Topic: Is anyone else ready for a portable-only Switch?

@Mrtoad They're already doing that in Japan with detachable Joy-Cons, so just removing the dock already knocks it down to roughly $250.

If Nintendo makes non-detachable Joy-Cons and somehow slims down production and etc needed, I can see a Switch Mini (that can still go in a dock, but it doesn't come with a dock) hitting $200 in like a year or two possibly, which is a much sweeter price point for young kids.

@Kimyonaakuma
"How is the Vita not a real handheld? It actually isn't that bad and has some great games."

3 Reasons why PS VITA is Suck in my opinion :
1. Games library. PS VITA Doesn't Even have interesting games like on 3DS.

3DS has A Lot of Cute games (Animal Crossing New Leaf, Captain Toad, Nintendogs, Fantasy Life, Disney Magical World 2, etc), Girlie games (Style Savvy, Imagine series, Cooking Mama, etc), Mii games (Miitopia, Tomodachi Life, Dillon's Dead Heat Breakers), Pokemon games (Main entry & spinoff), etc.

In Contrary, PS VITA just only bunch of Boring games (Realistic driving, Action Anime games like One Piece / Gundam, Football, American football, Motobike racing, etc) & Tons of rated 18+ games. NO Cute games, NO Cartoonish games, NO Quirky games, NO Girlie games, NO Peaceful games, NO Educative games, Forget PS VITA !

2. Backward Compatible. 3DS has backward with NDS, makes my 3DS very worthy. I can Maximize my games library from NDS games to be played on New 3DS XL with better performance.

In contrary, PS VITA Doesn't Even have Backward with PSP. The PSP games from PSN are just Blah, Digital download Only & Not Worthy at all + Even Worse games library.

3. Memory Stick. PS VITA Memory Stick is DAMN Expensive with Very Ridiculous Small amount of GB Storage. I would rather choose 3DS with either 16 / 32 GB Micro SD Card ( Cheaper & Easier).

I happen to think the Switch is near perfect as it is and really don't see the point of a portable-only variation as that would seem to defeat the whole point behind the system. Not to mention that shrinking the screen size would make certain games virtually unplayable due to interfaces that are already almost too small on the Switch's 6-inch screen.

Now what I could see Nintendo making is a Game Boy successor that is forwards compatible with the Switch, sort of like the Game Boy player for the GameCube. This would serve the portable-only market without dividing Nintendo's resources between two completely different systems.

@Mountain_Man Well, this is also the same company that made the 2DS, which removed the 3D effect from the 3DS, arguably the system's biggest selling point or at least intended to be. And released the New 2DS XL after the Switch. So we'll see, but I do think that we might see a slimmer Switch with non-detachable Joy-Cons as a budget option.

The original 2DS was a sturdier, non-folding model intended for very young children and didn't cut into the 3DS's primary market. The folding version of the 2DS wasn't introduced until long after the 3DS had pretty much saturated the market. Also, the 2DS is 100% compatible with the 3DS, so Nintendo's development resources weren't divided between competing systems.

@Mountain_Man I'd argue that a slimmer Switch with non-detachable Joy-Cons can still work reasonably well. You'll lose out on easy two-player functionality, but it'll be intended for one-per-person and not one-per-household like the standard SKU we have right now, and it'll still be dockable (just that the dock is sold separately from the Switch Mini) and fully compatible with the current model and other Joy-Cons/controllers and such. So the Switch Mini can fill the same purpose the 2DS served.

Which is why we're discussing a Switch mini and not a 4DS...

I doubt they can design a "slimmer" model of the Switch without it getting too pricey

My kids were 15 and 8 years old when the Switch launched. I trusted them then and I trust them now, a lot more than I would trust some adults. We've all been using my Switch since day one and the only problem we've had so far is a drifty stick on a left Joy-Con, which has been reported by so many people that I really doubt it had anything to do with my kids.

My point is not "look how awesome my kids are" (my youngest is actually a massive hellraiser 👹 who drives me to drink) but that kids in general can be trusted more than you think. I taught my kids to be careful with my toys, and thus far even my little kobold has been very careful. I honestly would be more worried letting some of the adults I know playing with my Switch. Strong adult hands and recklessness can probably damage the Switch more easily than most kids could.

And you know their internal budgets? Wow, this is amazing we have a bonified NIN insider telling they know more then NIN knows. Also least you forget there are share holders payments that needs to be done before they can consider any profits they get to reinvest into NIN. Also older hardware will always decline because something Newer is there. That's something everyone Business 101 knows will happen.

And you know this from where? So now your working for NIN and know their budget and forecast. One shouldn't talk for NIN when they aren't part of the Internal.

Nintendo is a publicly traded company. They hold shareholders meetings every quarters. Skywake only needs to check their investors briefings, which are public info.

In fact, we are getting the latest sales figures for the last quarter any day now.

@SwitchForce
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2018/180426e.pdf

Pages 14 & 15

@JasmineDragon : I was referring to children under the age of 7. I would expect children aged 8 and over to generally be responsible enough to handle the Switch with care, but I also personally know of many children that probably wouldn't be.

@JasmineDragon Lolol nicely done

@SwitchForce Mind your language!

I'm not sure what market people are thinking a portable-only Switch would serve. A portable-only version makes about as little sense as a dock-only version, because people who want a portable-only or dock-only Switch can simply buy the Switch and never use the dock or leave it permanently in the dock, depending on their preference.

I think this speculation is driven mostly by people who want a cheaper Switch rather than thinking what makes the most sense for Nintendo, especially with the Switch enjoying such enormous success. I hope that if Nintendo does release a new portable-only system in the next couple of years that it it will be its own system but with games that will be forwards compatible with the Switch. That, I think, would be the ideal for Nintendo's current business.

I don't know about a portable only, but they should certainly release the dock less bundle everywhere. We now have 3 switches and I for sure would've bought the dock less option for 2 of them.

@Mountain_Man There may be some overlap between greedy people just wanting cheaper Switches, but Nintendo has expressed some amount of interest to see if they can move the Switch from a one-per-household console to a one-per-person system. An SKU that comes without the dock (but can still be dockable) can lead to that.

The target demographic would be those who just want the portability and don't care about docking (so they save like $50 or more not getting the standard bundle) and/or young kids who already own a Switch due to relatives but want one of their own. Young kids especially, if Nintendo is able to tap into that market who want multiple Switches per household, then we can potentially see sales closer to the DS than the Wii. Potentially is the key word though. It's not an easy decision to make or go with, especially if it leads to market confusion, and there's still no guarantee the Switch can reach the Wii's level of success.

But Nintendo has already been experimenting in Japan with their dockless bundle, so we may see that come to fruition in the West should that be successful.

@EvilLucario Selling the Switch sans dock at a lower price-point makes a heck of a lot more sense than a portable-only hardware revision.

@Anti-Matter
"NO Cute games, NO Cartoonish games, NO Quirky games, NO Girlie games, NO Peaceful games, NO Educative games, Forget PS VITA !" Yes because those games are a console sellers right?!

Every console that does not have those games is doomed!