Hands On Impressions Of The Nintendo Switch

First impressions can mean an awful lot, and it’s fair to say that a lot of people remain unconvinced by the Nintendo Switch’s vision and the launch details announced in the early hours of this morning. Does it justify the price? Is it powerful enough? Are there enough games?

Going hands on, and first impressions are actually very good. There’s a great sense of solidity to the Switch when you pick it up. After the Wii U Gamepad’s cheap-feeling design, it’s quite simply a joy to take the Switch from its dock and hold it in your hands. There’s a good feeling of density to it, and even with the added weight of anti-theft plating and cables, it’s not too heavy to hold for a decent amount of time. How ergonomic the design is for long play times will have to wait for a longer hands on session.

The device is dominated by the screen that makes up the main face of the unit. It doesn’t stretch into the corners, which is a little surprising, but it’s a point that fades into irrelevance as soon as you start playing. The same thing could be said of the 720p resolution; it might not sound like a particularly high resolution these days, but the screen is crisp, bright and a pleasure to play on.

The big trick that the Switch can pull is seamlessly swapping from TV mode to Handheld mode as soon as you pull the device out of its dock – the sole hiccup is that the game pauses and asks you to push a couple of buttons on your chosen controller, but there’s practically no delay between. It’s another example of Nintendo’s major leap in industrial design that slotting the Switch into its dock feels so automatic. There’s no fiddly attempts to mate a USB-C port to its plug, avoided by having clever guiding bolt and spring-loaded block of plastic within the dock to ease it in. It feels so natural, and it’s only in retrospect that I wondered and looked to see how it’s being done.

Even the Joy-Con are relatively comfortable to play with on their own. Certainly, they’re small and a little cramped, but they’re more than usable for the kinds of light party gaming that they’re intended for. Despite their diminutive size, they’re also incredibly flexible, thanks to the two buttons hidden inside the guiding rail that attaches them to the Switch, motion sensors and the new HD rumble feature.

1-2-Switch is a fantastic showcase of what can be done with the controller when used in inventive ways. You hold it in different orientations, whether turning it from side to side trying to feel the difference in weight of springs in a safe, tilting the Joy-Con to try and guess how many imaginary ball bearings are inside – both leant a lot of nuance by the sensitive and precise HD Rumble – milking a cow, quick drawing a gun, trying to catch your opponent’s down swinging swords with a clap. The value of this particular collection of mini games is questionable, but there’s little sparks of ingenuity on a par with the early days of the Wii.

Honestly, the main thing holding the Switch back is its line up of games. The number of games currently announced for launch is hugely disappointing. From a first party perspective, Breath of the Wild is the real system seller here, while 1-2-Switch could easily have been a pack in. However, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2 coming in April and summer respectively, it feels like Nintendo have recognised the need to keep a steady stream of new releases coming, instead of a glut of games early on followed by months of inactivity.

More concerning is how tentative third parties seem to be. EA are testing the waters with an isolated release of FIFA, Ubisoft haven’t brought an exclusive title to the table, as they did with the Wii U, and other publishers are reviving classics or adapting other work instead of diving in feet first. Who can blame them when Nintendo have taken a different path yet again that doesn’t allow them the relative ease and security of cross-platform development.

Drawing comparisons to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are simply too simplistic for the Switch. It’s more expensive, less powerful and has fewer games, but it’s also a wildly different type of console. The Xbox One doesn’t have a screen built into it, the PlayStation Vita is portable and pretty powerful, but doesn’t let you play split screen home console games, and you can’t hand half of a Dualshock 4 to a friend for multiplayer games.

The streamed presentation was definitely underwhelming in a lot of ways, but despite that, there’s a cautious optimism amongst friends and colleagues that I’ve spoken to today. The Switch is interesting, it’s various possible uses are compelling, and I personally came away from it feeling that the hardware and it’s potential justifies its cost.

And there’s just something unnervingly brilliant about staring deep into a friend’s eyes as you milk a cow.


We’ve got plenty more to talk about with the Nintendo Switch, which we will be doing soon, but for now be sure to check out our list of everything we know about Switch so far, which we’ll be updating over the coming days and weeks as our questions are answered. Believe us when we say that we’ve asked Nintendo a lot of questions!

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14 Comments

  1. There’s a ridiculous amount of negative reception to the Switch, it seems like a lot of it is from people wanting it to be a PS4/XB1 type console, or wanting easy access to the exclusives.

    It simply is in a league of it’s own, something unique, and it unquestionably has the games to go with it, but the price of 340 with Zelda thrown in, is simply too much to ask for at the moment.

    • Not sure what have said about the games is right? 5 Launch titles, just five? I can only see three games releasing in 2017 that would interest me.

      Also paying for online? Really why, most Nintendo games are SP only.

      I agree that the console is very unique and looks very good. However im not forking out for one just for 3 games, plus the cost of the accessories etc are crazy. I would rather put the case towards a PC upgrade.

      • There’s plenty of games looking into it more, some of them just haven’t had the attention. I’ve just been looking at an interesting fighting game which for the first time revealed the contollers to be motion and tilt controllers. Then there’s RMX which is a fast neo racing sequel if I understand correctly, very Wipeout style.

        There’s a list of others too, and possibly a few more tbc at E3 this year. One of the things that stands out to me is that the games are different to what can be played on main consoles, and quite a few of them are splitscreen with support out of the box with those split controllers. It can even be multiplayed locally in portable mode by the looks of it. In this day and age, those features are lovely to see back again.

        It’s safe to say I’m becoming even more tempted by the console. Nintendo could do with marketing a few of the details a bit more.

  2. I definitely hope they’re spacing releases out to avoid the typical software-draught after launch.

    Glad to hear first impressions are good! I’m very excited for this new generation of Nintendo.

  3. PlayStation CrossPlay has shown consumers are not really looking to take games from TV to portable

    • But Nintendo is doing fairly well on portable devices compared to home console. This tackles both.

      Idea of playing a game then taking it with me is great for me as there has been many times I’ve wished I could it it.

    • The problem with Sony’s cross-play and cross-save is that it’s a time consuming hurdle each time you transition from one platform to another, and requires that you have an internet connection to facilitate this.

      If you want to stop on PS4 and start playing on Vita on the bus, you need to save on PS4, upload the save in cross-save, turn on the PS Vita, and then download that save manually before you leave the house. There may be automated games, but cross-save isn’t automated in the background.

      With Switch, you grab that console, stick it in your bag and go. There’s no barrier to this.

      • I hate how the trophies still need to be “synced” and it doesn’t happen completely automatically (well it does – IF you look at your list of trophies).

        I recently got a few trophies for FF XV and then switched to another console – I had uploaded my save so I had the progress, but the trophies I had lost and had to redo. The only way to get them was to replay the game or start from a save before I got the trophies (which in my obsessiveness, I’ve also had – thankfully).

  4. I’m actually really excited for the switch. I would just be happy playing Zelda. I was contemplating on getting a wii u but I will just get this as it makes more sense. Hopefully there will be a Zelda bundle. I never listen to the negative crap yeah there could be more games on release but if I remember the Ps3 was the same.

  5. It’s too expensive. £75 for the controllers. £42 for one. £50 games and it seems it’s mostly rereleases of games from the past few years. It’s going to do a Wii U again.

    The Joy-cons are tiny! Gimmicky stuff is part of it and probably be dropped within 2 years. It’s bigger then I thought it be but kinda hinders the portable aspect of it unless that is an enlargened model of it then kinda paints a confusing image for it.

    The lack of a decent launch line up is going to hurt them again. Wii U was pretty much hurt by that(along with other stuff) and this not having much available is a massive failure. Yet, they have a large backlog. They should release all NES/SNES/N64/Gamecube games that they have the rights for weekly to help keep people interested and i’m certain plenty of folks would be happy to play classics whilst waiting for more current gen games.

    Lower the price.

    • The Joy-Cons are less gimmicky than the Dual Shock 4… And although I agree they’re too expensive, they seem like very interesting controllers and have supposedly well over 15 hours of batterylife.

      Combine that with the advanced sensors and rumble, which make the DS4 and Xbone controller look last-gen, and it’s starting to make sense.

      Hopefully they’ll drop in price with time.

  6. It does some pretty neat things and i hope it’s successful for Nintendo but it’s going to be a slow burn until the game library pads out a bit.

  7. Critics be damned, I’m really looking forward to getting my Switch. It ticks a lot of boxes for me.

    – It looks perfect for kids. My eldest is 4 and is starting to become interested in gaming.
    – The off-TV feature is going to be perfect and should mean I can play bigger games without the Mrs pestering me all evening because she wants to watch crap on TV.
    – BOTW looks like everything I could possibly want from a LoZ game.
    – Sub-£300 price point means I can get one at launch without having to work out which kid to sell first.

    The paid online service doesn’t bother me as I don’t tend to do a lot of online gaming, but I can totally understand why some people are pissed about that. Its up to Nintendo I suppose to prove its value.

    The limited launch line up doesn’t bother me either. It sounds like Nintendo are planning on bringing out a steady stream of games throughout the year. I much prefer this approach as some of those Wii-U droughts were rough.

    I will say however that those accessory prices are ludicrous and it will be a long time before I pick up a Pro Controller and additional Joy Cons.

  8. It actually looks quite good. I find the lack of games disturbing.. Also, £40 for half a controller. That’s ludicrous, £40 for the pair would be acceptable.

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