Transcript of the video: 

Hi everyone, Kris from Stone Age Gamer here, and welcome back to Stone Age Countdown. We’re in that magical period of time where new gaming hardware is on the horizon. And yes, I know there’s always new gaming hardware coming out, but there’s always been something special about console generations, and as a lifelong Nintendo goon, there are few things more exciting than seeing what Nintendo has up their sleeve for a brand new console generation. The initial Switch 2 reveal was nice, but it certainly left the door open for a LOT of burning questions. What will the system ultimately be? What kind of games will we see? Here are my top 5 hopes for the Nintendo Switch 2. 

#5. Quality Control. 

Nintendo has earned a reputation for quality control in terms of hardware over their decades in the games business. When the original Famicom went out the door with faulty rubber square buttons, Nintendo replaced them all for free. I’m pretty sure you could skip a Nintendo 64 across a lake and the thing would still work well. Heck, they used to have a Game Boy on display at the Nintendo World store that survived a freaking grenade blast. They haven’t always hit the nail on the head though, especially when it comes to analog sticks. Looking at you, N64 controllers. But when it came to the Switch and its various controllers, they really dropped the ball. The obvious problem is the analog stick on the Joycons. Those things are incredibly prone to drifting, and while they are far front the only analog stick on the market with this problem, there’s just so darn many of them out there that they're the ones that tend to make the news. But there’s also the issue of the D-pad on the Pro Controller. This is without a doubt my favorite controller I’ve ever held in my life, with the glaring exception of its unacceptable D-pad. Nintendo freaking INVENTED the D-pad, so the fact that they screwed this thing up so badly is beyond me. It is in a constant state of registering incorrect inputs. Press right, it thinks you pressed up. In a game like Tetris or Street Fighter, this is straight up game-breaking. The real rub is, we know they still know how to make a good d-pad, because the Super NES NSO controller works just as well as the original SNES d-pad! 

They will fix joycons for free, which is nice enough, but they didn’t do anything to re-engineer the dang things, which means that the problem hasn’t gone away in the least, and every time your joy con starts acting up, you’re going to have to be without it for a week or two after you mail it in for repair. But the Pro Controller issue, well Nintendo won’t even attempt to fix that because unlike the analog sticks, they’re broken from a basic design standpoint. There's nothing to fix! 

I want desperately for the Switch 2 to rise to Nintendo’s more traditional level of quality control. The amount of punishment I’ve seen DS systems put through over the years and still work is horrifying, and while the Switch can handle a decent amount of abuse, it doesn’t live up to those old standards.

#4 More Freedom with Nintendo Accounts

The Nintendo Account system is a pretty big improvement over the Wii Friend Codes of old, but there are still a number of issues that bother me to no end that I’d love to see Nintendo fix. First off, let me access digital visions of games when I own them physically. I don’t care if it involves a small price increase. Heck, physical games should cost more than digital ones. But let’s say, the physical version of Hotel Mario HD for Nintendo Switch 2 comes out at $64.99 while the digital version is $59.99, I’m 100% good with that. But only if that physical cart gives me a digital copy of the game as well. This wouldn’t be a hard thing to do. Our old Bluy Rays and DVDs would do the same damn thing! Just include a code in the box for a full download of the digital version of the game, and boom. Best of both worlds. I don’t have to get up and put a game card in every time I want to play the game, but I also have it physically backed up forever. Sure, it means a pre-owned copy of the game likely won’t come with the digital download, but I think that’s a pretty small price to pay. But what about piracy, you say? What’s to stop someone from buying the physical game, then selling the digital code, thus costing them a potential digital sale? Require that the game card be in the system when you make the digital download. Boom, problem solved. 

Also, let’s make it so family accounts are shareable. If I download a game, my son should be able to play it on his switch, too. No matter what game I download, my son can play it on his account on MY Switch, but if he tries to continue playing on HIS Switch, it has to be on my account, which doesn't have HIS save information! It's absurd. We’re clearly on the same family account. We should be able to share our game library, which we already do on our primary console, but these things are linked on our Nintendo accounts. They know this system belongs to an 11 year old boy. Come on, guys. Fix this. 

#3. A better balance of IP, New, old, and ports

The Switch came out of the gate looking great. We had Breath of the Wild and ARMS straight away. A brand new IP right next to an existing one. And while the new entries in classic franchises continued at a pretty steady pace throughout its life, the new IP train kinda dried up. If I’m not mistaken, the only new Intellectual Properties Nintendo brought to the table this entire 8-year generation were ARMS, LABO, Ring Fit and 1-2 Switch. Four new IP isn’t necessarily a terrible track record, but LABO and 1-2 Switch are pretty out there and kinda feel like a different animal. Either way, I want to see a better balance of these principles. Nintendo’s stable of properties is freaking bottomless, but we still got 2 original WarioWare games and no Rhythm Heaven games? They really couldn’t have put together a new Punch-Out!! instead of one of the dozen or so Kirby games? Don’t get me wrong, the Kirby games on Switch have been GREAT, but still. Let’s keep up the diversity. 

And then there’s the port problem. There are so many ports that it’s become a big part of what the platform is known for. The vast majority of these ports have been stellar, especially the 1st party ones, but I don’t think it would be unfair to say that Nintendo leaned a little too hard on its Wii U catalog this generation. I’m not saying stop doing ports and remakes, I’m just saying I want to see a better balance. 

#2. Dual Screens

The whole dual screen thing came and went, and I get it. It worked really well on DS and 3DS, but the Wii U was kind of a disaster for Nintendo, so anything they can do to distance themselves from that is probably in their best interest. BUT, there’s still so much potential fun to be had with asymmetric gameplay! There’s a USB-c port on the top of the Switch 2, and I want so badly to be able to attach a second screen to that thing, effectively making it into a super-powered DS. Let me explain. 

I want the Switch 2 dock to do more than just be a passthrough. I want it to be able to work just like the Wii U. The Switch 2 itself can be used as a second screen right out of the box if developers so choose. Just think of games like Super Mario Maker 2. It was great, but the whole experience was infinitely better on Wii U because you could draw on the gamepad, then play on the TV. It was brilliant. The Switch can’t match that, but the Switch 2 potentially could! An additional screen attachment for the Switch 2 would be wacky in such a Nintendo kind of way, and wouldn’t necessarily limit creators who want to make games that are dual screen capable, without making dual screen capability required. Nintendo could also take advantage of the numerous pre-existing screens out there to add even more versatility. How about an official Nintendo Backbone type thing so everyone can use their existing phones as controllers with screens? Or how about using their existing Nintendo Switch consoles as second screens? I don’t know the science behind all of this, but it smells plausible to me. 

It would also open the door for some killer DS and 3DS ports. Speaking of which…

#1. The continued expansion of Nintendo Switch Online. 

Again, I can’t stress this enough, this is MY PERSONAL top 5! I know this won’t be most peoples’ choice, but for me, NSO is brilliant, and could be so very much more. The Virtual Console was a great start, but it had some crazy limitations. If you look at the limited amount of sales data out there in the world, it’s my understanding that your Marios Zeldas and Sonics pretty much dominated everything else. So while the VC had all these weird games, nobody played them, because you had to purchase them. Nintendo Switch Online side steps that problem by making them all a part of this big ol service, so there's nothing to lose by trying out Eliminator Boat Duel. You’ve already paid for it! Of course, it came at the cost of being able to play these games whenever you want. You have to have checked in with NSO at a recent point to be able to boot them up. So if you're not on wifi, you could very well find yourself locked out of being able to drop some hours into Mario’s Picross until you find yourself a hotspot to reconnect your system. For the games you especially like, you should have the option to purchase. So if your NSO subscription ever goes away, you can still play your favorite retro games no problem. Or, if you just don’t want to sign up for NSO, you can still access that library for a fee. Everybody wins! 

But that’s just the surface. Virtual Console used to have Master System, Neo Geo, Arcade, TurboGrafx-16, and even Commodore 64 games. Let’s keep those platforms expanding! Let’s get the Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear added to the list! (Game Gear was on 3DS, dang it!) What about adding Atari platforms? What about cozying up with Microsoft to add original Xbox games? Madness! But maybe it could work? Where’s the Virtual Boy, GameCube, and Game & Watch support? There’s no shortage of retro stuff out there in the world, and building up the ultimate library through NSO could be the coolest dang thing. 

But even more than that, is adding more context to each game. Let’s get full box scans instead of just the covers. Let’s have scans of the instruction manuals. And trailers! Or old commercials! Netflix can do it, why not Nintendo? 

But NSO is more than just retro games. They also tied Nintendo Music to NSO, which has a long way to go, but is really cool stuff! I say, let’s take it a step further. Let’s create a Nintendo Video app that contains high quality stuff that can’t be found on YouTube. Official footage of old E3 presentations and interviews. Those promotional VHS tapes, and old commercials! Nintendo’s history in terms of promotions is insane, and having an official source for that stuff would be killer. 

What about an archive of Nintendo Power? What about running live events that recreate the Satellaview experience? What about Miiverse?!?

When the Switch launched, you could share your stuff straight to social media. That’s all gone by the wayside, but what if Nintendo could bring back the Miiverse? Make it an app that’s accessible on phones just like existing social media stuff, and make THAT the place to share game footage and have those conversations. Miiverse was so cool, and tying it to an NSO account could go a long way in keeping it contained. 

Bottom line, there's a lot more Nintendo could be doing with NSO, and I want to see it continue to expand with Switch 2.