It may not feel like it, what with how busy most Switch owners have been with hunting down shrines and Korok seeds in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it’s already been a full month since Nintendo launched its latest console. Switch’s full story is yet to be written, so it’s far, far too early to predict with any accuracy whether the console will ultimately deliver everything fans want from it. We have, however, had a lot more time with the console than anyone did when reviews rolled out last month. So, one month in, has the Nintendo Switch delivered what gamers expected of it?
To answer that question, it’s necessary to first explore just what exactly gamers were expecting of the Switch. Are you in the crowd that wanted the best handheld games console ever made? Did you want a system that was equally capable in the living room and on the go and that could compete with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, multimedia features and all? Were you hoping for Nintendo to finally, after 20 years of mostly abysmal third-party support, get its act together and start landing all the multiplatform AAA releases? Or did you simply want more incredible Nintendo software and are happy with any hardware that delivers it to you?
It’s likely that most gamers were looking for at least some combination of the above boxes to be checked on March 3. The early adopters and even curious onlookers among you surely have already formed a holistic view of the console. When looking at the big picture like that, though, it’s easy to lose sight of the many individual cogs in the wheel that make or break a games console. Let’s step back for a moment and analyze them each.