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That Siren Song
The Switch 2 FOMO is hitting me pretty hard.
A year ago, I was saying that the Switch 2 was too much money. A few months later, I bought an original Switch and too many games. Well, it certainly felt like too many games at the time. Six months later, Little Man has played through many to exhaustion, and we’ve now moved onto Breath of the Wild as a kind of stretch goal. That one is a bit too complicated for him at the moment – he mostly wants me to play so he can watch – but hopefully he’ll gain some more confidence soon.
Up to this point, Switch 2 kind of felt unnecessary. And it still is, for the record. But it is also a fact that Nintendo is planning a $50 price hike for the device this September, which makes waiting kind of a fool’s errand. And the games are kind of catching up. Mario Kart World is whatever, but Donkey Kong Bananza appears like it could be equivalent to Super Mario Odyssey, which Little Man is able to play and beat mostly on his own. I’m vaguely interested in Pokemon Pokopia. I’m extremely interested in the Ocarina of Time remake, especially after recently rewatching the final boss fight on Youtube and… not remembering it looking like that to my 16-year old self. I recall it being one of the most exciting and cool final boss fights I’ve ever played. Alas.
Regardless, $450 for a base model Switch 2 or $500 for one that comes with a game still feels bad. Paying $50 more this Fall will feel worse, of course. There are a couple of potential workarounds.
Get over it- Keep an eye on eBay/Facebook Marketplace/Craiglist
- Costco recently had a sale on Nintendo eShop cards, where it was $170 for $200, or $85 for $100. Stacked up, you could order a Switch 2 bundle direct from Nintendo for $425. Even with the sale over, baseline Costco sells cards for $10 less than face value, so $450.
- Some other retailers have similar shenanigans as Costco, such as Newegg, GameStop ocassionally, etc.
- Keep an eye on physical reselling spaces, like… GameStop, I guess, or pawn shops in general
Get over it- Hope there is some kind of special sale heading into the price increase
- Double-down on alternative gaming methods
That last one is what I “should” be doing, honestly. If GOG Galaxy is to be believed, I own 1,495 games across Steam, GOG, and Epic. A large majority of them would not be appropriate for Little Man to play, or too difficult, or impossible to play at all outside of a dedicated PC experience. But not all of them. A few from some recent bundles, like Lil Gator Game and Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip are less than 2 GB apiece and seem like good, kid-friendly, goof-around games.
After browsing through almost the entire list though… the options are a bit thin. I made a list of 17 games, which include some more “stretch goal” titles like Portal and No Man’s Sky. Minecraft would be on there too, of course, and is/has been one of the principle driving forces for a living room console in the first place. And won’t you know it, there’s a Switch 2 version of Minecraft coming out soon to take advantage of the increased hardware…
Thought Process: OG Switch
Woot currently has a deal up for a brand new OLED Switch for $250. The sale is going until June 18th, or until they sell out, the latter of which seems more likely. Should I pull the trigger?
First question: why?
It’s a good question. For one thing, the Switch 2 just came out and it costs “only” $450. Right now, there aren’t very many actual Switch 2 games beyond Mario Kart World, so no real killer apps. Also, I have clearly sat out the entirety of the Switch’s original lifespan, so why jump in now? Also also, the Switch Lite appears to retail for around $180ish, which is even less, if it were somehow super important for me to play Switch games. Then again, $70 is probably reasonably enough to justify an OLED upgrade plus being able to dock it to a TV.
Not for nothing, the Retroid Pocket 5 can be bought from Amazon for $260. It would be even cheaper if not for the tariffs. It can emulate everything up through Gamecube, and even a few Switch titles. However, the process by which one acquires emulation-ready Switch games is the same for just playing them on the PC, so the only real benefit of one over the other is for gaming on the go. Which, as it turns out, I generally don’t do.
Second question: what would I play?
There are a few titles that immediately come to mind:
- Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- …?
When I was trying to think about the last Mario game I played, I realized that I hadn’t played one for a long time. The last Nintendo console I bought was Gamecube back in my college days, but it was primarily to play Super Smash Bros Melee and Mario Kart Double Dash. So, Super Mario… Sunshine, I never played. Nor Galaxy or Galaxy 2. Presumably they would be fun. But fun enough to justify $40 purchases of decades-old games? Ehhhh. Nintendo does have a subscription feature with classic games to play, but the Gamecube offerings right now are like 3 games (only for Switch 2).
Final question: what will I do?
After a long, exhaustive mental exercise, the answer is… Nothing. I will do nothing. I am not super convinced the OLED Switch will get any less expensive in the future, but that does not seem to matter much to me. Which makes sense, given all of my other gaming “obligations.” If anything, I would be more inclined for the Switch 2 simply because Mario Kart World does seem fun, and it’s backwards compatible, etc. Or the Retroid Pocket 5, honestly.
Or I can just continue to do waffle and whaff and do nothing until/unless some other solution releases that makes things more obviously clear. Like maybe a Steam Deck 2 or something.
In An Age 
Switch 2 Paying Too Much
Apr 2
Posted by Azuriel
In the weeks leading up to today, I was actually looking forward to hearing the details about Nintendo’s next console, Switch 2. Which might seem odd, considering I let the entirety of the original Switch lifecycle pass me by. And, actually, the last console of any kind that I purchased was a PS3 and I barely played any of the games I bought on that. I did upgrade my PC in 2022, and that is where I do most of my gaming. But… well, I have recently started being interested in portable gaming and figured that if I were to jump into the waters, maybe the Switch 2 would be as good a place as any.
Except, perhaps, when it costs this fucking much:
Leaks were suggesting $399, and it’s “just $50 more” as some say… but look at the game prices now. We were just talking about analysts suggesting (and begging) for Grand Theft Auto 6 to launch at $100, and it seemed like an absurdity. But here’s Nintendo leap-frogging the new $70 “standard” and going right for $80. And since it is Nintendo, these game prices are going to basically be set in stone for the decade – no Summer Sales or discounts for us.
Well, aside from the $500 console bundle with Mario Kart, saving you $30 one time.
The grand irony is that I had started getting interested in the Switch 2 because I developed a renewed interest in handheld emulators. I fell into a deep YouTube rabbit-hole around the explosion of these handhelds, and even picked one up myself on the cheap (Miyoo Mini+). This was technically (even more) unnecessary considering I still have a PSP and even an OG DS which are both set up to be emulators. In my mind though, I wanted something dedicated to emulation specifically, with a smaller formfactor, with the assumption that I may give it to my son once he gets into gaming. With me playing it in the meantime, of course.
After playing around with the Miyoo Mini+ though, I discovered strange sort of nostalgia holes. It will play up to PS1 games no problem, but I started thinking about the N64 games I might want to play again. Or GameCube. But not PS2, for some reason. Anyway, once you start looking into that direction, your options shrink until you start hitting the “Steam Deck” tier which is $400 (or more). At which point, well, here we are again. Although potentially tackling my Steam backlog…
…I wonder how long it will take for the Switch 2 to be cracked? Best of all worlds, potentially.
In any case, god damn, Nintendo. There are plenty of talking heads saying that $70/$80 games are “necessary” to “save” the industry. What’s not often mentioned is how many chairs will be remaining once the music stops. Gamers were already spending 60% of their time playing 6+ year old games back in 2023, so how many new $80 titles do you think they’ll be buying in 2025 in this economy? Nintendo will probably be fine. Other studios? Probably not so much.
Posted in Commentary
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Tags: Emulator, Nintendo, State of the Industry, Switch 2, Too Damn High