Nintendo Switch
Creator: Nintendo Release: 2017 Classification Handheld MSRP: $299.99 Rating: 7.8 \ 10.0 (Satisfactory)
The Nintendo Switch is a flawed but fascinating console. Being a Nintendo system, its hardware is significantly weaker than its competition, as has been the case for the last two console generations. However, this is more than made up for by the Switch's immense flexibility. The Switch itself is a 6.2 inch 720p tablet with slots on the side for its removable controllers, Joy-Cons, and it comes packaged with a dock that can connect the console to a TV or monitor via HDMI. It can be played with the two Joy-Cons held in separate hands which gives them enhanced motion control capabilities, or with them attached to grip that is shaped much more like a controller. Some games even allow you to use each Joy-Con separately which offers great opportunities for local multiplayer on the go. I never imagined that it would be possible to have a handheld that I could use to play Mario Kart with friends during school lunch breaks, and it's possibilities such as this that make the Switch up to the task of competing with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
The more I've thought about, the more I realized that ever since the release of the Wii, Nintendo
has been the only publisher that has made me interested in buying their consoles with their features and not just with the exclusive games I can play on them. I bought an Xbox One to play Halo 5, but there wasn't much else to entice me. The social features are decent, but Steam on PC has a very similar set of features and much more, and I don't have to pay $60 a year to play online. However, even if the Switch didn't have Super Mario Odyssey (which would have been a valid reason for me to buy it), I would have still been very excited at the idea of having portable local multiplayer and being able to play on a larger screen if I wanted to.
The more I've thought about, the more I realized that ever since the release of the Wii, Nintendo
has been the only publisher that has made me interested in buying their consoles with their features and not just with the exclusive games I can play on them. I bought an Xbox One to play Halo 5, but there wasn't much else to entice me. The social features are decent, but Steam on PC has a very similar set of features and much more, and I don't have to pay $60 a year to play online. However, even if the Switch didn't have Super Mario Odyssey (which would have been a valid reason for me to buy it), I would have still been very excited at the idea of having portable local multiplayer and being able to play on a larger screen if I wanted to.
Although this is not an issue that affects the functionality of the console, there is one area in which the Switch fails that previous Nintendo systems have excelled in: personality. The snap that plays whenever a Joy-Con is slid onto the Switch is a treat to the ears; however, it lacks any other music. The mid-2010s have enjoyed a surge of Wii-related memes and music mash-ups featuring music from the Wii's various channels (especially the Wii Shop Channel) as well as Wii Sports. The console's features have helped to fuel people's nostalgia, but I doubt that anyone will remember the experience of making a Mii on their Switch a decade from now because there was no memorable audio to go along with it.
The Switch's operating system also lacks the customization of its predecessors as well as some of the small features they had. For example, the home menu cannot be organized and rearranged as it could on the 3DS and Wii U, and the custom backgrounds and themes that were present on the 3DS are gone as well. The inability to place games and apps into folders is by no means a deal breaker, but it was a disappointing downgrade. Additionally, the eShop, the digital storefront that has appeared on Nintendo's last handful of systems, has been greatly simplified. Finding interesting games on the shop that you were not previously aware of is next to impossible if they aren't located in the Recently Released or Best Selling tabs, as the only way to search for games is by name. The rating system that was present on the 3DS and Wii U has been removed entirely. On those consoles, you could a rate a game from one to five stars, classify it as casual or intense, and say whether it was better suited for gamers or for everyone. Without this system, I'm unable to tell whether the few games I come across on the shop that I haven't heard of are truly good, although they almost always tend to seem entertaining.
The Switch's operating system also lacks the customization of its predecessors as well as some of the small features they had. For example, the home menu cannot be organized and rearranged as it could on the 3DS and Wii U, and the custom backgrounds and themes that were present on the 3DS are gone as well. The inability to place games and apps into folders is by no means a deal breaker, but it was a disappointing downgrade. Additionally, the eShop, the digital storefront that has appeared on Nintendo's last handful of systems, has been greatly simplified. Finding interesting games on the shop that you were not previously aware of is next to impossible if they aren't located in the Recently Released or Best Selling tabs, as the only way to search for games is by name. The rating system that was present on the 3DS and Wii U has been removed entirely. On those consoles, you could a rate a game from one to five stars, classify it as casual or intense, and say whether it was better suited for gamers or for everyone. Without this system, I'm unable to tell whether the few games I come across on the shop that I haven't heard of are truly good, although they almost always tend to seem entertaining.
This brings me to another point, that, while unrelated to the console's hardware, may be the deciding factor in someone's decision to buy the Switch: Its third-party support. When you purchase a Nintendo system, you can always be almost certain that there will be a fantastic lineup of first-party titles; I'd argue that Wii U was worth owning solely to play the games Nintendo developed for it. However, major publishers including Bethesda, EA, Ubisoft, and Capcom have been making much larger contributions to the Switch's library than they did with its predecessors. Ports of triple-A titles that are optimized for PS4, Xbox One, and PC unsurprisingly tend to run at a lower resolution and with worse graphics than with other consoles, but those lack the Switch's portability. The ability to play anywhere everywhere is especially beneficial to games such as Skyrim.
I have a few other gripes with the Switch, the largest being the design of the dock. The dock is designed in a manner that traps the device between two walls of plastic. This causes it to become very hot when it is being used in the dock for extended periods of time, and this has caused a slight noticeable bend near the middle of the tablet that looks like this:
This happened to my Switch even though I've spent around 80% of my time with the device using it undocked, but the warping was thankfully not as extreme. What makes this even more frustrating is that third parties have been selling alternate dock designs that solve this design issue. I would have tried using one of these custom docks, but they are sold as empty shells that require you to take apart the original dock and transfer its components, and making a mistake during this process would force me to buy a $90 replacement. The Switch also suffers due to its lack of storage. Its internal storage is a mere 32 GB, only 25 of which are available to use. While very of the games on the console come close to matching the file size of games on competing devices, some ports of games with massive file sizes require a MicroSD Card to download. This essentially forces users that prefer to purchase thier games digitally to invest in external storage, and I've used almost half of my storage despite the fact that not one game I've purchased via the eShop is larger than 1 GB. Making this even more inexcusable is the fact that the deluxe edition of the Wii U which, keep in mind, released in 2012, also had 32 GB of storage, and that could be consumed by a small number of games as well.
Much of this review may have discussed the Nintendo Switch's cons, but most of the issues mentioned are not deal-breaking, and the console's positive aspects are far more pronounced than the negative ones. It is difficult to overstate just how amazing it is to be able to play a massive game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or race a friend in Mario Kart anywhere, and this capability makes the Switch a worthy competitor to other contemporary consoles. It offers its users many unique ways to be entertained, but its several small shortcomings keep it from being truly great.
Contents of the Box
Nintendo Switch console
Nintendo Switch dock
2 Joy-Cons
2 Joy-Con straps
HDMI cable
AC adapter
Specifications
Screen: 6.2 in., 1280 x 720 (720p) resolution (Up to 1080p when docked)
Storage: 32 GB (Expandable by up to 2 TB via a MicroSD(HC/XC) card)
CPU / GPU: NVidia Tegra X1 processor
RAM: 4 GB
Ups
Multiple control options
Fantastic first- and third-party library
Can be used to play local multiplayer anywhere
Can be used as a home console or on the go
Downs
Poor customization
Lack of options in storefront
Poorly designed dock
Pitiful amount of storage
Pitiful amount of storage
