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SIX MONTHS ON, AND I'M IN LOVE WITH THE NINTENDO SWITCH - by Mr Biffo

23/8/2017

23 Comments

 
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I'm back.

I wasn't back, but now I am back. Back - once again - like the renegade master. You know: the one with the ill behaviour.

As I have whined about previously on these pages and so-called "social" media, it had been a while since I'd played any video games. I was busy doing Found Footage, I was busy finishing up my work so that I could have time - and money - to take the family away. Thus, something had to give. Alas, games were the thing that had to go. Well, except for Word Soup on my iPhone, which - I'll admit - scarcely counts as a game.

Still, I knew the day was approaching when I would game again, and... thank Korky for the Switch, and its portable qualities. 

Six months on and I'm happy to declare that Nintendo's Switch is now up there with the Xbox 360 and Super NES as one of my favourite games consoles of all time. I suspect that position is only going to consolidate once I've played Super Mario Odyssey.

This isn't because I'm some blinkered Nintendo fanboy - lest we forget, I thought the Wii U was a rat's lavatory, and I never really fell in love with the N64. Nevertheless, throughout the dips, I retained an optimistic respect for Nintendo's stubborn, singular, determination to do things their way. 

I love the purity of Nintendo's approach, the craftsmanship, the uniqueness. And I respect them for trying different things, even when they didn't get it right first time. The Switch feels like a confident consolidation of the Nintendo approach, a vast eff-off to rest of the industry. It's Nintendo digging its heels in, and saying "It doesn't all have to be like that". 

Or maybe it isn't that at all. Maybe, and more likely, Nintendo just ignores the rest of the industry, and isn't even aware of what's going on with Sony and Microsoft.
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NO DOUBTS
Like most, I had my doubts about the Switch. We forget that the launch line-up wasn't all that, because Breath of the Wild blew us all away. We forget how we all grumbled pre-release at how low-powered it felt compared to its rivals. We weren't sure about the controllers, the battery life, the build quality, that dreadful too-cool-for-school lifestyle ad.

Since then, though, all our worries have been proven unfounded. Furthermore, Nintendo's slow-and-steady release schedule has borne fruit. While I was away, as well as playing a lot of Sonic Mania - a multi-format title, which feels more at home on the Switch than any other system - I finally caught up with Arms and Splatoon 2. And the kids played a bit of 1-2-Switch. 

Nobody else makes games like these. Nobody. And if they do make games a bit like these, they feel crowbarred onto machines which weren't designed for them. I mean, I should've loved Yooka-Laylee, but playing it on the PS4 felt incongruous. It was like turning up to a grown-up dinner party in a Jack Sparrow fancy dress costume, and interrupting a fascinating conversation about investment portfolios by putting your face in the trifle and going "Blub-a-lub-a-lub".

It's weird. I can't entirely put my finger on it, but Nintendo games - or, rather, Nintendo-style games - now seem jarring when they appear on consoles designed for photorealistic RPGs and first-person shooters.

Even Super Mario Run felt kind of wrong on my iPhone. Hopefully, the Switch has been enough of a success that Nintendo has taken a few steps back from the smartphone precipice. 
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TV FREE
I've still barely played the Switch on my TV. For me, it remains a handheld system - the most powerful handheld of all time - and the thrill of being on holiday, and being able to play proper console-quality games, is still a novelty. Albeit not a fidget spinner-type novelty that we're all going to move on from in a year, but one which I suspect - hope - will become the new normal.

I think what I love most about the Switch is what I loved about the original Wii; the fact it has been a success means that Nintendo will feel confident enough to stick to its guns, and not take a radical course-correction. There'll be no watered-down Call of Duty games on the Switch, and it would smack of desperation if there were.

This is a system for playing the kind of games Nintendo wants to make - and what's wonderful about most of those games is that they feel like an evolution of the games Nintendo was making 20, 30 years ago. 

The Switch is an oasis of optimism in a cynical, scary, world. It feels, to me, warm and welcoming, and an antidote to games which reflect the times we live in, rather than offer an alternative, a better place.

​And surely that's something we can all benefit from these days?
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
REVIEW: SONIC MANIA (SWITCH, PS4, XBOX ONE, PC - SWITCH VERSION TESTED)
​
10 TIE-IN GAMES WHICH NOBODY EVER NEEDED
LET'S FACE IT: THERE'S NO WAY TO LOOK COOL PLAYING LASER TAG
23 Comments
Darren Lock link
23/8/2017 12:13:20 pm

Yeah, I did a similar thing on the YouTubes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPFlEQivRv8

I just still don't like the Joycons much and am too much of a tightwad to buy the Pro Controller. But Nintendo are delivering Nintendo games, which is what I want. I'm sick of shooting people in the face and so this returns me to a more genteel, arcadey time.

My main gripe is about Nintendo not producing enough of the console and the cost of the games.

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Raybies
24/8/2017 09:24:42 pm

Buy a Pro Controller and shoot people in the face with ink.

You know it makes sense.

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Darth Tinder
23/8/2017 12:59:54 pm

See, I think they (Nintendo) are on to something with this bit: "the thrill of being on holiday and being able to play proper console-quality games... will become the new normal."

Every other form of media can now be read / watched / listened to on a portable device - there's a loss of fidelity but it's basically all there. Being able to do that with your telly-console games is such a bloody genius why-didn't-I-think-of-that move, really.

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Col. Asdasd
23/8/2017 02:20:13 pm

I'm going on a holiday with some mates in the autumn, and I'm thrilled at the thought of being able to sneak in some Zelda on the plane, or pile into a someone's room for a drunken Mario Kart tournament at the end of a long day.

But it might not actually *happen*, because I'm terrified at the thought of the thing getting damaged or robbed. That's the problem I have with the portable lifestyle Nintendo are selling - it's tempting as anything, but you have to be willing to expose £300 or more's worth of kit to a fair bit of risk.

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RG
23/8/2017 03:37:34 pm

Most people tke more expensive phones everywhere - and there's always holiday insurance.

I get your point though - I'd worry carrying a Switch around with me.

Darth Tinder
23/8/2017 03:50:47 pm

Yeah, it is a worry that I've seen a lot of people having, and it's a valid one. On the other hand... look, we all laughed at the Switch advert with the guy playing Skyrim on the plane, but if you go on any kind of public transport you'll see people watching movies on a tablet, people reading a Kindle, people listening to music on their smartphone. In the hairdresser's the other day there was a kid with a 3DS. She didn't bloody care!

I think this is who Nintendo are going for. Probably won't happen overnight but it's worth pursuing. If only because if games are going to appeal to anyone other than 12-year-old boys they've got to be getting out there, right in the same (literal) space as every other form of media and bringing in more people will help the medium artistically. I suppose you can argue that mobile games are already doing that, though...

Picston Shotttle
23/8/2017 02:53:27 pm

I'd love a Switch, especially cos I'm doing a load of traveling for work, and being able to play games on the plane (hello, 20 odd hour flights to Singapore!) or in a hotel room where the only TV worth watching is CNN or BBC World, would be pretty great. Alas, Nintendo is totally shit at the whole supply and demand thing. Specifically the supply bit.

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King of Duckhenrys
23/8/2017 05:29:48 pm

You can't blame Nintendo entirely for the supply issues with the switch* There is a massive shortage of mobile components and capacity to produce components across the industry. Nintendo have to fight against the big boys like Apple and Samsung to get parts. They're not going to win.

* The NES mini seems to be a different story.

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Mickles
23/8/2017 06:01:15 pm

6 months on and I still have no desire to get one. There’s hardly any software and it’s still a retrograded Wii U marketed well. The AAA software I’ve still got to play and/or finish on the magnificent Wii U is still backlogged. The complete lack of quality party multiplayer experience means we’ve never played it with friends who have one—unlike the Wii U with the brilliant Nintendo Land for example. Splatoon 2 still doesn’t appeal due to lack of second screen and the first one is just as playable and popular as ever. Mario kart is already on the Wii U but stripped of the second lot of DLC they never released for it just to get the switch to sell better; for shame. First major Nintendo console, ever, that I’ve had no love for. And coming from a big Nintendo fan, that’s a real shame. They’ve shifted their target audience again back to the Wii-era for profits and it’s hurting bad. Maybe by the end of its life in 5 years or so there'll be some decent software, but damn, what a let down after their last effort, poorly selling as it alas was.

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Spiney O'Sullivan
24/8/2017 12:56:41 am

As I own a Wii U (though I'm much less fond of it than you are), I'm still really waiting for a really great reason to own a Switch. I have Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros and (a largely unplayed copy of) Breath of the Wild on the Wii U (not to mention Sonic Mania on the PS4). nothing else really screams "buy me", since I don't really have much interest in Arms or Splatoon.

I mostly want one for portable multiplayer Bomberman, but I'm not sure I can justify about £400 for that alone (factoring in the game and more Joycons).

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mandlecreed
23/8/2017 08:56:35 pm

I'm imagining pub-bound Rocket League games will become a thing upon its release. Switch pub gaming > Online gaming.

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Readie
24/8/2017 08:40:44 am

I took the Switch plunge five months ago. Haven't plugged it into the telly once, and have barely touched the PS4 once. I love it. And I'm not being insincere, Dave.

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Wicked Eric
24/8/2017 09:25:50 am

I bought a switch last week and I think putting CoD on there would be good.

Am I wrong? :(

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That's No Moon
24/8/2017 01:42:31 pm

Taken mine camping a few times this year and it is brilliant for the family to play MK8, Zelda and Overcooked in the tent while it pisses down outside.

Previously one or two of us would have their 3DS out and play "alone together" but now it feels like how I remember the Wii got everyone involved, except now it's anywhere.

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Jareth Smith
24/8/2017 06:50:30 pm

Yeah, I love the Switch. I'm a fan of the Wii U which had some incredible exclusives, it was just a bit of a flawed gem. The Switch builds on this magnificently and once more games come out, this is going to be the must own games console. What's the alternative? The PS4 and Xbox One and their cynical business upgrades for better graphics on an endless stream of CoD and GTA clones? No thanks.

As a PC gamer as well, it's more obvious than ever the perfect pairing is a Nintendo console and Steam. That's where the best games be.

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Xbox and PS4 CoD and GTA Clone
24/8/2017 10:48:42 pm

My people prefer the term "multi-platform open world action games and first person shooters".

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Starbuck
24/8/2017 10:49:10 pm

Absolutely agree. Wii U has more gems than a packet of iced ones (can you still get those?). Can't wait for the release of our Switch into the Starbuck household for various combined birthday / Christmas presents, but the Wii U will still be seeing "action".

Will still miss one console multiscreen multiplayer though - so much more unfulfilled potential...

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lemonapple
25/8/2017 06:33:15 pm

"proper console-quality games, is still a novelty"

Huh? Vita did this years a go.

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Roy (Stuart N Hardy fan)
25/8/2017 08:26:29 pm

I love my Switch.
That is all.
I read you every day.

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Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
26/8/2017 02:18:01 am

Breath of the Wild (WiiU port), Mario Kart 8 (WiiU port), Splatoon (inferior WiiU sequel with ridiculous headset), Arms (the only new thing) fail to convince me I need a WiiU where the sides of the Gamepad fall off.

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Dangerous Dave
27/8/2017 09:52:13 am

Splatoon 2 is much better than the original. As much as I loved that one, I don't think I could make the leap back now. It's more engaging, more combat focused and has Salmon Run, which is great fun. It also plays very nicely off-tv, which is something you just can't do with the original. It suits me nicely.

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Korky Whicker
27/8/2017 12:23:16 pm

> Thank Korky

who remember

Reply
Richard Wager
15/9/2017 04:28:18 pm

I told you so, do I win?

Reply



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