Star Fox demo was great and actually convinced me to get it. My only complaint was that locking cockpit mode to mouse controls is a missed opportunity. Gyro aiming would also work great and be compatible with the pro controller.

Starfox > Orbitals > Metaphor > Zelda.

I think that's enough to keep me busy on my Switch til the Spring. I just hope metaphor goes for some friendly pricing

The Sci-fi element in XBG is as clear as day they're clearly not on planet as the the continents are laid out like they're on the Halo or that ship in interstellar or even Gundam people missed the large space ship in the trailer I take it.

If you've been gaming on their platforms in prior gens that maybe why you're unsure of this Direct, the ND is fine it's geared to the modern era of Nintendo and the current market situation. Many people in the new gen are not going to have multiple platforms like before so the will be a lot of single platform consumers so with that in mind that is what the ND is tackling it's not following the old first party overload from before because it has to show it's a platform that can meet a consumers gaming needs and that goes beyond just first party for any platform holder even if that's the main draw of your platform.

The are also a new generation of gamers who didn't experience the older platform eras Switch was literally their first so the jump to S2 being more robust in library helps further cultivate the userbase further, they had decent third party support on S1 and now have great support on S2. Those who have been around for a bit longer would be used to having a Playstation, Xbox or a decent PC with a Nintendo platform because of the prior issue of third party support but the modern era of Nintendo and the S2 aims to have an era where that is no longer a required thing, this is why you're seeing a more strategic amount of first party announcements among a load of third party.

20 years since TP which was the last mainline Zelda to use a more photorealism base art direction, the are a generation of players who realize OOT's art direction was a thing for the franchise, cel-shaded approaches just age far better.

Here's the thing about the Xenoblade series ...

You actually don't really need to play any of the games in order, nor does it feel like you won't be able to play Genesis first, because all the games always had their own stories that feel complete with themselves. 

The only asterisk to put up really is that yes, there is an over-arching presence of a "bigger" narative at play and complex lore attached to the whole series only so if you really wanna look for it.

I like Donkey Kong more than Mario anyway. I find the Donkey Kong games more interesting.

I feel like you and I have swapped places on this haha, last few Directs/months its been me who wasn't too thrilled and you who was the more positive one!

Anyway, Ocarina being leaked beforehand doesn't make it less of a good announcement IMO, and Xenoblade Genesis is a welcome bone to the core fanbase who may not be into Switch Sports or Pokopia. While it is a 2027 release, it is kinda nice (for me anyway) to see them not keeping it secret til the last minute like they sometimes do nowadays, and which I'm not a fan of.

I'm feeling more positive about Switch 2's lineup after this show personally, while I was quite wary and skeptical prior. This year's not the strongest lineup they've ever had, but I actually think it beats Switch 1's 2018.

Y’know, I was thinking the exact same thing lol! Regarding us kinda having swapped places. But yea, I totally 100% agree that the lineup this year is pretty darn solid. I was just a bit wary on how I felt about the Direct.

In any case, we did get Xeno Genesis, Xeno Chronicals Remastered (pretty much), Fire Emblem info, and Ocarina. And with that, I’m very happy.

Yeah as a big Xenoblade fan Genesis was the game of the show for me; Splatoon Raiders is also looking like a lot of fun, and as a Wii guy Sports Resort looks like something I'd enjoy.

Plus, the third party lineup for 2026 beats any Nintendo system in the last 30 years IMO.

I've been playing Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition Switch 2 Edition (love the title xD). Since it's one of my favourite games ever, I started a brand new playthrough. I'm at Tephra Cave (first visit) right now.

60fps are nice and make the game feel more fluid. It's not locked 60 though, there are some dips here and there. But those are very minor and far in between. Both cutscenes and gameplay run at 60 btw. There are some remasters where cutscenes are kept at 30, but not this one.

Something I've not seen people talk too much about is rumble. They have implemented HD Rumble in every cutscene and... it's great! Explosions and hits come from the right or left joy-con depending on where they happen on screen. Intensity also varies depending on what's going on. It's not mindblowing or anything, but this makes cutscenes more immersive.

Heart to hearts are now voiced acted. This is huge, because they were just text boxes before... so they have bring in the old 2011 cast for these. I've just watched the first one with Fiora and Shulk at the park, but despite them being 15 years older now, they still sound like the characters and they have put quite the effort into sounding like their younger selfs.

Sadly, I haven't unlocked the new content yet (mainly the Ether Glider) but it seems like it will be of big help when backtracking for side missions.

The bad stuff: visuals are mixed. For the most part, the game way looks WAY better and crisper than on Switch 1. No surprise there: it was 720p docked and on handheld it could go as low as 360p. So SW2 in both docked and handheld is leagues beyond that. However, whathever they did with XCX Switch 2 Edition is back here. On dock it's not THAT noticeable, but in portable mode particle and lightning effects and also distant backgrounds can become quite a mess if you pay attention. Here's an example: first pic is Switch 1 docked, second is Switch 2 docked and third is Switch 2 handheld:

As you can see, the laser effect is messed up on Switch 2 (especially on handheld). This happens with everything that casts a similar effect, like the beam of light coming from the Monado, the water moving in the initial battle between Bionis and Mekonis, etc. Background elements are a similar history: distant objects can become "messy"... like the textures blend together weirdly. It's unfortunate, because if they fixed this the upgrade would be perfect.

All in all is certainly an upgrade on every front... but they really need to take a look at whathever upscaling solution they implemented here.