Between the chip shortage during the peak of the pandemic and the already decent sales of the NX, it was probably a very late decision considering we had multiple sources saying devs have a dev kits for a more powerful Switch in late 2020 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-29/nintendo-switch-4k-developers-make-games-for-nonexistent-console?leadSource=uverify%20wall

Whats interesting is that Nintendo were concerned with the immenent release of the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. But that came at the time of crazy chip shortages it made more sense to cancel that and release an iteration with improvements instead and we got the OLED NS where manufacturing isn't affected so much. I wonder if Nintendo also worked with Nvidia to get a better deal for a new chip, instead of what we were going to get with the Pro. 4K was the target for Nintendo, which is quite a high bar for a handheld console.

Also other red flags that a new console is imminent is that we're still waiting for some flagship titles from Nintendo (Next big Mario release, Mario Kart 9 and Metroid Prime 4) some still MIA and LOZ ToTK delayed to 2023.

Mario Kart 9 definitely won't happen on Switch. Nintendo is still releasing the DLC courses for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Next big Mario release, maybe there's still some time, but it also wouldn't make much sense.

Metroid Prime 4... Well, who knows what happened to this game. It was announced for Switch a looooong time ago.

Indeed they do, yet... Many games are held back because of the hardware.

I think it's been established over the years, most notably with the Wii, that performance and graphics aren't important for a device to sell well.

But by that same extension... Just because a device sells well, doesn't mean it's perfect by an means.

Case in point... Pokemon Scarlet/Violet is certainly held back by the hardware, an overclocked Switch resolves most of the performance issues.


And because of such, a higher performing Switch would offer a far better experience to a Switch owner than the current hardware models... It may/may not increase sales of hardware, but that is irrelevant... It's about maintaining a degree of quality and playability in games.

It needs better hardware, there are those who don't care if a game looks crap or runs at 15fps...
For someone like myself, I do care... And I want Nintendo to do better and offer us more to keep driving innovation and competition.

The game Library is definitely a strong point of the Switch, even if a chunk of it's best selling titles are ports from an older console, many newer games I am passing over or returning (Pokemon) because they are unplayable. - But there are millions who still rushed out and played the title to death despite it's technical shortcomings and issues.

There are always going to be a subset of consumers who expect a degree of quality out of their games, I'm one of them.

Pokemon feels to me like more an example of horrible optimization given that other open world titles on Switch like Xenoblade 3, Dying Light, and Breath of the Wild look and run vastly better, even despite the last being made for weaker hardware.

It should never have been allowed to release in the state that it's in, but I think even if the Switch was much more powerful it would still be a technical mess as it just seems like an incredibly rushed product. Gamefreak have been churning out so many Pokemon games they just seem to thrust them out the door before they're finished in order to stick to their unworkable release schedule.

An overclocked Switch runs the game much much much better. It's actually playable IMHO. Not 60fps playable, but definitely playable.

This is generally the benefit of a "Pro" console, where those older games that struggle on base hardware, run far better on superior hardware, even without optimization or tweaks.

The other thing is, many Switch games employ dynamic resolution scaling, all of the games you mention... Aka. Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Breath of the Wild and Dying Light would run at a higher resolution, without being optimized for a newer device... Naturally.

Xenoblade is most often running at 540P on the handheld panel, which is passable, but an overclocked Switch? 720P, which definitely removes much of the images softness... But adding to that, things like the cloud rendering is done at quarter resolution... That would make it 540x270 when the output is 540P. Rather than the potential of 640x360 if it was running at 720P.

Xenoblade 3 is a far far less blurry game than Xenoblade 2, but it's still not pixel perfect with the display, yet... And during fast action sequences the temporal upscaling technique does falter.

I can see the appeal of a Pro revision, I just meant I can see why Nintendo didn't feel they needed to invest in one with the standard model flying off shelves, and there probably came a point where they figured they might as well shelve it and move on to a full blown successor.

Metroid Prime 4 has been in development now for four years. Doesn't seem to long.

It restarted development in January 2019.

But it was announced in 2017.

What I meant was, it just became the 3rd highest selling system of all time without a Pro model; the general audience still seems to find it acceptable as it is.

This exactly.  The switch clearly doesn't "need" much of anything.  It was a wild success and has a superb software library.