Nintendo Switch and Nintendo: the Comeback Kings

[Guest]

I don't think it's any mystery or secret that when the Switch was first revealed I was one of the many naysayers. I could not wrap my head around how such an underpower system could actually make it. I was already writing off Nintendo to go the way of Sega and switch to just software development. The Switch had so many flaws with its design that I couldn't even fathom how it was going to make it... Well happy to report not only was I wrong, but almost a year later I actually bought one.

The Nintendo Switch is actually proving to be the best third party support Nintendo's ever had, and its first party line up remains as strong as ever.

Why is the Switch doing so well though?

The answer is pretty simple: Portability.

There is a lot of value in buying a game on the Switch in that you actually get two versions of the game. One to play at home and one to take on the go. Nintendo focused heavily this time around on advertising what the Switch does and how it works so there was no mystery. The Switch has already almost outsold the Wii U's lifetime sales and is slated to surpass the Xbox One in its lifetime, which is no surprise as the Xbox One continues to lack exclusive games or a reason to justify its hardware.

What do you think about the Switch and how can they improve it?

[Nightfall Gloam 18,293]

I'm primarily a PC gamer, but I LOVE THE SWITCH!!!! Especially considering all the negative attention the Switch got before it released, I was honestly really surprised by it when I started taking a look at some of its games, and playing it with my friends. After a while, I decided to buy it along with Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and really enjoyed the experience. Starting to think of buying some multiplayer games and extra controllers so that my family can play on it sometimes as well...

I don't currently have that many criticisms for the Switch right now, but, I don't really get the point of the Nintendo Switch Online app for phones... Guessing I might not really need that to fully enjoy what the Switch itself has to offer.

[Megas 28,147]

I still think Nintendo still has to improve on 3rd party relations(support from important 3rd parties like EA, Activision, etc., is still kind of ass), but so far the future looks promising as Japanese 3rd parties seem to love the platform, Bethesda and Rockstar giving support which is still shocking to think about, and the Switch getting games that Nintendo platforms normally missed out on, and exceptional Indie support. 

Online still needs improving, get rid of the stupid app, and just drop the future paid online. Make a model with more storage, 32gb for a console in 2018 is inexcusable, especially when we're already getting games bigger than the hard drive. And lastly, a lot of games and accessories are still needlessly pricey, definitely a result of the cart's expenses, but at some point I feel people are gonna be sick of the Switch Tax, and I bet Nintendo doesn't want to deal with that forever so they really need to get the price of those down as soon as possible so devs can take advantage of the bigger ones

Overall though, there's still room for improvement, but I love my Switch so far, and I really hope this year is just as good as the last one

Edited January 30, 2018 by Windy Whistles

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,202]

I do think the Switch is a fairly great system, I have already had plenty of hours put into it, but I still think it is not quite up to its full potential. The main reason for this is the features of the system and the lack of many other features. The Switch is still less than a year old so I cannot be too harsh on it in this regard, I admit.

Take for example, the online infrastructure. Currently, it is bleh. Not good. One could say that they are saving a substantial upgrade for when the paid service launches, which is what I am also thinking they are doing, but we can't even message friends on the system yet, a feature that became commonplace in 2005. Not only that, but there is the obvious issue with voice chat being relegated to some terrible phone app that has many restrictions and limitations. There were friggin' DS games that had better implemented voice chat! The paid online service is something I support for this reason, so they can have a steady stream of funds that can go directly to improving this aspect of the Switch. Cloud storage comes to mind. Currently, you cannot transfer saves from the system itself..at all. Not even to an inserted MicroSD card. That is really bad in these days. If they can set something up for this, I would gladly pay $20 a year.

Secondly, apps. Now, I have brought this up on so many websites and the typical response I get is this: "This is games console, not a phone! Use phone if you want apps!" Every. Single. Time. They are basically saying "NO!" to more features. What these people fail to realize, is that apps are PERFECT for a system like this. Things like Youtube, a web browser, these would be such convenient things to have. The fact that this is a portable console exemplifies that. Take for example if I had Youtube on it. I could go from playing a game for a bit in handheld mode, then switch over to Youtube, check out some videos, maybe see a long video I want to watch on a bigger display. Boom, I can put the system in the dock and watch Youtube on my TV, quickly, easily. Same with web browsing. You can't do that with a phone. Plus, the Switch itself is a bigger display then my phone, by a decent margin! I don't understand why people would say 'no' to that. We do have Hulu and it is a prime example as to why apps like that just add even more value to the Switch. Seriously, you would not believe just many people have shouted at me on the internet about the whole 'Use a phone!' thing. It really got on my nerves eventually.

Lastly and this is a bit different, I wish Nintendo would stop being so damn secretive about things involving the Switch. I don't know if it is a contract thing with publishers or what, but Nintendo friggin hates letting us know what's going. Take the last Mini Direct for example. People were so amped up for a Direct, especially since one was rumored anyways. I can't blame them. The Switch is a great system so any big showing of new stuff is exciting. Nintendo's response was essentially sneaky little hints and trolling on Twitter. That only added fuel to the fire and what we got was a rather lackluster Mini Direct the following day. People are going to get excited because of passion, because of their love for the system. Yes, there are trolls who leak false information and get people's hopes up, but that doesn't mean Nintendo has to get in on that. They could simply be up front and get rid of rumors and stupid shit on the internet, thus making sure people don't falsely assume anything and get their hopes up. Yet, Nintendo seems to think they are too good for that. They don't even have to say what's going to be shown at a direct, just say when one is likely happening! That really isn't too much to ask for.

So yeah, the Switch is a great unit, but not quite to its full potential yet.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Whompy Whomperson said:

I still think Nintendo still has to improve on 3rd party relations(support from important 3rd parties like EA, Activision, etc., is still kind of ass), but so far the future looks promising as Japanese 3rd parties seem to love the platform, Bethesda and Rockstar giving support which is still shocking to think about, and the Switch getting games that Nintendo platforms normally missed out on, and exceptional Indie support. 

Definitely. The iron is heating up, but they need to keep striking while it's hot so to speak if they want the train to keep moving. I feel complacency and that could undo all they have done.

1 hour ago, Whompy Whomperson said:

Online still needs improving, get rid of the stupid app, and just drop the future paid online.

Definitely. At this point I see no reason to try and keep the fee for online after letting people enjoy it for free for so long unless the service is REALLY REALLY REALLY good.

1 hour ago, Whompy Whomperson said:

Make a model with more storage, 32gb for a console in 2018 is inexcusable, especially when we're already getting games bigger than the hard drive. And lastly, a lot of games and accessories are still needlessly pricey, definitely a result of the cart's expenses, but at some point I feel people are gonna be sick of the Switch Tax, and I bet Nintendo doesn't want to deal with that forever so they really need to get the price of those down as soon as possible so devs can take advantage of the bigger ones

Definitely! The Switch's memory is on its own board too so it would be an easy upgrade.

1 hour ago, Kyoshi said:

I do think the Switch is a fairly great system, I have already had plenty of hours put into it, but I still think it is not quite up to its full potential.

Oh definitely.

1 hour ago, Kyoshi said:

Take for example, the online infrastructure. Currently, it is bleh. Not good.

Agreed, while a huge improvement over the Wii U in terms of how the store is handled, it's still not "Great" yet.

1 hour ago, Kyoshi said:

One could say that they are saving a substantial upgrade for when the paid service launches, which is what I am also thinking they are doing, but we can't even message friends on the system yet, a feature that became commonplace in 2005.

This is a feature I think needs to happen. Embrace the social aspect of gaming, Nintendo.

1 hour ago, Kyoshi said:

The paid online service is something I support for this reason, so they can have a steady stream of funds that can go directly to improving this aspect of the Switch.

Sadly though we know now in 2018 that paid online doesn't always go towards improving the infrastructure. PSN and Xbox Live are down as often as they were in 2007 and yet they cost more now than they did. Sony and Microsoft have both admitted they could afford to keep online free but they just wanted more money. The sad reality is, I doubt the funds will go toward improving the service as we've learned in the past that is almost never true. PC gaming still has free online and to date offers the best most diverse online service objectively speaking. Your options are infinite and the uptime is pretty much 100% due to having multiple options. Voice chat down? Discord or Skype is an option, etc.

1 hour ago, Kyoshi said:

Cloud storage comes to mind. Currently, you cannot transfer saves from the system itself..at all. Not even to an inserted MicroSD card. That is really bad in these days. If they can set something up for this, I would gladly pay $20 a year.

Microsoft offers cloud storage for free. But yeah this needs to happen.

1 hour ago, Kyoshi said:

Secondly, apps. Now, I have brought this up on so many websites and the typical response I get is this: "This is games console, not a phone! Use phone if you want apps!" Every. Single. Time. They are basically saying "NO!" to more features. What these people fail to realize, is that apps are PERFECT for a system like this. Things like Youtube, a web browser, these would be such convenient things to have. The fact that this is a portable console exemplifies that. Take for example if I had Youtube on it. I could go from playing a game for a bit in handheld mode, then switch over to Youtube, check out some videos, maybe see a long video I want to watch on a bigger display. Boom, I can put the system in the dock and watch Youtube on my TV, quickly, easily. Same with web browsing. You can't do that with a phone. Plus, the Switch itself is a bigger display then my phone, by a decent margin! I don't understand why people would say 'no' to that. We do have Hulu and it is a prime example as to why apps like that just add even more value to the Switch. Seriously, you would not believe just many people have shouted at me on the internet about the whole 'Use a phone!' thing. It really got on my nerves eventually.

I don't think most are saying "no" to more apps, as most support the idea, it's just they want them as a secondary thing and the focus to improving the gaming experience first and foremost. Like these features are all good to have especially if they can advertise the Switch as a tablet replacement but only if the gaming aspect doesn't take a back seat. I think that's what people are worried about the most. Look at the OG Xbox One, they focused so much on media that gaming took a backseat, same with the PS3 back in the day. So I can see why people are apprehensive.

1 hour ago, Kyoshi said:

Lastly and this is a bit different, I wish Nintendo would stop being so damn secretive about things involving the Switch. I don't know if it is a contract thing with publishers or what, but Nintendo friggin hates letting us know what's going. Take the last Mini Direct for example. People were so amped up for a Direct, especially since one was rumored anyways. I can't blame them. The Switch is a great system so any big showing of new stuff is exciting. Nintendo's response was essentially sneaky little hints and trolling on Twitter. That only added fuel to the fire and what we got was a rather lackluster Mini Direct the following day. People are going to get excited because of passion, because of their love for the system. Yes, there are trolls who leak false information and get people's hopes up, but that doesn't mean Nintendo has to get in on that. They could simply be up front and get rid of rumors and stupid shit on the internet, thus making sure people don't falsely assume anything and get their hopes up. Yet, Nintendo seems to think they are too good for that. They don't even have to say what's going to be shown at a direct, just say when one is likely happening! That really isn't too much to ask for.

I think this is a matter of "hype culture ruins everything". Nintendo keeps things quiet until right around the time of where the release is soon because it reduces overhype. Overhype has killed many products, so I think it's actually a smart move to not overhype. We have seen Sony do a similar tactic now where their new policy is not to announce a game until it's well underway and almost done. Look what happened with Scalebound: Microsoft hyped it for years only to cancel it. They had no idea if the game was even going to be capable of happening because it was way too early in development so by announcing it and showing it off so soon they set the expectations too high. Another good example is The Last Guardian, it was hyped for almost a decade and when it finally happened it was relatively lackluster and buggy. Still a good game, but did not impress too much.

The reality is hype culture can destroy a game before it even has a fair chance, so while it's frustrating being kept in the dark, it may have actually saved a few games from overhype oblivion.

[Megas 28,147]

2 minutes ago, Key Sharkz said:

The reality is hype culture can destroy a game before it even has a fair chance, so while it's frustrating being kept in the dark, it may have actually saved a few games from overhype oblivion

It's hurt many Nintendo games as well, as when it comes to Nintendo is when hype goes through the roof, Twilight Princess and Brawl come to mind. That said, I'm still amazed that BotW managed to deliver on the gargantuan hype it did

[Jeric 46,884]

As a casual gamer with a lot of entertainment options, I don't tend to play nearly as many games as most people who grew up in the 8-bit and 16-bit era. I won't lie it's been a while since I stopped and took notice of a Nintendo console. The Switch has my attention, and, as I mentioned in another topic, the word of mouth from friends that own it are enough to make me consider picking one up at some point in the near future. 

The portability factor is a huge drawn for me since I do an absurd amount of errands during the week where I sit around and wait. Yeah I could go the 3DS route, but there is a benefit to being able to flex between the TV and waiting in doctors offices and waiting for my kid to get out of school functions. 

[Envy 6,407]

I think you're right, it comes down to the portability. If the Switch didn't have that, it bluntly wouldn't have much of anything.

I am extremely unhappy to see Nintendo venturing into paid online services. I've said this since they announced it - it's a horrible idea. I've seen so many people try to tell me "They're using it to improve the online infrastructure" but there is absolutely 0 evidence of that. The idea is that you're supposed to show us an online service worth paying for, and then expect payment. Nintendo has done nothing of the such. Instead you have a bunch of Nintendo fans blindly defending it, saying "they're going to improve it, just wait".

I mean, for goodness's sake, the console has friend codes. Wii U's Nintendo Network moved away from Friend Codes. You could add friends by username. I understand that the Switch does have more ways to add friends you already had on previous consoles, but for everyone else it's straight-up friend codes, and to me that is really annoying. It's archaic and there's no reason for it.

I really wish Nintendo would get going forward with the Virtual Console. And I wish that Nintendo would make the Virtual Console universal. I realize that this is not what their competition has done (at least not Sony, I've never owned an Xbox console), but with the Switch, it would be really neat to have my Virtual Console purchases from the Wii U. I have Earthbound, Mario Kart DS, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mario and Luigi 2... Come on, Nintendo. But of course, they're going to come back with the VC as a slow, gradual release and we're going to see "Super Mario Bros is being released today" again. Ugh. As if we don't already have a billion ways to play SMB.

Another thing that would benefit the Switch, but hasn't been done by other console manufacturers to my knowledge... Physical games coming with the option to download onto the system. This is one thing that I've really seen work very well on PC. People may hate EA, they may hate Origin (and I don't blame them for hating either), but all of my physical PC purchases are available to download onto my PC free of charge. I love that. I would love to have that on Switch. So I could make physical purchases to feel more safe, while having the benefit of the digital game being on my system without having to switch cartridges.

The cartridges are so tiny... They're going to get lost if you're not careful.

However, I'm aware that I'm holding Nintendo to a higher standard than other companies with those last two requests. You know, it's just really hard for me to invest in Virtual Console like I'd like to when I know all of those games will be lost when they switch to the next generation's console. I really want to have a nice collection and have my ultimate Nintendo console, but I can't do that very well with the current system...

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Envy said:

I think you're right, it comes down to the portability. If the Switch didn't have that, it bluntly wouldn't have much of anything.

 

Definitely, considering if it had its underpowered hardware and wasn't portable it wouldn't be tolerated in the slightest.

4 minutes ago, Envy said:

I am extremely unhappy to see Nintendo venturing into paid online services. I've said this since they announced it - it's a horrible idea. I've seen so many people try to tell me "They're using it to improve the online infrastructure" but there is absolutely 0 evidence of that. The idea is that you're supposed to show us an online service worth paying for, and then expect payment. Nintendo has done nothing of the such. Instead you have a bunch of Nintendo fans blindly defending it, saying "they're going to improve it, just wait".

Agreed, as the evidence points to the opposite direction.

5 minutes ago, Envy said:

I mean, for goodness's sake, the console has friend codes. Wii U's Nintendo Network moved away from Friend Codes. You could add friends by username. I understand that the Switch does have more ways to add friends you already had on previous consoles, but for everyone else it's straight-up friend codes, and to me that is really annoying. It's archaic and there's no reason for it.

FORTUNATELY it's not as bad as the Wii or 3DS where you had to both add each other and it didn't even sent you a notification that someone tried to add you, but yeah it's a dumb system. At least it's minorly improved anyway.

5 minutes ago, Envy said:

I really wish Nintendo would get going forward with the Virtual Console.

Supposedly someone has found code in the system's hardware for a Wii and Gamecube emulator so that may be coming soon.

6 minutes ago, Envy said:

And I wish that Nintendo would make the Virtual Console universal.

This, this, this, this.

Stop making us rebuy our games when the new system comes out!

7 minutes ago, Envy said:

Another thing that would benefit the Switch, but hasn't been done by other console manufacturers to my knowledge... Physical games coming with the option to download onto the system.

Sony attempted this with a handful of games but abandoned the idea. I would fully embrace this though as movies have been doing it for years.

7 minutes ago, Envy said:

The cartridges are so tiny... They're going to get lost if you're not careful.

On the plus side though they're more portable and the proper carrying case can solve that, but yeah I can see the size being an issue.

8 minutes ago, Envy said:

However, I'm aware that I'm holding Nintendo to a higher standard than other companies with those last two requests. You know, it's just really hard for me to invest in Virtual Console like I'd like to when I know all of those games will be lost when they switch to the next generation's console. I really want to have a nice collection and have my ultimate Nintendo console, but I can't do that very well with the current system...

I am hoping the Switch is a change in attitude for them.

[Mystic Brush 103]

I was excited for the switch from the beginning but, I decided to wait later this year to get one. Since last years shortage was just plain awful and, 2, you never buy a console at launch. Quantity over quality really hit the switch hard.

On 1/30/2018 at 10:49 AM, Envy said:

 

I am extremely unhappy to see Nintendo venturing into paid online services. I've said this since they announced it - it's a horrible idea. I've seen so many people try to tell me "They're using it to improve the online infrastructure" but there is absolutely 0 evidence of that. The idea is that you're supposed to show us an online service worth paying for, and then expect payment. Nintendo has done nothing of the such. Instead you have a bunch of Nintendo fans blindly defending it, saying "they're going to improve it, just wait".

The online service is going to be extremely cheap though. According to articles, it'll only be $20 a year. So, it'll be little as $1.66 a month.

[Envy 6,407]

1 hour ago, Mystic Brush said:

The online service is going to be extremely cheap though. According to articles, it'll only be $20 a year. So, it'll be little as $1.66 a month.

I don't care how cheap the online service is. I have made my point numerous times that Nintendo's online services have always been criticized for being mediocre, even for free. For Nintendo to start demanding we pay for online when their services have always been so mediocre is just ridiculous. And then we have the Switch which has regressed to flipping Friend Codes.