Switch Reveal Opinion Extravaganza

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It’s Dae here! I promised to write up a bit on my opinion on the Switch reveal, but it turned out to be longer than I expected. Therefore I’ll take this opportunity to publish my first article in a couple of years. Enjoy!

Let’s get the conference out of the way first; it was a poor showing. Live shows are usually a hit or a miss and this one was definitely a miss. Awkward, stiff translations as well as weird presentation of games and holding out on information that would entice customers are among my major gripes. The nice thing is that the Zelda trailer was absolutely amazing and Mario and Xenoblade 2 had a good showings too. But Zelda shouldn’t have been the final ‘one more thing’ surprise, everybody expected it to be a launch title already. Rather, I’d have liked a Metroid tease or something along those lines as a finisher for the show.

The lack of distinct games was also apparent. I guess they didn’t want to show games that weren’t prepared for release, but it didn’t show any confidence that they could produce a steady lineup of games for the Switch. People fear a repeat of the Wii U now, and that could really damage the sales of the console. I also wonder what makes the games so sparse at launch. Nintendo hasn’t released a lot of games in the past two years so I would have assumed they were working on new ones. If that isn’t the case, what were they doing all the time? I guess we’ll have to take a wait and see approach here and time will tell if they announce more games.

The games that have been announced do look pretty good though. Zelda is, of course, breathtaking and had one of the best trailers for a game I’ve ever seen. It really hit all the marks on a checklist of ‘how to make the perfect trailer’. Odyssey looks refreshing and can set itself apart from Galaxy so it won’t have the trouble of being compared to its shadow. The real life city may feel a bit uncanny valley, but I actually like the effect it brings out and luckily there’s a whole slew of different environments. Really looking forward to a more sandbox-style Mario again after the more linear games we’ve had in the past ten years. Splatoon 2 looks fresh, although it looks more like an upgraded port instead of a actual sequel, but then again what is a shooter sequel actually? You can’t innovate a lot except for new weapons, new maps, new strategies and a better online infrastructure. I don’t know if it was confirmed or denied, but I hope for online co-op possibility. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is also more of a luxury port, but the base game was great and this one will still be lots of fun for parties. I liked the new style of Xenoblade 2 too; it’s a bit different from the previous two but that’s OK in my opinion. Looking forward to hear about those games. 1 2 Switch looks like a fun mini-game collection, but I understand people saying they wanted this to be a pack in title. I don’t expect many people to cough up $50 for it, and I do believe they should have made it a $30 game, but I wouldn’t count on Nintendo rethinking it as a pack-in. I feel like they want to give the impression of it being a top-quality title.

The Switch will launch with only a couple of games, the sparsest it’s ever been for a launch of a console. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. First, you have Nintendo releasing Zelda: BotW. Most who picks up a Switch will pick up Zelda too. That makes for a tough competition from the get-go and games like Skyrim really could suffer from it. That’s why I think some high profile games got delayed last minute when they heard Zelda was making launch. And on the third party side, there a few ports of older games. But then I think, who buys all those ports anyway? Yes, they can make the ports and show ‘confidence’ in the Switch, but neither customers want old ports of uninteresting games they already bought and the publisher won’t make their money back too. It’s sadly a bit of self fulfilling prophecy, as few ports don’t entice customers to buy the console which leads to even fewer ports. But the Switch will all-in-all be a Nintendo and Japanese gaming system, and we just have to have faith in the usual companies to bring over their franchises. In this way I see Switch more as 3DS, with it getting the 3DS like library. With this I mean stuff like Phoenix Wright, Zero Escape… To be successful I think Nintendo just have to push through with being an alternative system, there’s no point to go compete with PS4 and XB1 without bringing some new stuff on the table.

And that brings me to the hardware. I haven’t used the actual hardware itself, but I read many positive impressions. The build quality is great and the looks are top notch. I even find it to have a bit of ‘sex-appeal’. If you search for direct comparison shots between the Switch and Wii U Gamepad, you’ll realize how bad the Gamepad looked and feel like it was made by Fisher-Price. But they did a great job with the Switch. The concept is appealing, and can be demonstrated easily to someone unfamiliar with the console. As a power engineer with some electronics background, I can also tell from all the technical stuff I read that this is the best console they could have built. The processor and graphics card is the most modern one that can power the console for continuous use. Processors in a iPhone 7 or upcoming Galaxy S8 may be faster, but they clock down due to power and heat concerns. The battery is also rather large and takes up a lot of space already, so saying they skimped out on battery is untrue. The battery life might not be a lot, but it’s actually comparable to phones running at 100% load. They also use a lot of modern application like USB C fast charging, Wifi AC, multitouch… Maybe you don’t believe it, but it’s really an impressive piece of tech that is competitive with stuff released today.

We can’t forget about the best parts of the console too: the Joy-Cons. I feel like they are the heart of the console, they are so well designed that the concept of the Switch really shines. Some vendors do have some detachable controllers for a generic tablet, but the from factor, build quality and ease of use are so far ahead that you can really see the ‘Nintendo magic’. Switching (haha, get it?) between docked, portable and table mode is so easy that it gets this wow factor when showing it off to friends. Being able to share a Joy-Con for two players is also nice, even though it doesn’t seem to be the most comfortable thing. But I can assure you, I can pop out my Switch and have some great fun with friends playing Mario Kart 8. The HD Rumble works well too apparently, and I think Nintendo can find some good applications for its use in games. Having some motions controls built in while functioning as traditional controllers is what makes this console combine the best of both worlds. A 20 hour battery life isn’t too shabby either, and you can easily recharge the battery when you dock the console.

This all reflects on the price too, which is indeed a bit expensive. $80 for a pair of Joy-Cons is steep, and far above a regular PS4 or Xbox One controller. Yes, you technically get two, but you’ll be buying them in pairs, because who wants a single lonely Joy-Con? I suspect many games to require a pair of Joy-Cons too, even though I don’t know if it’s possible to connect four pairs of Joy-Con if some game featured four player local multiplayer (Smash Bros?). They feature lots of tech and game companies always want to make money on accesories, but I think it would have been better if they priced it $10 to $15 lowers to reduce the sticker shock effect. The other accessories are expensive too, the Pro Controller is the definitive controller for couch gaming, but it comes with a definitive price as well. Buying extra Joy-Cons don’t even give the same colour straps, which can be bought for $8 seperately. And if you want an extra grip and be able to charge your controllers, which you can’t do with the included grip, it’ll cost you an extra $30. Granted, including it in the box would have upped the box price with another $15. If you want a ‘starters pack’ for new Switch users, you can feel nickel-and-dimed due to the high accessory costs. I wish Nintendo can first address those prices if it seems that it is a barrier to entry.

As for the box itself, I feel the $299 is still a fair price. Based on what I read, I already expected that $249 would be a tough target to reach. $299 is actually reasonable if you know what’s inside and how much things cost in manufacturing, R&D costs, distribution, retail and not to mention bad exchange rate and taxes in Europe. I believe that Nintendo still makes less profit in Europe per console sold, since people always forget that doing business in general is more expensive here due to wages, business taxes and buildings. The real question is actually value sided. It’s not: ‘Is this a fair price to charge’, but: ‘Do I feel like this is a fair price to me’. Nintendo will have to do a good job in selling value to the consumer and needs a clear messaging what it’s actually selling. In that I feel that a comparison with PS4 and generic tablets is not the way to go. Yes, the PS4 is comparable in price and more powerful, but as long as the Switch offers distinctly different features, people may still get enticed to buy. We’ll see if this works out, but I’m not the one who is calling this out as a flop already.

As for myself, I still believe in the Switch and even did save up enough the past two years to go on a crazy shopping splurge. I pre-ordered the Grey console, got the Pro Controllers, the Red/Blue Joy-Cons, the Charging Grip and an extra case. I really felt like that at some point in the future, I would have bought it anyway to play my favorite Nintendo games and therefore it doesn’t matter to me if I buy it sooner. I also want the definitive edition of Zelda, and being able to transport it between my dorm and home is a really big plus to me. I really look forward to most of the first party games that are announced, even though not many details have come out already. The conference damped my enthusiasm a bit, but I think it will be on full fire again closer to March 3rd. I’ll do a technical review of the Switch in six weeks when I get my hands on one, so look forward to reading it here!

This thing has gotten really long now, and I didn’t even touch on all the aspects of the Switch, but I need to wrap up here. If you’d like to have my opinion on an untouched subject, just ask in the comments. I’ll still check them regularly, even though I may not be an active writer anymore 🙂 I’d love to hear your opinion on the Switch too. Are you buying at launch? Holding out a bit? Or have even become uninterested? What do you think of the price? What games can entice you to buy? Tell me in the comments!

Enjoy and you’ll hear back from me when I get my Switch!

~Daedardus~

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3,671 thoughts on “Switch Reveal Opinion Extravaganza”

  4. Should probably point out that anyone found using more than one account will have their posting privileges removed. One account per person.

    Also please refrain from discussing incidents caused by individuals. Report and get on with your day. Discussing brings rule breakers the attention they want.

    Reply

  7. The switch Won’t sell well.
    Nintendo’s Casual Market which made the Wii a success is gone,many other gamers already have PS4/Xbox Ones. And the casual players who DID buy a wiiu aren’t likely going to buy a new console so soon
    Thus, The switch is going to be a console only for hardcore Nintendo Fans.

    Another issue is the launch lineup. Only 5 games and out of them 1 is worth buying. No pack in game is a huge mistake. Plus the 3rd party support isn’t really that great. The switch is still missing out on key games like Mass effect,Overwatch etc plus why are skyrim and FIFA coming so late? They likely won’t sell much either

    Reply

    • It depends on what you think selling well means. Does anyone expect it to do 90 million consoles? No, but even 40 to 50 million lifetime would mean a moderate profitable succes to Nintendo.
      We shouldn’t be relying too much on oversipmplification of demographic counts. For example, the ‘casual’ demographic that was thought to be long gone to mobile did buy 3DS and Pokémon Sun/Moon in droves. I still believe that with good marketing a good place can be found.

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    • It won’t sell too well at launch, but as they add more games, it should do decently. I don’t predict it to do worse than the WiiU. It also depends what they’re doing with the 3ds

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    • Who honestly cares, it’s either YOU want to or ya don’t, I see a lot of people base their choices on collective opinions
      But in the end ask yourself

      Do I want it or not?

      And my answer is hell yes, it could tank harder than the Wii U for all I care as long as it makes games that appeal to me which it is currently doing, and honestly it’s just something that’ll be worth it in the long run and y’never know when that ultimate dynamite game drops solely for the switch and you’re sitting in the dust because you decided to wait

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    • honestly no, there are way too many people from all console fan groups that are excited about the switch, the only problem with it is the weak launch line-up, trust me, it will sell well, just not at first

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      • Heck its not even that bad of a launch line up given nintendo and third parties are probably taking things safe and not trying to allow other games to fall victim to the star wars effect(simply the issue that when something so big is released, everything else that might even remotely appeal to the same audience sells worse due to the competition being something as big as Star Wars). Really any first party Nintendo game or nearly any third party game is going to sell less due to Zelda’s release probably being the dominating game for the first month.

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        • well yeah, I feel like most people like myself have one of the other consoles along with the nintendo console, so I buy them for their first party games, and PS4 has the third party ones, but I would hands down take a switch port that I can take anywhere over a PS4 one where I have to sit in front of a tv and not move

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          • Another really good point that could come into play. Generally we’ll have to see how third party games look on the Switch, but so long as their acceptable we will see people debating if the games better suited for the switches portability and quick play style, or something more suited to a proper home console. Really the only thing that limits third parties is the fact that the cartridges do have a smaller storage size then a blu-ray, but for most games that won’t be a big issue, and even then it’ll make dev’s step things up a lot and not need to off-load large chunks of the game onto the console itself in order for it to play.

            For me personally I’m seeing this is a great RPG machine and honestly I’m curious to see if they do anything special for multiplayer with multi platform games, like including exclusive modes for local multiplayer in large groups(since it can have up to eight consoles connected to one another via local wifi).

  8. I’m sad that there won’t be a 75% discount for players who already bought MK8, AND the DLC packs. It’s an illegal rip off, I demand Nintendo to be threatened by the Japanese government and issue them a warning for being greedy.

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  9. BOOOYAAAHHH look at this sexy playstand they’re selling for the switch
    http://gameidealist.com/wp-content/uploads/HORI-Compact-Playstand-for-Nintendo-Switch-Officially-Licensed-by-Nintendo-6.jpg
    https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/1484086092-1573099-batterijen-hori-playstand-black-nintendo-switch-nsw-029u1.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&strip=all
    I snagged it off Amazon for a steal (and I still have 100 bucks in Amazon credit)

    If this standee is anything like the Kid Icarus Stamd this thing will be mega tits great because I use that stand like every day
    http://s1.thcdn.com/design-assets/products/Large/10300633/sl.jpg

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      • Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj289d:
        On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
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  10. Has Disqus been acting weird for other people too? I feel like it’s not showing a bunch of comments that were there before. The most recent is Earthen’s message about the Switch stand, but then below that is the whole Ziggy convo. Seems very weird…..

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  11. Me: Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a ‘moth to a flame’ Pokémon

    Also Me: Wow I really like Volcorona

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    • How can anyone say that the Switch is going to be unsuccessful and not sell well if everyone that has opened pre-orders is already sold out? They clearly don’t know what they are talking about, but of course its nintendo so we’re going see people blindly bash it.

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      • I think its gonna do better the wii u if anything, the system has a good key marketing tactic that you can take high end gaming ( like graphics and such) on the go

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        • I loved the wii u but I know the switch is going to do way better, especially since they cant rant about it having bad “graphics” anymore because some of the ports have better looks then their other console counterparts.

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          • I loved wii u too! Its a great system just poorly marketed and the name should of been something else I agree on that but doesnt mean the system it self was bad.

      • Well I never hate to bring down the hammer but it’s just vaguely blind consumerism and being fueled by hype

        They exhibit a shiny new product with all these games of people want
        Ergo they scramble to snatch up every available thing (not to mention all the scalpels who FREAKING STOLE ALL THE MASTER EDITIONS)

        So they sell out, but one handful of games can’t keep it afloat for long, but like you said blind bashers are nit picky but it takes a large amount of douchery and bag wagoning to turn a populace against something

        But in the end (and I can’t clearly state this enough) it is all about our own opinions that matter, because we’re playing and living these games for ourselves not for anybody else

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  17. Best Eevee?

    Sylveon tbh, pulls off the ‘beauty otherworld disturbance’ thing old fairytales have, especially the bit where it comforts its prey before striking it

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  21. earthen, i need your help making a rhydon or rhyperior. i have a 5 iv rhyhorn, missing sp. atk, with ice fang, fire fang, crunch, and skull bash, any of those moves i should replace?

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    • All of them
      there exists only a few Rhydon or rarely Rhyperior sets
      standard Rhydon set
      Impish
      Lightning rod (you can’t use any other abilities competively with this set)
      252 hp
      252 def
      Evolite
      Earthquake
      Rockslide
      Dragon Tail/Roar
      Stealth rock
      Rhydon exists to absorb all forms of physical blows so you need a special wall to complete it

      Rhyperior is similar but more attacky
      Adamant/Impish/Jolly
      252 HP
      252 AtK/Def/speed
      Focus Sash/Leftovers
      Solid Rock
      Earthquake
      Rock Slide
      Megahorn
      Swords Dance/Rock Polish/Metal Burst

      Sadly Rhyperior though the evolved form is significantly lesser
      it can only serve as a physical attacker and try to last so either beef or speed up, now i personally use it as a kamikaze with a sash with metal Burst which sends any attack back stronger
      this is either a opening or a last resort only if hazards are removed

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  22. Can we have a good rhino pokemon that actually looks like a rhino plz

    Rhyhorn was close but theb it stood up and made a mess of itself

    Reply

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