Here’s What I Want (And Don’t Want) From Nintendo’s Next Console

Nintendo Switch is the little Nintendo console that could, and it’s going to be really hard to capture the lightning in a bottle that is Nintendo’s hybrid console. I have some hopes of my own, some realistic, and some completely ridiculous. I’m going to focus on the “realistic” expectations I have, and keep the ridiculous ones to my personal Nintendo fanfic. I know what I want and what I don’t want from Switch 2, or Super Switch, or Switch U, or whatever Nintendo decides to call it. The Switch is easily my most-played console, and the follow-up will almost certainly do the same, but here’s what I both want and expect from Nintendo’s next console. But first, a little history.

Over six years ago, everyone, even diehard apologists like me, agreed the Wii U failed to live up to expectations. Sales were abysmal. The games were great (as can clearly be seen by the fact that 95% of them were ported to Switch), but the hardware was just a bummer. The name allegedly confused people, and I know for a fact at least one person in my circle of friends bought the Wii U thinking the gamepad was portable. Nintendo took the logical leap and made the Switch what the Wii U should have been in the first place.

When Nintendo first revealed the Switch, honestly, I had my doubts. No, I didn’t doubt I’d love it and order one for launch-day delivery (which, obviously, I did). It was more a case where I wasn’t sure if people would be interested in a touch screen console that, oh by the way, also works on your TV. Well, I was WAY off, and now the Nintendo Switch is the third best-selling console of all time. I was honestly surprised by how well everyone took to it, and Nintendo expertly announced and marketed it to maximize excitement.

So when it comes to the next Nintendo console, my first expectation is “surprise.” When the DS was announced, was anyone, anywhere saying to themselves “You know, I would really like it if my handheld console had a second screen, one I could touch?” Same with the 3DS, and although the 3D was pretty gimmicky, it was a good gimmick. Show me someone who doesn’t like the 3DS and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t have a soul.

The Wii was also a massive surprise. After the dust settled from the proto-memes making fun of the name, suddenly everyone wanted to swing their arms around, or hurl Wiimotes into the screens of their $2000 plasma screen TVs. “Where’s my pack-in normal controller?” a lot of hardcore gamers asked, but Nintendo replied “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you, my ears are filled with money right now.”

The Wii U… surprised us, as well. Look, I still love my Wii U, even though it failed to catch on as a system and also mine is bricked (even in the end, the Wii U had one last surprise for me, I guess).

So I obviously don’t know WHAT the surprise will be with Switch 2.0, but it seems like a give-in we’ll get something none of us saw coming.

I also want backwards compatibility. I think that goes without saying, at this point, and is probably the biggest request people have for the next console. Backwards compatibility is something most Nintendo consoles have, particularly the handheld ones. In fact, every Nintendo handheld has played nice with the games of its predecessor. Game Boy Advance played Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. Nintendo DS played GBA games, 3DS played DS.

The Switch isn’t backwards compatible with Wii U or Wii mostly because of the media, but also Nintendo figured, very correctly, they could re-release most of the best Wii U games and make a fortune. More than anything else, I want to be able to keep playing my favorite Switch games on whatever Nintendo’s next console turns out to be.

Here’s what I don’t care about at all: 4K gaming on the next Nintendo console. Seriously, it’s a waste of time on the consoles that are supposed to be 4K right now. I end up playing at 60fps in performance mode on every game that allows it on my PS5 and Xbox, and I don’t care, in the slightest, if the next Nintendo console doesn’t do native 4K. If it manages 60fps, that’s great. If it’s 60fps at 1440p, even better.

Nintendo’s hardware history tells us we probably WON’T be getting a 4K console, anyway. Pushing all those polygons takes a lot of hardware power, and Nintendo has generally used older, more readily available tech for its consoles. The Game Boy, for example, came out in 1989 using a chip based on the Zilog Z80, which was first released in 1976. Additionally, keeping down the power-needs also keeps down the costs.

Speaking of costs, I want the next Nintendo console to hit the $399 price point. I honestly think between the Switch’s continuing success and the remediation of silicon processing and supply-chain issues, Nintendo is waiting until it can hit that price before it releases its next console. The Steam Deck, and more recently the Asus ROG Ally, have shown you really can squeeze a lot of power from a handheld design, and the entry-level Steam Deck is just under $400 on sale right now.