Nintendo Switch - Reaction

Ryan Hammoud
Jan 14, 2017
4 min read

Every technology and gaming website and Youtube channel has extensively covered Nintendo's latest iteration to the console market, the Nintendo Switch.

Disclaimer: All images in this post are not my own property. Image rights belong to IGN.com and Nintendo

The Nintendo Switch is a highly trending topic to cover this week, as pre-orders went live, shortly sold-out and reappeared again. So I thought I would do my little bit of research and share my opinions on the hybrid portable/home console.

Whilst I am no stranger to the Nintendo ecosystem, having previously owned a SNES, a Nintendo 64, Gameboy Colour, Game Advanced SP, 1st gen Nintendo DS, and Gamecube, I haven't bought into their 'recent' consoles (i.e. 3DS, Wii, Wii U). I have always appreciated Nintendo's tendency to release gaming consoles which fundamentally differed from the other consoles on the market, I do not think that recent releases have taken their share of the market (with exception of the Wii, which sold huge numbers).

Unveiled in October 2016, the Nintendo Switch caught my eye.

I loved the idea of a portable console capable of playing titles such as The Elder Scroll: Skyrim, while retaining the ability to detach the "Joy-Cons" (the red and blue side controller parts), slot into a dock below your TV, and allow you to continue playing on the TV. The tablet, touchscreen, middle section of the Nintendo Switch can also be propped up on its kick-stand and allow you and your friends to play with it, using each Joy-Con as a seperate controller, wherever you are. This focus on portability, local-multiplayer, and versatility is what gives the Nintendo Switch an edge on the competition.

Image above: a docked Nintendo Switch running The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

The only reason I didn't continue using the DS or buy a 3DS is simply because of the lack of 'triple-A' titles such as Skyrim. My DS quickly started gathering dust when I "finished" playing Super Mario 64 DS (after previously playing it on N64) got tired of playing mini-fun-games like Wario Ware: Touched! (Check it out if you aren't sure what I mean)

With the Nintendo Switch launching on March 3rd, 2017, the only game (that looks good) launching with the console is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. If you haven't seen the trailer, or any gameplay, check some of the videos out on Youtube; the Nintendo presentation trailer is below.

The Legend of Zelda: Breathe of the Wild looks amazing. I have been craving a new Zelda game for a while now, and this looks like it really could be something special.

However, I do have a couple issues with the release. Whilst it may not matter to Nintendo's target audience/customers, I feel like even before the release of the console and the game, Nintendo is already forfeiting their opportunity to steal some of the market away from Microsoft and Sony. The console, despite all of it's unique features, is still a console competing with the other two. And right now, the starting price of the Nintendo Switch is £280 in the United Kingdom ($299.99 in the US).

A 500GB Xbox One S bundle with FIFA 17 is £219. Granted, the Nintendo Switch is a newly launching console portable hybrid, but that doesn't take away from the fact that you can get a already established, more powerful (probably, more on that in a second) gaming console for £60 less, including a game.

Nintendo's selection of launch titles, is also severely limited, putting a great amount of focus and pressure on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, intial reports show that the game, representing the main attraction to the console, runs at 900p while docked, and 720p while portable. While I would be the first to admit that resolution and framerates do not define the success of a console, I think that the fact that their main attraction game is not running at 1080p, despite the artistic style not requiring heavy texture rendering, demonstrates the capabilities and potential lifespan of the console. If it is already unable to hit 1080p with a non-seemingly intensive game, are there ever going to be pretty games on the console? And this is after paying around £60 more for Sony's and Microsoft's offerings.

One of the attractions of the Nintendo Switch is it's capability to undock and go portable whenever you desire. As one of the main selling points of the console, this would heavily rely on the battery life, which according to sources, can range between 3 to 6 hours, depending on the type of game being played. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is expected to run for 3 hours on a full charge, indicating that the game, running at 720p, without heavy texture rendering, will take a huge toll on the battery using the full capability of the Switch. Processing is powered by a custom Nvidia Tegra-based architecture chip running at 768MHz when docked, and 307.2MHz when undocked. That is a 60% drop in performance when undocked.

While the console is yet to be released, this has the possibility of changing, however it is highly unlikely something drastic can change in the couple months leading to release.

I believe that Nintendo has accepted that this will be the people's secondary console, and is targeting those who want to play local multiplayer with their friends. This may be Nintendo's second attempt at creating a successful succesor to the Wii (Wii U was not a success), a console you play with your friends at a gathering.

Get ready and clear a drawer in your home for all the plastic, unnecessary accessories that Nintendo is about to sell you. At launch, there will be more accessories for the Switch on sale, than games. (See below). Would I buy one? Probably not. Would I be happy at a party that had one? YES.