Nintendo Switch Review

This isn't even it's final form.

It's been a while since I parted ways with my Wii U, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Sure it had great games and a fun social experience but the rest of the experience just felt completely inferior to the two other consoles it was competing against. Nintendo had two options at this point, one was to play it safe and build a run of the mill console akin to the Xbox One and PS4 or take yet another risk, do it right, and hope it works out. They went with the latter and this is the result, the Nintendo Switch. It's a revolutionary new hybrid console that does a whole lot of things right, but also some things wrong. Let's dive in.

My biggest beef with the Wii U was it's general lack of focus towards the end-user. While Microsoft and Sony developed consoles that could appeal to all, the Wii U felt like you could put "Ages 6+" on the box and get away with it. The whole experience outside the games felt very immature and the UI didn't exactly help things. It's core gimmick, the GamePad was just not that well executed in hindsight either. The Switch I was hoping would improve on the things the Wii U did get right and in turn scrap what didn't work all in favor of bringing a wider audience to the console whist preserving that distinct Nintendo feel.

-Vincent...? We happy?
Oh yeah we happy.-

Upon cracking open the box you get greeted by the Switch itself and the two Joy-Cons and underneath all that is the rest of the console's accessories and cables. One thing for sure is that I was not expecting the Switch to be as small as it was. It's only a 6.2 inch tablet with a decent amount of heft to it. The two Joy-Cons slide onto the side to form what looks like a PS Vita on steroids. The Switch is not exactly pocket sized but it can be thrown into a bag without taking up much space. It all feels quite well built overall, and I'll focus on each of the individual parts as the review goes on but man, I couldn't find a spot on my entertainment center to dock this thing without it looking out of place.

More useful than it looks.

I decided instead to hook the dock up to my computer monitor. The dock is probably what defines the Switch as a home console the most and it's powered by a USB Type-C cable because you know, future proof. The dock then sends the video signal from the Switch to your display via an HDMI cable, simple stuff. I do have to say though, apart from being rather small, the dock is a pretty unattractive piece of hardware considering it's meant to sit in accessible view. It feels rather plastic and the large cutouts for the cables that plug into the back make it look kind of cheap. It serves it's purpose well functionally but aesthetically it could be a whole lot better.

Kicked back.

The Switch tablet itself is much better built than the dock and it has a nice matte black finish on top of it's rock solid feel. Gone is Nintendo's love for resistive touchscreens and now you get a smooth and responsive capacitive screen like on a real tablet. Downside is that it does not support styluses like the 3DS or GamePad but that's kind of a trivial complaint unless you specialized in Miiverse art. Game cartridges(Yes, cartridges) load from a slot on the top and it's charged by USB Type-C. Internal storage is 32GB and there is a microSD slot that supports up to 2TB of storage under the kickstand as well. One thing to note is there is physical fan in the unit and that vent on top pumps out hot air when the unit is under load. Luckily it's very quiet so this isn't a huge complaint. What is a complaint however is while the kickstand in the back is plastic and a bit flimsy, using the system on a table with it means you cannot charge the unit from the bottom mounted Type-C port. Stupid, I know.

Joy-Con. Yes they're actually called that.

The Joy-Con controllers are designed to slide onto the side of the tablet and they are rock solid with no wiggle. The buttons all feel nice and the analog sticks feel fine. I would like regular triggers but understanding the limitations of these things, it's not a huge deal breaker. However their real party trick is that they can be used in a multitude of different ways. They can be slid off and used wireless from the unit for tabletop use or used sideways in an SNES style configuration for two player games. While this isn't the most comfortable mode of operation, it works well enough. You can also slide on a grip type extension which is primarily for use with the motion control function, straps included. You're probably thinking "Oh great, this shit again." but it seems to be less focused on than just using the Joy-Cons like normal controllers. I haven't tried this as of yet but motion control games like 1-2 Switch make great use of the rumble motors like shaking a Joy-Con to guess how many marbles are inside. Apparently it feels genuine and I may have to try it at some point but I'm a little bit past motion controls outside of VR.

The Joy-Con Grip is better than nothing though I prefer one in each hand.

There are other control options available, one of which comes with the console itself: the Joy-Con Grip. It's really not much more than a smallish hunk of plastic that sets the Joy-Cons into a quasi Xbox style layout and you can't even charge them with it, despite looking nearly identical to a $30 buck accessory that does. There is also the $70 dollar pro controller which is a legit full sized Xbox style pad for people who want something more substantial than using the Grip. This will probably come in handy when more big titles come to the console but right now it seems like an expensive upgrade. Also worth noting is a $15 buck two pack of plastic steering wheels for the Joy-Cons... Yeah we don't need that shit again.

One screen? What is this heresy?

What's nice about the Switch's UI is that it's clean and basic. A strong departure from the Wii U whose liberal use of the GamePad made navigating menus and basic setup a royal pain in the ass for some users. Not the Switch, just one screen and easy to navigate menus. Gone is the stupid background music, and gone is the constant switching between two screens. Some may be disappointed to see the lack of Miis wandering everywhere in the UI but I'm not. They we're kind of goofy and I'm glad they we're dialed back in much the same way as Microsoft did with the Avatars on the Xbox One. You can still make a Mii on the Switch, that is if you still care.

This is literally all that's on here right now. No joke.

One thing that did disappoint me however was actually just how barren the Switch's features are outside of games compared to the Wii U. Miiverse is gone, which actually sucks because it was a genuinely good social platform that could have been expanded on, hopefully it gets replaced with something equally good. The e-Shop is quite empty, understandable since the system is quite new but there isn't any Virtual Console games available at all. While this is coming later, it could have been a great launch feature and the Switch with it's hybrid design would have been damn near the ultimate virtual console machine; a big selling point. Also no web browser, no Netflix, no YouTube, all stuff the Wii U had that the Switch would be great with as well.

That's the problem, the Switch just doesn't have enough to offer right now and while I love how clean and simple the UI is now, it's just so devoid of usable content. It almost feels like it was released a little too early if I'm honest. I only own one game, Zelda: Breath of the Wild and it's so far been fantastic but that's not enough to drive a whole console's launch in my opinion, and I'm quite certain 1-2 Switch isn't going to be a must have title either. An unfortunate lack of content, but how does the Switch game exactly?

I just wonder what Ganon's up to!

I started Zelda off on my monitor and the game loaded up without any hiccups. Like most newer consoles you can put the Switch in sleep mode or dashboard and pick up right where you left off. I'm not totally sure what to compare it to graphically as Breath of the Wild's art style doesn't exactly warrant a fair comparison to the other more established consoles but for a large open world game, it probably around the mark of most of the 7th Generation consoles. It runs relatively well in docked mode and I've only had a few brief framerate drops in some very busy moments. I wasn't plagued by the unwarranted disconnecting of the Joy-Cons either that others have reported.

Like clockwork.

So I went ahead and slid the Joy-Cons onto the Switch with a nice satisfying click and undocked the tablet. The game instantly transitioned to the tablet display and I went out of the house. This is by far my favorite feature of the Switch and it completely erases the shortcomings of the range of the Wii U GamePad and Remote Play features on the other two consoles. The machine comes with you and there is no loss in performance, although oddly enough Zelda seems to run a little better in handheld mode than it does docked. Nintendo estimates about 2 to 6 hours of battery life out of the Switch and I'm sure this is entirely dependent on how much load you put it under. I'd pick up a powerbank if you plan on using the system for a long trip. So I'm pleased to say it's key feature works well, I'm just itching to be able to do more with it.

The Switch is a promising console to say the least and I do like what it has to offer so far. It's hybrid design works well and it's a convenient, seamless way of taking console quality games on the go without the bottleneck of internet connection. The Joy-Cons are an interesting, versatile approach to game control but I doubt their motion control function is going to be a highlight feature in the long run. However the Switch has a glaring problem at the moment: lack of content. There just really isn't much to do with it at the moment other than play Zelda and shake a Joy-Con strapped you wrist like an imbecile. It's pretty early in the game and much of this is subject to change but for now, I'm not going to recommend the Switch. It has potential, and it could definitely surpass the Wii U and maybe the 3DS one day but right now, even the Wii U with all it's goofy quirks still has more to offer than the Switch should have had from day one. And they plan on charging for online in few months? With some of the features on a mobile app? No thanks, I don't care how cheap it is per month. So I'm going to leave it at this; I have faith in the Switch and it can only get better from here on out, but right now there just isn't enough out there yet to justify it over a Wii U or a 3DS. I really want the Switch to succeed though, and hopefully Nintendo makes the right decisions with it.

The Switch currently costs $299.99.