VR or not, there is no denying they are cooking up something else, likely VR inspired. LABO was a curveball for everyone and we shouldn’t expect anything Nintendo does to be safe or predictable at this point. Lion out of their cage.

I like it, very grounded in reality. Based on my experiences with PSVR, 1080p would be perfectly fine for Nintendo style games.

Pilotwings VR would be amazing too.

@bold, couldn't they just use regular docked mode for that? That way it would be "just" 3 presets to work with.

I think it depends on how it is done. MS made the requirement that any game on the One X must run on the original Xbox One. While I don’t think Nintendo would do that, they would still have some requirements that would keep it in the family and of course 1st party titles and Indies would be assured to be accessible on all versions.

A challenge with that would be making the Switch XL/VR appealing enough to make gamers choose that version at a higher price to make it affordable to Nvidia and whoever else has investment in it. With Matio Kart VR and a Metroid Prime 4 on the level of BoTW, each with VR considerations throughout their development, I think they will end up with a better conversion than Sony and MS had with their upgraded models. This also may be another reason why they pulled so much from the Wii U catalog, why Sakurai and Game Freak teams are focused on holding up Switch, leaving room for the other teams to work on building for something... simply speculating of course.

Mario Kart is already in VR at a VR center in Japan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Size1svQl9g

I guess Nintendo was involved with this? This might be a testing ground for Mario Kart 9. People say this is incredible. 

Thinking about it all ... yeah I think VR + Nintendo is gonna happen. There's a lot pointing towards it. 

Wasn’t there a rumor of Pilotwings coming back recently? Like in the last couple of years. I think I remember one or at least some vague hints.

Agreed. I fully expect new versions of the Switch like Nintendo has always done with their handhelds, but I don't see a VR Switch coming, certainly not a 4k VR Switch - that is more like next gen.

Also VR is fairly niche. I mean who wants to strap a big headset to their head just to play video games? Some people sure, but not the vast majority of people. Also having to pay a few hundred dollars for VR on top of paying a few hundred dollars for a base system isn't very consumer friendly. Though that is why VR makes the most sense for the Switch as compared to Sony/Microsoft systems, because Nintendo could make a system that can be played as a VR system, rather than selling it separately and thus having the system + VR cost twice as much as a normal system. If Nintendo can make a VR capable Switch 2 which can be played in VR mode simply by "switching" it into a headset, while still being totally capable of being played as a portable or tv-based system, I could definitely see them doing that. And it would make sense from a branding perspective as they could keep the Switch name for the Switch 2 as they've added one more "switch" to it: VR. But as far as this system I just don't see it having anywhere near the power to do VR. And if they did make a much more powerful system in order to do VR...well why would they do it in the middle of the Switch lifecycle? A much more powerful system is exactly what the Switch 2 would be, so it doesn't make any sense to try to disrupt the Switch's success instead of waiting to the end of its lifecycle to bring out a much more powerful VR-capable Switch 2.

A lot of people ask where does Nintendo go from here - they've already made essentially the perfect system in the Switch by combining home system with portable with motion controls with touch screen so that you can have any type of game on the system. In terms of hardware concept it is hard to see how they innovate beyond this. The Switch seems to be the end game innovation they've been moving towards for a while. But in this way I think adding VR to the Switch 2 would make sense because being able to play portable, home system, and VR all built-in just by sliding the system in and out of a dock or headset is innovation enough for next decade. Honestly I can't imagine how else they would innovate on the Switch, the only thing I can think of besides having the Switch 2 be able to "switch" into VR mode is just generic spec increases and perfecting the form factor of the Switch, and those aren't innovations just normal upgrades you'd expect.

So yeah I don't think VR is coming to the Switch, but by the time the Switch 2 comes out I think the tech could be there to make it be possible to have a $300 next gen Switch that is VR capable, and maybe they'd just sell the headset the Switch slides into for an extra $50 or bundled at $350. My only thought though is how well would a VR system work with the Switch tablet just slid into a headset rather than a headset being built from the ground up for VR? I know you can do VR with phones like that, but I don't know how well it actually compares to actual VR headsets. Though I suppose as long as it works fairly well it would be fine since it'd be part of the system and not require having to pay double the money for a system plus the VR.

Yeah they would probably use some modified form of that build or at least use some of that code for the VR mode in the next Switch Mario Kart. I saw your comment about it's development perhaps encouraging them to look more into VR, possible.  I think Nintendo has had VR on the back of their mind for a while.  Hard to ignore the movements in the industry happening the last few years when you were the company who pushed for more immersive gameplay, not mentioning Virtual Boy though. ha. I heard a rumor during the Wii days that Nintendo showed a VR demo using Gamecube behind closed doors at E3 one year. Still, I do think Mario Kart VR was an effort to get their feet wet for potential future developments. 

Mario Kart VR in motion:

It's only in Japan, likely a test.