10 Ways Nintendo Can Improve The Switch

It’s early days yet, but initial sales show that Nintendo have struck a chord with the Nintendo Switch. They’ve broken company sales records, Breath of the Wild has been received by a staggering degree of critical acclaim, and these are both cause for optimism for the console’s future.

Of course, it’s not a slam dunk just yet. Those sales could falter, the rest of the diminutive launch line up didn’t receive quite so much praise, a lot of people have found problems with their hardware, and there’s the usual growing pains that a new console has to endure.

Here’s ten things we’d like to see Nintendo address and improve in the coming months.


Improved Quality Control

Whether it’s the left Joy-Con’s probably weaker Bluetooth connection, scuff marks from the Switch Dock, or the system software freaking out, there’s lots of niggles and issues that a number of people are encountering. It’s actually quite impressive the number of different ways that the console has managed to break.

Nintendo need to address these issues, offer actual solutions to these problems – sorry, but keeping your Switch away from aquariums is not a solution – and where necessary, alter their hardware for new and existing customers. They’ve done it before with the Wiimote’s easily thrown design, and Nintendo may need to swallow their pride on some of these issues.

These include…

Redesigned Wrist Strap

The Joy-Con slides into the Switch and into the Joy-Con Grip, but the wrist strap slides onto the Joy-Con. It’s opposite land, and quite a few people are able to be caught out by the strap’s reversible design.

Thankfully, it’s not the end of the world, but Nintendo should, as per the above, redesign the wrist strap and offer solid guidance on how best to remove an incorrectly attached Joy-Con.

Basically, hire this woman:

Third Party Docks

Despite using USB-C, the Switch does not play nicely with USB-C docks that feature HDMI, USB and power passthrough. That’s a shame, because if I want to play Switch on a TV other than my own, I need to take the dock and it’s not exactly the most travel friendly design.

Bluetooth Headset Support

It’s 2017 and there’s no Bluetooth headset support? With smartphone manufacturers being all “courageous” left, right and centre, Nintendo are making me carry a second set of earbuds around with me. Even the PS Vita from five years ago can support Bluetooth audio.

Save File Transfers and Backups

Nobody likes to lose all their hard fought progress and game time, so let us backup saves to the microSD card and copy it to new systems, at the very least.

Surely, with the Wii U and 3DS featuring backup and transfer utilities, this is on the way.

Play Time Logging and Activity

This is a feature that’s almost included already, with certain stats viewable to you and your friends on your online player profile and the Parental Controls app’s tracking providing more granular detail.

In lieu of achievements or trophies of some description, bringing this to the fore, giving you more detailed play stats in the main Switch system software would be a lovely touch.

Speaking of which…

Achievements

I’m a little torn on this one. Breath of the Wild would not have been quite the same freeform and wide open experience if the game led you to play things in a certain way via achievements.

At the same time, they’re a great way to expose the more unusual ideas and nudge people to find everything a game has to offer.

Honestly, if this feature didn’t make the cut for the Switch launch, then unfortunately you shouldn’t expect to see it down the line either.

Online Infrastructure

The first glimpses of Nintendo’s online functions on the Nintendo Switch haven’t exactly been too positive. Some functions like voice chat and party management have been carved off for a forthcoming smartphone app, they still rely on friend codes, and the first multiplayer games, Super Bomberman R and Fast RMX, are beset by lag.

With the Splatoon 2 Testfire at the end of the month and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at the end of April, Nintendo need to get up to speed with this as soon as possible and really justify their decision to start charging money for online play later this year.

Virtual Console

It’s only a matter of time before Nintendo start to roll some of their extensive back catalogue across to the Nintendo Switch. We want to see something a little more comprehensive than the agonising drip feed of their last few platforms.

Of course, there are also significant hurdles to overcome, with few Nintendo consoles having true parity of features. We’re eager to see if and how Nintendo can overcome needing analogue triggers for GameCube games, the lack of a touch screen from the Wii U, and others. Sadly, the Wii U may remain the console with the more comprehensive VC support.

For the time being, all we have to enjoy are a small catalogue of NeoGeo games.

Music in the eShop

The Wii U’s eShop is currently absolutely majestic, with the sweeping, soaring main theme from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gracing your ears as you browse dozens of games. The Switch eShop, by contrast, is lifeless and sorely lacking any kind of personality.

It’s also hampered by the incredibly strange demand for a password before letting you browse its wares, where every other online shop I can think of asks for a password at the point of purchase.


How do you think that Nintendo can improve upon the Switch? Let us know in the comments below, but also try really, really hard not to suggest that they get out of the hardware business and make game for PS4 and Xbox One. Really try, because that’s not exactly constructive criticism, is it now? 

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10 Comments

  1. Amen to the italics paragraph at the end. Personally tired of seeing you know what.

    I’d have honestly bought a Switch if I didn’t have so many games to play and Scorpio wasn’t on the horizon. I may yet receive one for my birthday later in the year though, and Zelda seals it for me.

    It’s weird, but I think when the games and core functionality are that good, the niggles are easy to ignore. I reckon if they adressed all of the above in a modern way, they could cement success for the future, purely on the basis that better social and online guarantees a deeper experience.

    • Same, same…

      Switch has so many great ideas, I think Nintendo just need to wake up a little on some things and there’s a few points the definitely need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

  2. Nintendo, why oh why do you put the button actions the opposite way round to the rest of the world. Could you please allow a default change so a actions button b and visa versa. The number of times I keep saying bye in zelda conversations – I just can’t change my life long gaming habits – argh!

    Saying that I’m loving zelda and the switch. Great first impression for the console.

    • But Nintendo’s button layout harks back to the NES and SNES, which predate the button layout on the PlayStation and Xbox…

  3. Im really looking forward to getting a switch one day. Only downer for me not sure if its major is the battery life and time to charge. Thinking that they will improve this in the future with a hardware refresh?

    and lack of games, i was all for Nintendo from NES to Wii then stopped… but i would kill for Mario and Zelda but £300 for a console to play two games is a little excessive for me :)

    • And now we all know how much you value a human life! ;)

      • Ha yes.. but i didn’t say what i would kill for it :P

        I miss Zelda, loved those games when I was younger… when games were a bit more challenging and didn’t guide you and tell you what to do every step of the way…..

  4. I couldn’t agree more with that last paragraph. So annoying.

    Although, I don’t think any comment could be considered constructive unless thesixthaxis.com is regularly frequented by members of the Nintendo Switch design team.

    Personally, I think they should half the price and release a white version.

  5. 11th combined with 12th way, drop the screen and drop it 75 euros. I don’t use public transport and have no interest in portable gaming. With the Wii U I always made sure the tablet was empty so the damn thing wouldn’t turn on.

  6. On the “left joy-con” issue…

    My right joy con was losing sync (yes, right) – buttons wouldn’t press for a couple seconds at a time, the analogue input would stop working and spin the direction I had been pressing. A couple of times it lost sync all together and the console was asking me to reconnect.

    This could happen 2-3 times in a 20 minute period and also might not happen for 30-60 minutes at a time. I switched off all surrounding equipment which could cause interference (Nintendo’s support page for the topic is helpful and comprehensive on what sources of interference can exist in your home). The issue though still continued.

    Luckily I had a pro controller on hand so it didn’t spoil my initial experience with breath of the wild too much…

    So… the reason I mention all this is to say that there is a lot of hearsay about the so called “left joy-con issue” and most of it, as someone who’s job it is to troubleshoot these kind of wireless communication issues, as far as I can tell, is nonsense.

    I took my controller back, and after some discussion in the shop and a couple of hours for them to playtest and “see” the issue I got the controller replaced and the replacement works perfectly after a good few hours of testing.

    It really is very simple. If you have a controller which is acting in this way, and removing possible sources of interference does not resolve, the controller is faulty.

    One word of warning to anyone taking back a controller, do NOT let them reset your console. It will not resolve this issue and you will lose your game saves.

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