This Week in Games

Switch 2 Breakdown

Welcome back, folks! I gave myself a much-needed five-day weekend last week, after having missed my chance to have one during December. I visited a local card shop for some Digimon, saw The Phoenician Scheme and Kpop Demon Hunters, even got some progress in on a Tekkaman Blade model kit I had been waiting for since last year. More importantly, I was able to break in my new Switch 2! Folks likely have a ton of questions about it, so we may as well dive in!

There is a lot of misinformation circulating about the console. The Switch 2 doesn't have $90 games (there's variable pricing afoot, Mario Kart World retailed for US$80 while other games retail for US$70). No, the Switch 2 isn't US$500—that's just the bundle that includes Mario Kart World. And Nintendo isn't forcing everyone to go digital with Game Key Cards; publishers are vouching for Game Key Cards on their own, though some publishers (specifically Marvelous) have voiced a commitment to releasing their titles as proper cartridges—notably, at an expense to themselves. There's a lot of anger flying around regarding the Switch 2, not helped in the least by how much the gaming world has changed since the original Switch launched in 2017, if not the world in general. But how is the console itself?

To start, it's bigger. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is for me and my limited desk space. There was a dedicated nook at the corner of my desk where my docked Switch could comfortably fit, right behind my right computer screen. The Switch 2's dock fits—but the Switch 2 itself is so long that I have to angle the dock somewhat precariously so that it fits in place. There's a lot of digital ink concerning how none of these "handheld" consoles are necessarily portable given their size, which is a very valid take. Still, I don't travel much, and I don't spend enough time in transit for it to be a factor in taking my Switch 2 around. The dock is bigger than the old one, so RIP to my KOS-MOS dock plate. But it has LAN cable capabilities, curiously, so 16-player Unreal Tournament fragfests are not off the table.

I made sure to invest in the Switch 2's camera, but I haven't had a chance to use the GameChat feature. The new Joy-Cons feel alright. The button for disengaging them from the main Switch is now a trigger, more satisfying to use, and harder to press accidentally. The Joy-Cons can be plugged into the central console in any orientation, as the Switch 2 is now angle-agnostic. The miniature shoulder buttons are also larger, but still not quite ideal unless you're a kid or have tiny hands. There was a lot of speculation about the connector on the inside of the Switch 2 that would plug into the Joy-Cons, but as many rightfully pointed out, you have to intentionally go in there with tools or the like to break it. So long as you're not shoving nails into your Switch 2, your Joy-Cons should be fine.

The optional optical mouse capability for the Joy-Cons is functional. That sounds like damnation by faint praise, but there's not much else to say about the feature? Not many other games I own feature mouse functionality, and we won't see Switch 2 titles that do for a while anyway. So I mostly experimented with it on the Switch 2's home screen. It works and it's fun, and that's about all I can say. You use the shoulder buttons to click items, and the Switch 2 can even let you click and drag items, such as when you're in a menu. I wish there were an easier way to click out of menus, like a "back" button, but no such luck (your only real option is the "Home" button." And because folks will be curious: yes, you can use your leg as a mousepad.

As for the Joy-Con Pro 2: I love it. I made a beeline for the original Joy-Con Pro once I had disposable funds (especially since I saw they had a Xenoblade Chronicles 2-themed one); the new Joy-Con Pro 2 feels way better. The analog sticks feel smoother, the buttons feel firmer (for now, I imagine they'll soften with use over time), and I'm not sure about the extra buttons under the grips. You can program them for any input that you want (I imagine those will be useful for fighting games), but I haven't found a use for them yet. More importantly, the "console" buttons also feel way better; the "+" and "-" buttons are now raised a bit more, so you have a far easier time pressing them. The "Home" and "Snapshot" buttons are still quite recessed into the controller, which I can't explain. I'm concerned about the matte texturing on my controllers, as palms tend to get sweaty during gaming, but there's not much anyone can do about that except perform periodic cleaning. I hope we get some nice branded versions of the Joy-Con Pro 2 in the future...

There are likely a lot of questions concerning the Switch 2's performance. Sadly, I'm none too good at answering them! I didn't pick up a copy of Mario Kart World when I bought my console, so there's that. I didn't buy a copy of Cyberpunk 2077, either. So I tried benchmarking my Switch 2 with games I own, and it probably wasn't the best idea. The results are inconclusive. I tried Xenoblade Chronicles 3, because I've played it for 165 hours and I know how the framerate can dip while I'm sailing in the Erythia Sea... but nothing jumped out at me regarding the framerate. They didn't dip, but they didn't get any better? Not sure whether to chalk that up to the Switch 2 running games better. Someone on Discord pointed out to me that Monolith likely optimized Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for the Switch so much that there wasn't much to improve (it's probably locked to 30 fps). So I tried again with El Shaddai's HD remaster!

That didn't help much either. Again, it's a game that would suffer from framerate dips in certain effect-heavy areas. I played a few levels, but nothing particularly stood out to me regarding the framerate. I'll chalk this one up to also being locked at 30 fps. For a hat trick, I also tried Monster Hunter Rise on the Switch. That one's also locked to 30 fps. It's still fun, and I wish Monster Hunter Wilds had kept the Wirebug mechanic, but it nevertheless left me inconclusive about the Switch 2's processing. But! I heard the Switch 2 can brute-force run Hyrule Warriors at 60 fps! I didn't have a copy of Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition lying around, so I did the obvious thing and bought a used copy over GameStop's website, and had it shipped post-haste.

That's more like it! It's my understanding that Hyrule Warriors ran pretty janky on the Switch. But the moment I dropped into the map and Link started sending hordes of Moblins to their maker... God help me, I could tell immediately that this was at a fluid (and consistent!) 60 frames per second. Not an ounce of chop anywhere. Curiously, the cutscenes are still at 30 fps—that's likely how the cutscenes themselves were rendered, so there's little that can be done about those. But it's curious for the cutscenes to look and animate slightly worse than the actual game, even with literal armies flailing around. I have to wonder if Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity would also be improved. Just in case, I made sure to also try out Hyrule Warriors in handheld mode... and promptly stopped once a Gold Skulltula got away from me before I could nab it. It remained at 60 fps throughout. That works! (Also, the new kickstand for the Switch 2 feels so much more secure and reliable than the old one.)

A disclosure: there's a chance that That Bitch™ isn't the best source regarding technical performance. Before I got my hands on Hyrule Warriors, I felt that a game would have to be running extremely well on the framerate front for it to jump out at me. But apparently, that jump isn't as big as I thought. The Switch 2 is already on the lower end of what we'd consider "modern generation" graphics. Still, there might be some old games in your collection that render better on the Switch 2 than on its predecessor; there might not. There's also news from Hardware Unboxed that reports the Switch 2's screen is actively worse than the Switch OLED's screen in terms of its response times. Translation: it's blurrier during fast-paced, high-motion animations, on a level you're more likely to notice if you're the sort of tech enthusiast who has top-of-the-line hardware. I think this is a valid flaw and a sad one, but not a deal-breaker for the common buyer. Given Nintendo's attempts at nailing a sweet "$400-$450" price range, an OLED screen would likely have pushed the Switch 2 out of that range. As Hardware Unboxed pointed out, this was likely also motivated by the desire to ensure a longer battery life. We'll probably get a Switch 2 OLED revision down the line, but given that I mostly play with my Switch 2 docked, that's an easy pass for me. If you want to be cynical, you can claim this was Nintendo's plan all along. The way I see it, people were already acting like $450 was a highway robbery—I can't imagine the hysterics people would be in if the Switch 2 was actually US$500 all for an OLED screen. Since I can just barely tell the jump from 30 fps to 60 fps, taking a pass on an OLED screen probably works out.

Do I think the Switch 2 is a good console? Yes, I'm glad I have one, I'm glad it has the features it does, and I'm excited at the prospect of all the new things developers will do with it. I'm indifferent to the promise of more "modern third-party" titles getting released on the Switch because I'm not exactly champing at the bit for Far Cry or The Witcher 3. I'm more excited for Tales of Arise or other Atelier games making the jump. But also, in the name of disclosure, my main impetus for getting a Switch 2 so early in the console's lifespan is because of my work; having a Switch 2 will make things easier on me now that more Japanese devs will likely be releasing their titles on it. It behooves me to be ready. There is a lot of saber-rattling about the Switch 2 being "too expensive" at $450. This is, in my opinion, fishwrap; a Switch with PS4-level graphics was never going to be cheaper than $400, and $450 is still cheaper than a PS5 Pro or a PS5 with the physical disk tray. Considering I've heard claims that the Switch 2 operates around the level of, if not moreso than, an Xbox Series S, being only $30 more expensive than a Series S (to say nothing of being $100 cheaper than the Series X) is still competitive. And presumably, once Sony and Microsoft start rolling out their next-generation consoles, the Switch 2 will still be a cheaper alternative than either of those. But also: the economy is in the crapper. While I think $450 is a reasonable price, there's also the reality that $450 is more money than most people have lying around. Considering the Switch 2 only has a handful of games at the moment (and only a handful of Switch titles have upgrades for the new console), I don't blame anyone for holding back on taking the plunge while they save up.

Sometimes, it can take a long time for a feature that the player base wants to get implemented. It can be for any number of reasons: it's too low-priority, other matters are too high-priority, it's something only a small (albeit vocal) group wants, there's a programming quirk that actively prevents it from being implemented... For whatever reason, player bases can nevertheless wait a long time for stuff. For Final Fantasy XIV players, they can finally check a major one off of their lists: hats.

Since their debut in Final Fantasy XIV, the Hrothgar and the Viera (giant lion-people and the scantily-clad bunny-people, the latter premiering in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance) were a bit behind the other races in a few details. At first, you could only play as male Hrothgar or female Viera. Male Viera (which are canonically fewer in number than their distaff counterparts) only became playable starting with the Endwalker expansion, while female Hrothgar didn't debut until later with Wuk Lumat and the Dawntrail expansion. But even so, a detail loomed over these demi-human species: they couldn't wear hats.

The reason was simple: Hrothgar and Viera had funny-shaped heads. Hrothgar's jaws jutted out some, given their lion-like features, and Viera had huge rabbit ears. At the same time, a great deal of outfits in Final Fantasy XIV were easily redesigned or resized for the existing races (from the large heads and tiny torsos of the Lalafel to the larger chests and smaller heads of the Roegadyn). But beyond that? You'd have to make some more significant changes so that bits of Hrothgar or Viera heads weren't clipping out from their helmets or sunhats. And Final Fantasy XIV being the game that it is, that would include a lot of hats that have to be re-jiggered.

A detail that a lot of people forget is that Final Fantasy XIV was, at launch, a PlayStation 3 title. While the game no longer supports that console, it's still a fifteen-year-old game. Not that this means Square Enix is married to whatever consoles it supports—after all, they sundowned the PS3 version. But when it comes to MMOs, you have to account for weaker hardware. Not only do you not want to alientate possible longtime players who've been with the title for a long time (there are a lot of Japanese homemakers who have very strong feelings about Emet Selch), but also you want to make sure that your game is too powerful for the lowest-common-denominator rig that your audience might have. While your game can and should have options for looking phenomenal on top-tier equipment, it still behooves you to ensure that there aren't too many demanding details in your game that make it all but impossible to run on someone's Chromebook. Hence: the squapes (RIP).

All this to say that while I'm not sure modeling Hrothgar- or Viera-compatible headgear was necessarily something that should've taken Square Enix six years to finish, I can understand why it took as long as it did. You can't just decide to remodel a whole segment of your game's cosmetics to work with two (technically four, not including minor in-game alterations to size and proportions) completely different skeletons that weren't a part of your game's original launch. I can imagine that this was an issue that was understandably put on the back burner in light of everything else the FF14 team was working on, not least of which due to the game's engine's finicky nature. Disappointing to the player base that treats Final Fantasy XIV as their own virtual doll house (which is to say, everyone—it's practically the entire end-goal of the game!). But at the very least, it's been fixed now. All of the Viera girls can rest easy: your bunny girls can finally wear hats.

I've gotten a bit burnt out by all of the cameos in recent games. But this one genuinely brought a smile to my face. Revealed last week at Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards, Sega fans were astonished to learns that various rumors were true: Sonic and the gang will be joined by Nickelodeon's finest. The new character is a loyal and hardworking employee, the obvious choice for the role, and a name you all know (it starts with an 'S'). SpongeBob SquarePants!

The crossover isn't too silly. Previous Sonic Racing games have featured cameos that were arguably more off-the-wall, from the Yogscast to real-life NASCAR racer Danica Patrick. The Sonic the Hedgehog movies are produced by Paramount Pictures, and Paramount also owns Nickelodeon. With Spongebob Squarepants being one of the biggest cartoons in the past quarter century, it only makes sense to have him cameo in a racing game with Sonic.

Now, there are some catches to the whole ordeal: Spongebob is in, with the famous Patty Wagon (the burger-car he drove in The Spongebob Squarepants Movie). Bikini Bottom is available as a racing track. You can even race through the Krusty Krab and drive past a nonplussed Squidward. But SpongeBob doesn't seem to be voiced by his longtime voice actor, Tom Kenny. He doesn't seem to be voiced at all. Disappointing, to be sure; I'd listen to Tom Kenny read the phone book. I'm sure plenty of other people would love to hear him in the game. I suppose it could have been any number of things, from Kenny's schedule getting in the way to possible union rules. Lest we forget, the first Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl didn't have any voice acting either.

On that note, Spongebob's trailer also exposed the next few cameo characters for Sonic Racing: Crossworlds—and surprise, they're also from Spongebob's "Paramount" neck of the woods. First off are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, specifically in their Mutant Mayhem guises (I'm still waiting for that sequel!), and characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender (presumably, Aang riding on Appa? Or his glider, maybe?). News on these cameos will arrive in the future.

For Pokémon fans: various longtime Pokémon actors like Lisa Ortiz and Veronica Taylor are currently working with New York City's Conservancy, collecting donations in a campaign to have a bench dedicated to Rachel Lillis, the longtime voice actress of Misty, Jessie, and other beloved characters who passed away from cancer last year. Anyone interested in reading more is encouraged to check the link out (at the time of writing, they're just over halfway there!).

Pole To Win Inc (a quality assurance contracting company—you've likely seen their name in various Nintendo credits) is currently in the process of selling off their shares in AQUAPLUS, the studio responsible for ToHeart, Comic Party, White Album and many other classic visual novels. They've broken down their reasoning in a public statement, but it boils down to "wanting to remain competitive" and "making more upfront investments than in the past."

Speaking of AQUAPLUS: their updated 3D remake of ToHeart not only came out this week, but announced some paid DLC featuring two fan-favorite side-characters from the main game: Serio (Multi's robotic "sister"), and Masashi (the main character's best friend). Look forward to them on July 3rd!

If you haven't played Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time (and if you haven't, you should—it's great!), Level-5 is sweetening the pot with some new DLC: an open-world roguelike mode! This comes with new rewards like equipment, emotes, and outfit components. More to follow...

If you've been waiting for the Front Mission 3 remake, you might want to be careful: while the jury is still out on whether or not in-game images have been "touched up" by generative AI, they nevertheless didn't quite survive the process of being upscaled all that well...

That'll do it for this week, I think. I'd like to once again thank my readers for joining us at This Week in Games. Leaving a positive impact on you all and sharing content to make people happy is about the most I could have hoped for in taking on this column—and more importantly, there have been many occasions where folks in the comments have shared a great deal of useful knowledge that I didn't know. I'm grateful to my readers, and I'm proud of the work I've put in for you all. I look forward to seeing you all next week. Be good to each other, I'll see you in seven.

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This Week In Games! is written from idyllic Portland by Jean-Karlo Lemus. When not collaborating with Anime News Network, Jean-Karlo can be found playing Japanese RPGs, eating popcorn, watching v-tubers, and tokusatsu. You can keep up with him at @ventcard.bsky.social.

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