Players have seemingly discovered a mysterious locked door in World Level 1-3 of the Demon’s Souls remake on PS5 that wasn’t in the original PS3 version.
As spotted by Twitter user @VaatiVidya, Reddit user OrganizedBonfire found this illusory wall in the Tower Knight Archstone of Demon’s Souls on PS5 while exploring its tight corridors. After stumbling upon the door and trying to open it, a message appears that says “It appears to be locked.”
As of this writing, what lies beyond the door, and even if it can be opened, remains a mystery. Reddit user Cosmic-Vagabond discovered that, by using photo mode, you are able to see that the door appears to lead to a terrace with an item sitting on a dead knight.
Via Reddit (u/Cosmic-Vagabond)
They also note that, since the door says “it appears to be locked,” it is “not a key door and instead has a mechanism.”
If you want to try to figure out the mystery, Cosmic-Vagabond notes that “at the start of 1-3 there’s the alleyway that branches off between a dead end and the path to the tower where Yuria is being held. The locked door is hidden behind an illusory wall at the end of the dead end.”
When you see Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War running on PS5, it might not appear all that surprising or different–aside from sharper visuals and graphical effects, of course. But for me, playing the game on PS5 was revolutionary not because of how it plays on a mechanical level, but what it actually feels like to play it on the new DualSense controller.
As you’d expect, new consoles tend to set the standard for gaming for the next 5-7 years with better graphics, new interfaces, and yes, new controllers. This console generation, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X controller is mostly the same as the Xbox One controller, but with some ergonomic adjustments. On the other hand, Sony’s been hyping its new Dualsense controller with haptic feedback and adaptive triggers–something I first thought would become another gimmick like the PS3’s Sixaxis sensors or PS4’s touchpad.
But after spending a few weeks with the DualSense, it has become my favorite part of the PS5. Rather than demand you to play your games awkwardly with new, unproven tech, haptic feedback and the adaptive triggers can enhance the way we already play games. And funny enough, it wasn’t Astro’s Playroom, the free game that acts as a demo for the DualSense, that sold me on it. It was this year’s Call of Duty, of all things, because these particular features are perfect for shooters.
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Black Ops Cold War Makes Me Want To Play Every Shooter On The PS5
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For the uninitiated, haptic feedback is an evolution of the standard rumble we’ve seen in controllers for the past few decades. Previous controllers like the DualShock 4 use motors to create impactful but binary experiences with vibration. It shakes when it’s supposed to and stops when it needs to stop. With haptic feedback, it uses voice-coil actuators, which is the same kind of tech used to vibrate speakers, and as a result, developers have finer control over how the rumble operates.
In the case of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, when I fire an MP5, the DualSense vibrates to the fire rate’s specific rhythm, and when you swap to a burst fire weapon, that rhythm changes. The same effect applies to reloading. Feeling the controller as you load each shell is subtle but adds a lot to the experience of a firefight. And this fine-tuning of controller vibration changes from gun to gun. It’s the kind of improvement that’s hard to express fully, but you feel the difference right away in your hand.
Meanwhile, the adaptive triggers change the amount of pressure required to press them down based on the current situation in a game. The triggers now have a resistance that changes based on the weapon. Pistols can be tapped with your finger much more quickly, while a single shot rifle requires more effort to fire. It makes every shot feel more impactful, and there’s a real tangible difference to using each gun. Even pulling the left trigger to aim down sights uses the adaptive triggers. Pulling out a machine gun requires a lot more pressure and tricks your brain into giving the impression that this gun is a massive beast.
When I fire an MP5, the DualSense vibrates to the fire rate’s specific rhythm, and when you swap to a burst fire weapon, that rhythm changes.
Couple that with the haptic feedback and a nice pair of headphones, and I’ve never felt more immersed shooting a video game gun with a standard video game controller. I had a blast playing through Cold War’s campaign, and the DualSense is a significant reason why. Out of curiosity, I switched over to the PS4 version of the game, and it’s so hard to go back. That old DualShock 4 is fine and has served me well for seven years, but the DualSense makes it feel like a relic.
Of course, the option to turn all these off is still possible on both a game and system level if you prefer not to have rumble in controllers or have a disability that would make the experience difficult or prohibitive. I can see many hardcore competitive players turning the triggers off in multiplayer. You can’t feather the trigger like you used to with the adaptive functionality turned on, and it’s easier to snap-aim to players without the pressure. I won’t deny it did feel like I was performing slightly better without them, leaving me in a pickle where I had to choose between performance or immersion. Honestly, that could be because that’s what I’m used to, and it could be that as I become more accustomed to the DualSense, that feeling might go away. I predict a lot of debate around this in PvP communities in the coming months.
As long as shooters utilize the DualSense’s capabilities in enticing ways, I know without a doubt I’ll be going with their PS5 versions for the foreseeable future.
All that aside, as someone who primarily enjoys single-player experiences, I’m in love with the DualSense, and what’s most exciting is this is merely the first attempt. As more developers get their hands on this technology, I imagine the implementation will only improve. We already hear new examples from developers, like Arkane Studios on the upcoming Deathloop, who talked up how the triggers will lock up when your gun jams. Just imagine what a developer like Hideo Kojima can do with this! My mind is racing, thinking about the possibilities.
With the DualSense being the only controller that features this functionality, it raises concerns about whether or not developers will have the capacity to fully embrace and make the most of it. After all, Activision has a history of working closely with Sony to bring exclusive content for Call of Duty, so it might not be a surprise that Treyarch went all out using the DualSense’s unique features. Spending extra time and money on features that will only apply to one system might not always be possible, but I’m hopeful this won’t go the way the Sixaxis did back on PS3.
The perks of Sony’s DualSense may not be as pronounced as other attempts to change controllers, but they can be impactful for emphasizing a new feeling of playing games without games needing to be built around the tech. As long as shooters utilize the DualSense’s capabilities in enticing ways, I know without a doubt I’ll be going with their PS5 versions for the foreseeable future.
Like something out of G.I. Joe, or even Star Wars, the U.S. Air Force is working with aerospace defense firm Lockheed Martin to deploy lasers on fighter jets by 2025.
The program even has a super comic book-y title — going by “SHiELD” (yes, with a lower-case ‘I’), aka “Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator.”
It’s very reminiscent of Hydra turncoat Grant Ward’s quote on Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD when he said “It means someone really wanted our initials to spell out S.H.I.E.L.D.”
National Defense explains that SHiELD is a pod-mounted laser on the fuselage or wing of a fighter jet designed to shoot down incoming air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles.
It’s being said that the SHiEILD system might be initially used “to protect older fighters that can’t take advantage of stealth to hide from the enemy.” And, just like the dogfights we’ve seen between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire, lasers have an almost infinite ammunition supply. Traveling at the speed of light, impossible to dodge, a laser can be powered by the airplane’s engine, removing the need for an onboard gun magazine.
Popular Mechanics even states that “SHiELD, paired with existing chaff and flare defenses, could very well someday be controlled by an R2D2-type artificial intelligence tasked with defending their warplanes from missile attack.”
So there you go. How long before we get little robots, in a separate hatch, controlling the laser beam deployment?
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
The original Short Circuit movie was about a military robot that was struck by lightning during a test, which caused the robot to become sentient. The robot escapes and is soon discovered by an animal caretaker. Breakfast Club actress Ally Sheedy played the role of the caretaker in the original movie, but did not return for a main role in the sequel.
Short Circuit 2 came out a couple of years after the first one, but it grossed about half as much as the first movie did at the box office. No other Short Circuit movies were made until now.
For those with a brand new PlayStation 5, or even those with a DualSense waiting on one, Valve has announced that the DualSense is now supported in Steam Client Beta.
As revealed in the Steam Client Beta’s latest patch notes, initial input support for the PS5 DualSense controller has been added, but “features such as rumble, trackpad, and gyro are not yet supported.”
This means that, while you are able to use the DualSense, official support is not ready for its Haptic Feedback, Adaptive Triggers, or gyro motion control. It is promising that Valve chose to use the words “not yet,” so there is hope that PC developers may one day get the chance to experiment with the DualSense’s unique features for their games.
In our DualSense review, we said “With the DualSense, Sony has both made a more comfortable gamepad for traditional gameplay, and introduced some very exciting features. The haptics and adaptive triggers make an immediately noticeable difference in games that make use of them, and they offer the exciting potential for new and interesting gameplay experiences.”
While Sony and Microsoft are both ushering in next-generation iterations of their flagship consoles, Nintendo finds itself in a unique position. Since the Wii era, the company has effectively operated on its own generational schedule, sidestepping the technological arms race its rival console makers are engaged in to pursue different hardware strategies and audiences.
This tact has helped Nintendo and its systems stand out in the face of increasingly stiff competition, but it has not always worked in the company’s favor. The early, uncontested success of the Wii and its novel motion controller eventually petered out as the generation wore on and the system’s technological deficiencies became more apparent, and its successor, the Wii U, stumbled out of the gate and never found its footing, moving less than 14 million units over its truncated lifetime.
What’s more, Nintendo has traditionally had to juggle two different hardware lines: a home console and a handheld one. As a result, the company has had to divide its resources to support two separate platforms simultaneously, but this dual strategy has also been Nintendo’s saving grace; the publisher has historically dominated the handheld space, and this success has helped prop it up even when its home consoles have struggled to gain traction.
Which brings us to its latest system, the Switch–a handheld/home console hybrid that merges Nintendo’s two disparate hardware lines together into one platform. Although the system has only been on the market for a few years, it has already been a runaway hit for the company, enjoying Wii-like levels of success thus far–but Nintendo certainly had to learn a few hard lessons along the way to get there.
Rocky Launch And Course Correction
The road to the Switch begins with the 3DS, the company’s successor to the hugely successful DS line. The dual-screen handheld hit the market in early 2011, and much like the Wii and DS before it, its biggest selling point was a novel hardware feature: in this case, glasses-free stereoscopic 3D.
This feature would be the focal point of Nintendo’s initial marketing strategy for the 3DS, even serving as the basis for the system’s name. As genuinely impressive as the stereoscopic 3D effect was, however, it was not the irresistible draw that the company had perhaps anticipated. Thanks to the handheld’s meager launch lineup and steep price tag (it launched at $250 USD), 3DS sales were initially sluggish, and they would remain so for the first few months of its life until Nintendo made a drastic move: It slashed the handheld’s price.
In July 2011, less than six months after the system first launched, Nintendo dropped the 3DS’s price to $170 USD–nearly $100 less than what it was initially asking. As a make-good to those who purchased the handheld at its original cost, Nintendo gave away a smattering of free NES and Game Boy Advance games, as well as digital certificates designating early adopters as “3DS Ambassadors.” These NES games would eventually be sold through the handheld’s digital storefront, the eShop, along with other retro titles, but the Game Boy Advance games remained an exclusive perk for Ambassadors.
Enacting such a significant price cut so early into the 3DS’s life was an unprecedented gambit for Nintendo, but it had the desired effect: sales increased after the reduction. The price cut also arrived just as the system’s first marquee games began trickling in, further boosting sales. The stream of blockbusters kicked off that summer with remakes of two beloved N64 classics, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64, and it continued into the holiday season with the arrival of Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7, both of which would move well over 10 million copies over the system’s lifetime.
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Video Review – Super Mario 3D Land
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But perhaps the biggest contributor to the 3DS’s success was Pokemon. Nintendo’s monster-catching franchise has remained a perennial multi-million seller since it exploded onto the scene back in the ’90s, and its 3DS installments would go on to become some of the company’s fastest-selling games. The series made its 3DS debut in 2013 with Pokemon X and Y, the first mainline Pokemon titles to feature full 3D visuals. The pair would be another smash, collectively selling more than 16 million copies–making them the fourth-best-selling generation in series’ history to that point. The handheld would receive a few more mainline Pokemon games as the generation wore on, including remakes of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, as well as a pair of seventh-generation titles, Pokemon Sun and Moon (which were eventually followed by expanded “Ultra” versions in 2017).
Not only did each of these first-party games garner positive reviews, they were all commercial successes, with most moving multiple millions of copies. This steady cadence of quality exclusives made the 3DS a vibrant platform, ensuring that there was always a new marquee game to look forward to. Moreover, these first-party hits were complemented by a solid array of third-party titles. Japanese publishers in particular released some great games for the handheld over its lifetime. Capcom launched Resident Evil Revelations and three mainline Monster Hunter games; Square Enix put out an original Kingdom Hearts game, a brand-new RPG in Bravely Default, and a well-received remake of Dragon Quest VII, among other gems; and Level-5 struck gold with the Yo-kai Watch series, which turned out to be a particularly big success in Japan.
Hardware Revisions Galore
Nintendo, perhaps even more so than its rival console makers, has a reputation for revising its hardware frequently, and that certainly held true over the 3DS’s lifetime. The company refreshed the dual-screen system more times than any of its previous handheld or home consoles. A year after the 3DS launched, Nintendo introduced the 3DS XL, a larger model that boasted bigger screens and improved battery life. That was followed in 2013 by the budget-conscious 2DS. This iteration eschewed the clamshell casing of previous models for a distinctly toast-shaped design. Even more notably, it lacked the handheld’s most distinctive feature, its stereoscopic 3D display, shifting focus away from the system’s original selling point.
The 3DS line received a more significant refresh in 2015 in the form of the New Nintendo 3DS and the larger New Nintendo 3DS XL. These retained the general look of the standard 3DS while introducing some notable improvements. For one, they boasted more powerful innards, giving developers an extra bit of horsepower to use. Only a small handful of games ultimately took advantage of this improved hardware, but it nonetheless made the New 3DS a genuine upgrade over the original system rather than a cosmetic refresh. The New 3DS also featured a significantly improved stereoscopic display, as well as a secondary analog “nub” on the right-hand side of the system, finally giving players a dual-analog control method without the need for a cumbersome attachment.
The New 3DS was followed in 2017 by the New 2DS XL, the platform’s final revision. Like the standard 2DS, this model lacked a stereoscopic 3D screen, but it retained the New 3DS’s clamshell design and improved internals, making it the culmination of the 3DS’s many redesigns. The New 2DS XL would go on to become the new standard model for the remainder of the platform’s life until production was officially discontinued earlier this year.
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New Nintendo 2DS XL Video Review
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Nintendo was ultimately able to reverse the 3DS’s early misfortunes and turn the handheld into a respectable success, selling more than 75 million units over its lifetime, but it wasn’t a painless fix. Following the handheld’s early slow sales and drastic price cut, Nintendo posted an annual loss in 2012, the first-ever loss in the company’s history. In an act of contrition, then-president Satoru Iwata and other executives cut their own salaries.
While 3DS sales eventually recovered from this initial slump, the same could not be said of the Wii U. The home console launched in Fall 2012, and despite being a follow-up to the hugely successful Wii–Nintendo’s best-selling home console to date–it would flounder from the outset and never find its footing. Many factors ultimately contributed to the system’s failure. For one, its name and unconventional tablet-like controller caused much confusion among consumers, who weren’t sure whether it was a new system or a peripheral for the Wii. Nintendo itself attributed the Wii U’s failure to its high price point and the proliferation of tablets at the time, which diluted the GamePad’s novelty.
Compounding these issues was the system’s sparse library. Whereas the 3DS was supported by a steady stream of first-party games, the Wii U was frequently plagued by software droughts; the system would go months between a major release, which made it difficult for Nintendo to sustain any sales momentum. Despite its sporadic release cadence, however, Nintendo’s own output remained consistently excellent. The company buoyed the system along with some truly wonderful releases over its lifetime, many of which would move millions of copies despite the console’s small install base. Mario Kart 8 in particular was a remarkable hit. The game arrived in 2014 and would go on to become the Wii U’s top seller, shifting more than 8 million copies–a gargantuan amount considering the Wii U itself sold just over 13 million units.
Further exacerbating Wii U’s software problem was its scant third-party support. Outside of a handful of ports and some exclusives, the system received very few third-party titles over its lifetime, which meant players had little to play as they waited for Nintendo’s own offerings. This problem manifested right from the start. Although the system launched with a respectable number of games, many of these were ports of titles that had already been available on PS3 and Xbox 360 for some time, and their poor sales made other third-parties hesitant to bring their titles to the console.
The Wii U’s poor performance led Nintendo to post another operating loss in 2013. Iwata and other executives once again cut their own salaries for several months to apologize for the financial struggles. The company would ultimately weather these rocky years and return to profitability in 2014, but the Wii U would never turn the corner the way the 3DS did, and Nintendo pulled the plug on it after only four years on the market.
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How Nintendo’s Greatest Failure Led To The Switch
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After years of resisting investor pressure to develop smartphone games, Nintendo finally relented in 2016 and announced it would be entering the mobile gaming market. The company’s first effort, however, was not quite what anyone had expected; rather than developing a mobile game based on Mario or another one of its marquee properties, Nintendo made its mobile debut with Miitomo, a social application of sorts in which players could create a Mii avatar and answer questions about themselves, then share those answers with friends through conversations with their own Miis.
Miitomo would become emblematic of Nintendo’s mobile venture overall. Although the app was an early hit, garnering more than 10 million downloads within its first month, it did not make much money, and it was ultimately discontinued a little over two years after it launched. Since then, the company has put out a handful of other mobile games to varying degrees of success. Super Mario Run followed in late 2016 (March 2017 for Android devices), but it likewise was not the blockbuster hit investors expected. This could be chalked up to the game’s steep price tag. Super Mario Run had an upfront cost of $10 USD, which seemed like an exorbitant amount considering that most mobile users are accustomed to downloading games for free. As a result, it would go on to be Nintendo’s second-poorest performing game in terms of revenue.
After Mario Run failed to make much traction, each of the company’s successive mobile games–Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Mario Kart Tour, Dragalia Lost, and Dr. Mario World–would embrace the free-to-play model. Fire Emblem Heroes in particular would become a respectable success for Nintendo; since its launch in 2017, the game has raked in more than $600 million, making it far and away Nintendo’s highest-grossing mobile game to date. The company would also continue experimenting with different monetization methods for its mobile games, introducing paid subscriptions to both Mario Kart Tour and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in 2019–to the consternation of many fans.
Although Nintendo’s mobile games have not been big money makers in their own right, the company says they serve an important role in its business: They help expand the reach of its IPs and direct players to its more traditional game offerings. Nintendo cites Pocket Camp in particular as introducing many female and US players to the Animal Crossing series, while Pokemon Go–although not developed or published by Nintendo itself–has helped spur sales of mainline Pokemon games. While Nintendo is reportedly considering winding down mobile development, for the time being, the company says it still considers it an important pillar in its strategy.
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Nintendo Switch – Reveal Trailer
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Although the Wii U would end up becoming Nintendo’s poorest-performing home console to date, it was nonetheless an important step for the company, as it helped pave the way for its next system: the Switch. One of the Wii U’s most noteworthy features–being able to play console games either on the television or on the system’s dedicated screen–would become the focal point for its successor. Unlike the Wii U GamePad, however, which only worked within a few feet of the Wii U itself, the Switch offered true portability; the system could either be docked for television play or taken on the go, blurring the line between a handheld and home console.
The Switch officially launched in March 2017, and from the outset, it proved to be a remarkable rebound from the Wii U. Despite releasing outside of the holiday season, the system saw Wii-like levels of success, and for much of that year, demand outstripped availability; the console would sell out at retailers across the US and other parts of the world as soon as it hit shelves, making it highly coveted. (It’s a situation we saw repeat once again in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.) This record-breaking pace continued throughout the year, and the system ended up overtaking Wii U’s lifetime sales in only 10 months.
While the novelty of the Switch itself proved to be a big selling point, its library established it as a desirable platform. As it did with the 3DS, Nintendo meted out a consistent stream of first-party titles for the system in the months following its release, which helped sustain its momentum and avoid the extended software droughts that plagued the Wii U. The console launched alongside The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, one of the highest-rated games of the past decade, and in the months that followed, it would receive an expanded port of Mario Kart 8, a sequel to Splatoon, and a brand-new 3D Mario adventure. Nintendo has maintained this measured release cadence for much of the system’s life thus far, adding a number of other hits to the console’s library since then, including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Pokemon Sword and Shield, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons–all of which would become multi-million sellers.
Although the Switch is still early in its life cycle, it too has seen a couple of hardware refreshes. In 2019, Nintendo introduced the Switch Lite, a cheaper, handheld-only iteration of the console that lacks the ability to connect to a television. Meanwhile, the standard Switch model was modestly updated that same year with better battery life. There may be more revisions on the way as well. While Nintendo has not formally announced any such plans yet, reports continue to circulate that the company will release an “enhanced” Switch model in 2021. Whether or not those rumors bear out remains to be seen, but given the company’s history, it seems likely that the Switch will receive a few more hardware revisions before its inevitable successor arrives.
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Nintendo Switch Holiday Gift Guide 2020
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While the Switch has been an impressive sales success for Nintendo, perhaps its most remarkable feat has been mending the company’s relationship with third parties. Outside of its handheld systems, Nintendo has traditionally struggled to attract much third-party support for its consoles since the days of the Nintendo 64, but the Switch has built up an impressive array of third-party offerings thus far, with more studios throwing their support behind the console as it continues to sell at a record pace.
Even some developers that haven’t published a game on a Nintendo system in decades have brought titles over to the Switch. Blizzard released Diablo III and Overwatch on the system in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and it’s already confirmed that Overwatch 2 will be on the console as well when it launches; NetherRealm worked with Shiver Entertainment to develop a Switch version of Mortal Kombat 11, making it the first Mortal Kombat game to hit a Nintendo system since 2007; and Bethesda has released numerous games on the hybrid console, including Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Doom, with Doom Eternal still on the way.
Iwata Passes Away: Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s president since 2002, passed away in 2015. Following his passing, former Nintendo of America president Tatsumi Kimishima took the company’s reins until 2018, when he was succeeded by current president Shuntaro Furukawa.
Reggie Retires: Longtime Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime retired from the company in 2019. He was succeeded by the fittingly named Doug Bowser, who previously served as NOA’s vice president of sales and marketing.
Amiibo: Nintendo introduced a line of toys-to-life figures called Amiibo in 2014. These figures feature an embedded NFC chip that allows them to interact with compatible games, and they prompted a craze of their own; for months after their launch, Amiibo were practically impossible to find, selling out at stores almost immediately. While the company seems to have wound the line down in recent years, Nintendo continues to release Amiibo figures alongside some of its biggest titles.
Embracing DLC: Nintendo released its first-ever paid DLC in 2012. Since then, DLC has become a fixture of the company’s business strategy, and many of its biggest titles have received some sort of expansion or add-on after their release; Pokemon Sword and Shield, for example, eschewed a traditional third version in favor of two DLC expansions, The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra.
Post-launch Support: Nintendo has also embraced the practice of releasing free post-launch updates. The company regularly introduces new features and contents to many of its games at no additional charge after their release. Animal Crossing: New Leaf remains a prime example; the game was updated with new villagers, Amiibo support, and other features in 2016, three years after it first launched.
Mini Consoles, Big Money: Nintendo released a miniature plug-and-play version of the NES, dubbed the NES Classic, in 2016. The system came preloaded with 30 of the platform’s most notable games. Nintendo followed that with an SNES Classic mini console in 2017. Cumulatively, the plug-and-play systems have sold more than 10 million units and, thanks to their success, have inspired a wave of classic miniaturized consoles from Sony, Sega, and more.
Switch Online: Nintendo launched its Nintendo Switch Online subscription service in 2018. Like rival services, it gives subscribers the ability to play games online along with a few other perks, most notably cloud save backups and access to a library of classic NES and SNES games. As of September 2020, the service has more than 26 million subscribers.
New Ventures: As part of its initiative to expand the reach of its IP, Nintendo has begun branching out into other markets. The company is partnering with Minions studio Illumination to produce an animated Super Mario movie that’s slated to hit theaters in 2022. Construction on a Super Nintendo World theme park is also underway. The park is scheduled to open first in Japan in 2021.
Lost Classics: Nintendo has officially released a handful of classic games that had previously gone unlocalized. In 2015, the company brought the very first Mother game to Wii U as EarthBound Beginnings. In 2017, SNES’s canceled Star Fox sequel, Star Fox 2, was included in the SNES Classic mini console before later being added to the Switch Online service. Finally, Nintendo is officially localizing the very first Fire Emblem game for Switch in honor of the series’ 30th anniversary this December.
The Verdict (So Far)
Although it remains to be seen what the future holds for the Switch, the hybrid console has already been a significant success for Nintendo. After suffering numerous setbacks during the Wii U era, the House of Mario was able to rebound adeptly, releasing an innovative console that has built up a robust library of first- and third-party games. With the recent release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X and Series S, the console space will inevitably become much more competitive, but the Switch’s unique hardware features–particularly its portability–and its strong momentum place Nintendo in a good position.
