excuse it with Mario since the series has been doing it for 30 years now, by and large I think franchises should stay in their lane and a game should play like other games in the series. I'm not exactly playing Donkey Kong or Kirby for their worldbuilding or setting or cast so the same characters in a completely different genre means nothing to me.

Well I pre-ordered the S2 didn't I?

Yes I did.

Can't wait for Burnout Paradise: MarioKart Edition.

DK looks great and I'll grab Cyberpunk to support physical media.

I'm excited, not to part with the crazy amount of money but for the actual games and console. I only had to remortgage my house and sell the kids, but it'll be worth it.
😜

I believe it.

Just based on what I saw they look like those generational masterpieces we talk about for the next 10 years.

So... turning every single game to open world now is "genre defining"?? Suuuuure

IMO it just converts creative formulas into big sand box fetch quests.
It's ok here and there... but not for everything! (There's rumors the new Resident Evil and the new Mario are open world too) .. sigh....

In a few years every game will be the same ... 100 hour fetch quests

BOXING party genre like ARMS should get more appreciations.
I want more cartoonish boxing games, not basketball, not soccer.

Mario Kart is feeling more like a racing sim version of itself. To me that’s more redefining than genre-defining

Yeah Mario Kart World definitely looks genre-defining, probably will end up as the best racing game of all time.

Donkey Kong Bananza could be genre-defining, it looks like an incredibly fun engine!

Toot! Toot!! All aboard!!!

But seriously though, I really miss the videos Bill used to do with Reggie. Bowser is apparently a very boring guy…

I just wish we were getting the master chief collection too. Would be so monumental and historical. But as it is, it’s a decent release list imho. I think game cube with rogue leader and super monkey ball was my fav.

@Yoshi3 reminds me of when Aonuma was talking about how fans want linear games like ocarina and couldn't understand why.

DK appears to now be all about smashing, burrowing and chucking and manipulating rocks, from what was seen. That’s a change from the vine-swinging and tree hopping character the DKC games gave us. It is kind of strange all the intense rock destruction.. Like a third person Minecraft maybe. It’s definitely a direction. Looks good tho

I definitely agree with this sentiment. The Odyssey/BotW approach has been very present with a lot of major titles during this era of Nintendo if you've been paying any semblance of attention.

I don't believe this. We are honestly having a discussion where a DK game carries the same amount of weight as Zelda? Is this article for real? Both MK8D and BotW were lightning in bottles.

Mario Kart World is starting to interest me more and more; the freedom of exploration sounds like a seriously good time! DK Bananaza on the other hand… uh-no thanks

Of course this is a big moment for DK because he himself has been redesigned! As for the game itself, it'll certainly set the look and feel of 3D Donkey Kong going forward. That's fine because there was only Donkey Kong 64 before, and Nintendo probably wouldn't want to continue the collectathon style.

Mario Kart needed a refresh so badly after having roughly the same game for over a decade. There can still be the usual racing modes, but I'm eager to see what else there is in that crucial Mario Kart World Direct!

@prw_88 I'm not sure how to tell you this, but Donkey Kong is kind of a big deal in terms of Nintendo franchise hierarchy.

I still can’t get past Donkey Kong’s new ugly design. I am fine with characters getting new designs, but this one is just plain awful

@YunoboCo elaborate. I'd like someone to put into actual words what they dislike about the design rather than using one vague term and calling it a day.

Well, if they don't want us to miss those games, they really should consider lowering the prices.

@Dev-N Well, DK Bananza will also be collectathon again, right? That's what I understood.

I really think Mario Kart World is a game changer. I don't understand people who brush it off as another Mario Kart game. It's potentially changing the franchise forever.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the launch title I'm interested in owning but that's because I use my Switch only for third party titles.

@Yoshi3 Metroid Prime 4 is not open-world, and DK's following the Mario Odyssey formula of open but contained environments

@Beetlebum91 I mean... you gotta get to a middle ground... not too linear like Skyward Sword because you take away the freedom... but not too open world like TotK because you take away the structured design.
Ocarina of Time and classic Zeldas were the middle ground... it was a bit "do your own thing" but with a structured progression and design.

Aonuma is outdated to be honest. If he can't understand the reason why 20 previous Zelda games became popular in the first place ... then he isn't fit for the job anymore.

2 games in and many people are fed up of with this formula. Unlike 20 that came before.

Now imagine this situation with other franchises repeating ad nauseum. All looking and playing the same, like a gigantic mix of sand boxes, fetch quests and unstructured stories.

@PikaPhantom have we gotten confirmation about that? I didn't watch the Treehouse tbf. And if so... phew... a sigh of relief. Imagine stripping the Metroidvania progression in favor of an open world for the game that popularized the sub-genre... blech...

the drag and whatever game seems defining in the gimmick game sphere. I'm actually completely genuine when I say I want to play it!

@Anti-Matter you know, I don't think anyone can really predict what you want, man, lol.

@Lizuka So it should play like Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong, King of Swing, DKC, or DK64?

@LikelySatan he would be a wild test audience and focus group lol.

Mario Kart World better have worthy locations as to me trailers weren't the case for Splatoon 3 I thought and open world even though it was similar to the other games and just cosmetics they were showing off.

An open world MK game needs enough to it or else who cares. If just highways then sure.... But hardly that exciting you can get that anywhere regardless of Mario characters in it as an appeal. Or larger tracks or whatever they offer them for personality.

To me open world racing games have boring missions, Burnout Paradise was good but it got awkward with it's city layout being forgettable so it was hard to navigate and some missions especially stunt ones were awkward start locations to then pull off whatever needed. Midnight Club LA had the most 'functionally basic' events I've even seen wow it was boring.

Circuit/point-to- point racers are good but even their modes are just down to 2 and that's it for 20 hours, it's so boring I'd rather play anti-grav racers or 5-7th gen racing games instead 8th+ gen ones are so bland of modes/event types and personality Indies being nostalgic and pathetic besides a small handful actually being good or AAA being ntoo tire movement specific or licenses no one cares about and wasting years on 1 DLC let alone other boring car/track use cases interested then to make a game. Shooters/racing just such for map/being interesting these days.

So Mario Kart needs to put effort into it's world, Odyssey did fair I think, so Mario Kart needs to put effort in for a world or it's tracks to spice them up.

DK I think it's fair offering a platformer with destruction like this, it's like offering a Glover a character with interesting mechanics (even if a glove so different character type) or a Pitfall aka a human (Ape in DK's case) and making them have interesting mechanics, something most animal characters seem to not offer anymore just be cute and have generic moveset abilities/tasks to do, boring. HAL can make Kirby do so much, Nintendo has with DK here even if the other games did as well. Just talking modern era comparison of platformers these days.

Mario and Pitfall to me are the human characters with the most interesting movesets as much as any 5th/6th gen era movesets.

Most Indie platformer designs are boring gameplay wise, DK at least always had enough personality of mechanic ideas to be fair. This one seems to be pushing a few more interesting ideas others should take note on. Or else I'll keep buying/emulating 5th/6th gen games modern platforms or original platforms till Indies get their act together to put some spin on something with their skillsets not cute characters and bland movesets/level design and tasks so generic I'm surprised they even bother copying popular platformers or making mini open world games/sandbox games so boring.

Drag n Drive is ok to demo the mouse pointer but eh, it will be like Arms not supported enough. Making it robot wheelchair baskbetball is cool and it's nice to see an arcadey sports game but it seems a bit too safe looking to me to care about it and the mouse pointer stuff I can tell will be pretty eh used in it compared to a party game like the Wii Party ghost minigame in a 3D space to point around or other use cases they need to impress me on for other genres, IR was badly used on Switch 1 as it is compared to the Wii.

Kirby Airriders as a sequel/successor to Airride is cool.

@the_beaver Yeah, but I guess I should've clarified that Nintendo wouldn't want nearly as much collecting as in DK64. No one should! Bananza inevitably has some collectibles to get, but how to collect them and how many are key.

Why are comments disabled on the articles about Canadian pre order delay and the analyst sales predictions?

To flat out disable comments on articles concerning a big topic right now for Nintendo fans is surprising. Block comments that violate community rules but this blanket ban on discussion for these types of articles is wrong and as media journalists you should recognize this.

@FishyS Fair enough not played enough Metroidvanias. Most 2D ones I suck at like Dread, Axiom Verge and a few others. Prime 1 and Pitfall Lost Expedition were good 3D ones though.

Besides shooters like Battlefield I can't think of many. Even same with the swap feature Driver San Fransisco and Battlefield 2 Modern Combat have very few use that sort of mechanic.

There was that destruction game by an Indie but I forget the name.

But yeah I can't think of many others.

I wouldn't expect him to say anything else, but I have a feeling Mario Kart World and DK Bananza will be great games. Not "$80 great" for the former, I'm getting the bundle so that's moot I guess, but it still looks great. Open world wasn't what I expected for MKW, but it sounds good to me.

@SuntannedDuck2 When you say destruction game are you talking about Antonblast?

What about the more obscure Nintendo games? Well ones that are really due for a remake or a new title? Kid Icarus, eternal darkness, wave race, ice climber?

Nintendo may think this is something I really can’t miss, but I am afraid this is something I really must wait on. Hope it works out, for both of us.

…what? The tracks are interconnected (which really isn’t that big of a deal) and it’s a must play? This game looks like it will be amazing, but I think that mainly stems from the fact that it’s Mario Kart. As for Donkey Kong… 🤨

I'm not sold on Mario Kart World being "Genre Defining" or even "series redefining." It just looks like normal Mario Kart but with an Open World tacked onto it. I don't think it'll be a bad game by any means, but I'm not expecting it to be worth the 80 dollars they're asking for. They would seriously need to wow me with the direct for me to see what Nintendo is seeing in it.

As for DK, I genuinely do think that it's something which can only really be done on Switch 2- or at least next gen hardware. Sure, the graphics aren't insane or anything, but for it to run as well as it does and look as good as it looks with the amount of destructive objects is insane to me. It's been impressing me way more than Mario Kart World, and is probably my main reason in wanting to buy a Switch 2. Now if only Nintendo would open pre-orders and not increase the price of the console due to a certain individual who looks like he slathers himself in bags of cheeto dust.

@Yoshi3 I honestly hope the next 3D Mario isn’t open world. Bowser’s Fury was fun, but that wasn’t very big. A full-on open world Mario game would definitely drag on. I also hope it doesn’t look like Wonder. I don’t know why, but the art style just makes me dizzy with all of the color and brightness.

I don't understand, from the experience of actually driving in the courses, how Mario kart world is any different from 8?

There's no new race gimmick, just padding out of the world with highways

How will the game play differently?

@N00BiSH His face proportions are completely wrong, especially with his eyes, which are his most prominent feature of his face.

He just looks like a dumb monkey now, it is hard to put into words but that is the best way I can describe it. I hope that helps

@N00BiSH I completely agree with you about DK being a big deal. I love DK. I don't think it is wise to even mention a possiblity of making comparisons to BotW and TotK, which are in the running for GOAT games, and we have only seen a few minutes of a DK trailer. Let's wait and see.

@FishyS I always knew that DK on SNES was big, but after looking at the numbers of sales between the two franchises, I didn't realize how massive DK was! Minus country returns, I have noticed a trend where DK sales fall and Zelda has been rising. However, BotW and TotK were the first games since the original that was truly open world. Too me, that's what Zelda is supposed too be and Nintendo strayed away from that for decades. The last time DK made top ten system sales was DK 64 and it is 5th I think. DKC was 3rd for SNES. Since 64 DK hasn't made the top ten list in any console. Bananza, to me, is well needed innovation that DK hasn't really had in a long time. Bananza could be huge but I think we need to let the dust settle before we make comparisons to BotW/TotK, which are GOAT games. Metroid could be big but they don't have anywhere near the sales of DK and Zelda have. But anything can happen.

@YunoboCo I disagree with your points, but I appreciate that you made an effort to try and better articulate your criticisms.

@N00BiSH I have a question for you now: were you a fan of DK’s old design?

Luigi looks less mad. Also again DK: He’s so fluffy!!

@Yoshi3 I agree, they are exhausting for me. I played and finished breath of the wild and enjoyed it but never went back. When tears was shown off and all the building machine mechanics, overworld, flying islands, underground areas, going through ceilings I was so overwhelmed I never bought it.

Neither of these games are genre defining and must play in my opinion, especially for the prices. They look fun but not "I need to buy a new console!!" fun

@YunoboCo I don't mind it. I like it still, but the new design definitely illustrated some faults with the previous look; the permanently furrowed brow, for example. It looked fine 90% of the time, but the stiffness of the brow meant it was difficult to portray other expressions for the guy. Then there's the teeth; they were a big part of DK's design even back in his inception, while Rare's design made them less prominent, resulting in the retractable teeth later games featuring DK would adopt. Both the brow and teeth were given these arbitrary limitations as a result - you couldn't really push either of them too far without it looking uncanny or surreal.

The new design remedies these issues quite a lot - for the brow, simply making it more flexible allows for a stronger pool of expression, which ends up strengthening DK's existing personality beyond "big angry hulking ape." The updated face also means the teeth gain more prominence and help to enhance the nuances of the character even further. These two seemingly unnecessary changes are extremely imperative for a character who doesn't really express himself through words - not too dissimilar from how Aardman expresses personality with characters like Gromit or Shaun the Sheep - and as a result, they end up making sense for me as to how Donkey Kong would benefit from such a large revamp.

And when you consider the effort Nintendo EPD 8 put in to do the same for Mario, you'll find that DK's new changes make even more sense as a result.

Personally, the launch titles felt a bit lacking to me for a next generation console. I could imagine those games in some form on the switch 1. More importantly, there was a lack of JRpgs in the showcase which was a disappointment. This falls more on third party developers but still.

MP4 goes alright too I hope.

Lack of 3D Mario feels weird though. I keep assuming they will spring it on us prior to launch

Not sure I’ll ever be interested in donkey. Maybe if it turns out amazing. I’m not all that excited about Mario kart, donkey, a bunch of ports, and things that are already on other systems… I really really wanted to be excited.

I really don’t like this open world trend. It’s like every game suddenly needs to have this angle.

I agree, both games feel like must-plays to me. Open world Mario Kart and a new Donkey Kong, 3D even, probably made by the Mario Odyssey team, is more than enough to convince me.

Definitely a pretty good start.

Racing games aren’t for me. I might enjoy a few races but doing the same thing over and over gets boring quickly. I played the original Kart when it was new. Meh. Took a chance on MK Wii. Meh. Had MK8 and sold it. I’d be willing to give this one a shot and see if the open world/exploration angle can make it fun, but they’ve priced me out of giving it a chance. DK is a maybe. The Country games were just ok, so I’m happy they’re trying something new. It’ll depend on reviews and sale pricing, maybe a demo.

@Anti-Matter Arms was good but could have done with a little more and less focus on motion controls IMO.

Boxing as a genre within gaming sports hasn't been big for a while. I prefer arcade style boxing over realism. Arms may be back but I doubt it's a high priority until the install base is big enough.

The new DK, gameplay-wise, looks like something we never really played before.

It's a 3D platformer with maps that have full verticality, mainly verticality that goes DOWN not up, and you can reach your goals by going through the environment in any way you like.

Since Red Faction released in 2001 we didn't get many destructible environment games, and as far as I know never a platformer.

DK is something truly fresh. My guess is that Nintendo EPD were testing new central gameplay mechanics (like planets in Galaxy or the capture mechanic in Odyssey) for the new Mario game, and when they saw that this destruction gameplay was fun they realized it better suits a Donkey Kong as a character than Mario.

Idk about genre defining, but both games are fresh concepts for their respective series. That's all I'm really looking for in a new Nintendo game. Obviously the game has to look fun too. I couldn't give less of a ***** about that Drag Drive game for example as much as I appreciate the originality, but that comes with the territory of utilizing new ideas.
Strong start as far as the actual games are concerned.

Mario Kart already looks like a 10 despite still not knowing everything about it!

There was a nice bit in the DK trailer where he punches a baddie, then kicks it's remains into another. So hopefully there is some combo action going on. Otherwise, spamming punch everywhere might get a bit staid. We'll see.

@Lizuka DK Bananza is a 3D platformer, not a beat-em-up.

This just reads as:

"Please buy our games ~ Nintendo"

And sure, I will.

Mario Kart has always been genre-defining, to the point that the rest of the genre may as well not exist. Donkey Kong? Eh, not really. Maybe if we were talking about that Mario game literally everyone expected to see last week, sure, but Donkey Kong? Look, I love DK, but that ape has never been anywhere remotely close to casting that long of a shadow.

EDIT: That said, it's probably worth noting that "a racing game, but open world" has already been done, multiple times, and is MKW really wants to keep defining the genre, it's gonna need to do something new with that premise (which we haven't seen any evidence of yet).

@N00BiSH That is an interesting perspective, I didn’t realize being extremely expressive was something people cared about that much. While I don’t agree with you, your points did make sense. I think it boils down to whether or not you liked DK’s model in past games.

Thanks for clarifying

I never cared for old DKs design Anna while the new one isn’t perfect I like that he isn’t constantly angry haha

These two games look great and one of the reason I buy the Switch 2 at launch. Hopefully they show new games soon. Can't wait to see the next Mario and Zelda ( hopefully a OOT remake in style of the Wii U tech demo).

Yea, I'm really excited for Switch 2! I hope the launch and price doesn't get messed up by international dumbness -_-

Franchise-defining? Yes. Genre-defining? Eh, not so much. Burnout Paradise did the open world driving thing seventeen years ago. The deformation in Donkey Kong Bananza? Red Faction Guerrilla says, "hello".

I’m getting sick of hearing this guy talk. He can call the games produced by his own company “genre-defining” all he wants, it won’t change the fact that they’re expensive as all hell.

@FishyS Everyone looks for different things, of course. For me, I've been kinda bored by Mario Kart. I've played every game since 64, and they really started to feel all kinda samey.

Mario Kart World on the other hand... Idk, something about having a sense of "place" really appeals to me. All I want to do is drive from one end of the world to another. I really like when games make you feel like you're somewhere.

Maybe hard to explain, but it's exactly what I loved about Wii Sports Resort - every game took place in a location on Wuhu Island, and you could see the other locations in the background. The flyover let you explore and uncover things. I love that they brought the island back for Wii Fit Plus and Pilotwings Resort because it was a character I had fallen in love with.

I also loved just wandering around Hyrule in BotW, seeing places off in the distance and going there to explore. The journey was the reward (and the occasional korok seed just a nice bonus).

I see the point about it being like other racing games that have a similar overworld, but the difference for me is that Mario Kart isn't Need For Speed - it's a Mario game made by Nintendo, so it's full of charm and character, not just some generic world.

@N00BiSH
Wow, I did not realise how much better Donkey Kong's new expressions are, until I saw your post. I am convinced now, that changing his design was the right call. Seriously, thank you for showing it.

That's some arbitrary comment right there, I don't doubt the games will be fun, that's the reason we are fans in the first place but genre defining?
We'll see about that

DK Bananza looks like it could become a sleeper hit that slowly grows more sales over time. Donkey Kong's appearance just doesn't feel compelling for me personally, and unlike Mario's Cappy gameplay hook that is more adaptable and chameleon-like, Bananza's gameplay hook just feels like you smash everything constantly, and discover how many different ways you can continue smashing everything; that feels more repetitive than Odyssey's framework from the outside.

But maybe the game world will turn out to be much more vast and expansive than it appears, and the smashing mechanic will be explored in less repetitive ways than I'm imagining.

I can't imagine Bananza selling more than 10 million until a couple years later, if that. But what do I know. I wouldn't mind being proven wrong!

@charliecarrot I've wished for years for a bonus no-enemies post-game mode free update for BOTW (and now TOTK).

BOTW is one of the most enjoyable walking and photography simulators if you simply ignore enemies and combat altogether, and I wish I could boot up a post-game mode where Zelda or any of the sages can accompany me on my peaceful adventures around Hyrule.

There are lots of little miscellaneous things you could do throughout Hyrule, especially with Zelda by your side to enjoy unique NPC interactions and side quests.

@Anti-Matter if you like arms you will probably appreciate my username and profile pic 😅☺️

Also there’s actually a healthy amount of positivity to combat all the negativity in this comment section for once, we luv see it

@kid_keo
Kid Cobra, right?

That is hilarious. While I agree about the franchise part, how are any of these games genre-defining? We've had open world racers before, at least 2 were even ported to Switch 1. And we've had platform games before.

@Anti-Matter yes 💗