Trailer Watch: Nintendo Switch Announcement

Last Thursday the wait was finally over. One year and a half after it had been announced the Nintendo NX was finally unveiled to the world. It was the long rumored Hybrid concept bringing together the power of a console and the mobility of a handheld. That's what Nintendo promised at least. It remains to be seen if they can fulfill that promise. But for now we have a overview trailer showing what the Switch is all about. And even though it focused mostly on the games itself, it also gave us small glimpses at several of the games for the console.

Well enough introduction for something, which doesn't need introduction. Let us watch the Trailer and see if we can spot some interesting details.

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Right of the bat we get a good look at the newest Zelda Title, Breath of the Wild, which will release for the Switch (as well as for the Wii-U.)

Here we get the confirmation that mounted combat from Twilight Princess returns. It seems Link isn't the only one, who can tame the wild horses roaming the fields of Hyrule. Something that remains to be seen is, if the Bokoblins will dynamically use the Horses. What I mean with that is if only selected and predetermined enemies can use mounts or if the situation is possible, where Link hunts a group of Bokoblins only for them to use a nearby group of horses as mounts spontaneously.

Latter would be really cool.

Also as we know from other previews of the game the Bokoblins can use a variety of weapons, but here they are only seen wielding clubs. Maybe later in the game you'll also encounter mounted enemies, which use Bows or other weapons, creating a more varied mounted combat.

Here we get our first look at the console, or the docking station to be more specific. It's nothing revolutionary looking, but it's well designed. As we know from Nintendo the docking station doesn't contain any rendering or processing power, but I'm pretty sure it will still enhance the performance of the Switch. In handheld mode the Switch will probably lower it's output to safe energy and cooling power. But docked into the station it can be actively cooled and doesn't need to concern itself with running out of battery power. That's why I think the docking station enhances the power of the Switch, as it easily allows overclocking.

Now we get a look at the controller of the Switch. Well that's not entirely true. We get to see one of the Switchs control options.

As you can see the actual control units, called Joy-Cons, can be easily taken off and attached to the Switch itself. The huge possibilities offered by this system is shown later in the trailer. You don't even have to attach the Joy Cons to anything in order to use them. Nintendo once again looks to support many different control options and I think this is great way of doing that. As for the ''controller'' itself. It looks fine and seems to handle rather well. I personally never had a problem with the Wii-U Gamepad, but for people who deemed it to big and chunky this should be good news.

As you can see, you can use the Switch like a tablet, lean back and use the Joy cons alone for the most comfortable gaming experience possible in a airplane.

This is the only problem I have with the Joy Cons. They seem rather small and when used like this I'm sure people with bigger hands will get cramps really fast. A good solution for this problem would be allowing the use of Wii-Motes. Their basic layout is pretty much the same, but they aren't as small. 

But now enough with jumping ahead in the trailer. Back to Zelda.

Here we have another one of the huge boss monster Aonuma mentioned during the first presentation of Breath of the Wild in 2014. It seems that these enemies can be found all around Hyrule. This huge Bokoblin takes a nap on a small island in the middle of a pond, before he is assaulted by Link.

Of course he doesn't like the rude awakening and a battle ensues. My guess would be that these Boss monsters all guard a part of Hyrule. During the e3 2016 presentation we've seen that Hyurle is segregated into different areas.

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It seems pretty obvious that each of those areas would house a huge boss monster. We even saw one before in Steppe Talus.

But back to the Bokbolin Boss above. There are two interesting details on him. His glowing pendant and what seems to be a rainbow mohawk. I'm sure the pendant has a deep meaning, while the Mohawk may be the monsters weak spot. As for a way to fight the boss, I'm not sure. In direct combat his attacks may be to devastating, so I guess a approach like in Shadow of the Colossus, where you climb the beast and attack it's weakspot directly would work best. It also would combine pretty well with Breath of the Wilds climbing mechanic.

Here we have the confirmation that the Switch uses cartridges. These look pretty big, so hopefully they'll offer a lot of space.

And here we get a good look at the whole system. It's surprising how slim the Switch is. On top of the console we can see several openings, which will be probably used for cooling the system. Next to them you can see a slot used for headphones and then the already seen cartridge slot.

The Nintendo Switch Pro Controller seems to be a continuation of the Wii-U Pro Controller, which was great. So I haven't any worries here.

Now this is interesting again. We get a look at something, that seems to be a port of Mario Kart 8.

But last I checked King Boo wasn't a character in Mario Kart 8. Emily Rogers calls this an enhance port of Mario Kart 8, which would mean that it offers new content.

Another interesting fact seems to be the missing motorcycles. In the first picture we can see all twelve drivers and there isn't anyone driving one. But that doesn't mean they have been removed from the game, because we can see Rosalina, starting last, use an ATV Body. So these are still in and so it's good chance that we will see motorcycles again.

The last interesting part about this enhanced port/Mario Kart 9 is that, like in Double Dash, you'll be able to hold two items at once. Now maybe this is an indication that this game will be the long awaited Double Dash 2. It's entirely possible that they used single driver carts as place holder for this trailer. I think King Boo is another indication for this, as he had his debut in Double Dash.

For now everything is possible. The shown footage could be an enhanced Mario Kart 8 Port or an entirely new Mario Kart 9.

This picture proves that Multiplayer is still a large focus for Nintendo with the Switch and it seems easier than ever.

Now it becomes truly interesting. Here we've got the first glimpse at the next 3D Mario adventure, exclusively for the Switch. And right of the bat we are introduced to a pretty unfamiliar sight for the Mushroom Kingdom. The previewed level seems to be heavily influenced by Mexican themes. We can see a colorful small town in midst of a scorching desert. But it seems to be a rather cold desert, because if you take a close look you can see Ice on both edges of the picture. Even the fountain in the middle of the town seems to be frozen solid, with some icicles hanging from the wires next to it.

Generally the whole area seems to be much more open than any level from 3D World. So maybe this new adventure returns to the roots of Super Mario 64 and offers a truly exploration oriented experience.

Also remember the purple building on the far left side of the picture for now.

We also get to see some new, sombreror wearing characters. I'm not sure if they serve as enemies or allies, because they don't attack Mario, when he triple jumps next to them. In fact they don't pay any attention to him at all.

In the back of the picture we can also see what seems to be a huge stone structure, possible a temple of some sorts. There seems to be a while light emitting from the top, and my guess would be that there lies the source, which is responsible for all the ice in the middle of the desert.

Next up we get a better look of the stone Structure, which is bigger than first seen. If you take a look at the right side of the picture, next to the ice, which serves as barrier, you can see the same purple building which I told you to remember from the first picture. This is another prove that this Mario seems to go back to 64s huger and more open level design.

This picture also shows that Marios Long Jump is back again, next to the triple Jump shown in the earlier picture.

One nice little detail is Mario looking towards the Bullet Bill while dodging it. But the more interesting detail is the floating heart across the chasm on the right side. This is another indicator towards a 64 style of gameplay.

And lastly this picture proves that this Mario will have a Multiplayer once again.

The last part of the video now shows us what seems to be a Splatoon e-sports event. I'm not sure if Nintendo truly decides to take Splatoon down this route, but you can't argue that next to Smash Bros. Splatoon is the game with the most potential in that area.

Once again we can't tell if this is truly a Splatoon 2 or just an enhanced port, like Emily Rogers calls it, but it definitely offers new features.

It seems the customization of your Inkling has been drastically improved, with different hairstyles and even different trousers and gloves.

The Trailer did a good job of introducing us to the Nintendo Switch and enough to keep us speculating. I hope you liked this Trailer Watch and if I missed something (which I surely did) post it in the comments.

And as always

thanks for reading

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