Nintendo Switch

[Gaijin Punch]

Who's getting one? Honestly I'm only excited for Zelda, but I assume something else will catch my fancy. Not sure how long I will wait but I think I will eventually get one.

[mackdangerously]

Maybe I will eventually. I still haven't picked up a used Wii U yet to play Bayonetta 2. The problem is, I lost interest in Nintendo's key franchises a long time ago.

[zinger]

I'm not really interested in motion controls (Wii) nor portable gaming (Switch), so... I hope there won't be any must-play exclusives (like with Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U). I have to say I think the new Mario game looks pretty fun in a really weird sort of way, but not enough to make me want to buy a system. I hope some of my friends do though.

[sven666]

played this a bit the other day, its a neat system and the screen is nice, all assembled its quite nice to play on, i guess the lego-system is handy but honestly the controllers on their own are just way to small and you keep accidentally pressing buttons on them.

the motion type controller games arent any more (or less) fun than they were on the wii..

mario and zelda both look like great games, mario kart is more of the same, also tried some gimmicky mini games and bomberman and a few others.. its all pretty much what youd expect.

huge miss from nintendo (which the nordic supplier was awkwardly aware of) is the lack of a decent browser and stuff like netflix and other mediacenter type things.. with that in place they could really have made a dent in the ipad market i think.. now.. dont know, feels like its a slightly more gimmicky wii-U and follows the same failed buisnessplan..

[schadenfreude]

I grew up obsessed with Nintendo, lost some interest during the N64 years, gained it back for the wonderful GameCube, then completely fell off the bandwagon during the Wii years and haven't looked back. The Switch looks like Wii version 3, so there goes my interest. I might be interested in Nintendo again if they'd make their games on a Sony or Microsoft console or for PC — you know, current, up-to-date hardware — and one way I can do my part to push Nintendo out of the home console business is to avoid buying a Switch.

If there are any excellent games, I'll see if I can play them on borrowed hardware or something, which is how I played Pikmin 3 (though after playing it, I wouldn't call it excellent).

[sven666]

i asked and apparently Nintendo are planning to run this and the 3DS side by side (even tho they kinda compete for the same market).. something the nordic supplier also admitted to being pretty strange..

I dont think nintendo are out of the hardware buisness but i reckon the switch and the 3DS will somehow merge into one down the road and we will end up with a great portable system thats possible to use on a TV instead of the other way around.

ID say the only way the switch will ever be a success is if Nintendo really manage to tie in some nice software licenses and rethink their position on the whole "mediacenter" bit.. its a great piece of kit with lots of potential thats for sure!

[Gaijin Punch]

Agreed for the most part... would love to see some "apps" on this. Doesn't Wii-U have that shit? I assume it can be added later, and we all know they will not be able to keep up w/ demand out of the gates anyway. Honestly, I just want to play the new Zelda. Not sure if I'll have time to bother for a while though, so we'll see.

[lordnikon]

I own a lot of gamecube games, I own some Wii games, and I own just a "few" Wii U games... 8 to be exact. The same downward slope exists for me with the Nintendo handhelds.

I do like me some Mario, and I am a huge Metroid fan, but enough is enough. People call Nintendo creative, but they are the exact opposite in my eyes when it comes to software. I already own enough platforms that have the same. exact. lineup. Mario, Zelda, Smash Bros, and a bunch of Third Party Garbage because they don't entice enough hometown japanese talent, and let the west vomit poor framerate ports all over their systems for a cheap buck.

I am a Sega guy. I am spoiled. I have tasted what is possible on a single console by UGA/Smilebit/Hitmaker/Sonic Team/CRI/Sega AM2/Sega Rosso/Amusement Vision/Sega WoW. I understand Nintendo has always clung to their core franchises, but it can't be that after 3 console generations the only new thing they have to show for it is Pikmin. I don't expect Nintendo to go all out Sega style and create 20 brand new IP's in a single generation, but I do expect a few.

I wouldn't react like this if it were any previous generation, but it "has come to this", in my eyes. I am sure Zelda will be great, and I will be getting it on the Wii U. However I can't jump on board with any of their new hardware if their lineup is saturated with games I already own. I am looking for something new, and Nintendo seems incapable of offering that.

[Gaijin Punch]

You got Splatoon on the Wii-U.
I got that for my kid... does nothing for me.

That being said though, the only system I've played much at all in the last year is the Wii (SMB Galaxy) and that is pretty much limited to the Xmas break. My GC busted, and didn't buy a new one before leaving Japan. I can play those games on the Wii anyway. Nothing on the Wii U for me (except Pikmin 3, which I'll play when my kid loses interest in his Wii-U, which is basically any day).

[EOJ]

I'll probably get one later this year to play the new Mario, but so far I'm pretty "meh" on the system. I don't like the goofy motion control joy-cons and the system looks bulky and cumbersome. Zelda looks alright, but doesn't wow me. Last couple console Zeldas were awful, so I have low expectations.

[ryu]

I'm going to wait and see how this supposedly region-free console handles the eshop and DLC.

Apparently you can play all games in japanese by switching the console's language setting, which is great, but has me worried that they might patch it out anytime.

[Gaijin Punch]

I'm with you on that. Honestly, I have little time now, and I'm trying to do some really expensive shit, so I have to hold off. And realistically, if it's in English I might have the GF watch me play Zelda...at least a little. If it's Japanese that's not gonna happen. Also gotta think of the Mario game as well... if she can't enjoy it that means I play it a lot less. How weird has my life become.

[EOJ]

I have read a lot of negative things about the console. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

-Save games are locked to the console and cannot be moved or backed up (Perhaps an anti-piracy attempt?)
-No web browser or apps whatsoever. Very bare-bones UI.
-Screen gets scratched easily putting in/out of the dock.
-Joy-cons can randomly become unresponsive during play.

Good stuff:
-Region-free, easy to buy from any region's online store on the same Switch.
-Japanese games released at retail thus far have an option for English text. Good for people who want to buy physical versions of games only released digitally outside of Japan, like "I am Setsuna" (I enjoyed this game on the PS4).
-Zelda sounds like a good game.

Maybe by the end of the year Nintendo will have ironed out the issues, and it will be a good time to buy.

[Gaijin Punch]

Cheers for that. The screen scratching scares me... especially these days with very scratch-resistant glass. The browser, which hilariously enough was hotly debated in the thread at Shmups (wut?!) does seem pretty strange these days, but also just software so they can probably alleviate that later if for some reason Nintendo comes to their senses and actually realizes who/what they compete with. It's Nintendo though.

Region free is great news. Maybe it's just now that there's reddit, but there seems to be even more non-Japanese speaking foreigners in Japan that will like this. And of course all the weabs across the world. I always thought region locking on the internet, for the most part, was simply a pain in the ass, and counter-intuitive to the interwebs.

As my son has a Wii-U, I might just swipe his one of these days and play BotW on that.

[ryu]

The positive talk about the console's region compatibility made me buy one. Had to order Zelda in japan to get japanese voices, it's taking a few days to arrive so I can't comment on the game yet.

The UI is in fact so bare-bones it's weird. Nintendo either think they predicted the future of UI design or didn't have the time to deliver anything more than a placeholder.

No browser because there's a security issue in the Wii U Browser that allows users to hack the console. Maybe they're still working on a fix for the Switch browser.

Seems to me like you can easy avoid scratching the screen by being careful. I have my dock setup in a stupid angle that makes it hard to properly pull in and out and still haven't scratched anything yet.

[EOJ]

This video, man:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-srOfRqNc

Definitely going to wait for version 2.0.

[Gaijin Punch]

That I would hope they could fix w/ a software patch. Never know though.

[EOJ]

The video shows all sorts of problems, though, not just software. The dock is poorly designed and the joy-cons have a range of problems (physical connection to the console, dropping the signal, etc).

[ryu]

It's a couple defective devices in a million or so.

I'd wait for them to sort out the desync issue with the left joycon and to replace the dock with a better one. All the critical stuff falls under warranty anyways and shouldn't occur unless you're unlucky.

[sven666]

im ambivalent towards this.. on the one hand the switch doesnt really entice me.. on the other it has an absolutley banging launch game, breath of the wild must be the best launch game since SMW or mario 64 (possibly even better?)..

played it for a few hours at a friends the other day and daaaamn is it good.

[Gaijin Punch]

yeah, the reviews of BotW seem to be pretty undeniable. We knew the major publications would rate it 10/10 and wank to it, but even hard core nerds that are not so easily amused are giving it full points. I've read a few "not impressed" reports at shmups, but most of it is beyond positive.

Pretty sure I won't get a switch for a while. And, my son is not using his Wii-U enough, so maybe I borrow it. He nuked my SMG2 saves immediately when I gave him my Wii once, so maybe that's not a great idea either.

[CIT Seven Force]

Checked out a friend's Switch yesterday, and I have to admit, I wasn't that impressed. Zelda is truly great, but there's not much else at the moment and even soon to be released games are technically not exclusives (Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 2 which is just an update, not a real sequel). I guess launches in general are not as big as they used to be anymore, but this is just a bizarrely weak launch lineup.

We tried the new Bomberman and it was pretty lame. Really weird voice acting and wonky controls. Multiplayer on the small screen using the Joycons is really not that fun either. Add to that the fact that a single Joycon will set you back 50 euros — so close to 100 euros for a full pad...what's up with that?

If the Switch can inherit the 3DS' market and third party support I can see it succeeding (there's still the issue of the battery only lasting 2-3h though). Otherwise it's just gonna be the Wii U 2.

[ryu]

my left joycon is completely dead, and the "send item in for repair" form has no options for switch related goods.

lol

[Gaijin Punch]

FWIW, I bought my son a Wii-U for xmas in 2015. Fucking thing wouldn't pair w/the controller. Wound up not sending it in for like 3 months.

[EOJ]

I caved and bought one of these with Zelda. Should be here later in the week.

Seiken Densetsu Collection pushed me over the edge.