Nintendo Switch 2: Backward Compatibility, Features, and the Future of Gaming | The Gamerheads Podcast

In this episode of The Gamerheads Podcast, Roger and Jake dive into the big news about the Nintendo Switch 2. They share their first impressions of the design and features, highlighting the significance of backward compatibility and improvements to the Joy-Con controllers. The two also speculate about potential new features and accessories, while reflecting on how the success of the original Switch has positioned Nintendo in the gaming market.

Their conversation takes a deeper look at the evolution of Nintendo consoles, with a focus on what the Switch 2 might bring to the table. They discuss everything from graphics performance and nostalgic appeal to how new features could shape gaming experiences. They even touch on the role gaming consoles play for families and the importance of upcoming game releases. The episode wraps up with a thoughtful discussion on what lies ahead for Nintendo and its impact on the gaming community.

Transcript

Roger Reichardt (00:00.877)
And welcome to another episode of the Gamer Heads podcast. name is Roger. This week I have another member of the Gamer Heads crew. Jake is joining me today. Jake, welcome to the show.

Jake (00:12.312)
Thank you.

Roger Reichardt (00:13.715)
Jake and I are gonna be talking about well the news that was just came out today. I mean, it's not a lot of news, but it's the announcement of the switch to and and I have some thoughts I'm sure Jake you have some thoughts around the switch to as well. Before we get into that though, I guess before we go into like kind of I don't want to say deep dive because it's only like a two minute video so there's that much we can deep dive with it.

But there's a couple things that I think they highlighted that we can talk about. But I guess, what was your first reaction? I'll ask you that what was your first reaction when you saw the video?

Jake (00:50.542)
I think my first reaction probably was they know what they did well with the Switch one and they stuck with it with the Switch 2. Nintendo's always kind of gone really far with their controller peripherals and everything like that and this seems like kind of the first time where they're like

Roger Reichardt (01:03.825)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jake (01:20.031)
Why change it too much? You know, so

Roger Reichardt (01:21.947)
Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I feel like it was a, I feel like it was a safe move. I feel like it was not. And it's fine. It's fine. But you're right. I think they're like, we have something really good here with the switch. The fact that they call it the switch to like, I was like, okay, they're just like leaning into the fact that like, yeah, we know that everybody loves the switch and we're not going to switch things up too much.

Jake (01:38.421)
Yeah, yeah.

Jake (01:49.11)
No pun intended.

Roger Reichardt (01:50.131)
No pun intended. I talked to Trina actually about this today and she was like, they should have called it the switcheroo. And I was like, yeah, that would have been a funny name. I mean, do you do I mean, did you buy any of like, are you a Nintendo? Are you a Nintendo person? Do you like Nintendo products? Are you a fan? Okay. Um, so I remember when the I mean, it's not that long ago, but when the 3DS came out, and then they came out with the new 3DS.

Jake (01:55.788)
Yeah.

Jake (02:10.22)
Yes, yes, yes.

Jake (02:19.949)
Yep.

Roger Reichardt (02:20.659)
I knew some friends that worked at gaming generations and and they would it's a local game store in town here. And they would say like people would come in and totally confused with, well, I bought this game and doesn't work in my 3DS and like, well, as part of it's a new 3DS game. What does that even mean? Right? Like, that was a botched thing. We you obviously was not well received. But

Jake (02:37.014)
Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (02:48.081)
I feel like calling it the switch to the only other thing I think that they could have called it was like the super switch because of like Super Nintendo, right?

Jake (02:55.95)
Yep, yeah, think, I think they're, yeah, I feel like they're kind of trying to get away from the confusing aspects of their naming conventions for a very long time. So, yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (03:04.413)
Yes.

Roger Reichardt (03:09.415)
Yeah. Agreed. think, I think switch two was just a safe move and the whole switch is just a switch, a safe, it's a safe, the whole thing is a safe move.

Jake (03:24.522)
Yeah, and I feel like it's the fact that it's backwards compatible as well that they've said is a huge thing because the past consoles, it's always a different type of CD-ROM or it's something that it just doesn't connect with the last generation and stuff like that.

Roger Reichardt (03:32.017)
Yes.

Roger Reichardt (03:36.722)
Yes.

Roger Reichardt (03:51.837)
Yeah, yeah.

Jake (03:52.238)
So the fact that they're kind of keeping with the cartridges and stuff like that, think is a really good move because I know so many people that would have been so mad if they had to switch things up and everything wasn't backwards compatible and everything like that. So yeah.

Roger Reichardt (04:13.531)
Yeah, I wonder if they'll allow people to download games off the switch online service. So like a majority of my games are not physical majority of my games are digital games. I wonder if I'll be able to download the games. I mean, I would assume that would be the case.

Jake (04:26.102)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jake (04:34.112)
Yeah, so what I kind of read a little bit, and there is a little bit of an asterisk in that trailer when they're saying that most things are backwards compatible, but I think that might be for more games that were focused on the Joy-Con and how the Joy-Con worked. So like the Ring Fit Adventure and stuff like that, I don't think would work with the Switch 2, but...

Roger Reichardt (04:55.282)
Yes.

Roger Reichardt (04:58.791)
Yes.

Roger Reichardt (05:02.888)
Yeah.

Jake (05:03.244)
Yeah, I really hope that they kind of just stick with the... even if it's the same like Switch or like Nintendo Store and stuff like that and it's just moved over, I think that would be the best thing for them to do. Let's hope. mean, Nintendo kind of loves to like come out with an awesome thing and then shoot themselves in the foot in the same...

Roger Reichardt (05:20.519)
Yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (05:33.831)
Yes, 100%. Yes, yes. I mean, I wouldn't mind if they did like a fresh coat of paint on the store though, because the store is like, not the greatest. Honestly, the 3DS store was pretty good, I thought like I thought that was a pretty good store. Because they would have things of like games under $10 games under $20, you know, like

Jake (05:33.924)
sentence, you know, so yeah.

Jake (05:42.924)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jake (05:50.84)
Mm-hmm.

Roger Reichardt (05:56.261)
Zelda games and Mario games. And I was like, this is cool. Like you could just filter based on like your preferences, like, you know,

Jake (06:02.944)
Yeah, yeah, and now like, I think even in the Switch Store, like if you want to look for like a specific genre of games, there's nothing, there's nothing like that. You have to like go into the search and then like search it by filtered genre and stuff and it's really confusing and stuff. yeah, maybe, maybe they'll change it up, hopefully.

Roger Reichardt (06:17.489)
Yes.

Roger Reichardt (06:23.581)
Yeah, yeah.

Roger Reichardt (06:28.635)
Yeah, yeah. So some of the specs, I mean, I shouldn't say specs, some of the things we do know about the switch, because they didn't, they didn't announce any specs at all. One of the obvious things is obviously the screen is bigger, which is cool. The joy cons are bigger. So they're going with the joy cons. They're doing snap ons instead of the slide on. What did you think of that?

Jake (06:43.288)
Yes. Yes.

Jake (06:57.966)
I actually really like it. I don't know if you have the same problem with the switch, but whenever you put those, like the connected thing onto the slot, like, so it's like, well, you know, like, so.

Roger Reichardt (07:00.466)
Yeah?

Roger Reichardt (07:11.719)
You still do that? Do you? Those those those the strap things.

Jake (07:18.442)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like if you're if you're wanting to. Absolutely, absolutely. I have like a. A bunch of them somewhere, but like if I'm playing like Super Smash Brothers with friends, I'll bring them out and stuff and then we'll we'll all have our own controller. But I they're like I would say like 50 % of the time I put them on wrong and once you put them on the wrong, they're like.

Roger Reichardt (07:19.603)
Do you still have those? I don't get over mine.

Roger Reichardt (07:28.635)
Hahaha

Roger Reichardt (07:34.202)
yeah. Well, that makes sense.

Roger Reichardt (07:45.162)
Mmm. yes

Jake (07:47.27)
so hard to get off and I always punch myself in the gut trying to pull them off, you know? So I think I like the fact that they're just kind of snap-ons instead of the... I wasn't a huge fan of the slide-y thing. I kind of felt it was... I don't know. It was weird. I didn't like it. So yeah.

Roger Reichardt (07:52.722)
Yeah?

Roger Reichardt (08:06.737)
Yeah, yeah. No, I agree. And I think I think there's speculation that it's also magnetic too. So that the same kind of technology that Apple uses for like a lot of their like laptops, I don't know if they do anymore. But at least in the past, you'd have like just magnetic plugs. So that way, it you know, if it gets bumped, it just falls out, you know, it doesn't like pull the whole computer and smash it. Which has happened to me, by the way that has happened.

Jake (08:15.683)
Yeah.

Jake (08:33.678)
Ha ha.

Roger Reichardt (08:35.315)
But yeah, I like that. I also like the fact that one of my biggest complaints with the switch is the joy cons that just how flat they are. There's like no like depth to it, right. And this one looks like it has like a little bit more comfort, I guess, from a ergonomic standpoint.

Jake (08:51.862)
Right, yeah.

Jake (08:56.872)
Yeah, yeah, I'm interested how strong the magnet is, how, or like, just how strong it is for them to kind of pull themselves off. Like, because, I don't know, sometimes I'll just be lying on my back with my switch in my hands and I, like, I don't know how, like,

Roger Reichardt (09:04.083)
Mm.

Roger Reichardt (09:12.616)
Yeah.

Jake (09:26.104)
how strong it's gonna be if it's just gonna fall right in my face and stuff like that. So, yeah.

Roger Reichardt (09:31.225)
I hope that that'd be awful. I did it didn't look like there is like on the back, the z button or one of the buttons, I think, I think is a z button that you have to push it down to unhook the controllers. So there must be some kind of pin mechanism to kind of keep them in as well. So yeah. The other thing that was interesting, I don't know if you caught this, but the there is looks like an optic

Jake (09:43.08)
okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's good. Yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (10:01.105)
a laser optic thing on the, on the, on the, on the top of the controller. And in the video that they showed the controllers running around like mice and their speculation that that optic laser thing is, really going to be for using it as a mouse, using the joy cons as a mouse.

Jake (10:15.756)
Yes.

Jake (10:25.556)
Yeah, I have heard that and I would be interested in like what that would be for, you know, like, I don't know that maybe. I don't know, like, why would you need a mouse? But I don't know. Maybe I'm saying that now and wait like a year when this or like a couple of months when this comes out and like.

Roger Reichardt (10:34.929)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jake (10:54.21)
Why did I say that? You know? Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (10:56.83)
This is amazing. So one thing I speculate is like, could you play games like Bellatro or other games that you would play normally with a mouse like on your piece on your PC? Could you use a joy con as a mouse that way? Right? So like, does it does it lend for more opportunities for steam games or PC games to come to?

Jake (11:17.56)
me.

Roger Reichardt (11:25.681)
the switch that are more user with the mouse. Maybe I say that and I'm like, that makes sense. But then also I think when Nintendo doesn't really care about like, Nintendo's not like, we're going to make a mouse for developers so that they can like port their games right from PC. Nintendo usually is like, no, we have an idea of what we're going to do with that mouse.

Jake (11:49.07)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I have no idea what the, like what the reason for that would be, but yeah, that would be kind of cool actually. Bring that back.

Roger Reichardt (11:58.151)
Mario Paint.

Roger Reichardt (12:01.933)
It actually would be kind of cool. But it just feels like that wouldn't like that feels like such an integral part to them out to the to the joy con that like one game would not be sufficient, you know.

Jake (12:16.428)
Yeah. No, not at all. Or maybe we're thinking way too into this. They were just like, it looks cool when they're sliding around. There's no mouse. know? Yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (12:30.471)
Maybe the others that they're like, there's no mouse in there. I don't know. We're just playing with all of you. There's nothing in there. It just it just it's kind of it's I guess we'll find out more in April. That's one thing to like, there's a direct happening on April 2. So hopefully we'll see more in April. The other thing that I thought was interesting is that there is a USB C connector on top and bottom.

Jake (12:57.187)
Mm-hmm.

Yes, yes.

Roger Reichardt (13:01.393)
And that makes me think, are there going to be things that they want you to hook up to, like cameras or other things on the top of the switch?

Jake (13:09.304)
Ooh, yeah, that's an interesting question. I do think that a lot of people are just gonna use it in handheld mode to be able to charge their Switch from the top. Because I think that was a huge thing that people had an issue with for myself included, you know. But that would be interesting if they did add some sort of peripheral for it. Bring back the Game Boy.

Roger Reichardt (13:24.029)
Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (13:30.845)
Yeah.

Jake (13:39.668)
Game Boy camera and stuff like that, you

Roger Reichardt (13:41.843)
I mean, maybe maybe that'd be their way to handle games where there's two screens and you need a second screen and then you could just click that screen on top and now you have a mini screen in the lower screen. That'd be cool.

Jake (13:53.228)
yeah, they bring out like a foldable kind of top screen that folds back. That'd be really cool.

Roger Reichardt (14:01.561)
Yeah, that'd be cool. That'd be really cool. But obviously, they have some idea for that. There is also on the bottom of the joy con, I think that's on the right one. I don't have my switch. No, I do have this with me. This would show it. no, it doesn't. Because it doesn't have that half. It is there's like the home button.

And then there's capture, but it looked like there was another button on the bottom of one of the joy cons. I think it's on the right hand side, but there's like an extra button. They didn't really explain what that is for yet, but that's there.

Jake (14:28.504)
Mmm.

Jake (14:36.152)
Yeah, I'm looking at it now. do, yeah, that's interesting. I don't know if it's like.

Yeah, I don't know what that would be.

Roger Reichardt (14:49.233)
Yeah. and then the, what is the other, the infrared thing that they had on the switch on the bottom of the controller. I think that, Ring Fit Adventure used it to track your heartbeat. that might've been the only game that ever used this thing. They're not doing that anymore. They're getting rid of that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's weird. It's interesting. yeah, I think, I think the big thing is, well, and obviously I can go connect it to your TV.

Jake (15:05.644)
I didn't even know it. Yeah, I didn't even know that. That's funny.

Roger Reichardt (15:19.699)
like the switch, right? So.

Jake (15:23.724)
Yeah, I'm wondering if I think.

I think it was the OLED case, or maybe it just never was a thing, but there wasn't like an ethernet cable, was there, to the?

Roger Reichardt (15:41.757)
For the switch, for the OLED switch there is. Yeah.

Jake (15:44.418)
There is, yeah. hopefully that's, that would be like, I hope they kind of bring that over and stuff. I'm also, yeah. Well, that's, that's the thing about Nintendo, right? They love to do this. then, so that, that actually brings me into something. I wonder if the screen is going to be OLED.

Roger Reichardt (15:53.203)
It'd be dumb if they didn't, because they already have it on their old system.

Roger Reichardt (15:59.729)
Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (16:11.622)
I don't know.

Jake (16:11.924)
it if they're going to go with OLED or if they're just going to go back to that LCD and then come out with the OLED version or maybe they'll have two versions or something like that.

Roger Reichardt (16:18.343)
Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (16:24.019)
I think they'll have two versions. I think it will be a lot like the Steam Deck, where you can get the OLED or the or the standard, right? And I bet you that they'll do the same thing for the switch. And obviously, the OLED will be more expensive. I actually kind of hope they do that to keep the costs down on the standard or if they have a base model, right?

Jake (16:38.786)
Mm-hmm.

Jake (16:44.651)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, that'll be interesting, like, because we do have three versions of the switch, technically. So I wonder if we'll have like a light. It would be cool if we had a light version, a regular version and no light version that.

Roger Reichardt (16:55.315)
Yes, we do.

Roger Reichardt (17:07.303)
Yeah, yeah.

I don't know. I don't know how they could do a light. I mean, I guess they could but I guess you had that light, then that doesn't connect to your TV. So I guess they could do it that way. It just be like, yeah, this is there's no connecting to your TV with this thing.

Jake (17:21.102)
you

Yeah, and the Joy-Cons wouldn't come off, I guess. Yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (17:27.443)
that's true. The joy cons wouldn't come off. Yeah, I, you know, with I never got a switch light. Because of the joy con drift issues that the switch had. I had many pro I have lots of joy cons that are just sitting there because they the the drift issue. I mean, it sounds like they solved that issue. But I was not going to take my chances with a switch light and be like, great. Now what happens, right? So

Jake (17:37.901)
Yeah.

Jake (17:55.174)
Yeah

Well, doesn't that that issue doesn't seem to be just a Nintendo issue, I think, either. Right. Like PlayStation has that as well. So I don't know what, why it happens and stuff like that. I don't think they even know. So.

Roger Reichardt (18:03.963)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (18:17.201)
Yeah, yeah. yeah, I mean, so here's a funny, and Jay was talking about before we started recording the fact that our one of our first episodes, and it might have been the first episode of the gamer heads podcast. Back in October, no, no, it couldn't have been the first episode, but it must have been one of the one of the early episodes. We

the lot, the Nintendo switch launched. think, I think we knew that Nintendo was going to come up with a new system in October, November, when we launched the podcast and we were like, we're speculating what it could be when it launched or when we saw what it was in March. I'll admit, I was super skeptical. I was like, this is dumb. who is going to sit there on their rooftops with the switch?

and play with these little joy things. You know, like I still don't think people play that way. The 10 no thinks they do because they have this new kickstand now for the the the switch to it maybe with the controllers being a little bit bigger, maybe that's more feasible. But it certainly is not the switch. I'll say that like that. It's an awful experience.

Jake (19:25.1)
yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (19:40.015)
And you know, and this whole idea of like, switching between handheld and TV, who cares? Nobody, nobody cares about that. And, know, so I was very super like, this is the, this is the death of Nintendo. This is it. This is the war. Like they came from Wii U to this. This is awful. And here we are 10 years later. And I'm like, I can't wait for the switch to come out.

Jake (20:08.526)
Yeah, I do think that, especially after the Wii U, I think a lot of people were skeptical of what Nintendo would come out with next, but I don't know.

Roger Reichardt (20:08.807)
Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (20:23.441)
Yeah. I mean, but even looking back at like the Wii, like, I thought the Wii was like, what is this? What is this controller? What is this thing? And like the Wii is still one of my top systems played in my household, actually. Like my kids love the Wii because it's so intuitive. And like my five year old can play it really well, right? Like we play bowling. You know, we play archery with the other Wii Sports Resorts.

Jake (20:32.358)
Hahaha.

Jake (20:38.839)
yeah.

Yeah.

Jake (20:45.144)
Mm-hmm.

Roger Reichardt (20:51.571)
like the we we actually play the first two Ultimate Alliance games on the Wii. That's how we that's what we have that game like it is funny because there'll be an episode where we talked I have Luke Lewis on the podcast where we talk about Indiana Jones games and staff of Kings Indiana Jones staff of Kings came out in the Wii and you know and it seemed like back then it was like oh yeah you can do everything with the Wii you can now use it as a whip and it wasn't fun playing it with the whip you know but

Jake (21:19.288)
Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (21:22.067)
Like I was really skeptical of the Wii too, but that thing, I love the Wii and I really like once I found out what the Wii was about, I was like, Oh, I really want to get one. Um, and, uh, yeah, I got one for a wedding anniversary. showed my wife bought it for our first wedding anniversary. Um, and I was working at Best Buy at the time when that happened. That's really funny, but I don't know. I feel like

they played it really safe. I think people would have said, I think Nintendo would say, well, the Wii U, we felt that was safe. Like we're moving from the Wii to the Wii U. It seems like a logical step. And I don't think we would have the switch if it wasn't for the Wii U. But I feel like this is a very, very, very safe move by Nintendo. And maybe the mouse thing is maybe that that is there is something to that. And maybe that will be the

Jake (22:02.83)
True. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (22:17.479)
the strange thing that Nintendo Switch 2 has is a mouse. We'll see. I don't know.

Jake (22:22.178)
Yep.

Jake (22:25.676)
I'm calling it, it's a red herring.

Roger Reichardt (22:28.283)
Yeah, it maybe it is. Maybe it is. Maybe they're like, everybody thinks this will be a mouse. We'll just have the little mice going across the screen. Ha ha, they're not really mice. We'll see. Do you so I'm, you know, I'm a parent, and I watched this and I think to myself, I don't know if this is enough for majority of parents, my age to be like, yeah, my kid needs a switch to

Jake (22:40.462)
Yeah, we will.

Roger Reichardt (22:57.651)
And I know we're gonna get a direct. But like, was this enough for you to be like, Oh, yeah, I I'm sold, like, or at least hook you in more was this what do you think there was enough for it? Like, does this meet your expectations, I guess?

Jake (23:17.262)
No. I don't think I'm there yet. I have a Switch OLED that is collecting dust right now. yeah, I feel like I need to see what games are coming out for it because obviously that's the most important, right? So also, what games are going to be...

Roger Reichardt (23:18.438)
Okay.

Roger Reichardt (23:27.923)
Mmm.

really?

Jake (23:45.908)
only for the Switch 2.

Roger Reichardt (23:47.259)
Yeah. Yeah. That's a good question.

Jake (23:50.034)
Yeah, yeah, because so one of the big things I'm looking forward to from Nintendo is the new Pokemon, the XY remake. It looks like it's kind of similar to Arceus and like that one. So when that came out, they said

Roger Reichardt (24:03.602)
Mmm.

Jake (24:20.046)
they kind of worded it strangely and it said that it will be coming out for both consoles. Yeah, this was like eight months ago or something like that. Like it was a while ago. I don't think they said both consoles, but they said something and people were like, this kind of means that they're talking about how it will...

Roger Reichardt (24:28.818)
really?

Roger Reichardt (24:34.768)
Okay, okay.

Jake (24:49.194)
it will be available for the Switch and the Switch 2, right? So it does seem like there are future games that still are going to be coming to the Switch. like, I guess we'll have to see what the, like what the graphics are like and stuff like that, because obviously that's a huge thing for Nintendo right now, because their console is almost 10 years old and...

Roger Reichardt (24:53.104)
Interesting.

Roger Reichardt (25:00.689)
Yeah.

Jake (25:18.29)
it can't keep up with what like PlayStation 5 is coming out with an Xbox. And I don't think it will. I don't think it'll be as good as that. like, I think it's definitely showing its age now. Right. So, yeah.

Roger Reichardt (25:26.417)
Yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (25:35.633)
Yeah. Yeah.

Hey, but being backwards compatible. mean, they could say every game play Apple says right now, right? It'll be interesting to see if there is a improvement on the old games on the new system, right? Like if it actually does, if you can tell the difference. And in what what I read was, I don't know you saw this, but they did say that this will fall in like the switch to the

Jake (25:45.64)
Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah. So.

Jake (25:55.775)
Yes. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (26:09.341)
think will fall in somewhere like the last gen like PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Xbox Series S like that kind of fidelity in regards to the graphics and stuff like that. And, and they did say that it will be more powerful being docked, which I think the switch is more powerful being docked as well I think.

Jake (26:18.093)
Yes.

Roger Reichardt (26:37.523)
I mean, it makes sense. Why wouldn't it be? So I don't know.

Jake (26:39.82)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I guess we'll see what it like.

Nintendo's never really been like the cutting edge of graphics. Like it's but it's it's always looked nice. like. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And yeah, it runs pretty well on a 10, almost 10 year old system, you know. So when they make games for.

Roger Reichardt (27:00.135)
Yeah.

Yeah, look at the look at tears of kingdom. It's amazing looking. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (27:14.62)
Yeah, yeah.

Jake (27:19.788)
like Nintendo makes games for its own console, it's usually quite well done.

Roger Reichardt (27:26.491)
Yeah, they know how to like they know how to tweak it just right to get the best juice out of their system.

Jake (27:30.412)
Yes. Yes, exactly. I can't see graphics kind of being like I think where it's going to be is more framerate and just like how much data they can have on a screen because like I'm going to talk about Pokemon again, but like the newest Pokemon games

Roger Reichardt (27:34.024)
Yeah.

Jake (28:00.206)
kinda look like crap. know? I think they, if they can leverage the Switch 2, I hope they do. And they come out with that beautiful Pokemon game that we've all been wanting for 30 years. You know? So.

Roger Reichardt (28:03.032)
Yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (28:26.887)
What would you say if that USB-C plug on top was just so that you could connect with other switches and switch your points and trade your Pokemon? Yeah. Link cable. Would you be like, this is cool? Or would you be like, this is the stupidest thing? We didn't like it back then and we don't like it now.

Jake (28:36.078)
yeah, link cable.

Jake (28:44.718)
I'd probably like it just because it would itch that nostalgia for me. But the fact we can do that over Wi-Fi now anyways, or even Bluetooth, it would be like the stupidest thing. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (28:50.267)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (28:58.343)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Agreed. Agreed. We didn't obviously didn't announce any any games. We do know that Metroid Prime four is coming out. Probably this year, I think. I think they announced it's going to come out this year. They did show Mario Kart at the end. That is a new Mario Kart. And that looked cool. There was I think they said, what was it? Twenty four spots.

Jake (29:23.564)
Yes, yeah.

Yes. Yeah.

Jake (29:33.216)
Yeah, that's what I heard too, which is pretty cool. Are you a big Mario Kart person? Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Roger Reichardt (29:39.121)
Yeah, I am. I love Mario Kart. Yeah, yeah. I love that. I like, you know, I loved the fact that in Mario Kart, they were including other characters, like Link, and Animal Crossing, and the and the inklings. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I loved that. And, and, and then, then later on, they started coming up with more tracks, right? I that was really cool. Like,

Jake (29:52.184)
Yeah.

Jake (29:57.07)
people, the Inklings, yeah.

Roger Reichardt (30:09.491)
I remember how many tracks there is like was there 50 tracks now or something that's a crazy amount of tracks that are on the deluxe eight eight deluxe So I'm excited for that I'm excited for new Mario Kart I suspect there'll be another Splatoon At some point do you play Splatoon? Are you a Splatoon guy?

Jake (30:18.914)
Yeah, 8 Deluxe, yeah.

Jake (30:32.734)
I played, I think, Splatoon 2. That was the one that was on the Switch. It was cool. It wasn't really my type of game, I don't think. I really liked the... It was like the Salmon Dash or whatever. But for the Splatoon 2, it was only on weekends or something. It was something weird where you...

Roger Reichardt (30:38.652)
Okay.

Roger Reichardt (30:52.793)
Yeah, yeah.

Jake (31:02.446)
You could hardly play it. Yeah. Yeah. So I was yeah, I didn't I didn't play too much of it, but it's a cool idea and I know it's quite popular. So yeah.

Roger Reichardt (31:02.904)
the salmon run stuff. Yeah,

Roger Reichardt (31:16.155)
Yeah, they'll more than likely come up with another I mean, maybe not a Smash Brothers. I thought maybe they might but you know, Sakurai said he's done so maybe not but I suspect they will. We'll see probably I would I would assume I'd be shocked if we didn't see a new 3d Mario game.

Jake (31:35.764)
I sure hope so. Yeah. Yes, it does. Yep. Yep.

Roger Reichardt (31:37.553)
Yeah. Odyssey looks fantastic on the Switch as well. Like, and that was a launch title. That was a launch title 10 years ago. We have not seen a proper 3D Mario in 10 years.

Jake (31:50.422)
Yeah, yeah. So we're definitely due for one. And yeah, I think it would be it's yeah. If that is a launch title for the Switch 2, and it's only available on the Switch 2, then they've got me.

Roger Reichardt (32:07.045)
I think it will be. I think it will be.

Roger Reichardt (32:14.995)
Yeah, I, you know, it'd be interesting because I I think, I think you're right. I think that would be one way to get people to buy in on it. But as a, as parents, as a parent myself, right? Like, this is the thing, like for me, I feel like I kind of don't count because of the fact that I'm like, well, I'm going to buy it anyway. Right? Like it's not for my kids. It's for me. Right. But if I were, if I'm thinking of my parents and

Jake (32:24.13)
Yeah.

Jake (32:35.534)
Yeah.

Yeah

Roger Reichardt (32:43.411)
you know, we grew up like I remember. So I'm old, okay. Like our first console was was technically a pong machine. That was my first console was a pong machine, which counts because that was that's what it was. But then we got Atari 2600. And then we got an NES. And, you know, the NES back then was $200 like, which I think roughly comes to about five or $600 like

Jake (32:48.782)
You

Jake (32:53.771)
Okay, yeah.

Jake (33:13.208)
Yeah, right, yeah, yeah.

Roger Reichardt (33:13.853)
That's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. And, and then the Super Nintendo. And I remember my mom saying to me, like, so I was in high school when the Super Nintendo came out. Well, either just entering high school or just right before entering high school. My mom said I were not buying any more consoles for you. Like this is it. This is the last console. So every console after that.

I bought like I bought my own PlayStation. I went to PlayStation route after that I didn't go Nintendo. went PlayStation and ended up coming back. The Wii was my comeback to Nintendo, actually. But yeah, so like most parents I think will be frustrated. If Odyssey two comes out on the switch to I get Nintendo I get them doing it I get why they would do it that way.

Jake (33:51.075)
Ha

Roger Reichardt (34:09.341)
but I can see a lot of frustration. saw this, it was an interesting thing. There was a game that I was really into. It was not really so much a game. I mean, it was a game, but it was more of collector things and it was Disney Infinity. And Disney Infinity, for those that are not familiar with this, it's a Toys to Life game. So you got all these toys and they had this portal and you could put the characters on there and it would come up on your screen. And then what's cool about Disney Infinity was they had like,

Jake (34:25.194)
yeah.

Roger Reichardt (34:40.051)
level or game creator and you can make your own games with elements from each one of those characters worlds. And I made and then you could share them online and you could play them and I made like this Cinderella game where it was a countdown to midnight. And all these enemies are coming in you had to protect Cinderella she was like in this case and you had to protect her from these incoming and you had the little fairy godmother saying like you know, this is

you know, you have to protect it. And there's three waves of enemies that came. was was a cool it was a cute little thing that I made, mainly because I made it for my kids so they could play it. I that was kind of fun. But and then my point of my story, though, was that then they came up with Disney Infinity Two. So the old characters could play on the new platform, but the new platform was only for PlayStation four. wasn't for the PlayStation three anymore. And parents like through the biggest fit saying, listen, I bought all this all these characters about this

Jake (35:13.475)
You

Jake (35:31.627)
Okay

Jake (35:35.285)
Roger Reichardt (35:37.725)
portal. And now you're telling me I have to buy a whole new system so I can play the these new characters like this is ridiculous. And I get that. I get that. But as a gamer, I'm like, Yeah, but I would rather be on the new system, you know, like, so I don't know, it's a it's a it's a sticky situation. I think the backwards compatible is a big thing. Because this this will be like the parents like, I don't have to throw you all those switches, all the switch games.

That being said, also say, why do need a new switch? You have all these switch games that plays just great on your regular switch. You don't need a new one.

Jake (36:07.393)
Mm-hmm.

Jake (36:17.494)
Yeah, and you know what? Like, I feel like when the Switch was coming out, I feel like I had this conversation as well with someone about this doesn't feel like a console for kids. And I think at the beginning, it probably won't. It's going to be too expensive.

Roger Reichardt (36:29.523)
Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (36:44.135)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jake (36:45.998)
People aren't going to want to give their five-year-old a $800 console, handheld console, you know? like, it's, it's, yeah, like, I feel like it's just going to be, it's going to be something for the Nintendo fans, you know, at the beginning. But I do think that at some point we're going to get to a point where

Roger Reichardt (36:57.264)
Yeah.

Jake (37:16.302)
gets a little cheaper. Maybe they do come out with a light version, stuff like that, where it's like, okay, I'm okay giving this to my five year old who just had a candy bar or something like that. Yeah, a Ring Pop. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Roger Reichardt (37:20.05)
Yes.

Roger Reichardt (37:31.409)
Ring pop a ring pop and and drool it all over your switch and never I didn't experience that today at all. Not at all. That didn't happen. What is this? I don't want to tell you. You're going to be mad. Just please tell me what this is so I can clean it up. It's it's a ring pop. Sorry, dad. OK, how about no food when you're playing the switch? Let's let's make this a new rule.

Jake (37:47.214)
yeah.

Jake (37:53.718)
Yeah. I, I, yeah. no, I was just gonna say I had my nephew over. was playing Spider-Man on my PlayStation 5 a couple weekends ago and I went to grab my controller and it was just sticky. I'm like, where did this come from?

Roger Reichardt (37:59.923)
Don't worry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off.

Roger Reichardt (38:08.379)
Yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (38:14.501)
yeah.

I mean, this is so funny. It's funny that because, yeah, I mean, obviously, we were kids, you know, I know that none of my controllers were pristine. But as I grew older, I'm like, I'm very careful with my electronics, right? Like, because mainly because I mean, this sounds awful, but because I'm buying them now. You know, yeah, I pay for it. But somebody paid for them before with my parents. I just didn't appreciate it as much. Right. But

Jake (38:38.572)
Yeah, you pay for it. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Roger Reichardt (38:48.115)
yeah. Any, guess any closing thoughts on the switch to, I mean, we'll find out more in April, but do you have any final thoughts on, the switch to.

Jake (39:02.414)
was exciting waking up to Nintendo Switch news for once. I saw a, on Blue Sky or something like that. Someone said, I think Nintendo is the only people that haven't announced the Switch 2 yet. So yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (39:07.847)
Yeah. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (39:21.491)
That's true. That's true. Everybody else has Nintendo is still waiting. That's really funny. I kind of wish that they wouldn't have because there was, you know, like a very prominent leaker that said it's coming out today that at least the trailer is right. And I wish they would have waited one more day. I'm like, yeah, we will show you. We'll show you. wait one more day. It would have been it would have been funny.

Jake (39:42.434)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Roger Reichardt (39:47.623)
No, I'm in same boat. I'm glad that we have the news. I'm surprised it's called the switch to but it's it's out there. You know, I'm looking forward to see what they have to share in April. And I hope that we'll get some hands on at some gaming conventions. That's what I'm hoping so

Jake (40:07.928)
That would be cool.

Roger Reichardt (40:09.427)
Yeah. Before we head out, I just want to thank our patrons, Matt, Jill, Sarah and Adam. Thank you so much for for supporting the Gamerheads podcast and listener. you like what you hear in you like our show, please consider supporting us for $3 a month, you can support the Gamerheads podcast. So we're allowed to put on shows like this and do our reviews and travel and do all the things to bring you coverage. So that way

you know, you are well informed. So check that out. And then also leave us a review. So if it's monetary that you can't afford, reviews are free. So leave us a review that helps us grow, not only because we see your feedback and we're like, this is what people like to hear. This is what they want to hear more of, or they don't want to hear this. Allows us to grow, but then also from a standpoint of the algorithms that also plays into that. So leave us a review. We want to hear what you have to say.

Jake, thank you so much for joining me this week and talking about the new system. This is a fun conversation and I'm looking forward to seeing what else happens next on April.

Jake (41:22.23)
Yeah, me too. We'll have to talk about it more in April, right?

Roger Reichardt (41:26.419)
I guess I guess I don't know what else we could do. It's a way it has to happen. So listeners, thank you so much for giving us a listen. Until next week, everyone stay safe and game on. Bye.

Jake (41:31.586)
Yeah, exactly.