Gaming for me did not always happen on consoles. I actually started out on a handheld, the 3ds, with me playing most console games at my best friend’s house, who was stocked up on all the latest hardware, the gamecube, the wii, an xbox 360 and the playstation 3. but handheld gaming has always stuck with me since. In my first year of highschool my very first smartphone was my main gaming machine, even when I got my xbox. Gameboy advance emulators, ds emulators and even the dolphin -wii and gamecube emulator- have been a mainstay on every phone since. And for the more powerful gaming consoles that my phone couldn’t handle? Well my chromebook and pc are no stranger to their fair share of emulators as well. What does this have to do with nintendo, or why am I rattling on about this
Well, exactly one month ago I bought a nintendo switch, a hybrid handheld-console video game console, whose games I’ve pirated emulated many times before on my pc. So why after so many years of the console being out and rumors of the switch 2 coming very soon did I buy a nintendo switch? For two reasons. Reason is my constantly dwindling time, school is getting busier alongside me wanting to spend more time with friends and family. My second reason is that I’ve been in a relationship for a couple of months now, which has caused me to be away from home for about 70 percent of the week. Either for school,traveling to locations or because I’m spending my time with my partner. And don’t take this the wrong way, when I’m spending time with them I’m not touching my switch at all unless they’re up for a game of mario kart or mario wonder. No, I bought this switch so I could continue my hobby of gaming while being away from my main gaming machine, my pc.
And in this overly long post I’m going to review my experience I’ve had with this machine, the two games I’ve bought and what i’ll do with it going forward (probably just playing it more and buying more games if you don’t wanna read the entire post)
Let’s begin with taking a look at the device, both docked and handheld. I mostly use my switch in handheld mode. It’s the reason I chose an oled bundle of a regular bundle in the first place. The bigger screen with richer color was a big enough sell for me to take a oled bundle instead of the regular switch bundle. So let’s start with that mode.
Handheld mode is excellent. It’s insane to me that for not much space than my original 3ds i can take games 10 times more powerful along with me for train rides, car rides and school. The Oled screen looks very crisp and clean and the colors are superb. After a month the battery life is still really good. I can have a 3 hour train ride to my partner and the switch will be at 70 percent battery. All in all it’s a good time anywhere I take it, with the added bonus of the better kickstand and larger screen it’s also been host to a lot of local coop already.
What surprises me the most about handheld mode is how absolutely excellent it runs and how good the games still look on there. I’m no whore for graphics and framerate but I’m glad that when I play single player mario kart or metroid dread that they’re both running at very smooth 60 on a 720 hd screen. This fucking console can output at the level of a wii u when it’s in its handheld form and I think that’s hilarious. It’s also really cool to see the switch compared to a 3ds, especially in the comparison of mario kart 7 to 8. On a device not much larger with game cards smaller than the 3ds I can play a game that looks a hundred times prettier and feels better. Another pro is that the handheld mode can be charged by a regular ass usb-c charger. Meaning that my phone charger can perform double duty as an on the go switch charger for when I’m away from my dock for 4 to 5 days usually.
The final pro for handheld players like me is that the dock is barely anything. It’s a piece of plastic with two wires coming out of it. So I can realistically take the dock to friends and even to school to play docked local coop if I want to. Which I think is so nice and convenient and makes me really glad the dock isn’t anything overly complex.
With that being said let’s switch over to talking about docked play now! Docked play, it definitely works. That’s something they should put on the box. To be fair I haven’t played much docked play in my time of having this thing, the times I’ve played it docked were for local co-op or when I was really into metroid and just really wanted to play it on a larger screen. But otherwise, even at home, I usually play handheld. That way I’m not confined to my room and can actually enjoy some time with my family downstairs while still continuing my hobby. (yes i still live at home, but how’d you expect me to get my own place while the dutch housing market is about as stable as an active volcano right now). Docked play is fun, works well and looks as good as a 6 year old console can at this point.
My biggest problem however, with both handheld and docked, is that the joy-con are pretty damn awful controllers. They feel nice (at first) and they definitely look nice, they’ve got good functions but man do these things just feel like cheap plastic toys after a while. The joy-stick is also not my favorite and I hope to god mine don’t start drifting because these things are way too expensive for their quality. In the future I might invest in a pro controller because jesus christ the only way I’m not irked by these things is when I’m playing in handheld mode and they’re on the side of the switch.
Lastly, the games. I got 2 games with my switch. Mario kart, which was bundled with the switch, but i did buy the booster course pass to get the full experience. This game is phenomenal, there’s a reason it’s the best selling switch game. The gameplay is fast and responsive, 96 tracks and not a single one i would consider truly bad and online play that works surprisingly well with local co-op that’s as good as any previous console mario kart.
Just like with mario kart I’ve got nothing but praise for metroid dread as well. With the extra bonus that it felt really nice that for the first time in forever I could support the developers of a 2d metroid since apart from samus returns on the 3ds, which i skipped since i played am2r in its stead as my metroid 2 fill, I’ve never had the chance to play a 2d metroid when it was available for purchase. Hell the last new mainline entry, metroid fusion, came out a year before I was born. But metroid had me hooked ever since I emulated super metroid on my dinky tink little school chromebook. So it was really great to have this metroid that’s both excellently designed, looks impressive as all hell and is a great send off to the 2d saga. 100%ed it 10 hours and I’m jumping back in for those other completion art cards and the boss rush.
I also got nintendo switch online for 3 months and it’s probably gonna continue when it runs out. Mostly because snes games are worth 20 dollars a month. And it’s kinda poetic to be able to play games I used to play illegally, officially. Super Mario World, Yoshi’s island, SUPER METROID! The online play in Mario Kart so far has been more of a bonus than the retro assortment of games you get with it. And for 20 euros a month I think it’s a good deal. Though online play should always be free imo.
All in all, I love this little device. It’s reliable, fun and I can expand upon my collection with a massive game library full of exclusives or 3rd party games that I would love to play on the go. I know this review is like 6-7 years late and no one will probably read this entire thing, but this was fun to write. 7/10 for the device because the controllers irk me too much, a 9/10 for mario kart and a 9/10 for metroid dread.
maybe there’ll be a sale on the base version one day.
