5 Nintendo Switch Features that Still Annoy Us in 2018

No Virtual Console

Nintendo Switch Features that Still Annoy Us in 2018

The Nintendo Switch has been a blessing in its first year and a half of existence, to the point where some of us clutch it tightly to our bosom overnight as we slumber, peacefully dreaming of our next day’s gameplay session. Just in case you were wondering why my Switch smells of sweat and unfulfilled ambition.

Despite this, that won’t stop us from nitpicking at its minute faults like withered old curmudgeons. Because as gamers, we feel entitled for reasons that not even we can fathom, so let us collectively shake our walking sticks with disdain, lamenting the absence of, say, a virtual console. This complaint isn’t necessarily without logic, considering that this feature has been a staple of Nintendo consoles dating back to the Wii’s premiere over a decade ago. Not only can we not play games we’ve already bought digitally, but now, we only have a scant few SNK titles haunting the eShop, serving as a grim reminder of what once was.

As we now know, the reason for this possibly lies with the upcoming paid service for the Switch, wherein for a small fee (emphasis on the small; it really is a meager sum when you compare it to its contemporaries), you will be treated to a selection of NES titles, complete with online gameplay.

Be it due to this paid online, or simply as another superficial way to keep the 3DS relevant, it seems apparent that the virtual console may never be arriving on the Switch, which is both a shame, as well as a roadblock in introducing enthusiastic fans to Nintendo’s considerable backlog.

Perpetual Power

Nintendo Switch Features that Still Annoy Us in 2018

The Switch can be like one of those people who you never invite over to your place, who somehow end up always at your front door regardless.

“Hey guys!” the Switch guffaws in a grating tone, “What’re you up to right now??”

The culprit behind this pestering is a curious feature that powers up the Switch whenever it interacts with an AC adaptor. Plug it in? It turns on, eager to share with you its current battery power supply. Unplug it? It still turns on, convinced that this means that you’re ready to play an exciting round of Fortnite, or Kirby Star Allies, or Vroom in the Night Sky — for the Switch does not judge your taste in video games.

This would be all well and good if you had an option to disable this feature, because sometimes all you want to do is charge the damned thing without some elaborate song and dance on each occasion, but this doesn’t appear to be so. Perhaps somewhere deep within the settings, there actually is a preventative measure that nobody knows about, but until it has become common knowledge, we will continue to lambast the Switch for its overzealousness. We’re getting too old for that tomfoolery.

Limited Availability

Nintendo Switch Features that Still Annoy Us in 2018

This has been a Nintendo issue for what seems like centuries (did you also have issues securing your Hanafuda cards back in the day?) and there’s no sign of it changing anytime soon.

Whether it is in an effort to increase demand and hype, or simply the company being wary about oversupply, almost every major release on the Switch has an irritating tendency to sell out at an accelerated rate. This may sound like a good thing on a base level — we want games to perform well, of course — but by being stingy with the amount of units shipped, Nintendo is unintentionally fueling the scalpers who are frothing at the mouth at the chance to gouge desperate fans.

It was true for the first run of amiibos, and it was true for the NES Classic Mini. Sleazy resellers thrived in the face of minuscule supply numbers, effectively punishing the fans simply for being fans. And, you know, not preordering, but let’s not twist the knife more than we have to.

And lo and behold, the trend has continued with the Nintendo Switch, most notably with the recent JRPG sensation, Octopath Traveler. Sold out at retailers across the globe, it’s indicative of a greater problem at hand here. Sure, you can dismiss Octopath for being a niche game with limited appeal, and there is merit to that argument, but you cannot deny that, at the end of the day, this was a console exclusive on a hot platform hungry for new releases, from Square Enix, no less — don’t mistake it for some upstart indie title that came out of nowhere.

Wii U Ports. Wii U Ports Everywhere.

Nintendo Switch Features that Still Annoy Us in 2018

Sometimes, Nintendo’s growing self awareness can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, by re-releasing a constant stream of Wii U titles on the Switch, it is effectively an open admission that the previous console was perhaps not so hot, giving us the chance to try out all of the games we missed out on.

And this is great and all, unless you happen to be a devout Nintendo fan who loyally bought all of these titles upon their initial run. Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Hyrule Warriors and Pokken Tournament are but some of the examples that exist in lieu of a genuine new entry. Though Bayonetta will fortunately be receiving a sequel in short order, we can’t help but feel slighted by the notion that we may not get to play a new Mario Kart on the Switch.

Ports exist on every console, but the Switch has been notorious for leaning on them, making only minimal upgrades to games that didn’t necessarily need much tweaking to begin with. In a perverse kind of way, it has become its own version of the virtual console, regurgitating titles that are so fresh, you could swear they were still breathing, mere moments away from sending a creepy wink your way ala Jon Voight in Anaconda.

Cumbersome Online Gives Us the Sads

Nintendo Switch Features that Still Annoy Us in 2018

The impending paid online we alluded to will hopefully alleviate a lot of the headaches that have hindered Nintendo for years, but it will take a degree of reworking some core principles to really fix the deeper issues that still lurk within.

First off, the archaic friend codes were derided when we first ran afoul of them way back on the Nintendo DS. At the time, they existed due to the lack of any kind of account system, therein necessitating the process, but in modern times, they doesn’t particularly have a reason for being beyond Nintendo’s affinity for twelve digit codes. We all have our fetishes, after all.

The even bigger crime remains the lack of a dedicated voice chat, which has become so standard on other platforms it is practically considered an essential. For the Switch, you’ll have to implement a separate app, the obtuseness of which suggests the only thing you’ll be saying to one another is ‘why’ in a shrill, pained voice, ala Nancy Kerrigan in 1994.

It’s up to you to decide whether that’s a worse reference than the Jon Voight one.