In 2012, Nintendo released the successor to its most popular system, the Wii. This system would be the first Nintendo console with HD graphics, and I think everybody at the time had high expectations for what Nintendo had cooked up. The system in question would turn out to be the Wii U, whose main “feature” was its controller having an HD screen built into it. However, this would turn out to be a lackluster feature at best, as almost all the Wii U games never had a proper use for the second screen, even the Nintendo-published games. The Wii U would finish its life in 2017 with only 13 million sales. To put that in perspective, the Nintendo 64 and GameCube both had 35 million and 22 million, respectively, and were seen as massive failures for Nintendo. 

So when rumors started pouring in about the new Nintendo console, people were cautiously excited for it. The Nintendo Switch would be the Wii U’s successor and would demolish every projection people set for it with its unique idea, combining handheld and console gaming into one. The Switch has lived a long life from 2017-2025 and has sold 150 million units worldwide, putting it in the top 5 for all-time console sales alongside the Wii and PS2. But because of its age, people are looking towards the next Nintendo system, and prayers were answered on April 2nd when Nintendo finally unveiled the full details of the Switch 2.

Alongside the full reveal of the system, Nintendo showed off multiple games that will be released alongside or slightly after the release of the console, like Mario Kart World. The game looks incredible and includes so many new features, like carts now being able to grind on rails, fly, and go into the water. The trailers also showed off the new ability to travel anywhere you want in these maps, along with every track being connected. 

The price of the Switch was revealed to be $450, which is very steep compared to the original Switch’s $300 price tag, but it’s understandable because of how impressive the Switch 2 performs compared to its predecessor. The real problem came when they revealed the price of each of the games, which will cost 90 DOLLARS FOR A PHYSICAL COPY OF ANY NINTENDO PUBLISHED GAME. If you want the game digitally, it will cost $80, which is still absolutely insane because people were mad at game companies for starting to price games at $70 instead of $60. Nintendo has now opened the floodgates for game prices to spiral out of control, and with quality already being pretty low for most mainstream releases, I can already see another video game crash coming, like in 1983. 

Developers like Rockstar Games, who are making the long-awaited GTA 6, are rumored to be pricing the standard edition of GTA 6 at $100. A lot of people didn’t believe that would be accepted by the games industry or by the community itself, but Nintendo turned its back on the consumers and gave the thumbs up for prices to increase. They will prove it when people shell out $500 for the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle on June 5th.