Playing the Nintendo Switch Isn’t As Mindblowing As it Needs to Be

Nintendo Switch Hands-On: The Hardware

There’s a corridor just before the main hall of the London Switch event, lined with all of Nintendo’s consoles in glass cases. At first you feel humbled looking at the outlandish, unlikely designs that would cut the shape of Nintendo’s approach over the years as it cut the shape of gaming. You feel like you’re in a shrine, a hall of greats like retired jerseys hanging in the rafters. It’s only when you get to the end, to the last case, that you’re reminded of what else this corridor is: a tomb. At the very end lies the Wii U, and as I paused and stared at it, I became aware of the pressure that the Kyoto giant is under. Nintendo has responded to this pressure with a hybrid: a console that combines portable and handheld gaming.

You will feel every cent of your $300 when you hold the Switch in your hands. There is a reassuring weight to it; it feels like you’re holding something premium. That’s because you are. From the soft, firm rubber of the analogue sticks, to the weighty plastic of the body, it feels good. It’s been crafted with precision and care, and the satisfying click of the face buttons is a delight. These things are small but they make all the difference.

Seeing Breath of the Wild on that portable screen was a thing of beauty. It reminded me of the ‘wow’ moment you had when you first held a PSP; that screen shouted at you it was so pretty. The Switch recaptures that feeling, and watching something like Zelda on it is a joy. With a spacious 6.2″ screen and a resolution of 1280×720, it’s vibrant, sharp, and makes you want to bring it right up to your face to study every little detail. It’s an ideal size for a portable: just big enough so you can appreciate the power under its hood, but small enough not to inconvenience you when you’re taking it out and about.

But of course, we’re not just talking about a handheld. Slide the Switch into its dock and the picture snaps to the TV. It’s one of those things where you see the advertisement and can’t help but wonder if there is a catch. There isn’t one,  it really is effortless. As soon as it slides into place the transition from handheld to home console is instant.

When playing on the TV you can use either both Joy-Con controllers – one in each hand – or attach them to the Joy-Con Grip, which gives you a more classic gamepad form factor. Neither is ideal. Holding one in each hand is similar to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk-controller; it’s fine and actually the Joy-Cons feel really nice and snug in the hand. It doesn’t beat out a ‘proper’ controller though. Annoyingly, the Joy-Con Grip doesn’t quite deliver on that front. It brings everything too close together; it’s as if you squashed a Dreamcast controller inward, and after just a couple of races on Fast RMX, my hands felt achy.

Remember when I said how brilliant the Switch feels to hold in your hands? Well, that’s true, but it doesn’t feel brilliant to actually play. I found it uncomfortable to play Zelda while on portable. Your hands are an odd distance apart, and it felt slightly awkward getting my thumbs hopping intuitively from stick to button. The little Joy-Cons are so compact that I had to fiddle about to reach the inner shoulder buttons. With odd little quirks, you can usually just get used to a strange controller – anyone who had a GameCube can attest to that – but when your hands feel cramped after only a few minutes’ exploring Hyrule Field you might be in trouble. As much as I love holding Hyrule in my hands and scrutinizing each blade of grass inches from my face, my hands were relieved when I slid it back home and picked up the Pro controller.

Unfortunately, the Pro controller feels essential right now. I say unfortunately because it costs $70. It’s undoubtedly the best option if you’re at home and playing for extended periods of time. It’s a great chunk of hardware actually, with very pleasing Genesis-esque, chunky buttons that depress very nicely with a resounding click. It’s reminiscent of the Wii U Pro controller, only it feels more satisfying and pleasingly tactile. But having dropped $300, it’s a gut-punch to have to potentially lump on another $70.

It could well be that with some time spent getting used to the switch in my hands I could adjust and get on with it better. First impressions leave me shaky – and my hands achy – but it’s less of a deal-breaker than it would be if I was solely writing about a handheld. Anyway, let’s talk about them games. 

Nintendo Switch Hands-On: The Software

Sadly the Switch’s lineup is a bit thin both in quality and quantity. There are five confirmed games and only one of them is at punching weight.

1-2-Switch is an amusing but an absolutely forgettable collection of mini-games. It’s been said that it will be priced under $60 but it really should be a pack-in game though. Just Dance 2017 is… a Just Dance game. Sure they can be fun, but it is far from being a system seller. Skylanders Imaginators is a sensible port for the younger crowd. Super Bomberman R is nice to have, but it’s Bomberman. You know what it is; you know what it does; and again, fun as that may be, buying a brand new console is an awfully expensive way to play Bomberman.

That leaves Breath of the Wild. It’s undoubtedly the star of the show out the gate, and a game that’s shaping up to be something really special. But despite being trusted to save Hyrule countless times over, I still don’t think Link has ever had a greater weight on his shoulders. It also really doesn’t help that if anyone was that desperate to play it, they could pick up a copy of the game and a Wii U to play it on for far less cash.

Elsewhere there are interesting games scattered across the calendar. Fast RMX is a fun, futuristic racer in the vein of Wipeout; though playing raises the missed opportunity of bringing the F-Zero franchise back into the fold. Skyrim is scheduled for Fall; Splatoon 2, isn’t out until the Summer. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, while not too far off (scheduled for April), and very good indeed, is an updated port of a three-year-old Wii U game – though there aren’t any new race tracks in the update.

Mario Odyssey is slated for a Christmas 2017 release. That’ perfectly reasonable but it feels a lifetime away right now. Though not a terrible lot is known about the game, the fact that it’s made by Tokyo EAD (Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox) is reassuring. All in all, it’s a very shaky start and a cloudy forecast for the Switch in its first year, with only the odd rays of light breaking through – and spread far apart. It’s also interesting to note that of the extensive list of developers said to be supporting the Switch, most have yet to reveal any concrete software plans for it. Big hitters like Capcom and Activision remain tight-lipped.

Final Thoughts

After spending some time with the Switch, I came away with the feeling that Nintendo has one foot on either side of a chasm. The way you think about it shifts as it leaps from shelf to hand. Thinking of it as a handheld makes it a very premium handheld indeed; a hell of a lot of power, a massive screen, and some really nice multiplayer options arrive at loggerheads with a 2.5 hour battery life (depending on what you’re playing), and a closer-to-home-console price tag.

It’s marketed to emphasize its clout as a home console, and sure enough when it’s on the shelf and you have a controller in your hands, it is one. But it’s one that costs the same as its direct competition from Sony and Microsoft, and one that’s significantly less capable than either one of those machines. It isn’t a massive performance jump from the Wii U.

That the Switch will marry Nintendo’s console and portable output feels risky as well. It’s an admirable vision, and one that represents what would have to be a huge commitment to software, but with combined potential comes compounded risk if that software doesn’t show up, and show up fast.

Here’s the real kicker in all of this: I really like the Switch. It feels great; it has a brilliant magic trick at the heart of its design; and I feel a stubborn desire to want to get used to the thing in my hands, to banish any doubts and to jump in with both feet. I want this to work, and I want Nintendo to prove that it still has the magic touch. There are aspects of the machine that do show potential, but the proof will be what it always is with Nintendo: software support from third-parties. There are looming question marks and clouds hanging on the horizon, but after playing the Switch, I feel compelled to try and focus on the light.