Topic: Nintendo Switch Launch Lineup - About 17 Minutes.

[Agent-X-]

Nintendo will most likely have a pack-in game. I was mostly disappointed in Nintendo's choice of Nintendoland for the Wii U pack-in. By contrast, the Wii + Wii Sports quickly became a phenomena. I recall the GameCube had no pack-in game, although there were numerous bundles for it. I suspect Nintendo will once again offer a pack-in, but given the strongest feature of the Switch is its ability to transition from home experience to portable experience there is a much wider appeal by giving consumers options. It would be a good gesture for Nintendo to offer one free download from a limited selection of games available at launch.

[Spak-Spang]

My initial logic for a random pack in game, was the excitement of running home and seeing which surprise launch game would be yours.  Then you can talk to your friends about it...and possibly if you know several people with the system you can all play and try different launch games and possibly increase sells of each launch game.

The problem is I want to play Mario Kart, so I purchase the Switch and Mario Kart, I run home to realize Mario Kart was my free game.  OOPS.  Now Nintendo could easily make it that if you register a purchased game you would get a different free game.  Or if you purchased the free game you were offered you could pick or get another random free game.  But that complicates the system and could be confusing.  Something like this you would want to be simple and understandable. 

I do think a "super" or AAA launch title is important for a pack in.  Look at successful console launches and you see that they all had a great AAA title packed in.  Or later they were released with a AAA pack in a year later.  The pack-in game gives instant value to an expensive purchase.  I can not say I would spend $249.99 for the chance to spend $49.99 for a game.  Yeah I am buying an entertainment system which allows me access to buy more games.  But to me, there is no visible value.  You spent money for the option to spend more money.

On the other hand, the pack in game whether you want the game or not, gives you value.  Yeah, I don't really care for Wii Sports, but its nice to have it.  I am sure I will play with my friends, and the system now has even more value, because I can instantly play a game. 

A multiplayer Pack in Game also motivates the buyer to consider spending more money on an additional controller or accessory.  Local gaming is brilliant on getting that second controller purchase and getting more revenue for the system.

[rygar]

Has anyone seen data on gameplay styles/modes of console and video game consumers? [Not counting mobile gaming since I think it's closer to an apple than an orange] I do all of my gaming offline and in single player. I could potentially play some local multiplayer on the Switch, and maybe one of these days I'll get into online multiplayer, but I'm almost entirely evaluating the Switch purchase based on the single player experiences it offers. Other posters seem much more focused on various multiplayer modes. I'm curious what the larger market looks like.

Obviously a pack in game that offers rich gameplay across the single and multiplayer continuum would be ideal, but if they have to make choices, what would please the most consumers? A multiplayer heavy game would be near useless to me but maybe I'm not representative.

[famicomplicated]

Pack-in will be Splatoon, 100% guaranteed.
Works locally, at your basketball game/roof party, works at home/online, it's perfect.
The game has style and is "cool", it'd be a great way of getting numbers up quickly.

[Kairon]

Yeah, I too think Splatoon would make some good sense as a pack-in. A Splatoon 1.5 could have expanded single-player content, be instantly multiplayer, make use of motion, have live events that could keep people turning the game on even months later, and maybe Nintendo might be able to design some DLC opportunities for it down the line so that even pack-in owners might spend additional money in the game.

[ThePerm]

These games seem likely, some for launch.

Tekken 7
Dead or Alive Extreme 3
Soul Calibur VI
Street Fighter V

Resident Evil 7
Eternal Darkness Sequel.
Fatal Frame.

[Oedo]

Capcom has said that Street Fighter V is a PS4 exclusive on consoles and talked up their partnership with Sony on this game multiple times. I don't think it's particularly likely that we see a Switch version.

[Stratos]

Capcom are liars. Remember the "Capcom 5"? Salty Nintendo Fans do.


And for all we know, that will be a timed exclusive, but they would never announce it as such at first.

[Soren]

They've been very explicit about SF5 being PS4 console exclusive. It's not coming to Switch.

https://gamerant.com/street-fighter-5-not-xbox-852/

[Lemonade]

Pack-in will be Splatoon, 100% guaranteed.

No, I think it will be another Nintendo Land style minigame collection.

[ThePerm]

How long does the exclusivity last? Also, is switch a console? We all remember Resident Evil 4 was a Gamecube Exclusive. Shinji Mikami said he would chop off his head if it went on other consoles. So he quit being head of the Resident Evil team.  Also, "Street Fighter Switch" has no exclusive deals.

We might see The Evil Within Special Edition.

[KeyBilly]

Splatoon makes sense in a way, but I don't think it has the broad appeal that could help sell consoles.  The Switch has a marketing advantage in that people will be taking it to work, school, etc.  While Splatoon is the rumored game and seems likely to happen, even a mainline Mario game would be more likely to get random people wanting to play.  Tetris was the perfect title for that purpose with the Game Boy.  Minecraft would actually be kind of logical.

[Mop it up]

Plus, the main appeal of Splatoon is the multiplayer which requires an online connection. It doesn't fit in with the portable aspect of Switch.

[Stogi]

If there is a pack-in, it needs to have local multi-player; specifically, head to head multiplayer. I can imagine highschoolers at lunch crowding around a Switch and waiting for their turn to play. That's the type of interest Nintendo should want.

Smash bros. with it's simple control scheme would fit this role perfectly.

[Kairon]

Mario Kart I think would make a pretty perfect Pack-In.

[Luigi Dude]

Plus, the main appeal of Splatoon is the multiplayer which requires an online connection. It doesn't fit in with the portable aspect of Switch.

The Wii U version requires online for multiplayer but I wouldn't be surprised if one of the big selling point for Splatoon Switch is local 4-player split-screen.  Being able to take Splat tournaments anywhere you go, combined with what will be a more meatier single player campaign could make a good selling point for the Switch version.

[Mop it up]

The Wii U version requires online for multiplayer but I wouldn't be surprised if one of the big selling point for Splatoon Switch is local 4-player split-screen.  Being able to take Splat tournaments anywhere you go, combined with what will be a more meatier single player campaign could make a good selling point for the Switch version.

That idea might work for Japan, but I don't think it would be a good fit for the US (at least, in comparison to their other pack-in options).

[ThePerm]

As I was saying with the 3 game pack in idea. Mario Kart, Splatoon, and Smash Bros were all million sellers. I'm betting releasing them as stand alones where there is only incremental updates means they won't sell as well. Also, people will complain that they aren't that different. Put them on a Cart and include them with the system and you got a killer app. I bet you could put all three games on the same cart.  Also, it add about $150 value to the console in the eyes of gamers, with out affecting the costs. Nintendo should take diminishing returns and turn them upside down.

[Spak-Spang]

ThePerm:  If Nintendo ported Mario Kart, Splatoon, and New Super Mario Bros Wii U with no extra content as the pack in game it could be very cool for Nintendo...but honestly if Nintendo did that I see them only doing it with 2 games. 

I think a Splatoon/Super Mario&Luigi Bros Wii U combo would be great.  Add a few bonuses to the game and let the pack in game be basically a finished product.  Then you can have brand new versions of Kart, Mario, Zelda, and more later.

[Agent-X-]

And really, given how long it took them to get Mario Kart 64 up and running on the North American Wii U, it will probably take them some time to get Wii U games running on the Switch. 


Seriously.


H8 Nintendo.

[BranDonk Kong]

Pretty sure they were just trying to see if they would actually sell some consoles so they could sell more copies of Mario Kart 64. It wasn't for any sort of technical difficulties, MK64 was already running on the GameCube, and the Wii U uses the same architecture.

[Evan_B]

Virtual Console is a joke. But if I can play GCN games on the go, it might be a bit less of a joke.

[ThePerm]

With Switch they need to just have a full library of games. It needs to rival other tablet libraries. If a system started off with the combined libraries of wii and wii u at good prices then it's going to look pretty good.  Nintendo has had this slow drip philosophy, but the only reason why they've done it is for marketing reason. Nintendo should have all the games on there, but just do what netflix does and have a highlight section at the top of the page(they kind of already do this with wii u).

[Spak-Spang]

With Switch they need to just have a full library of games. It needs to rival other tablet libraries. If a system started off with the combined libraries of wii and wii u at good prices then it's going to look pretty good.  Nintendo has had this slow drip philosophy, but the only reason why they've done it is for marketing reason. Nintendo should have all the games on there, but just do what netflix does and have a highlight section at the top of the page(they kind of already do this with wii u).

You are absolutely right.  Nintendo needs to think about the Switch competing with other TABLETS not consoles.  But they don't have to have too many new Gamecube and Wii releases at launch.  What they need is every Virtual Console NES, SNES and N64 game launched on the Wii out DAY 1.  If someone is looking for a tablet that can simply surf the net, do Netflix and play some games, then that would be a killer launch lineup and decision maker. 

I would also add that if there are multiple versions of the game then try to release the BEST version of the game once.  And if that means doing extra work to add new content to a different game do it.  For example Super Mario 64 DS has additional Stars and characters, but obviously Super Mario 64 controls better.  Release the DS version with updated better controls. 

Also, Nintendo should be aggressive to get a Virtual Console again for all the other legacy systems like they did with the Wii.  Get as much content out to purchase as possible.  Do it as part of the new Nintendo Shop experience where everything purchased will be console forward for now on...tied to an account not a system and transferable to a new console. 

Nintendo wasted a huge killer App with the Virtual Console on the Wii U, and they can't afford to do that again. 

[ThePerm]

Nintendo has a chance to take over the Tablet industry. Tablet sales are slacking and Nintendo has a better product.

Nintendo could easily modify Mario 64 with more levels. Some paintings are just wall paintings.