A little late to this post, but I would love to see some options in this direction, and am definitely curious to see how Nintendo and other developers put the functionality to use. I could definitely see some indie devs taking some unique ideas and running with them. It might even move getting a Switch 2 higher on my priority list.
I'd noticed the various pieces individually (music service, edutainment-adjacent games, etc) and gone "Huh. I wonder what they're doing there." but hadn't thought about how they might all fit together.
I do think some of it could just be a way for them to more easily port indie games that started on PC over to the Switch without having to fully rework the controls. I know I've played a few games on the Switch that were originally made as point and click games. They technically worked, but were a pain to navigate.
I mean upon initial reaction, it felt like quite a niche functionality to add, but after thinking about how thoughtful and considered Nintendo usually are with the very genius design of the switch, there must be a more robust reason for having a mouse. I also could totally be overthinking it!
To be honest, I think you’re more likely to be correct with it being a good foundation to port over all games to this device and just try and win the handheld market instead by licensing all content. But, maybe they could do both? Hats off to that branding team to win all those worlds, and actually Nintendo are currently primed to do it!
Agreed on the pain to navigate - Some of those ported games have my thumb ache. Let’s see how the launch feedback does over June and see if this Substack article ended up just being a pipe dream
When I first started using DAWs (many many moons ago), I could use a mouse to do most things slowly, and the keyboard made me faster. I think if early trials go well then you’re right - they will surely bring one out!
A little late to this post, but I would love to see some options in this direction, and am definitely curious to see how Nintendo and other developers put the functionality to use. I could definitely see some indie devs taking some unique ideas and running with them. It might even move getting a Switch 2 higher on my priority list.
I'd noticed the various pieces individually (music service, edutainment-adjacent games, etc) and gone "Huh. I wonder what they're doing there." but hadn't thought about how they might all fit together.
I do think some of it could just be a way for them to more easily port indie games that started on PC over to the Switch without having to fully rework the controls. I know I've played a few games on the Switch that were originally made as point and click games. They technically worked, but were a pain to navigate.
I mean upon initial reaction, it felt like quite a niche functionality to add, but after thinking about how thoughtful and considered Nintendo usually are with the very genius design of the switch, there must be a more robust reason for having a mouse. I also could totally be overthinking it!
To be honest, I think you’re more likely to be correct with it being a good foundation to port over all games to this device and just try and win the handheld market instead by licensing all content. But, maybe they could do both? Hats off to that branding team to win all those worlds, and actually Nintendo are currently primed to do it!
Agreed on the pain to navigate - Some of those ported games have my thumb ache. Let’s see how the launch feedback does over June and see if this Substack article ended up just being a pipe dream
You could very well be on to something here. When the keyboard accessory drops their Trojan horse strategy will be revealed.
When I first started using DAWs (many many moons ago), I could use a mouse to do most things slowly, and the keyboard made me faster. I think if early trials go well then you’re right - they will surely bring one out!