Nintendo Switch

churine

lunatic+
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus

the nintendo switch is the newest console by nintendo. it's main feature is being able to play it in many different ways. you can play it as a console on the big screen or as a handheld when you detach the tablet-like console.

the nintendo switch is the first console that is both handheld & console. you can be playing on the tv at one moment then be on the go the next. how this seems to work is that your controller has "joy-cons" which are similar to wii remotes & can be detached from the controller & put on the console. the console can then be taken off from the dock -- which is similar to the wii u with how it has a screen & can then be played anywhere. the detached switch has a stand, headphone jack, charging port & plays using cartridges like 3ds. you can even detach the joy-cons from the switch to play it like a wiimote & knunchuck. If you don't want to play with the joy-cons, you can always use the switch pro Controller.

some games:
zelda breath of the wild
super bomberman r
skyrim
dragon ball xenoverse
mario kart 8 deluxe: no firehopping
arms
splatoon 2
sonic mania
super mario odyssey
xenoblade 2
kirby star allies
donkey kong tropical freeze: new funky mode
fortnite LOLOLOL
mario tennis aces


octopath traveler [july 13]
super mario party [oct 5]
super smash bros ultimate [dec 7]
yoshi [2018?]
no more heroes: travis strikes back [2018]
fire emblem three houses: [spring 2019]
core pokemon [2019]
metroid prime 4 [tbd]
also a casualass shit pokemon game in 2018 too


Details:
launch price: $299 usd, $399 cnd, ¥29980, £279, €329-349
switch uses cartridges similar to sd cards & the 3ds
joy-cons can function as two separate controllers as well as one


the switch released march 3rd, 2017 along with breath of the wild, super bomberman r, some ports and a couple others.
 
Last edited:
I'm more interested in there being a main series Pokemon game, though it could be a port of Sun/Moon I suppose.
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
I'm very interested in the specs of this device. NVIDIA is being very vocal about their partnership with nintendo. Nvidia has not had a console contract in what...10 years? Switch is definitely using a tegra chip; the question is what version. If It's some kind of tegra x2 release, nintendo may have been able to pressure nvidia to get the chips at rock-bottom prices due to nintendo being nvidia's only chance to get into the console "market". In that case, the switch would have the efficiency of the pascal lineup, which will be a HUGE leap in battery life. It would also mean that the architechture is very similar to PC gpus right now...which explains the massive 3rd party support. What does Nvidia like to do with their GPUs? Offer lots of extra goodies...... if they somehow got away with turning the switch into the nvidia shield 2.0, and you're able to use it to stream games from your PC? The next console war is already won.
 

churine

lunatic+
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
From what it looks like, the Switch can either be the best console ever, or worse than the Wii U. Though the concept of having both a handheld unit & a console unit will get people's attention, that can also ruin the Switch too. The fact that the Switch is part handheld may hinder the console's performance. Nintendo hasn't released any specifications yet on the Switch but lets hope they can compete with the standards for the next 5 years.

I missed out on the Wii U so having backwards compatibility with games like Splatoon is definitely great. However I bet you have to buy the game again since the Switch uses flash memory instead of CDs so that's kinda sad.
 
Last edited:

Lyto

Experience Tranquility
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Just watched the trailer, and now I'm pretty hyped! Something my friend noticed was that they seemed to be marketing it towards a sort of young adult demographic rather than the usual 'fun for all the family' kinda thing and, more surprisingly given it's Nintendo, to potential esports collaborations. With the (much larger than I expected) list of third parties I'm actually really optimistic for how the Switch will turn out. The only immediate problem I have is that the split controllers seem a bit too small to be comfortable, but hopefully that won't be a major issue since I'll be using the full controller most of the time anyway.
(pic for those who aren't sure what I mean):


As Cresselia mentioned earlier there's no Game Freak in the list of third parties, but presumably that's moreso because they've worked with nintendo for a while now...?
 

Acklow

I am always tired. Don't bother me.
I'm pumped about the fact that this device will probably be boasting CD-free gameplay. From the looks of it it'll be using flash storage for the game cartridges of some sort and so that alone means that the portability will be amazing. Not to mention this will be the first time in ages that a home console used cartridges instead of CDs (the last iirc being the N64).
 

vonFiedler

I Like Chopin
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
It looks like what the Wii U should have been in terms of portability, but at the same time, I'd probably have used it for such purposes very little between the time I bought the Wii U and now. And I love the Wii U, it's a great console, but in the time I've owned it I bought only 9 games for it, and might have only 5 more I want.

After only 2 years of owning a Wii U, I really don't want to spend 300 dollars again, especially when I don't know if they'll actually make games for it. Wii U was a good system, it deserved games, but it didn't get any. So you can't just say this system is better and that's why it'll get games. You can't just point to a big list of 3rd party companies. What games will it have? Will they be new or games that have been on PS4 for years? Will they be games I actually want to play? Will Nintendo actually make games? Cause that was the BIG draw, Nintendo made good games... until they stopped.

I'm not saying Nintendo sucks, I fucking hate that the media basically tried to destroy them. But my trust does not extend to buying two consoles in 2 years.
 

Pilo

uses walther
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
Damn, not bad. From what I can tell, the Switch looks hype af. I love the sleek design and I'm not all that bothered by the lack of touchscreens either. As Lyto pointed out it looks like they're trying to market the Switch to an older demographic which could be beneficial since there's definitely a market for Nintendo products amongst young adults.

That said, I think they should have waited a bit longer to release it, many people as I'm sure dumped a large amount of money on the then new WiiU just a few years ago, myself included. I can't speak for others but in the world I live in money doesn't grow on trees. I don't mean to shit on the Switch but idk how many people will buy it, especially considering how new the WiiU is, and if low initial sales mean decreased attention, the Switch could be in for a rough time.
 
I skipped the Wii U since I never felt the need to play many games on it, so I'll be happy to just jump to the next one and maybe others feel the same way.

Anyway this looks really cool and while I didn't think consoles needed much more beyond like a linear progression of specs I'm really happy with the way the portability looks execution wise and I like that it seems to be more friendly for 3rd parties to design for. Not a snap buy without games but I'm as excited as it gets at this stage.

Edit: I'm really happy to see at the very least a console that's accessable to take to someone else's house. Happens often enough for me in many environments and I hate that my Xbox one doesn't save anybody's wifi and how bulky it is.
 
Last edited:

Theorymon

Have a wonderful day, wahoo!
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Pokemon Researcheris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Honestly I was sold as soon as I saw the new Mario game. I liked the land of the dead vibe of the stuff they showed!
 
No touch screen, no double screen, and third parties.
Man, I'm so hyped.
It could easily still have a touch screen, the video was just showing off the basic concept and one leaker's report from before the trailer was released indicated that it did have one (along with being region free which would be really nice) https://twitter.com/ArcadeGirl64/status/788678442602536961

Though according to another guy who is seemingly reputable https://twitter.com/mochi_wsj/status/789289178684981248, Nintendo won't be releasing any further information on it this year, which is pretty odd.
 
Personally I'm feeling optimistic for the Switch. The Wii-U as I see it was let down by 2 main issues.

1. It didn't know what it was

2. Lack of 3rd party support

Both of these problems have, I think, been addressed. The Switch knows exactly what it is - it's a home console that you can also take on the go. That has never been done before (probably), and gives it a very solid USP over its rivals besides the Nintendo IPs. As for lacking 3rd party support, not anymore - Bethesda, EA, Capcom, From Software and more were revealed on the trailer. So you might be able to play Dark Souls on the toilet.

So yeah, I think it could do well. Mobile gaming is also huge in Japan, which will help.
 
I'm really excited for the Nintendo Switch. Splatoon looks great, Breath of the Wild is flat-out fantastic, I'm neutral on the new Mario game, and the Skyrim remake looks great but because I have all the DLC on my Steam account when the offer was available it's not necessary for me. I'm curious what a mainstream Pokemon game would look like on the Switch, though.
 
I said this in the videogame thread but I'll believe the 3rd party support is there when I see it, not when they put up a list of companies that may just do a late port of something and walk off.

The upside is that it gives Nintendo a single platform to focus their development resources on. WiiU had a weak library and 3DS would've too if it weren't for good 3rd party support, but both still had a handful of solid 1st party games and if you could double the 3DS or WiiU first party library for the Switch, that might be enough to make it worth buying right there.

Of course, they're developing for mobile too now so it probably won't be their full resources, but most of them hopefully.
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
The reason that the Wiiu has such a weak library isn't just because third parties just decided to walk off, it's that the Wiiu was using some horrid custom architechture that you had to devote an entire dev team to port the game, which isn't going to be economically viable because people won't buy because bad port...death spiral death spiral. I'm incredibly optimistic for the third party support on switch because it's actually using a GPU that companies program for all the time.

The real question I'm curious about is cost. We know it's possible to make a powerful gaming tablet (NVidia shield) and light computer (Microsoft surface) with current materials, so I don't think that weight will actually be an issue. Tegra is also low-power, so the device is definitely going to be efficient. I expect something high, like $400. Only way I can see it be less is if they sell it at a loss but get three times the games on the market. And honestly, I don't WANT the console to cost less than that. I'm tired of Nintendo consoles lacking any kind of graphical power, so let's have the switch be beefy enough to run crisis 3, not just skyrim for goodness sake!

I really really hope this thing is "delayed" on information so that they can get the latest NVidia GPU in there. That's got to be the only reason they're not announcing specs or anything like that until 2017. I am hungry for specs tho :(
 

MZ

And now for something completely different
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
I've had nintendo portable gaming stuff (gameboy, ds, 3ds, etc) since I was a kid and this is probably what's gonna get me to go buy a full device since it combines both portable and console, but what I really hope we see is compatibility with 3DS games. I imagine it'd be likely since we have online libraries and other systems have consistently fit this, but I'll probably be scared out of getting it if it means all the 3ds titles I've picked up are fairly worthless (also my circle pad is busted from smash so I'd rather get the new console than getting it fixed). This seems like it's meant to draw a whole lot of people into actually getting their first full console so I dont think it's likely they'd neglect the portable only crowd, but at the same time they've made an awful lot of fuckups recently and I really hope this isn't another one.
 

vonFiedler

I Like Chopin
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
It's worth noting that a portable Nintendo gaming device has never undersold (ignoring virtual boy for obvious reason)
 
It's worth noting that a portable Nintendo gaming device has never undersold (ignoring virtual boy for obvious reason)
True, here's how their handhelds did vs their main rivals

Game Boy: 118 million units sold worldwide
Sega Game Gear: 10.6 million units sold worldwide

Game Boy Advance: 81.5 million units sold worldwide
N-Gage: 3 million units sold worldwide

DS: 128 million units sold worldwide (across all versions)
PSP: 82 million units sold worldwide

3DS: 59 million units sold worldwide (so far)
PS Vita: Over 4 million

Yep, so Nintendo have ruled the handheld market ever since the Gameboy. They are currently 4 for 4, and the 3DS has among the best libraries of all gaming devices I've ever owned.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top