Nintendo Switch “Pro” GPU to be Based on Volta Architecture; 4K Support, Massive Performance Improve

I'd given up on seeing Nintendo franchises on other systems, but their mobile games have kept that hope alive. At least a sliver. It illustrates they are open to it, if only a little.
In recent years Nintendo systems have always focused on a gimmick. I couldn't care less about motion controls, a tablet, 2 screens, system cross-play, 3D, etc. The thing is, the Nintendo games *I* want to play aren't reliant on those gimmicks. In most cases they don't use them at all. Hence why I always wish I could play Mario Kart, Zelda, F-Zero, Mario, Smash, Metroid, etc. on a system with more horsepower.
 
I'd given up on seeing Nintendo franchises on other systems, but their mobile games have kept that hope alive. At least a sliver. It illustrates they are open to it, if only a little.
In recent years Nintendo systems have always focused on a gimmick. I couldn't care less about motion controls, a tablet, 2 screens, system cross-play, 3D, etc. The thing is, the Nintendo games *I* want to play aren't reliant on those gimmicks. In most cases they don't use them at all. Hence why I always wish I could play Mario Kart, Zelda, F-Zero, Mario, Smash, Metroid, etc. on a system with more horsepower.
You can. Its call Dolphin Emulator :D:D
 
And CEMU for WiiU. I don't recommend Switch emulation yet though.
I actually meant CEMU, but I'm playing more Gamecube games on Dolphin lately.

The Switch emu is advancing really fast actually. Keeping an eye on it.
 
I have Project64, CEMU, and Dolphin (which is the most polished of the 3). Cemu in particular is kind of clumsy and requires some serious hardware to truly maximize. Emulators add a fresh coat of paint to old games, but Ithey're a far cry from a Mario Kart or Smash designed for the Xbox One, PS4, or especially the PC.
I'd probably lose my shit over Nintendo franchises designed with cutting edge hardware in mind. Growing up in the NES, SNES, and even the N64 era - Nintendo hasn't always been a step behind with their hardware. In those days they were at least on par if not better than the competition.
 
The N64 and GameCube were both the most powerful consoles of their generation. Fun fact: Sega was offered the hardware that later became the N64 before Nintendo but turned it down because it wasn't Japanese designed. Can you imagine if Sega had said yes and released it with a CD drive and slightly more ram instead of giving us the mistake that was the Saturn? We might be living in what I would consider a better world as a Sega kid
 
I have Project64, CEMU, and Dolphin (which is the most polished of the 3). Cemu in particular is kind of clumsy and requires some serious hardware to truly maximize. Emulators add a fresh coat of paint to old games, but Ithey're a far cry from a Mario Kart or Smash designed for the Xbox One, PS4, or especially the PC.
I'd probably lose my shit over Nintendo franchises designed with cutting edge hardware in mind. Growing up in the NES, SNES, and even the N64 era - Nintendo hasn't always been a step behind with their hardware. In those days they were at least on par if not better than the competition.
If I'm not mistaken, the genesis had better hardware than the super nintendo, yet nintendo clearly won that one

Now, the N64 had better hardware than the PSX yet Sony won.

Go figure
 
If I'm not mistaken, the genesis had better hardware than the super nintendo, yet nintendo clearly won that one

Now, the N64 had better hardware than the PSX yet Sony won.

Go figure

The Genesis had a faster cpu but the SNES had a bigger color pallet, could display more colors at one time, and had a vastly superior sound chip that was designed in house. The guy who designed the sound chip almost got fired for it because he was actually supposed to be working on something entirely different and wasn't doing his job
 
I have Project64, CEMU, and Dolphin (which is the most polished of the 3). Cemu in particular is kind of clumsy and requires some serious hardware to truly maximize. Emulators add a fresh coat of paint to old games, but Ithey're a far cry from a Mario Kart or Smash designed for the Xbox One, PS4, or especially the PC.
I'd probably lose my shit over Nintendo franchises designed with cutting edge hardware in mind. Growing up in the NES, SNES, and even the N64 era - Nintendo hasn't always been a step behind with their hardware. In those days they were at least on par if not better than the competition.

And Nintendo lost a ton of money and marketshare on their last high end systems. The SNES was the only time they won a generation with better hardware (mostly). The NES was not the strongest of it's generation, yet it was a run-away success. The 64 had power behind it (though it was gimped on launch with too little RAM) but it was soundly slaughtered by the PS1. The Gamecube was the 2nd strongest console of it's generation and yet sold less than the OG Xbox. The Wii creamed Sony and MS' consoles the next generation. The WiiU, despite having a stronger GPU than even the PS3, sold like shit. Now the Switch, in under three years, has out-sold the six year old XB1. There's a pretty good reason why Nintendo doesn't try competing with high-end console hardware these days.
 
The Genesis had a faster cpu but the SNES had a bigger color pallet, could display more colors at one time, and had a vastly superior sound chip that was designed in house. The guy who designed the sound chip almost got fired for it because he was actually supposed to be working on something entirely different and wasn't doing his job
You're right. I guess I'm still influenced by the Nintendon't commercial :D :D
 
I thought for the last year it would be Pascal TX2, but then they did a die shrink on Maxwell, killing any benefit. The Pascal GPU is only 30% faster, and you wouldn't gain any power savings.

Volta 512-sp is the only way to efficiently improve GPU performance, but they will have to cut power elsewhere. You can drop all the specialized DSPs, half the CPU cores, drop CPU seeds from 2.2 to 1.65 ghz, and drop GPU from 1.3 to 1.0 in docked mode, and should be okay!

See the massive diffeerence 128 -> 256 -> 512 gets you, (despite major architectural changes.)

https://www.fastcompression.com/blog/jetson-benchmark-comparison.htm

Apparently the Xavier device has a 10w mode, but that probably leaves everything enabled at half-clocks. They would still have to drop half the CPU cores to get it into a portable power capability (7w), and they can use the spare power to clock CPU aand GPU back up in docked mode.


Did you see this
Apparently there is a Xavier NX. Is this different from the 10w mode?

There is a new cut down version of the chip due out in March of this year, curiously titled Xavier NX (NX having been the codename for the Switch).

It has a reduced number of CPU (6 from 8) and GPU (384 from 512) cores, reduced bus width (128 from 256bits) and lower power consumption more in line with Nvidia's mobile focussed Tegra X1

Jetson Xavier NX delivers up to 21 TOPS for running modern AI workloads, consumes as little as 10 watts of power, and has a compact form factor smaller than a credit card


https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetson-xavier-nx
Via Euro Gamer

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...ame-changer-for-next-gen-switch?page=comments
Screenshot_2020-02-15-21-19-06-087.jpeg
 
It's the exact same cut.

They're just delaying the release of the cut part because it has lower margins. That's why I'm not surprised that we won't v see these until next year; it's a lot cheaper to launch a console a year after intro.
 
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And Nintendo lost a ton of money and marketshare on their last high end systems. The SNES was the only time they won a generation with better hardware (mostly). The NES was not the strongest of it's generation, yet it was a run-away success. The 64 had power behind it (though it was gimped on launch with too little RAM) but it was soundly slaughtered by the PS1. The Gamecube was the 2nd strongest console of it's generation and yet sold less than the OG Xbox. The Wii creamed Sony and MS' consoles the next generation. The WiiU, despite having a stronger GPU than even the PS3, sold like shit. Now the Switch, in under three years, has out-sold the six year old XB1. There's a pretty good reason why Nintendo doesn't try competing with high-end console hardware these days.
Honestly Nintendo pretty much been on a island of its own for awhile. It sit there doing its thing and not worrying what the other console are doing. Basically it is a two system race between Sony and MS. It has worked out well for Nintendo 2 out of 3 consoles. The Wii U main problems was marketing. People didn't know what it was. It didn't have gimmick that attracted the wanna be gamers on the Wii. Once the novelty wore off they sent back to not caring about games.
 
4k? Sounds like Yuzu running Switch games on PC.


Thanks for showing the latest version! For those interested, BSODGaming also has a video for new user configuration of CEMU (WiiU emulator). Cemu is pretty far along, to the point you can play the WiiU version of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with all kinds of mods, at above 1080p and a higher frame rate etc. Other WiiU titles like Bayonetta 2, the older Zelda Twilight Princess HD / WindWaker HD remasters, Wonderful101, and Xenoblade Chronicles X, are all playable pretty much flawlessly if you have a decent system. The only downside about Cemu is that it is not yet open source, as it is following the model of Dolphin (hopefully) to open the source when it is late in development. Still, I worry they won't follow through in the end but at least there's some precedent of this strategy working out. While

Yuzu is the primary Switch emulator (Ryujinx is also available, but in general isn't as far along. It does have a handful of things it may be a little better rendering now and then). Some games play equally or better than on the Switch, such as Mario Odyssey and Link's Awakening, but there are many that still have various graphical glitches or performance issues. Still, things are developing incredibly fast. Following the video will get you set up , detailing some of the issues and special elements, mods, and workarounds necessary to get the best experience . While everything isn't perfect as of yet - I personally am waiting to see Xenoblade 2 , Astral Chain, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses to render at 1080p60 or better, and CEMU-level performance for Breath of The Wild in preparation for BOTW2 which will use the same engine - things are moving swiftly and sometimes there are major leaps in compatibility or performance in a short period of time. For instance, a recent addition fixed a ton of audio bugs and went from having games with garbled, missing ,or imprecise audio to something perfect (or near to it!). Yuzu is developed completely open source, much like its "sister emulator" Citra - the fantastic Nintendo 3DS emu, with whom Yuzu shares a few developers .

I contribute to these two emu's dev team via Patreon (especially Yuzu) in order to hasten their development. Without getting into a rant on console exclusivity, its great to see titles emulated on recent systems, allowing PC users to not only play but at times even have a better experience. Of course, this highlights the fact that so many of these titles would be desirable for release on PC and/or open mobile platforms like Android!

Regarding the hardware for a potential "Switch Pro", we've seen denials from Nintendo that there will be any new Switch versions this year and even the rumors have been split between a massively improved more powerful GPU and one that's a tuned version of a low power mobile chipset that has little additional raw power but is more efficient and able to give smooth performance. There's a question if a new Switch entry, especially a hypothetical "Pro" will be either a small step up but generally running the same software better (like the New 3DS XL, PS4 Pro , XboxOne X) or a new iteration entirely yet with some backward compatibility (like Nintendo DS > 3DS). In any event, I hope it is not so different that emulators like Yuzu can continue their progress.
 
You had me until you said BotW was the worst Zelda game.

I also haven’t touched my Switch in damn close to a year, but I’d argue Breath of the Wild is not only the best Zelda game in 20 years but one of the best games of all time.

This. I don't play my switch much. But the five hundred hours I put on botw, hollow knight and Mario kart makes the total cost of the system completely worth it. Now my daughter is playing botw and she is having an absolute blast while I sit along and help her when she ask for it. I love all my consoles and my pc, and they are all a lot more powerful but it doesn't mean the switch doesn't have its place. No regrets buying it at all.
 
it wouldn’t feel right playing Nintendo games on a non Nintendo system.

On a side note, I never thought I’d use the portability features of the Switch but now that’s pretty much the only way I use it.
 
The game library for certain generations is... well.... shit really.

Can't say I've found that to be the case for me. It has little to do with "generations" and more to do with which games and game genres a person likes.
 
Can't say I've found that to be the case for me. It has little to do with "generations" and more to do with which games and game genres a person likes.

i'm too old for pokemon and smash, so the library is basically zelda, and Odyssey. Oh well, keeping it for BOTW sequel.
 
i'm too old for pokemon and smash, so the library is basically zelda, and Odyssey. Oh well, keeping it for BOTW sequel.

"Too old" is such a crap statement and mindset. Pokemon can be pretty simple, but you're never "too old" to have fun and chill playing a game. Smash is a surprisingly deep fighting game.

There is a lot more to the Switch library than just those games anyway, as long as you're into the types of games themselves. Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Octopath Traveler (on PC now, but was originally exclusive), Mario & Rabbids, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. Then there's the ports of Wii U titles that are getting a second chance. It's not that the library has a "generational" issue, it's simply that that isn't a lot that personally interests you.
 
"Too old" is such a crap statement and mindset. Pokemon can be pretty simple, but you're never "too old" to have fun and chill playing a game. Smash is a surprisingly deep fighting game.

There is a lot more to the Switch library than just those games anyway, as long as you're into the types of games themselves. Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Octopath Traveler (on PC now, but was originally exclusive), Mario & Rabbids, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. Then there's the ports of Wii U titles that are getting a second chance. It's not that the library has a "generational" issue, it's simply that that isn't a lot that personally interests you.

I'm too old as when pokemon became popular i was chasing tail. So i literally have no idea what the hell a pokemon is. Same with smash. I've never played a second of it.

I'm not saying they are "kids" games, more of a generational thing.
 
i'm too old for pokemon and smash, so the library is basically zelda, and Odyssey. Oh well, keeping it for BOTW sequel.


I agree with this. I find pure Monster Collector games boring - I didn't finish Dragon Quest 5 on the ds (the game that started it all), nor Shin Megami Tensei iv on my 3ds.

I liked every Dragon Quest game prior to that one. so it was pretty disappointing.

Super Smash Brothers breaks my brain by having only two buttons to do anything. The convoluted order-of-operations for such a complex fighting game is too confusing. I like Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur better.

And I haven't enjoyed playing a Mario game since SMB3 - they've just gotten so repetitive. I don't have kids, so it's not required that I pretend to love every smirk from the stupid repetitive cutscenes.. This includes Mario Wold, Mario 64, Mario Sunshine, Paper Mario, Mario Galaxy. I've given up on Mario!

The only newer Nintendo Franchises I enjoy are Zelda (only four major releases in the last twenty years) and F-Zero (dead for ffifteen years). Mario Kart hasn't been fun to play solo for me for years now (I'll play local multiplayer if someon whips-ou their switch, but have no desire to buy and play competitively). So , given how little of these they make,you can imagine how low they are on m,y list for a new console?

I'll buy a Switch Lite when they drop to $150, but I'm getting my mobile gaming fix using emulators and Steam Link on my cell phone. Why pay Nintendo the cost of a console plus $20 a year to emulate games I've already paid for?
 
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I don't feel Breath of the Wild plays like a Zelda game. I was very disappointed in it. To me, it was very boring. I agree it was the worst Zelda game.
It is not just bad Zelda game. It is a bad game period. If it didn't have the Zelda name attached to it no one would of gave it a 2nd though.
I never got the love for BOTW. Feels like 95% of other open-world sandbox games, but heavier on the puzzles and inventory management. It's not bad or anything, but I never got all of the "it's revolutionary" chatter.

I don't want to derail this thread, but I just had to respond and say I agree with all of you. Zelda BOTW is extremely slow and boring, and the fact that the weapons break is absolutely ridiculous. I still had the most fun playing Twilight Princess. I hope they make another Zelda like that again instead of trying to fill a vast and open world with stuff. Obviously we're in the minority here b/c BOTW is almost universally praised, but as a longtime Zelda fan BOTW really disappointed me. I want a focused Zelda game, and not one where I am just traversing immense distances... I swear that 80% of my time with that game is spent going from one place to another.
 
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It's the exact same cut.

They're just delaying the release of the cut part because it has lower margins. That's why I'm not surprised that we won't v see these until next year; it's a lot cheaper to launch a console a year after intro.
Do you think Nintendo will go for switch DLSS in this holiday season

News and rumours about the next Nintendo Switch iteration have been developing quickly following Bloomberg's report on a deal between Nintendo and Samsung on rigid OLED panels. While checking the veracity of the rumours, a person with knowledge in the matter told Gamereactor that Nvidia is halting the production of the system on a chip powering the Nintendo Switch this year.

https://www.gamereactor.eu/amp/nvidia-to-stop-switchs-soc-production-this-year-gamereactor-was-told/

Also From TomsGuide:
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/nintendo-switch-pro-leaks-tease-huge-upgrades-but-can-you-trust-them

Nintendo is still seeing a lot of success with the Switch and the Nintendo Switch Lite, so it doesn't look like it’s prepared to replace or offer an upgrade on the console just yet. And Nintendo hasn’t said anything about new Switch hardware coming this year or anytime soon.

However, Switch Pro rumors have been bubbling away for some time, with reports that Nintendo is either considering or working on a 4K Switch console.

unless Nintendo is working closely with Nvidia to create a custom chipset for a new Switch - the original Switch used an off-the-shelf Tegra X1 chip - then we’d very much doubt a Switch Pro will come with DLSS support.


Our skepticism is given more fuel when another Reddit discussion on Switch config file data mining basically claims the information was fake. A Reddit moderator even removed the original post referencing the data mining, noting: “Rumor posts should provide some form of evidence.”

However, according to an updated Reddit post, all the parties commenting on the Switch Pro’s potential specs stand by their comments. Best take a pinch of salt with that.
 
Do you think Nintendo will go for switch DLSS in this holiday season

News and rumours about the next Nintendo Switch iteration have been developing quickly following Bloomberg's report on a deal between Nintendo and Samsung on rigid OLED panels. While checking the veracity of the rumours, a person with knowledge in the matter told Gamereactor that Nvidia is halting the production of the system on a chip powering the Nintendo Switch this year.

https://www.gamereactor.eu/amp/nvidia-to-stop-switchs-soc-production-this-year-gamereactor-was-told/

Also From TomsGuide:
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/nintendo-switch-pro-leaks-tease-huge-upgrades-but-can-you-trust-them

Nintendo is still seeing a lot of success with the Switch and the Nintendo Switch Lite, so it doesn't look like it’s prepared to replace or offer an upgrade on the console just yet. And Nintendo hasn’t said anything about new Switch hardware coming this year or anytime soon.

However, Switch Pro rumors have been bubbling away for some time, with reports that Nintendo is either considering or working on a 4K Switch console.

unless Nintendo is working closely with Nvidia to create a custom chipset for a new Switch - the original Switch used an off-the-shelf Tegra X1 chip - then we’d very much doubt a Switch Pro will come with DLSS support.


Our skepticism is given more fuel when another Reddit discussion on Switch config file data mining basically claims the information was fake. A Reddit moderator even removed the original post referencing the data mining, noting: “Rumor posts should provide some form of evidence.”

However, according to an updated Reddit post, all the parties commenting on the Switch Pro’s potential specs stand by their comments. Best take a pinch of salt with that.

The Switch has been running on an unprecedented amount of of backed-up demand, thanks to the pandemic. Nintendo knows that over the next 6-12 months, some of those sales will dry-up (like the DS fell-off-the-map after Smartphone gaming killed it). The Switch Lite is still new enough and cheap enough it will continue to sell.

Once silicon demand is met, the big Switch will have another new US competitor (the Xbox Series S), so there is now A a danger of this $300 Switch dock-able falling off the map.

The 3ds had it's crater countered by a mind-life-upgrade...sales still fell,but it was good enough to also bump up the price back to $200!

https://www.statista.com/statistics/262074/worldwide-sales-of-the-nintendo-3ds-since-2004/

If you think Nintendo doesn't have a Xavier custom 10w cut in-the-works (you can drop it down to 7w with lower CPU and GPU clocks down to slightly higher than handhelds Switch 1), you're brain dead. Thats double-performance GPU. combined with 50% faster CPU will be impressive (and unlike the New 3ds, the new online service could see a lot of Switch games getting updates similar to PS4 Pro). The Xavier 10w also comes with 48 Tensors

As for the future: there is no other Tegra chip in Nintendo's future, but there's nothing stopping them from licensing NVIDIA's newly-available GPU-ip. Remember, they are buying ARM-inc. (and have promised to license their own)

3ds was a Nintendo custom core, and now Switch 2 can be the same! And NVIDIA can ditch the cost of promoting their Shield units as game console (now that cars have finally taken-off). NVIDIA might even make a deal with Nintendo to get a small piece of that production (Just because Nintendo couldn't care less about streaming video doesn't discount NVIDIA's success) - it would be a lot cheaper outsourcing their next Shield TV SoC to someone actually building a game console
 
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I'm absolutely under the impression that the real time upscaling in the Shield Pro (2019) is a test run for how they're gonna get the Switch sequel to hit 4k. I expect that Nvidia is also working on a shield sequel that'll be 4k120 and 8k ready by next year. I'll be getting a New Switch basically no matter how minor the improvements are.

Also, the idea that "chasing tail" and Pokemon are somehow mutually exclusive is fuckin hilarious to me. A huge hobby me and my wife share is pokemon, and it was always a shared interest from the start of our relationship.
 
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And Nintendo lost a ton of money and marketshare on their last high end systems. The SNES was the only time they won a generation with better hardware (mostly). The NES was not the strongest of it's generation, yet it was a run-away success. The 64 had power behind it (though it was gimped on launch with too little RAM) but it was soundly slaughtered by the PS1. The Gamecube was the 2nd strongest console of it's generation and yet sold less than the OG Xbox. The Wii creamed Sony and MS' consoles the next generation. The WiiU, despite having a stronger GPU than even the PS3, sold like shit. Now the Switch, in under three years, has out-sold the six year old XB1. There's a pretty good reason why Nintendo doesn't try competing with high-end console hardware these days.
Actually, the Gamecube was the most powerful console of its generation going by the numbers.
  1. Gamecube = 9.4 GFLOP/s (combined)
  2. Xbox = 7.3 GFLOP/s (combined)
  3. PlayStation 2 = 6.2 GFLOP/s
 
I agree for the most part but it works for them. They turn a profit from each console sold. Typically it is the most affordable console and sales tons of units. Nintendo games sell 8 million+ each and they don't have to pay any royalty fees to someone. They have complete control over everything and that's how they like it. So what benefit would it be to become 3rd party developer? People buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games.

because people like myself who want to play some Nintendo games can't because I don't want/need to own a console. Lots of un-tapped money on the games to be had outside of hardware. Every person with a PC, PS5, Xbox could/would buy the games.
 
because people like myself who want to play some Nintendo games can't because I don't want/need to own a console. Lots of un-tapped money on the games to be had outside of hardware. Every person with a PC, PS5, Xbox could/would buy the games.

That's my situation...I'm stuck buying Nintendo hardware I never want just to play those games. I have no idea if other people like me cave and buy them anyway or if they really are missing out on a goldmine of potential sales elsewhere. What I do know is that I would do just about anything for an 8K/120Hz Mario Kart running on a PC...and I'm not talking about an emulator, either.
 
because people like myself who want to play some Nintendo games can't because I don't want/need to own a console. Lots of un-tapped money on the games to be had outside of hardware. Every person with a PC, PS5, Xbox could/would buy the games.
That's my situation...I'm stuck buying Nintendo hardware I never want just to play those games. I have no idea if other people like me cave and buy them anyway or if they really are missing out on a goldmine of potential sales elsewhere. What I do know is that I would do just about anything for an 8K/120Hz Mario Kart running on a PC...and I'm not talking about an emulator, either.
I don't see the issue. If you really want to play the games then just buy the console. Nintendo games are never going to be on another system.
 
I don't see the issue. If you really want to play the games then just buy the console. Nintendo games are never going to be on another system.

People said that about Sony's exclusive games, too. Sonic the Hedgehog is in a Mario game. Tekken characters fought Street Fighter characters. Duke Nukem forever actually came out. Guns 'n Roses reformed. Never say never.
 
People said that about Sony's exclusive games, too. Sonic the Hedgehog is in a Mario game. Tekken characters fought Street Fighter characters. Duke Nukem forever actually came out. Guns 'n Roses reformed. Never say never.
None of that is Nintendo. They are extremely protective of their IPs. They have a shit ton of money in the bank and they are not slowing down. If they do it won't be anytime soon. Maybe a new CEO would change the course but Nintendo is as Japanese company as there is and very traditional.
 
None of that is Nintendo. They are extremely protective of their IPs. They have a shit ton of money in the bank and they are not slowing down. If they do it won't be anytime soon. Maybe a new CEO would change the course but Nintendo is as Japanese company as there is and very traditional.

I have 2 real/licensed Nintendo games on my Android phone...
 
Also, the idea that "chasing tail" and Pokemon are somehow mutually exclusive is fuckin hilarious to me. A huge hobby me and my wife share is pokemon, and it was always a shared interest from the start of our relationship.
Glad that worked out for you, in the late 90's if you were flirting with pokemon card players, you would have been a pedophile. Which is not particularly hilarious.
 
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