QOTW: What are your early impressions of Nintendo Switch?

by Parm Mann on 12 May 2017, 16:31

Tags: Nintendo (TYO:7974)

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From the NES to the DS, I've enjoyed my fair share of Nintendo game consoles over the years, but if I'm honest the newfangled Switch hasn't quite tickled my fancy. It's expensive, battery life seems short, and with Nintendo attempting to tackle multiple usage scenarios in one fell swoop, Switch risks being a jack of all trades but master of none.

Yet, I've spoken to a couple of Switch owners who are full of praise and, either they're trying to justify their purchase, or they actually have fallen head over heels for Nintendo's latest hardware and games. So is it really as fun as they say?

Now that the product has been available for a couple of months, we reckon the time has come to canvas wider opinion and ask: what are your early impressions of Nintendo Switch? Whether you're an owner or an observer, share your thoughts using the comments facility below.

HEXUS Forums :: 14 Comments

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Posted by Nifl - Fri 12 May 2017 16:48
Not interested for the same reasons. Way too expensive for a Nintendo console and it doesn't offer anything special. And, no, portability is nothing special for a gaming console.
Posted by Mchotpoon - Fri 12 May 2017 17:31
Got our daughter one, good for using on the move and when on long flights. Does have big downsides, online play lags behind bigger consoles. Got Minecraft my daughter can't find people to play with, no way to chat even when she does, joycons cannot be shared for split screen (wtf is that not the point) and saves cannot be backed up to the cloud. Overall it's good for mobile gaming but a compromise as a console, and accessories and software way overpriced! Does its job on the move but for me, it missed the mark on cost and Zelda ain't no Skyrim or Fallout 4.
Posted by Bagpuss - Fri 12 May 2017 17:39
I know two people who bought one, both of them think it's great as a portable but pretty terrible as a home console, and can't see themselves buying any more games for it once Mario is released, Zelda & MK8 are keeping them entertained until it arrives.

No desire whatsoever to buy one myself though having had a go on one, for a portable it's way overpriced and as a home console it's way underpowered.
Posted by Kato-2 - Fri 12 May 2017 17:47
Yeah got to agree with the above, a great device for the kids especially those raised on tablets but it's lacking polish in certain areas.

Time will eventually sort those things out but right now Nintendo are missing an opportunity for co-operation with Microsoft who are a lot more open with Xbox these days, Minecraft should be playable with Xbox players too if only Nintendo would let them (even if voice/text comms are disabled).
Posted by FRISH - Fri 12 May 2017 18:57
I was hyped about it before, but now I find it disappointing. A year ago if it was release it'd be more impressive, but now it's using an old tegra chip which seems outdated. It makes me wonder how quickly it will fall behind as a handheld, especially when zelda didn't manage 1080P docked so more up to date hardware seems like it would've made for a better device even if it released at a later date. The cost of the console and the games are also really high and there's not that many titles which is more reason why it didn't need to be released yet. I mean the top games are zelda, mario kart and the coming splatoon which you can mostly experience on the Wii U anyway. I ended up ordering a used Wii U instead because even the prices of a new Wii U has been ridiculous all this time. For less than the cost of the switch, I managed to get a Wii U with 9 games (£191).

Hopefully prices will fall later on and the library will be better. If it will be a console and handset experience in one then that will convince me for the right price, but there has been a lot of shortcomings. One thing is that it seems like a tablet without tablet features.

With the cost of games, that's reminded me why I have stuck primarily with my PC for gaming. What I find ridiculous is people defending the switches shortcomings to a ridiculous extent. People are absolutely allowed to like the switch, but when they pretend things like the battery life is decent or that 32GB of on-board storage is fine in this day and age, that seems unnecessarily biased and prevents us getting better products.

All in all it has potential, but right now I don't think it's worth it and I think it could have been better or cheaper.

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