
2016 is a long, long, loooong time ago now, but I'll try to take you back to October 20th, 2016, the day the Nintendo Switch was announced. The US Presidential Election was looming, Brexit was still a massive question mark, and Disney's Moana, Disney's Rogue One, Disney's Captain America: Civil War, and Disney's Finding Dory were dominating movie news headlines.
The Wii U had not performed well, and as a result, people were apprehensive, sceptical, and downright derisive when Nintendo finally announced that their next hardware release, codenamed NX, would be a hybrid home and portable console with the name "Nintendo Switch". It seemed gimmicky, a little tacky, and perhaps not the new direction that people were hoping for, and Nintendo's stock actually fell from $32.40 to $28.75 following the announcement.
Of course, in hindsight, it all turned out okay — the Switch has been phenomenally popular — but those concerns were very real at the time. We thought it would be fun to revisit some of the worries that surrounded the announcement of Nintendo's next-gen console, to see if any of them actually ended up being prescient...
(Oh, and, just to clarify — this isn't a hit piece, or a smug "look at these numpties" kind of thing. In fact, a lot of the pieces I'll be digging through weren't wholly negative about the Switch, and many of them were even cautiously excited — and at least one of them is me.)
"The memory is pants"

"If I buy [The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild] as a digital download," said Brian Fagioli of betanews, "it will apparently take up 40 percent of the console's internal storage. This is because the gaming tablet only has a paltry 32GB. Sure, I can buy a micro SD card to expand it, but that it just another purchase, driving the true cost of owning the console higher."
Brian's right on the money, there: Nintendo decided to thin down the memory of the base console to keep costs low, passing those costs directly on to the consumer.
Nintendo basically needs consumers to purchase Micro SD cards if they ever plan to download more than a handful of games.
"It does absolutely cripple the company's ability to make its own digital store a viable alternative to GameStop and Walmart and Amazon," says Erik Kain on Forbes. "With just 32 GB of storage, Nintendo basically needs consumers to purchase Micro SD cards if they ever plan to download more than a handful of games."
The ever-plummeting cost of Micro SD cards means this wasn't a calamitous misstep on Nintendo's part, but it's frustrating that $300 for the console, plus another $60 for Breath of the Wild, plus ANOTHER $80 for a second pair of Joy-Cons if you have a Player Two, has to be supplemented with yet ANOTHER few bucks for a microSD card if you ever want to own more than two big games.
There's no other side to this argument. It's just true. Fortunately, Nintendo is addressing this by doubling the internal memory of Switch OLED to a COLOSSAL 64GB. Finally a Switch that can contain an entire NBA game!
"The battery life is pants"

"You’d best hope that spouse/parent/roommate isn’t settling in for a binge-watching session, because the battery life on Switch leaves a lot to be desired," said Chris Morris for CNBC. "Hardcore players or anyone who wants to play their game on a cross-country flight might get frustrated."
He's not wrong — the Nintendo Switch, on a good day, gives you just a few hours of gameplay before it's time to plug it in. Not ideal for a handheld console — but the Switch is not really designed to be a solely handheld console, after all.
That's not to excuse it, of course. I personally play the Switch in portable mode infinitely more than I play it docked, and I wish it stood up a little more as a handheld than it currently does. The newer revisions improved things a little, but it could still be better. It can't really rival the 3DS for portability (it's huge) or robustness (it's certainly not as sturdy and bombproof as past handhelds), but it does offer much greater fidelity and graphical ability than most handhelds. It's more like a PS Vita, in that sense — something a little more high-end than the handheld consoles we grew up with.
But, to answer this one directly: the battery life is still a bit pants.
"Nintendo should be more like Microsoft and Sony"

"Players will want Call of Duty, Mass Effect, FIFA, Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil and all the other big titles," said writer Tom Orry in an article for What Culture entitled 6 Reasons The Nintendo Switch Will Fail Like The Wii U. "Given the disappointing show of support these publishers have shown so far... the Switch looks set to follow the same disappointing path set by the Wii U. A path that will ultimately lead to failure."
Mike Williams of USGamer summed it up in a title: "Nintendo Switch Is Always Aiming For Second Place Behind Something Else".
Stuff's Tom Parsons even went so far as to argue that the Switch's failure to corner the handheld and home console market would be the death knell for Nintendo's consoles, but as a good thing, giving them more resources to focus on making great games. He even predicted that "you'll be able [to] buy the next Zelda for £60 and play it on the PlayStation or Xbox you already own, rather than spending the £340 it will cost to buy both the game and a Switch." That obviously never happened (he predicted that Nintendo would quit the console-making game by 2020) — but what a world that would have been.
You'll be able [to] buy the next Zelda for £60 and play it on the PlayStation or Xbox you already own
Five years on, we still haven't seen any of those big titles that Tom Orry mentioned on Switch — and yet, it hasn't affected Nintendo's bottom line, with the Switch rapidly climbing up the charts of best-selling consoles of all time. In my opinion, at least — as someone who's owned all the consoles at one point or another — it's just apples and oranges. To make a broad generalisation: people buy Switches for Zelda, people buy PS5s for intensely photorealistic RPGs, and people buy Xboxes for Game Pass and Halo.
We didn't exactly know that would be the case in 2016, because the Wii U had tried to court that hardcore audience with woefully late releases of Assassin's Creed III and Watch Dogs, but it's reassuring to see Nintendo turn back to their roots by forging their own first-party-led path... and then also attract considerable third-party support thanks to the sheer success of the platform.
"It's too expensive"

This one's the big one. Despite being significantly cheaper than Xbox One and PS4 at their respective launches, the $300 price point of the Nintendo Switch made some nervous, especially when (by that time) you could pick up a Sony or Microsoft console for the same sort of money. That NVIDIA Tegra chip in particular raised people's hackles: in a now-deleted tweet, Ben Cousins said, "Who else is excited about developing for a low resolution Tegra tablet with stick on controls and physical media? Hell yeah!"
Digital Foundry, as expected, were sober on the specs, with Richard Leadbetter pointing out a bunch of issues with the custom Tegra chip in particular.
Leadbetter summarises: "Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this is that those hoping for Switch to bring Nintendo back into contention with Microsoft and Sony's hardware should temper expectations." Still, he calls the console "impressive", bearing in mind that "[the] Switch has to operate effectively as a handheld device with a tight power budget." Sure, the Switch is basically a beefy tablet — but if Digital Foundry are okay with it, then it must be alright.
Those hoping for Switch to bring Nintendo back into contention with Microsoft and Sony's hardware should temper expectations
USGamer ran a series of op-eds on the Switch before its release, each one more unconvinced than the last, but Mike Williams sums it up here: "If Nintendo charges $300 for the Switch, then the system will have to sit on store shelves next to similarly-priced systems with greater visual prowess, more entertainment opportunities... and much larger game libraries."
Trip Hawkins, former CEO of the 3DO company, told Polygon that he thought the "Switch is going to disappoint" because of the price being more in line with "media platform" costs and not "toy" cost, which is what he saw Nintendo's consoles as. "I just think that they have to have more modest expectations when they’re in the hardware business."
On Nintendo Life, our very own Thomas Whitehead explained his thoughts: "Whether you agree with the race downwards in prices or not, that's the market Nintendo is in. That's where it has to compete." Nintendo's refusal to budge on pricing put a lot of people off, and although he readily admits that it's probably a fair price — "take manufacturing cost, the extremely clever technology in Joy-Cons, all of the baseline numbers, and you likely arrive at $299.99" — he criticised Nintendo's "inflexibility" and unwillingness to meet the consumers halfway.

I could go either way on this one, to be honest. Being told that you're going to be dropping 300 quid on a completely unknown bit of tech, especially after having done the same for the Wii U with very little payoff, is scary — and Nintendo didn't really know how to market the Switch early on, which didn't help. Was it a tablet? A home console? A handheld? How can you judge the price of something when you don't know what it is?
Plus, as I mentioned above, the costs really mount up when you factor in the price of extra Joy-Cons, Pro Controllers, microSD cards, a second dock, a case, a screen protector, the games, and the Nintendo Switch Online subscription, which you need if you want to play online games like Splatoon 2 at all. Other home consoles don't require half that stuff, and come with hundreds of gigabytes of memory as standard.
For my money's worth, it was worth the money, even if it is a steep investment at first. But I'm a Nintendo-focused game journalist, so of course it was worth it for me. Buying Joy-Cons for $80 a pair, though — that's not something I'm too happy about, especially when they're not user-serviceable, and I can't choose custom colours.
"People don't want a handheld console"

"I don't think I [want to play console games on the go]," said Mark Brown, former EIC of Pocket Gamer and current YouTube analyst who makes Game Maker's Toolkit. "People seem to agree that games you play at home and games you play on a train are quite different."
For Mark, and many others, the idea of playing a blockbuster Zelda "on the move" wasn't something he could imagine wanting. In fact, it still is. A lot of people play the Switch one way or another, and because of its hybrid nature, it's not the best at either of them — it's too fragile and large to be a great handheld, and it's not powerful enough to contend with the likes of PS4 and Xbox One, let alone the next generation.
Then again, Switch players are totally free to forget that it's a handheld altogether. "I don't really think of the Switch as a handheld console," said Tumbleseed artist and designer Greg Wohlwend to Polygon. "It's a high-end console, full stop."
Personally, I use my Switch as a handheld a lot, to the point where I pretty much wore my first Switch out completely. But, in the past, Nintendo has always offered us one or the other, and going forwards, perhaps we won't get to choose. Those who want only a home console will no doubt be disappointed by the graphical compromises they have to make for the Switch.
"There aren't enough games"

"The biggest issue is a lack of games," says Brian Fagioli of betanews, who pointed out that Breath of the Wild wasn't an exclusive, Just Dance and Skylanders are for kids, and 1-2-Switch is a "glorified tech demo" — which is fair, because it pretty much is. And it's full price.
Paul Tassi gave a similar argument on Forbes, counting only four "new" games alongside seven re-releases for the Switch's launch. This patchy lineup made him feel pessimistic about the future: "The Nintendo Switch almost certainly feels like a console that will release 1-3 solid exclusive games a year, and not all that much else, exactly like the Wii U," he said, pointing out that there was no news on Pokémon, nothing from EA, Ubisoft, and Bethesda besides ports, and that Nintendo would have to "[rebuild] the bridges of trust with third parties" if they wanted to pack the Switch with games.
Erik Kain, also on Forbes, remarked upon the lack of third-party games as an ominous sign: "Unless we get some surprise announcements from EA or Activision, I doubt we'll see a major first-person shooter come to Nintendo's new console in 2017, if ever." Kain was right: despite building up a respectable catalogue of quality ports, the Switch still isn't the place to go for the biggest new FPSes, and his conclusion that the Switch would be "something you buy only once you've already purchased a PS4 or Xbox One" may also be true for a core gaming audience.

The lack of games and third-party publishers, admittedly, was a big launch concern — very few developers wanted to jump on board Nintendo's new ship after the last one sank so spectacularly. But it didn't take long for Nintendo to gain back that trust, or perhaps just to entice indies with a massive consumer base after the Switch sold millions.
Very few developers wanted to jump on board Nintendo's new ship after the last one sank so spectacularly
But even though the initial games lineup was sparse, it has to be said: Breath of the Wild as a launch title was a stroke of genius, because it kept us all busy for weeks and garnered the Switch a ton of goodwill. Yes, the Switch was little more than a Zelda machine in those first few months, but with the release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, Skyrim, Stardew Valley, and Super Mario Odyssey all within 2017, it didn't take long for the Switch to become a gaming powerhouse.
"There aren't enough indies"

"Nintendo is notably lacklustre at supporting the independent game scene," read one speculative article on The Guardian, by a certain Kate Gray (hey, I know her). "Sony and Microsoft both have [indie] initiatives... Nintendo's focus, though, seems to be on the market that spans handheld and home consoles."
It wasn't yet clear whether Nintendo would actually support indies developing for the Switch, nor if indies even wanted to make games for a console with less processing power than the PlayStation and Xbox. But of course there wouldn't be too many indies at launch — I highly doubt Nintendo wanted to reach out to small studios and ask them to keep a big secret, and indies aren't generally what sells consoles anyway.
Five years on, and thankfully, the Switch is an indie haven. Sometimes we get games a little later than other platforms, but that's ok for me, at least.
"It's too cheaply-made"

A handheld console, made entirely out of thin bits of plastic? Sounds fragile. "Some are already worried that the constant swapping and changing of the console’s detachable bits might lead to breakages," says Kate Gray (her again?!) in The Guardian, "and though Nintendo consoles have never been as low-quality as, say, the DualShock 4’s disintegrating analogue pads, it’s a valid concern."
And I was kinda right — the breakages don't happen as a result of detaching the Joy-Cons, because that bit is pretty sturdy and reinforced with metal, but there are plenty of other places that the Switch falls apart, like the vent fins, the flimsy kickstand, and, you know, the dreaded Joy-Con drift. Also, those Joy-Cons are flippin' TINY, especially the itty-bitty button you press to release them from the screen.
But flimsy bits aside, the Switch is also not quite as delicate and cheaply-made as we feared. However, older models certainly had their flaws, and most of us at Nintendo Life have been through at least one Switch already.
"No Netflix?"

"[The] Switch offers the freedom of a contained handheld unit with the performance and living room appeal of a console," says Kate Gray (me, once more!) for The Guardian. "It will be interesting to see if it will have the array of streaming video apps that we’ve become accustomed to from modern machines."
Remember when Microsoft went really hard on the Xbox being an "all-in-one" entertainment machine as well as a game console? I think a lot of us scoffed at the time, but right now, my main method of watching TV is through streaming services on my PS4... so Microsoft wasn't exactly wrong. The Switch, and pretty much every Nintendo console ever, has never really been up to the challenge of being an all-in-one device, and we still don't have Netflix yet, let alone Disney+ or Amazon Prime or one of the ten thousand other streaming services.
Yet again, this was a legitimate concern... but perhaps not one a lot of people are particularly bothered about, five years later. They've got the Hulu app in the US and sure, it would be nice to have more TV stuff on the Switch, but admittedly, Nintendo has never positioned itself as an "entertainment system" to begin with.
"Nintendo didn't learn from the Wii U's mistakes"

Paul Tassi's speculative piece for Forbes, entitled Why I'm Worried The Nintendo Switch Is Just Another Wii U, talks a lot about how Nintendo seemed unsure how people would actually play the Switch in the reveal trailer. "I am concerned that Nintendo has learned very few lessons here," he says, "and their inability to change may spell the end of their hardware ambitions in the not-too-distant future. It’s never wise to count Nintendo out, but there are only so many times they can make the same mistakes before it comes back to bite them."
Oliver Munck of IGN Nordic had similar concerns, saying simply, "one single question about the Switch needs to be answered: Who is this console for?" He points out that it's too expensive to buy for kids, and not powerful enough for adults — a concern echoed in pretty much every one of these pieces that I've quoted. Luckily, the Switch seemed to find (or, perhaps, create) its own market regardless.
One single question about the Switch needs to be answered: Who is this console for?
There are only so many times we can mention how much of a disaster the Wii U was, but it's easy to dismiss that as silly worrying now that the Switch has proven itself a success. It really was a concern back then: that Nintendo had forgotten how to bottle lightning, and that they themselves hadn't really figured out why the Wii U failed. After all, the Wii U looked a lot like the Switch at the start: exciting prospects, but very few launch titles, plus a few gimmicks (the Game Pad / the Joy-Cons, ability to play detached from the TV) that no one really expected.

The difference — or so it seems five years in — is that the Switch launched with a new and absolutely brilliant Zelda game, and the Wii U launched with New Super Mario Bros. U, ZombiU, Nintendo Land, and a bunch of blockbuster AAA third-party ports that no one really wanted to buy a Wii U to play, especially because many of them had already been out on Xbox and PlayStation for a while already.
If the question is "did Nintendo learn from the Wii U?" then hopefully that's exactly what they learned: release a console with the best first-party stuff you've got. That's why people like Nintendo, after all.

When the Switch was announced in 2016, it was hard not to be sceptical and cautious. These industry professionals may have been way off in some cases (like Stuff declaring that Nintendo would quit consoles altogether by 2020), but there were plenty of question marks surrounding the release of this new hybrid gaming platform, and some of them did turn out to be true.
We've seen a lot of improvements since then, from the addition of Nintendo Switch Online to the updates that have just recently allowed us to use Bluetooth headphones, and we've seen the launch of a new Super Mario, a new Animal Crossing, and several remakes of old classics like Link's Awakening — but it wasn't always so idyllic in Switch Land.
It's hard to remember just how empty the game release calendar was for that first few months, and how wary we all were of this weird not-quite-tablet, not-quite-console with tiny controllers and barely any memory. Now, we're all accustomed to the Joy-Cons, we probably all have microSD cards permanently wedged into the back, and the eShop is so packed with games that we're spoiled for choice.
So, yes, the Switch is massively successful, thank goodness, despite the odds that were stacked against it in 2016. It wasn't an easy road to get here, and Breath of the Wild did most of the work at the start, but a steady cadence of quality releases and an appeal that's proven irresistible over the last five years meant that Nintendo avoided the pitfalls of the Wii U and, thankfully, left doubters eating their words and hats.
Let us know your thoughts on the Nintendo Switch's last five years in the comments — and tell us if you agree with any of the criticisms above!
Comments 253
As soon as I saw the Switch, I figured it would end up being popular. It was an obviously cool concept and one that clearly was designed to take over for console and handheld. Since the latter always gets solid support from Nintendo, that seemed like a recipe for success to me. Plus, it was launching with BotW. Once we knew that for sure, all of the other stuff was just noise.
I do remember a lot of optimism, tbf, but there were many naysayers that I didn't listen to at Switch launch. Also, I usually play docked because while handheld is nice, I just like playing some of the Nintendo games that usually appear on handhelds on a TV.
Just seeing Karen in the article image brings a happy memory to me even though I do think she's a nutter ruining the party.
Honestly I don't blame a lot of people for being skeptic about Switch's chances of success
I don't think anyone was doubting Nintendo pretty much had nowhere to go but up after the Wii U, but putting into perspective the fact 2016 was such a dry year for them and pretty much them alone and the fact they were so quick to brush Wii U under the rug even going as far as announcing Zelda would also get a version for their next gen console, people honestly had reason to be concerned back then
You also have to keep in mind Nintendo had long been detached from the conversation of the "console wars" or rivalry stuff and Sony was basically wiping the floor with Microsoft at this point especially coming off E3 that year. Switch was more of a "I'll believe it when I see it" sort of thing for the general audience who weren't diehard Nintendo fans. Of course now we know the Switch is a proven success and a major comeback story for the company, but 2015-2016 I recall being a really depressing as hell time to actually be a Nintendo fan
I used to be concerned about the battery life, but now i have my own place (So my own TV too, with nobody to argue about what's on ), it shifted to the price of games, since with a place of my own comes rent as well...
I was mainly a handheld gamer before Switch (I played DS and 3DS during the Wii/WiiU period), so paying "TV-console" rates for games is quite a price hike.
Ha! I was CONVINCED that The Switch was going to fail. I'm very, very, pleased to say that I was massively wrong!
Consoles that I remember people predicting that this will be Nintendo’s last console and that they should only make games (like Sega):
— The GameCube
— The Wii
— The Wii U
@Tandy255 Sega dropping out really is basically what started that talk. People saw them do it and figured Nintendo HAD to do it, as well.
Edit: It's as insufferable now as it was then, imo.
I didn’t think the switch would fail but the lack of games at day 1 was worrysome.
But let’s be honest here, people said the ps4 and xbox one would fail too. It was probably a generational thing. Of those only the xbox one came close to failing but I wouldn’t say it failed at all, just didn’t perform as well as the ps4 and switch.
While there are some issues, like battery and drift, I'm very happy to have believed in the switch. How the mighty have risen again! It's once again good to be a Nintendo fan!
Nothing. I didn't know Nintendo released a new platform.
Drift. Five sets of joy-con experienced drift in three years.
Hori Split Pad Pro is the only controller I've used that have worked beyond the 400-hour mark.
@darkswabber Honestly if anything I think after the PR embarassment behind the Xbox One and its launch I think people were actually calling the success of the PS4 even before it was released
I still remember jokes being made back in the day like "Don Mattrick is Sony employee of the year" and stuff like that
I was pretty skeptical but at the same time optimistic.
Like none of the reasons I heard for it being a failure were convincing at all as to why it would be a failure.
I’m pretty sure I called this being a success on this very site however many years ago it was now. I was dead impressed by the original video as it was clearly a Nintendo console and not trying to be anything it’s not.
In spite of its flaws, the Switch has had great success. BOTW at launch really helped with the early positive reception.
I was overjoyed as soon as I saw the reveal of what is essentially a handheld console that can be played on the TV. I didn't care about naysayers then and I still don't now. However, I did love to see people pivot and lie, saying they always believed in Nintendo. It's hilarious when people discredit themselves.
Switch blew me away the moment I saw it. (As did the Wii U if I'm honest.) The only thing I was worried about is whether the hoard of folk calling themselves gamers were actually interested in innovation outside of raw performance for our hobby. Unlike the Wii U (and lord's a leaping, I miss having a second screen) thankfully, they do
@GrailUK Wii U had such potential. Nintendo Land showed what could be done. Third parties just didn’t want the hassle of developing around the gimmick.
@GrailUK Agreed! I really enjoyed my Wii U.
@nessisonett Also, agreed! The Wii U was a necessary step and learning process for Nintendo that led to the Switch.
What? I don’t remember anyone saying the Switch would fail, fake news lol
I didn’t have any reservations about the switch on reveal. I purchased the switch to get the best Breath Of The Wild experience available.
My only issue now looking back is the lack of VC
I have an original Switch model and the battery life is way too short, especially with more demanding games like ACNH or SSBU. Other than that, the Switch is my favorite console is all time. I'm old, BTW 👴🏼
I knew it would be a success, I was hearing from people who were not massive Nintendo fans to begin with talking about it and saying what a great concept it was. Most of my family and friends own one. Nintendo really have captured the market with this hybrid. I assume they will be sticking with this concept now but with more powerful innards in the future
What has to be understood is that Nintendo truly operates outside what’s normally expected in the tech industry. Very few companies if any, can make the kind of comeback Nintendo did after the Wii U in terms of relevance in it’s industry. Tech companies just don’t turn things around like that to come back on top! Around the same time as Wii U, BlackBerry lost their mobile relevance for example. By the usual metrics of the broader tech industry, Nintendo should have dwindled as predicted. But their refusal to NOT innovate creates some magical thing when their IP is shown with it.
@BloodNinja Oh, there was certainly more doom and gloom articles than positive ones. For me it highlighted how narrow minded and stuck in their ways quite a few outlets were / are.
@Tandy255 analysts predictions of doom go back to the NES end life
I remember some of the people here who bashed the Switch constantly before it even came out. I'm pretty sure at least one notable person who was doing that is still here but has since changed their name/new account (presumably to hide from embarrassment of being so wrong).
My only concern with the Switch was the on board storage. And it still is pretty awful. Back then, I could understand not using on board SSD, but a slot in the unit for an SSD would have done wonders more than the SD they went with. Any successor models going forward should have SSD (preferably expandable).
@TheFrenchiestFry true. Should’ve clarified I meant on a industry level the ps4 and xbox where said to fail, not consumer level.
Industry people said “mobile and pc’s where the future” and “would replace consoles”, predicted stuff like none of the gen 8 consoles reaching half of the gen 7 sales, let alone come close to the ps2 (which both the ps4 and switch are closing in to.)
I thought the Switch was going to be the success it is from the announcement. And it still, 5 years later, amazes me every. single. day.
My biggest complain is the performance in some games, XC2 and XC:DE looka aweful in handheld-mode imo, HW:AoC doesn't run at 30fps at all etc
Just wish there was a bit more powerful Switch (I'm not talking about 4K, don't need that)
I was definitely in the sceptical until proven otherwise camp.
I think this was a sensible position at the time having owned and been jaded by the Wii U, and to a lesser extent the Wii - a console that abandoned many longtime gamers in favour of short term gains and gimmicks.
I played Breath of the Wild on the Wii U (all 120 shrines). It wasn't till 6 months later when Mario Odyssey came out that it became a must buy for me. I rebought Breath of the Wild and re-did all 120 shrines and more. (It's virtually identical to the Wii U version)
The BIG difference is that third parties and indies flocked to the Switch, the complete opposite of the Wii U.
Joycons still janky AF and could do with a CPU/GPU/resolution boost. But aside from that it's been great.
I never really thought it would come anywhere close to failing ... but I didn't think it was going to be this HUGE of a success.
I was hesitant to get a switch…. But I HAD to get it to play breath of the wild.
I love the Switch. Easily one of my top 3 consoles ever. My only concern pre-launch was “will there be enough games?” That’s really my only concern ever, with any console. I buy them to have fun playing games and want to make sure there are plenty of fun experiences to be had.
Does the Switch have EVERYTHING I want to play? No, but considering the backlog of games on my console right now, it’s got plenty & then some!
I absolutely loved DS/Wii and 3DS/Wii U era so I was fairly optimistic at Switch launch and maybe during its first 2 years while we were mostly waiting for more big releases to happen. At that point anything was a possibility.
But since quite a few years have passed I changed my mind and now I'm very sceptical about Nintendo moving forward with such hardware, very unimpressive 1st party line up and dry release schedule (even by Wii U standards).
I love the Wii u and the 3ds and the switch.
The Wii/3ds was a hit in my house
I loved the idea that it would play on both the TV and as a handheld, but I was annoyed at the cost of the thing. I'd have to buy a $300 system, plus a decent, non-cramp-inducing controller ($70), plus a micro-SD card (that were of course more expensive than the regular-size SD card that the Wii used), plus the usual $60 for a new game.
I was never that concerned over whether it would be commercially successful or not - I only thought about it when I read articles online. I really enjoyed the Wii U and several of the games for it, so even if it was a commercial failure, our family thought it was great, and that's all that matters to me.
Back then, I just had a feeling it would do better than the Wii U but Switch has really done well for itself. 3 hour battery range still bothers me but it’s not like I go to a lot of places. I’ve been playing it docked as of late.
@GrailUK I guess! But which ones? I only remember the press showering the Switch with praise when it was announced.
"Which of these concerns still bother you?"
None, I like my Switch and still play with it and waiting for more games incoming soon (and I need get, too),
however, only 1 mini thing is really concerning...""Joy-con drifts""!!
Only.
I love my Switch but this seems like an odd article. You might as well write one titled "Remember when Nintendo fans thought the Wii U would succeed?" Nintendo's console sales went down each generation from the NES onwards, reaching an embarrassingly low point with the GC. Then they had a turnabout with the Wii, managing to pull out of a sales nosedive before hitting the ground, before following up with another massive flop. It's really not surprising that anyone had doubts about what they did next.
It seems the core thing is combining audiences, thus sales figures, of their handheld markets and home console markets. Clearly they're two separate things if you look at sales figures for the GC and GBA, the latter outselling the former by tens of millions. Combine them together, though...
At the time, my concern was that the Switch was gonna flop solely because consumers and the industry in general was seriously burned by the Wii U. I didn't figure anyone would give it the time of day because Nintendo's perception and reputation was too damaged. Of course, I was wrong and the average consumer doesn't think (read: obsess) as much as I do about Nintendo and the industry as a whole. I personally want a better battery life and higher screen resolution in handheld mode, but I'll make due with what we have. Not that I have a choice, as the Switch is my only current gen system 😂
judging by how the large majority voted "optimistic". i don't remember anyone having concerns. but hey, that's just me. didn't really like the article
The first time the Switch was unveiled I knew it would have been a success.
I was happy when I bought one in 2017 and I'm still happy today.
I always anticipated that the Switch would be a success given that I figured it would succeed not just the Wii U but also the 3DS, but even I never predicted that the platform would be as successful as it is today.
In all honesty, most of theses aforementioned "issues" with the Switch ultimately don't matter in the long term. What Nintendo needed to do with the Switch - what they failed to do with the Wii U - was create an understandable and marketable platform with a strong library of compelling exclusive software, and they succeeded at that with flying colors.
I was skeptical because I was sick of such gimmicky controls
The handheld/hybrid is genius and I was always a bigger Nintendo handheld fan (although the 3D gimmick annoyed me)
But the switch pro controller is my second favorite (dual sense is a game changer)
I never thought the Switch would fail, but I certainly couldn’t have predicted it being this successful.
I still have a lot of good memories of the Wii U, and the ability to play GBA games on the big screen is still something I hope to be brought to the online service.
I knew the switch would do well because even though Nintendo marketed it as a home console (I suspect for pricing of games since home console games are priced higher), I still consider it a handheld first and foremost.
That being said, battery life was always a concern for me as 3 hours or less depending on the title is not great considering how long the switch takes to charge. This concern was addressed with the introduction of the Switch v2. The v2 has the perfect amount of battery life.
I was just so relieved that I didn't get burned for preordering the Switch considering The Wii U flopped hard and then 3ds had a almost immediate price reduction.
For what its worth I did really enjoy the Wii U. Zombii U was amazing and terrifying - making you look away from the TV when any moment a zombie could come and eat you so that you could look in your bag (tablet screen) really sold me on the gimmick. Even later when everyone gave up on doing anything interesting with the second screen you could still stream games on it when someone else was watching netflix.
I've never fully understood the "Nintendo was failing" narrative pre-Switch. Their home console was, sure, but the handhelds have always been where their bread is buttered, and, while not as much of a blow-out hit as the NDS, the 3DS still performed well after the price cut in 2011 (because the thing was ridiculously overpriced at launch), and consistently enjoyed a stream of excellent software. It'd be like saying Sony was failing during eighth gen because of the Vita.
Anyway, I wouldn't have bought one at launch if I was worried about its future. I didn't expect it to sell quite as well as it has, but Nintendo was never going to fail if they went all-in on one device and it was able to be played away from the TV.
The Nicolas Verlet theory.
I was originally worried about the battery life, but now I only use it docked after going through four sets of JoyCons so that's not a problem anymore
To be honest, the moment I saw what the Switch was, I knew I wanted it. Nintendo's hardware philosophy has always appealed to me. I was never the big-power gamer, I like flexibility, and I actually prefer handhelds to playing on TV a lot of the time. A system that could fulfill both my desire for a comfortable handheld and go on TV when I wanted was a dream come true. Reminded me of the fun times my friends and I had playing GBA games on the Game Boy Player on 'Cube.
After the fact though, I do wish Joy-Cons were better made. Nintendo hardware used to be something to praise. Now, at least when it comes to controllers, my trust is eroded. The Pro Controller serves me well, but on the go I can only play with third party controllers.
Never had doubts the Switch would succeed, especially with lessons learned from the WII-U, but it would be nice if it were a bit more powerful.
There's still the possibility of the Switch 2 failing to sell as many units as the Switch 1. If you look at Nintendo's past consoles sales history, Nintendo will introduce a new product, only for the subsequent product to sell worse. For example, the Wii U was a sales flop in comparision to the Wii, which it was a direct successor to. The 3DS, which sold well (74.5m), but still sold roughly half of the original DS (154m). And the NES sold more than the SNES, which sold more than the N64, which sold more than the GameCube.
With the Switch 2, if it's conceptually too similar to the Switch 1, it might confuse parents and not sell quite as well. You have to remember that most Switch console and 1st party IP sales come from parents buying them for their kids, and it could be a Wii U situation, where the parent doesn't undestand what the difference is, or why they need to buy a Switch 2 when they have a Switch 1 at home, etc. There's also the fact that when Switch 2 launches, there's going to be a lot more competing handhelds on the market, that will take some of the hardcore 3rd party game buying demographic away from the Switch.
the inability to easily port major 3rd party games is still a problem for me, and why I am getting a steam deck for portable play.
And the lack of...everything in the UI is still a problem. No folders? No themes? No achievements/trophies?
Store is still laggy and not useful to browse.
Still no local backup of saves and they hold our saves hostage to force us to pay for the crappy NSO service with less functions than the free 3DS online. And cloud saves aren't even universally available
Still no Virtual Console. Why do I have to emulate GBA games rather than buying them legally?
Upgrade version with more power would be nice.
But the fact Star Fox is missing is even a much bigger issue.
The switch was my fist Nintendo console for many many years, I had a wii for a couple of months but a friend wanted one for his daughter for Xmas and could not find one so I gave him mine. I pre-ordered the switch and had mine day one. I thought the marketing was great, Skyrim on a plane. I would not have bought a home console though. I bought the switch as a handheld. That switch has about 3000 hours play on it so at 10p an hour I've had great value from the hardware!
@yuwarite I struggle to square your concern with the success of PS and Xbox. Parents don't seem to have an issue understanding that a PS5 is still necessary if their kids want games not available on PS4. And they also seem to get Xbox's terrible naming schemes (Xbox > Xbox 360 > Xbox One > Xbox One X/S > Xbox Series X/S)
Remember that guy, what was his name again. You know the guy you hear nothing from anymore? Michael Patcher!
He said “Nintendo Should Ditch Switch’s Hybrid Approach”
Once I saw the reveal I was hooked. I preordered it even though I never do that. I wasn't sure if it would be successful or not but I knew it was something that suited me. Good article btw. More articles like this, less of those about the met gala and whether a bunch of pixels are bi or not
I never did doubt it, It looked amazing when it was rumored and it looks amazing now, Just wish they would fix that drift.
I still believe the Switch will fail!
Just kidding.
I was pretty confident, that the Switch would succeed. If nothing else it is the only handheld for Japan, and if japanese devs produce enough games for it, it will also get at least noteworthy sales in the west for those games.
What bothers me the most is actually the missing HDR support, which I don't understand...
A home only version that rund the Games in higher resolution would also bei nice, but that is more of a nice to have in my eyes.
Ever since the Gamecube was released people have been saying the same thing for 20 years. While since the N64 third party games haven't always sold well on Nintendo systems compared to others that doesn't mean Nintendo hasn't been making a huge profit on their own games, which often are some of the best selling games of each generation even compared to third party games that are available on every system available. even the Wii U somehow managed to have a few. People seem to think you need tor rely on third party software to break even over the life of a system and that simply isn't true.
"The ever-plummeting cost of Micro SD cards means this wasn't a calamitous misstep on Nintendo's part, but it's frustrating that $300 for the console, plus another $60 for Breath of the Wild, plus ANOTHER $80 for a second pair of Joy-Cons if you have a Player Two, has to be supplemented with yet ANOTHER few bucks for a microSD card if you ever want to own more than two big games.
There's no other side to this argument. It's just true"
The other side of the argument is that you can buy physical version of the games, giving you a superior product (one that can be resold and takes up no memory) for the same price. Dunno why people need to be constantly reminded that these exist.
The Switch is still not as comfortable to hold for long periods of time in comparison to the Wii U Gamepad.
I like symmetry with my controller. The thumb sticks are off set, that is why I ended up getting a 8Bitdo controller after going through 2 Switch Pro Controllers.
If the Wii U Pro Controller had gyro, I would use that instead.
Should I remember it? Folks like these have always tended to live in a world of their own, so it's not like they've entirely shut up about the NintenDOOM 4+ years since. They just keep changing the commentary for its delay - PS5 and XBSX stock issues are currently on the job.
My issues? I still can't see Oerba Dia Vanille and Serah Farron on my Switch screen!😾 And as someone with almost 800 titles collected and roughly 2000 wishlisted, I have all the expertise to state that THERE ARE STILL NOT ENOUGH GAMES!👹👹👹 But seriously, this is still my all-time top favourite console (and frankly gaming device) - these years have done nothing but cement it.
At the age of 51, I've been through all of Nintendos releases, but their was something different about the build up to the switch reveal. Back when we knew it as the NX the hype was through the roof.
Nintendo pulled a cat out of the bag with the switch. They messed up only like Nintendo could, and redeemed themselves with the switch only like Nintendo can.
That was an interesting read, but, what they don't mention or maybe what some of the people didn't realize had happened already, but Nintendo had combined their portable and home console devs into one location prior to this, the first time since the Gameboy when they had all teams working on the same project. There were comparisons to the Wii U, but they should have been comparing to the 3DS, DS, and so on, as well. The portable people buy a Switch to play Pokemon, Brain Age, Box Boy, Kirby, etc. and Mario/Zelda/Splatoon fans have to buy the Switch to play their home console franchises. That altogether is a very big audience, not really comparable to those who bought a Wii U console alone.
I feel keeping waggle capability is THE most underutilized aspect of the machine. Not a complete waste of money, but not really earning its keep.
Thanks to my father one Christmas, my house is Nintendo's ideal design. We both got Lites and share the original on the TV. The Lite model resolves most of the portability issues (the memory is still a deep sin we did nothing to deserve), but it's created it's own issues with how they deal with group access to content. I can add my eshop stuff to my lite, but my sister would have to buy her own. That never felt very household friendly. I get it; Netflix had to crackdown on account sharing, but it's kind of a pain.
I don't know how it is in other homes, but the "no Netflix" thing feels a bit trite. We live in an age with smart TVs and dozens of dongles and other machines that can will make your non-smart TV smart enough. So is it really a problem Switch isn't one of them? REALLY? I suppose if it's the only device in the house you'd be annoyed you'd have to track something else down, but that's a stretch.
In a way, Nintendo stepping away from the power game and AAA titles it caters to isn't a bad break. Yes they're less involved in those fights, but it makes Nintendo a distinct ecosystem that doesn't have to keep up with the next era of gaming (least of all when tech is feeling the pinch from pandemic disruptions). Plus, a disturbing lot of the AAA scene has kinda devolved into putting post purchase economies ahead of actual enjoyment. The biggest AAA things I was into last gen were sony and nintendo exclusives to begin with.
i want more frames per second. i don't enjoy that this builds a bridge between me and the void. however, the art is... worth it.
@RetiredR how did you know that I have babyhands? who told you
This should be a hit piece. On that Tom Parsons moron alone. His piece was just all kinds of smug and condescending.
And yes, I say that someone who knows what happened with the Wii U, still owning one. I understand the apprehension folks had with Nintendo.
@Nintendo_Thumb I actually was going to mention the two departments being combined, but this article was already HELLA long and I had to cut some things! It's a good point, though — we probably shouldn't expect a new dedicated handheld any time soon.
@SonOfVon sorry bud, I'm gonna keep writing about the things that interest me alongside stuff like this! After all, people like me read this site as well
Glad you liked this one, though.
I remember when the Switch was reveal and Nintendo says they'll kept motion controls as an optional feature for the system and then all the fat Youtubers like Mundane Matt, Boogie, and ReviewtechUSA were against it making rant videos about why the Switch would fail cause it kept motion controls. Oh how fools they were back then.
One thing I would love to see is a more powerful Switch. When the rumors for the Switch Pro dried up I felt so let down. Ever since the launch of the Switch there has been compromises made to almost every game including Nintendo's own. We have gotten to point where there is just no way to get many games on the system besides by Cloud.
There is so so so many games that could use a performance boost to get them to a playable or more playable state.
I would have taken beefier system over a OLED screen that is for sure.
This article is eye roll-worthy. If BotW was downplayed at launch because it wasn't exclusive, as it was cross-gen, that means the PS5 and XBSX have basically nothing to play. Also if you're a physical-only gamer the storage can last you for years if not the whole gen. I saw people saying they delete and re-download games on their PS5 not even one year in, as the Switch is the only console with actual physical games. It's also the only console which you can co-op out of the gate. Single Joy-Con might not be comfortable for everyone but it is an option. Were there articles on how you have to buy an additional controller, expand storage etc. for the PS5 and XBSX on top of costing 500?
In the early trailers and ads Nintendo positioned the Switch as a home console you can take on the go, seeing how people in those usually play docked then go outside with the console.
My concern was actually that a hybrid wouldn't allow for new ways to play, but Nintendo proved that that wasn't the case in the Switch Presentation in January 2017.
The first reveal of the Switch seemed to mostly have been received positively by The Internet, after the Presentation there were a lot of comments like "They advertise motion like it's 2006" etc. though.
@Shadowthrone I know the internal storage of the Switch isn't commonly referred to as an SSD, but it kinda is one.
Or is there any difference between the Switch storage and an SSD that I am not aware of?
Well, maybe speed, but a SSD isn't defined by its speed.
Switch is said to use flash storage, but a SSD is just flash storage in a container, not really an important difference.
The Switch caused me to return to Nintendo after I had (joy con) drifted away from them for generations. The moment I tried that Mario Odyssey demo, however, I knew the console was magic. I needed it like I’ve never needed a console before (and Christmas 2017 had my best ever adult Christmas gift from the wife in the console) and I can happily say it is my favorite console I’ve ever owned, and that includes consoles of a next gen variety. When the Switch was initially advertised, however, I remember thinking, “Who hasn’t played Skyrim yet? C’mon Nintendo, where are the new games?” Truthfully, there were barely any games on the console in 2017, but the great games from the console that year are still the high water mark in gaming for me. Wouldn’t be long before I said I have too many games. I have purchased so much software for the Switch… more than all my other consoles combined….
I'm pretty sure I was negative - b/c I always am - but that was more in the NX phase when we didn't know what it was. I think once I realized it was a handheld with tv out - and Nintendo owns the handheld market - I assumed it would be ok.
I still feel like Nintendo abandoned the home market for handheld though, we got a Switch Lite but no Switch TV box w/o a screen. Smart decision, but we'll see what their next console brings.
I wasn't following gaming news when the Switch came out. I just wanted Mario Kart 8.
@Kirgo The Switch used a 32gb eMMC for the internal storage, the same storage the $400 Steam Deck used. Only difference was that the Steam Deck used a 64gb eMMC similar to what the Switch OLED used instead of 32gb eMMC. While eMMC is not as fast as SSD it does help reduce the cost of the system.
I didn't buy one until the Mariko version showed up with the improved battery life.Although, I wasn't really concerned about the battery life as a success factor.
In fact I felt fairly certain five years ago that the Switch would be a huge success.
What bothered me and STILL bothers me is the lack of a stylus, and stylus support on general. The touch screen is still fast and precise when compared to other touch-only devices, but it's a complete joke compared to the Wii U and DS family.
This NeoGaf thread is perfect for this article, and pure undiluted comedy gold, not so sure many people thought the Switch would fail, that is outside some of the core internet posting minorities.
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/betting-time-do-you-think-the-switch-will-be-a-success.1333545/
I felt that the Switch had better chances than the Wii U, although after the doldrums of the previous console it was going to be an uphill struggle that could make or break Ninty as a console maker.
I also remember a certain Wii-U loving Irishman on this very website and his crusade to convince us all the Switch was going to flop big time. Such laughs.
@Specter_of-the_OLED
The definitions are kind of strange in that department.
SSD is a Solid State Drive
eMMC is Solid State as well. The "Drive" part of SSD doesn't really make too much sense anyway.
So by name, you could say eMMC is a form of SSD, kinda.
But you are right, if it is eMMC then that usually doesn't mean it is an SSD by common defintion, even though the names would suggest otherwise imo.
@FX102A,
Yes I remember that fella too, after every sales milestone was passed he still kept suggesting sales would fall off a cliff, he eventually left as this was obviously not going to be the case.
His username escapes me for some reason.
@Mando44646 Because statistically, the main game buying demographic for those consoles are the enthusiast market, who are buying them for themselves. Once the Switch 2 gets a Pokémon game, of course it's going to sell well, but I still have my doubts about it selling as well as the Switch 1. The Switch was a fresh idea in the console space and was exciting to see many established Nintendo portable exclusives make the jump to HD graphics, but I personally don't think the Switch 2 will be quite as exciting to the general public.
When we found out the switch is a handheld gaming machine that's capable of transmitting its picture to the tv I was kind of scepticle but it's seems to have paid off, mainly because its merged nintendos handheld gamers and tv console gamers together. If the switch was purely a TV home console then it wouldn't get half the sales it has done
Don't worry. There are still many people who believe the switch has failed and has no games so in their minds they were right.
Meanwhile, in reality...
@yuwarite,
Not so sure, Nintendo is trying to create a household brand name with the Switch, and hopefully one they can build on each generation, and they have managed to not only capture a much wider audience with the Switch, they have also got an awesome software ratio too, so with massive sellers like Zelda, Mario, Mario Kart and Animal crossing, the next generation Switch could do even better.
I thought the price was going to be an issue, and wrote this before they announced the price/release:
"If Nintendo fails the Switch at launch, it's a hard road to recovery, like what happened with the Wii U.
I think the Switch needs to be under $200 for major success and for it not to end up like Wii U, but maybe Nintendo will try $250 for launch to get all the hardcore fans' extra cash early, then drop it to $200 for the holidays? Maybe the Switch will be more powerful than the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One combined with Duck Tape, and Nintendo will say they are going for the higher end market to justify a higher price? Maybe, but I don't think so.
Where am I getting the sub-$200 price idea from? First, a rumor from 2015. You can read it here:
https://kevincallahangames.wordpress.com/2015/06/29/exciting-times-coming-next-year/
Second, Nintendo's partnership with Nvidia and Nvidia's own Shield Tablets that have released on the market since 2013.
When was the last Nvidia Shield tablet released? November 2015.
What was it priced? $200.
The Nvidia Shield K1 has an 8", 1080p screen. The Nintendo Switch? 6, 720p screen.
The Nvidia Shield K1 did not include a controller, but I am assuming the Nintendo Switch will include the Joy-Cons, and of course the docking station, in a base bundle.
Sony dominated the PS2 era, and they controlled pricing. Nintendo better not forget that. It didn't matter the GameCube was $100 less at launch, because Sony dropped the PlayStation 2 down to $199.99 about six months after the GameCube released, and that basically sealed the deal for Sony winning that generation.
Will Nintendo really gamble and release the Switch at the same price as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One? I don't see how that is a recipe for success, even if they have exclusive games and big exclusive third party titles.
I think they need to "hit the ground running" with the Switch, and not stop.
Resident Evil 4, and all those Capcom deals on the GameCube. Didn't matter."
Glad that didn't matter, and that I was wrong.
I like the Switch, of course, but that old chip is really starting to show its age. Even in some first-party titles, we're seeing lag and frame drops. For me, that's the biggest issue. Nintendo has the money to do better, they just aren't. The OLED is salt in the wound as far as I'm concerned.
Not to mention drift...
Remember when they said the Wii U would succeed and sell 100 Million units?
There will be always be praise and doom on all products no matter who makes them.
Remember when the 3DS was failing and Nintendo took steps to save it?
I remember standing in line on launch day at Ebgames and this dude behind me was going on and on about how it was going to be another Wii U face plant. He was there to pick up Breath of the Wild on the U. I didn’t speak to him but found him painfully annoying for the hour long wait. Anyway, when I see sales numbers and any general article about its insane success I just think “ha, suck it dummy”.
I love the Switch and find it to be not only Nintendo's best console, but the best console of all time. I say that knowing the flaws: joycon drift (which, oddly enough, has never been a problem for me, knock on wood), underpowered/frame rate issues, mediocre online offerings, not getting all the latest and greatest multiplats. Even with all of those problems, I still love it. The sheer variety of games available has hit the sweet spot, with a great offerings of first party, retro, indies and third party AAA titles. It's perfect for die-hard Nintendo fans, casual gamers, and dedicated gamers. Will it overtake the DS and PS2 as the best selling console of all time? Maybe, but that's going to be tough. However, it gives Nintendo a great blueprint of how to move forward.
When they finally unveil the thing I was confident on my purchase, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a success, most people were carefully optimistic but you never now. I know I was, mind you, it's the only console I have buy on launch 🙂
The Switch is about as big of an upgrade as you can go from the New 3DS - it's already a huge jump. The problem is, people keeping looking at it from a home console standpoint, which really takes away from the overall handheld novelty of this console. People forget that this was a huge hardware jump from the New 3DS, compared to something like the DS to 3DS or the GB to GBA.
I remember winning tickets to a hands on before rekease at Earls court London. I took my bro and we were blown away- botw was epic, arms was cool and there was loads to do.
Loved every moment with my Switch so far and looking forward to what lies ahead
To be fair I still agree with a lot of those concerns....
Hilarious to see in retrospect. We even had people on here claiming for months after the Switch's release that sales would "fall off a cliff".
Now the Switch is on pace to surpass the Wii by the end of this year and the PS4 by the end of next.
I like the Switch. Just wish it had some consistent first part releases.
As successful as the Switch is, I feel it's not really an evolution from what was there on the Wii U. Don't get me wrong, I acknowledge the hybrid concept is a big deal, but as someone who doesn't use it as a handheld, it's not really doing anything to me.
A lot of people seem to feel ripped off with the Wii U, I feel like that with the Switch sometimes. I wanted to get one ever since it was announced, then it came out and my enthusiasm for it was gradually going down. Finally on December 2019 I got one with Luigi's Mansion 3 and Smash Bros. Ultimate and felt the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. Not to mention, the Joy-Cons size is a problem to me and I was a victim of Joy-Con drift. Thankfully the latter seems to have been resolved by itself.
@johnvboy Think it began with “Sliggy” or something. Rumour was he was actually given the boot from the site for repeated criticism of the site’s staff and articles in every comments section.
To be honest I thought too it was going to fail, not because I didn't like the Switch, in fact I loved the concept, but I thought not many people would like a hybrid console like this. Moreover after the flop of the Wii U many experts were sure Nintendo was going to lose the "console war" definitively (of course there was always the 3DS and its potential successor). I'm glad I was wrong, all things considered.
@FX102A,
That name does not ring a bell for me, but I am sure it will come to me at some point.
When i saw the switch announcement trailer i was optimistic since not only did the trailer pretty much show what the switch was all about (unlike the wiiu's "the new controller" trailer) and the whole "gimmick" was pretty much what i wanted out of a system at that time.
in terms of what i would improve about it, pretty much the main thing holding back the system is the hardware is definitely showing its age, would love to see a more powerful switch (or switch 2 even) to close the power gap (when the chip shortage isnt as much of an issue) both for the benefit of current games and to open the doors to more games without needing to rely on cloud versions (would definitely pick up a theoretical port of tales of arise to the theoretical switch 2)
"and Nintendo didn't really know how to market the Switch early on, which didn't help."
I thought Nintendo did a great job at explaining Switch from the get go. Play handheld. Play on TV. Play tabletop.
@HammerGalladeBro,
Totally correct, the concepts of the Wii U and Switch are very similar, but the Switch just perfects it imho.
@nocdaes,
So true, after the pretty none existent Wii U adverts and poor message of what the Wii U was, the Switch was a breath of fresh air, clear and concise message as to what the console offered, and some serious weight of advertising behind it, no wonder it's been such a massive success.
I had never played the first Splatoon game, but as soon as I played Splatoon 2 at a friend's house I went out and bought a Switch.
I love the naysayers. Help lower that stock price so I can reap the rewards!
The most confusing thing about the Switch's launch was how after the WiiU everyone was saying things like "Nintendo needs a real home-portable hybrid, not this halfway house. Something I can play on the train home then put into some kind of dock and have it on the TV", then Nintendo actually made it, they actually gave people what they were asking for and people said it wasn't good enough and would fail and they'd be glad of that.
Thankfully they then bought it anyway.
I think this is the reason why Switch gets so many ports that are just bad or decent, and so many of them being just digital.
As a long time gamer it’s always wise to never count Nintendo out. Console for console, game for game, their output is and always has been the best.
@FX102A @johnvboy You're thinking of SLIGEACH_EIRE.
@KryptoniteKrunch Ahhh the gator. I think he got banned from here 3 times.
Joycon drift is stunningly inexcusable for a design focused company whose previous consoles were tanks. Other than that, I'm good.
I honestly thought it would either fail outright or be a moderate success like N64 or Gamecube.
I was not a fan of the Switch's physical design when I first saw it, and owning one hasn't changed my mind on that. The joycon are flimsy with tiny buttons and bad ergonomics, and I have no use for a portable system. It sits docked with 2 pro controllers.
That being said, I'm glad it's been as successful as it is and the games make it well worth owning one.
As someone who believed in the hybrid concept before Switch was announced, it felt like a dream come true. Before the Switch, I was mostly playing 3DS and Nvidia Shield tablet. I've been a huge Nintendo fan since the NES. I had a Wii U at home, but I work long hours at a group home. At night I have access to a TV, so the Switch is the perfect console for my lifestyle. That's what's so great about it. It fits any lifestyle. Nowadays, my home consoles are relegated to retro gaming. I hope Nintendo sticks with the hybrid model for years to come.
I think despite concerns at the time that Nintendo hadn't learned form the WiiU, looking back they clearly did. I am 100% convinced that it took the relative failure of the WiiU to bring us the Switch.
💾And they say Digital is better.
As regards the memory, buy the Games physically.
#Simple
As with the Wii U, I took more of a "wait and see" approach. It could have been a dismal failure, or it could have been a runaway success. It was nice to see that it was the latter.
Although, I would love to see the face on one of the supervisors at my old university's bookstore when he saw how successful the Switch became, because he was convinced Nintendo was going to go the way of Sega; he was one of those "I haven't been a Nintendo fan since the SNES" kind of people.
He and I would get into rather passionate/heated debates on Nintendo's fortunes with the Wii U. As I said, I took a "wait and see" approach, and he took a "Nintendo is doomed" approach.
@LeighDapa I think you are missing several words and letters in your post, or I'm drunk.
As soon as I saw the Nintendo Switch I thought "Man this thing is going to be popular!"
Of course, I thought the same thing about the Wii U! LOL.
But seriously though . . . I thought to myself.
"If they bring out Mario Kart and Super Smash in a reasonable time frame, this thing might have a chance."
That was the thing for the Wii U for me. I waited for Nintendo to bring out Mario Kart and Super Smash before I even considered buying the Wii U. So it was quite a while before I even wanted a Wii U.
But because Mario Kart was available for Switch so soon, we ended up jumping on the band wagon so much sooner this time around.
The only thing that botters me still on Switch are the controllers. It's like Nintendo didn't care about ergonomics at all, too small, hard to hold for long portable sessions. I hope the next iteration of Nintendo Switch comes with better ergonomics.
And my biggest concern for the future is how Nintendo is going to handle Nintendo as a platform opposed to separate generations. One of my greatest loves about PlayStation 5 is that Sony finally embraced PlayStation as a platform. I can play all my PS4 games on PS5 - I even buy new releases for PS4, since now publishers don't bother releasing a separate version if they're not really using the new hardware (looking at you Neo: TWEWY). I hope Nintendo Switch is only the beginning, and that we can happily carry our digital library to Switch 2.
@AstroTheGamosian I've been a near day one purchaser of every Nintendo console, except Wii U. Really couldn't tell you why. Might have been that the simultaneous Zelda launch title I was already playing on the Wii. It's the software that lures me in. Like Super Mario World for the SNES. Just watching that play in a kiosk at an AAFES store while I was on active duty in the 90s. I just had to have it. Nothing made me feel like I needed the Wii U.
goes to show its in a companys best interest to not reveal ideas and plans too early, theyd just get a lot of "no one asked for this" comments. a lot of the times us customers really dont know what we want until we actually get it
I was sold on the Switch with the “first look at Nintendo Switch” trailer. Ridiculous as some of the scenarios were (like the basketball guys) it really looked cool and unique.
This article is kind, but this negativity shows how out of touch gaming journalists are at times.
Everyone I spoke to at the time was excited for it, it didn't feel like a failure.
The wiiu was a failure yes, but the 3ds, ds and Wii before it were great successes
They might have exited the home console market, but Nintendo always has dominated the handheld market, they weren't gonna give that up to make games on other consoles
What bugs me the most was how much I was being punished for being a Wii U owner. The amount of Wii U ports that have been rolled out that were being promoted as "new" and took a slot of production. There could had been something new worked on.
I get it's easy money, but if there was some kind of loyalty discount, I would had re-purchased the ports.
When it was first announced, you knew it wasn't going to be at the power of an xbox or PS and that mutliplatforms would skip or release a downgrade. But I'm not bothered too much now as I'll get on PC, even my favourite PS games are showing up on PC, giving me less reason to grab another console these days.
⚠️The Switch is AS iconic as the original GameBoy.
As soon as you see neon red/blue (with a hint of black), you'll think 'Nintendo Switch' as those colours are now ingrained into many gamers' consciousness.
The colour scheme makes it instantly recognisable.
Wait, what? I don’t remember any sort of that talk!
But then again, I don’t have a very good memory of non-major things in my life….
@tseliot You're drunk😵
When I saw early games like Snipperclips and that ugly boxing thing double down on wiggle waggle controls, my eyes rolled back into my skull. Thankfully, motion controls have finally been put on the ash heap of history where they belong. Everyone hates motion controls according to Pew and Rasmussen, and it’s good that Nintendo finally listened up before it sunk the company into the fires of hell. We’ve all paid for their sins for long enough. Now a new generation of believers with their righteous might are paving the path toward another dawn. Let us join them, sisters and brothers.
My biggest concern was buying digital-only titles only to rebuy them when they were certified physical a year later. Now I stay my hand a little longer on certain digital titles in the hopes of just being a year late to the party with that sweet, sweet case.
@RenanKJ You're talking about backwards compatibility which the Wii U had but still failed. With the Wii U Nintendo was trying to make Wii the brand of platform going forward but it turns out that only cause confusion for customers more than acceptance. Nintendo ain't gonna repeat that same mistake for the Switch. The next-gen system will probably not be called the Switch but may likely be backwards compatible with Switch games.
@KorGonia That's more like a Canadian problem than a Nintendo one. Just leave Canada and come live in the USA, then you don't had to worry about the high price.
The Switch's saving grace is that it does something none of the other consoles do - it's a hybrid and can be both a home console and a portable console.
Being a portable console is the Switch's strength. It's only competition up until now has been cell phones and the 3DS - both of which the Switch destroys. But, the Steam Deck is coming and piracy will allow Nintendo games to be played on it and it will be able to run Nintendo games at a better frame rate thanks to the more powerful SoC inside. So Nintendo is going to have to step up its game to stay ahead of the competition.
That said, as a home console, the Switch is abysmal and completely lacks the horsepower to run at decent frame rates above 1080p resolution. 4K TV's are the current gen norm now and the Switch is simply incapable of playing games at that resolution. Which means its low-res games look a bit stretched jaggy when played on these modern TV's.
The Switch definitely needs a successor console that supports DLSS.
Nintendo Karen needs to come back.
"Which of these concerns still bother you?"
Where is the "processing power" option?!?! No one else disappointed that the Switch OLED wasn't the Switch Pro?
I don't even need 4k... I just want first party games to run at 60 fps. Or at least never drop below 30 (looking at you, Korok village in BOTW). But 60 would be really great.
@Specter_of-the_OLED Well, PlayStation numbers their consoles since the beginning and customers are not confused about it. Perhaps Wii U was a poor name, but I don't think naming it Nintendo Switch 2 would necessarily mean Nintendoomed.
Either way, they can name it whatever they want as long as it's a hybrid console with their games on it, including backwards compatibility, hehe. =)
One of my best buddies was cracking jokes about me buying it day 1, saying it would fail like the dream cast and end nintendo. Bah! What an ijiot!!!
My concern was the lack of analog triggers, but that seems to be alright since it came out. I rarely see anyone make a fuss about it.
My Switch was a dud.
It had major faults from day one when I pulled it out of the box.
I bought it on launch and it had a faulty SD reader, game card reader, 3 cracks in the casing and the left Joycon drifted badly.
I had to send it in after only owning it for a week to fix all the faults.
It took them 3 weeks before I got it back.
I was without my new console for nearly a month.
My family was severely disappointed and still today after Nintendo fixed my joy con it still drifts.
So yes, you could say Switch did fail to deliver in my household.
When the curtain lifted on the Switch and I saw the hybrid concept, I felt sure it was a winner. It just made instant sense (unlike the confusing Wii U). A hybrid unit with all their resources United behind it is what I had wanted from Nintendo for years.
If memory serves, the Switch hype back then far outweighed the negativity - at least among the gamers I talk with.
I was so confused every time memory was mentioned as a pain point. The Switch has 4gb of memory. Not too shabby for the year. I know you're all speaking of storage, not ram, but interesting use of terminology.
"Oliver Munck of IGN Nordic had similar concerns, saying simply, "one single question about the Switch needs to be answered: Who is this console for?"
It's for folk who wants to play videogames...?
Interestingly, the journalists who predicted it's failure all comes back to graphics and call of duty...
Graphics has never been a mayor role in making a console a success. PS2 ran circles around the first Xbox, DS around PSP...etc. It's all about making a unique product that makes sense and has good marketing.
@TheFrenchiestFry
I remember being some talk that the PS4 and XBONE wouldn’t succeed as well as their predecessors had because everyone was predicting that streaming would be the next big thing. That and the falling price of PC hardware. And some folks predicted that cell phones would become the mainstream gaming option.
They were all way off base.
I honestly don't remember hearing anyone saying it would fail. The biggest complaint I have now is with joycon drift.
@Ravenmaster I'm looking forward to the Steam Deck's release, and was so glad Valve announced it before the Switch OLED's preorders went live. While I wasn't leaning towards getting the OLED, or even really thinking about it, the Steam Deck helped seal that decision quickly. I'm hoping the Steam Deck helps disrupt the market some, and at least might help the Switch Pro be more reasonably priced next year when it releases.
I play our Switch docked almost entirely, and I'm hoping the dock for the Steam Deck, at least the official one in the works, functions well and supports the system in a decent manner. I'm planning on playing it docked a lot, but if it's as comfortable as the Wii U GamePad, I'll probably be playing it in handheld mode as well. I rarely play the Switch in handheld mode, because I find its form factor uncomfortable.
The small amount of memory was and remains my only real concern. 128gb storage I would have thought was optimum as I've survived quite well with an 96 (original 32 + 64 card that cost $20) by occasional archiving games I stopped playing. I recently got a 256 card solely because it was so cheap. 128 internal storage would not have added much more cost and would stop plenty of whinging.
We all want longer lasting batteries for everything, yet I've found mine has been adequate. I get 4 hours easily out of it with most games I choose to play handheld. Obviously more demanding games would not allow 3. The limited battery life is actually a good control to stop me playing all night.
Of course, the real grievance discovered later is the rubbish joycons. I've never known Nintendo controllers to lack durability, and it's simply a disgrace Nintendo are so stubborn they won't even correct the problem for newer models. At least do a silent fix so then you're not officially admitting culpability.
Curiously, the hori split-pad pro started to drift (right stick would drift down due to so much World of Tanks Blitz) after a few months and 6 months later it stopped drifting! Perhaps some dust got in and now it's cleared. I seriously endorse the hori pad as it is so delicious. The sticks are better than the pro controller, the buttons are nice and d-pad is old-school Nintendo ones that work great and precisely (unlike the rubbish d-pad on the pro controller). My only minor quibble is the L2 button is a bit wobbly and even feels loose, so need to be precise with finger placement to get a guaranteed response. Again, I notice this in World of Tanks Blitz as that's the sniper mode button. R2 is still good.
PS: I never made any prediction about the Switch after my last prediction of the DS being a dud. Secretly, once I saw that reveal trailer, especially the switching capability, I sensed it would do well. While I didn't plan to buy one on day 1, I ultimately did, especially after the Zelda BOTW reviews and a local chain store had the Switch $20 cheaper than RRP, the pro controller $5 off and Zelda $20 less than the eshop.
Removed - inappropriate
Removed - flaming/arguing
My wishlist is short. More power. But Nintendo prioritizes fun over tech specs, crafting titles that I return to for replay value more than most titles on my other consoles
The Switch was too good for a successor to the Wii U. What it lacks is decent GPU and CPU. The successor to Switch needs to be superior enough to still receive ports from PS5 and Xbox Series X games.
And it wouldn't cost anything for this successor to have Geforce Now right at launch. I don't understand why Switch doesn't have Geforce Now already. Nintendo is asleep, why not invest in Nvidia's cloud service?
I was excited about the Switch before it launched, got mine on launch day, had zero problems with it. People here and elsewhere were constantly singing the Nintendoom song, talking about screen scratches and warping and cracked vents. If you believed some of the people around NL, Switches were being scratched by the dock all the time and cracking at the vents every other Tuesday. Interestingly, there was zero chatter about what turned out to be the Switch's biggest real problem, the JC drift, until many months later.
Mine never had any of those problems. My original joy-cons did develop a drift later on, after months and months of constant use by me and my kids. And after three years and change it started overheating. Eventually I upgraded to the revised model, but my younger daughter is still using my launch day Switch. It doesn't overheat too badly in handheld, and that's how she plays most of the time.
The only things missing from Switch are (enhanced and advanced versions of) all the great software and hardware features we had on Wii/Wii U and DS/3DS....
and of course better Joy-Cons.
I always knew it would blow up. For two reasons, one, I was still a gamer but because my Mother had just suffered a stroke and was in a home I was never at my house anymore. I couldn't play a PS4 on a giant TV and gaming laptops are a pain in the ass. The Switch was absolutely perfect. Second, my cousin was a truck driver and he had a fancy cab where he could plug in consoles and TV's but it was still an inconvenience. The Switch made all of that go away. I knew if it solved our inconvenience problems there was an entire world out there with similar ones Nintendo just solved. On top of that, want to play on a TV at home, you can do that too. It was perfect.
The only thing I really wanted different was that they went with the more advanced chip sets. I would not have had a problem with a $400+ version but there is a reason why Nintendo is consistently the wealthiest company in Japan and it isn't because they take business advice from me.
I want a more powerful switch (switch pro, baby!) and why did you have to go and mention the 2016 presidential election? Way to get me all depressed, Nintendolife.
I have to say, that while the WiiU was not a hit, it's far and away my favourite console. Nothing will ever beat playing CoD on WiiU with my brother on the tv with the pro controller and me on the gamepad playing coop online. Amazing.
And that's why I had hope for the switch.
Glad it's worked out.
Needs more AAA 3rd party stuff. And for that l wish it wasn't so far behind other tech when it came out (even though the competitors came out 4 years earlier).
My only serious gripe with Switch these days is that the joycon controllers are far and away the WORST controllers Nintendo has ever made. Its up there with the N64 joystick and the Wii classic controller as the most uncomfortable and fiddly pieces of 'professionally made' tech I have ever used. Granted I love the pro controller, but when I have to use those joycon for any reason I regret it almost immediately.
@CorvoRevo what a very mature comment. I'm sure you must be very proud of yourself. Good for you.
@IronMan30 I had basically the same thoughts as you had, bought it as soon as I could
My main concern was waiting many years for CFW, but with the browser exploits being released weeks after launch, and the bootrom being dumped 7 months after launch, those concerns were quickly alleviated, and convinced me to buy one in late 2018.
I was skeptical because it seemed like Nintendo was just flailing for a new gimmick after the last gimmick didn’t work, which may actually have been what happened.
Goes to show that most gamers know absolutely *****-all about the industry.
I remember when people thought every Nintendo system since N64 would fail. It's always fun for Sony ponys and other haters to discredit Nintendo. After all Nintendo is for babies right? At least that was the popular opinion ever since PS1 arrived.
Nothing new. There's something on the game industry that just craves for Nintendo to fail. If they are doing great, something's wrong and they should be a third party because reasons. If they are doing bad, they should be a third party because of course.
That's why I love Nintendo mobile games: because they proved to those industry lap dog's how wrong they were. They for years said over and over again that Nintendo would be a huge success if they made phone games and quit hardware. Of course that never happened.
It even baffles me how Nintendo "fans" hate when Nintendo is doing great. Oh no no no they should be doing BAD so they can make only the games THEY want and be the small fish in the big bowl. I find sad and funny how to date many cannot accept the Wii being a hit and calling the Game Cube "underrated"(it wasn't. it was just a mediocre console).
Switch is one of Nintendo's best and although there are parts that could be improved, I am glad Nintendo is doing good and even beating the overrated Xboxes and PSes.
Well, the Wii U was a deserved flop, so there wasn’t a lot of trust in Nintendo at the time. I never bought it would flop but that 70-80 million would be a good result.
It was clear that they needed to combine their resources into developing for one system and that would generate a steady flow of first/second-party content, which is what has happened. It was also apparent that the basic idea of the Switch was great and that if they got the marketing right it could do really well. Which is what happened.
It isn’t just the above journalists, many on here though it would fail too. Pick the Comments thread under any big Switch news in 2017 and in fact 2018 and see for yourself-there’s some comedy gold in there.
The obsession with Call of Duty, Assassins Creed etc was always baffling. That was never, ever going to decide anything with the Switch. Nintendo were launching a system that was simultaneously the most powerful gaming handheld ever and the most powerful Nintendo home system ever. They needed games that played to those strengths.
@WiltonRoots,
GaterBoi is the on I was thinking about, thanks mate.
@Ralizah,
Thanks for the info, not sure if they had multiple accounts etc, but @WiltonRoots just reminded me of GaterBoi, he was the one that I remember saying the Switch sales would fall off a cliff, and he loved the Wii U.
While being on the fence whether I should buy it with the WiiU at launch (I then got it from my BELOVED friends for my 30th birthday) and even with the Wii (as it didn't have such a great launch lineup) and buying Gamecube and N64 on day one,
the Switch was the very first Nintendo console I prepurchased with 100% confidence in its success. I really thought I should buy Nintendo stocks at that time as I just knew they're gonna shoot through the roof.
I didn't expect it to be that popular though. But I totally knew that they do so many thing so right, beginning with the ads they aired which looked and felt just like from a different company after the WiiU and so many designdecisions that would make the WiiU feel like a clunky piece of a plastictoy.
(Disclaimer, I still do love my WiiU, so no hard feelings. Just saying how I initially felt back in 2017 when they unveiled it)
It was also just such a great thing to feel this joy about a console release at my age of 35ish when I really didn't believe, games could get me as excited. But BotW on this device. What a time to be alive. Still by far my favorite console of all time.
My biggest issue with the Switch right now is the Joycon drift, which is something I hadn't expected to happen at all before the Switch was released. My Gamecube controllers function more reliably than my Joycon at this point.
I didnt have any complaint with the switch on release but 4 years in I think we could use a spec update.
Im pretty happy with the concept and device as is, I just want games like Hryule Warriors and and Xenoblade chronicles 2 to run at decent frame rates and resolutions.
This was a fun trip down memory lane, especially cause I was definitely one who was skeptical about the Switch at first. I didn’t think it would fail, but I also didn’t think it had a chance of rivaling the Wii. I was personally excited for it, though, so excited, in fact, that it was the first console I ever preordered in 30+ years of gaming! And I still love it, so much so that the second console I ever preordered was a Switch OLED!
@johnvboy I don't even think he liked the Wii U, he was an Xbox One fanboy...every post was a snipe or a dig. Not as much of an edgelord as liveswired though.
@WiltonRoots,
To be honest is was a safe bet for Sony or Microsoft fans to like the Wii U, i mean the console was never going to challenge their favorite.
@johnvboy reminder: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/11/switch_and_nintendo_systems_dominated_us_hardware_sales_in_october#comment4222664
I was glad NIN was coming back to the Console side because they were ending the 3DS family line and thought they had something in the works. And they did it was the Nintendo Switch.
@WiltonRoots,
So funny looking back, the NeoGaf thread is awesome too, the first 150 pages of doom and gloom, then the launch and first three months were awesome, so it was not going to continue etc etc, so much crow eaten on that thread,
@johnvboy pretty sure that Neogaf thread is still going as well…
@WiltonRoots,
Without a doubt, I like to bump it every time the Switch reaches another sales milestone, although it's sales have been just about to fall off a cliff for years now.
@johnvboy aha! Thought I recognised that avatar…
@WiltonRoots,
Rumbled at last.
My only real gripe was that I dont play handheld so from that stand point I didn't need a hybrid........but taking it on flights is a nice perk. It's had great games, it isn't horribly priced, and it gets used way more than our xbox. We actually had to buy a 2nd and I'm considering a 3rd at this point as I never seem to be able to find it not being used on the rare chance I actually have time to play. The XBox gets used for a 3rd minecraft machine if we are all playing together and for fortnite or roblox......other than that my kids spend way more time on the Switch. I hope Nintendo continues the Switch line next generation
I didn't mind the cheap look to the Switch as the original DS for example didn't look exactly snazzy. Even at the time.
The cost at the time was a little high, considering the build. And joycon drift is the main issue with this so called "cheapness of the build". Having played other consoles and controllers to death, I've never come across this issue before in my gaming life.
Besides that it's a brilliant console. It could do with a marginal boost in tech architecture performance now. But I still wouldn't want it to be too expensive (as most popular tech is nowadays anyway).
So for me one the best consoles I ever played soured a bit by the drift issues
Which of these concerns still bother you?
all of the above.
@falkyn the void?? w- where is it? are you taking me with you?
It feels like yesterday people were saying the Switch was going to be a failure like the Wii U.
And now its outsold the wii.
Remember when Nintendo thought that people would want to play 2 players in tabletop mode with these tiny Joycons? Remember when Nintendo thought this feature was worth sacrificing the D-Pad which would be so much more useful for NES, SNES and Genesis games than what we got instead.
@uptownsoul Weird how people always only look at Nintendo's last console and think the next one is gonna sell similar by default.
It failed in my eyes
jk, it’s an okay console. Not my favorite, not my least favorite.
Honestly I didn’t know a single gamer in real life who wasn’t extremely hyped immediately. Was a waayyyyyy different energy than Wii U reveal. Was pretty obvious it was going to be a blockbuster imo. People who doubted it either had Wii U ptsd or just the usual Sony/ms/pc elite gamurr$
I was fairly confident in its success. Even the WiiU's software performance itself was a sign Nintendo could easily have done better provided they learnt a lesson from the WiiU's reveal.
Things in the 10million range the VITA or Dreamcast were lucky if their best seller had 2million copies. But the WiiU's was 8million, not a sign of a system maker on its way out, but of popular games, software done right constrained by unfortunate hardware.
There was a big difference between the WiiU reveal and "NX" reveal as people immediately understood the appeal of the Switch. I think at that point it was certain it'd be atleast as popular as the 3DS.
"It's too cheaply-made"
Actually for the non-OLED one this is a fact.
My New 3DS XL or PS Vita both do feel more premium, and never had any drift issues.
It's not that the Switch is "really cheap" made though, but I expected at least same build quality like the 2 other systems I have mentioned.
OLED model of the Switch did this much better, albeit I do hope this time the drift is finally fixed, but time will tell if that is true.
I wasn't into videogames back then, but this article kind of implies that success was obvious. I look forward to reading 2017 articles from NintendoLife going this way.
on the day the wii u was announced i said that it is going to fail. on the day the switch was announced i said it's going to be very successful since there is no reason to buy indie games on other systems anymore (over exagerrared ofc)(also other reasons).
me and my gf waited in line to get our Switches on day 1 and I also bought stock and let it ride for about $8000 gain as we just played Zelda the first year. I don't think I will ever spend $8000 on Switch gear and games so thanks Nintendo for a wonder system that paid me to play and enjoy.
@IronMan30 I knew it would do great based on the advertisement. It showed young adults enjoying a sleak system. Now for the real question. What's next? Personally I would like more of the same with more power.
Many people don't remember that more than 70 million 3ds were sold. The fact that Nintendo no longer releases two types of consoles means that Nintendo at least doesn't fail.
I figured it would sell about like the 3ds. Respectable. I count that as being optimistic…
@MysteryCupofJoe I pretty much want that and Nintendo could easily get away with it if they have a solid launch lineup with consistent post-launch software. But it's Nintendo, so you never know. Lol
"Nintendo should be more like Microsoft and Sony." This rhetoric above all else, should die. Nintendo simply does not care what Sony and Microsoft are doing, they will do their own thing regardless, be it a success like the Wii or Switch or a failure like the GameCube or especially Wii U. Whether they succeed or fail is always on them and their output, not because they didn't copy the competition well enough.
To be fair, it's usually game journalists trying to stir up emotions that like to spread the idea that Nintendo is doomed. The actual gamers tend to be much more optimistic as a baseline. So, like, can you share this article with other writers, please?
Oh, it will. Mark my words. Just give it time🤣🤣
I absolutely loved the Switch the first few years. The amount of indie titles and exclusives was top notch. I had both an Xbox One X and a PS4 Pro and the Switch was still played way more.
Sadly, that started to shift towards the other consoles as there was less on Switch that interested me and didn't hit Game Pass (once that hit it's stride).
Metroid Dread was the only Switch title I bought in 2021. 2022 is looking like Bayonetta 3 and the sequel to Breath of the Wild only unless Nintendo has some surprises up it's sleeve.
I do think it's much easier to be a Switch-only gamer than it was to be a Wii U-only gamer, and that is a great thing. There are a ton of great games on the system. I wish Nintendo had stronger exclusive releases like it had in the first couple of years.
The only thing that pulled me away from Switch as my primary was Game Pass Ultimate.
Well, to be honest… the Switch is the worst console made by Nintendo in terms of quality. Joycon drifting, battery, memory, etc. However I love the console above many others and it deserves the success it got… but that success, just like the 3DS, was obtained because of software, not the hardware. And that’s a good thing.
Nintendo knows this and me, as a consumer, don’t need another device that outputs 8k, 120fps useless crap. Just give me the old Nintendo magic and I’ll keep buying whatever console you give me. Keep being different, that’s their forte.
Just don’t EVER repeat the drifting fiasco. I’m still mad about that crap.
. I'm glad Nintendo is doing well, but they do not release enough 1st party games.
@duffmmann
Couldn't have said it better myself.
I remember there being hot takes from industry insiders primarily focused on the tech specs. The thought was Nintendo’s next console needed to be beefier than the PS or Xbox because of the Wii U’s failure. But I think that all missed the point because games were awesome on the Wii U, it was the LACK of games and poor marketing that did the Wii U in.
I feel like Nintendo stopped making games since end of 2019. This is my only problem with switch. I have moved almost 100% to XBOX in 2021.
This year I bought like 3 games on Switch compared to over 80 digital games on XBOX Series X (plus GamePass subscription).
My playtime on Switch was cut by over 90% too, compared to 2019 for example
I commented back when Nintendo revealed the Switch that I thought they had pretty much hit a home run with the concept and it would be successful as long as they didn't screw it up, such as going with too high an asking price. I thought the price was on the higher end of what was reasonable, but they didn't screw that up. My biggest concerns personally were the pricing of accessories, which I still think were too high, and the ongoing poor quality of the Joycons.
My biggest concern at the time was definitely that there was no Virtual Console at launch. I had become a huge fan of the service (not to mention spent a small fortune on it) and honestly was more excited to play Nintendo's back catalog on a handheld/console hybrid than I was to play most new games. On top of that, people started agitating for a "Netflix of games" - a service that would lock their back catalog behind a paywall/subscription fee - which I thought was an absolutely terrible idea.
Thankfully, Nintendo did indeed bring Virtual Console to the Switch and didn't make us pay every month for a drip feed of their important, historic game library. The End.
All I know was
1. Tons of so called “experts” ending up eating crow
2. Polygon wrong as usual
Can’t take anyone serious these days that parrot “Switch has no games”.
I didn't read much gaming media when the Switch was released. Actually thought it was a pretty cool idea and perfect for my needs. My kid was getting started into gaming at that time and I had trouble finishing games on the X360 due to lack of tv time. The hybrid concept was everything I wanted on a console. Co-op anytime, handheld anytime or play on the tv if you wish. Only doubts I had is how it would actually work.
It's the least played Nintendo console I've ever owned. As far as I'm concerned, it is a failure.
"Which of these concerns still bother you?"
Where's the option "THOSE DAMN JOYCONS!! >:c"?
Going by previous trends that means the next generation after Switch will be an underwhelming one for Nintendo, but not necessarily a bad thing for us since when Nintendo's the underdog they play nice, when they're winning they get uppity and anti-consumer
Switch has a great storage Optimize For Game than Playstation 4
Switch need more Triple AAA port game /
Im bored everytime go to Eshop is looking recycle same game in 2 years
I only got a switch after 1 and half year. They didn’t had too many games at first, but then they got alot of ports. When the console was out, there was more botw sold than consoles (i guess that’s because the game was also available on wiiu).
I never understood the "Not enough games"-complaint, the thing is new, of course there aren't many games yet!
Back in the (very) old days, i bought a GameBoy Advance day 1, oh my, only half a dozen games (Although one of the launch titles was the excellent "Super Mario advance", a remake of my favourite Mario-game ever), while that was pretty meager for a while, it's that way with all consoles, it just takes a while for games to come out.
I was one of those who thought Switch would fail.
There were lots of rumors of a powerful dedicated console, which I would have loved as I neither like or use the handheld. I only play on the big screen, so the reveal of a hybrid didn't entice me at all.
Eventually a ***** load of great games were released and I came to accept it and eventually love it. Still don't use the handheld mode though.
I don't get all the hate for the Wii U. I thought it was a fine console with a fair amount of quality games. It even played Wii Games, so in that regards, certainly a better console than the Wii.
The confusion came from
A) Some gamers/journos unable to picture a system being a success without COD/being the most powerful Console
B) Some gamers/journos confusing ‘I don’t like it’ and ‘it isn’t what I wanted’ with ‘it will be a failure’
I was worried that the Switch was rushed because of the failure of the Wii U. I thought the UI and all the systems were going to be a hastily thrown together mess. The Wii U tried to do so many things with the Miiverse, backwards compatibility, TV remote and all the other bits. I think the Wii U had some huge day 1 updates and bricked systems in the early days too... didn't give me a ton of confidence in the Switch starting out. I wasn't confident in Nintendo's ability to create something that wasn't a bloated mess.
But I think this turned into an advantage, the switch UI wasn't flashy... but it was relatively clean and streamlined to play games. I thought the Switch could have been a neat tablet too, it does have a touch screen and all, but Nintendo seemed to intentionally downplay these aspects... there isn't even a ton of streaming services on it to this day. Which all reinforced this system as a means of playing games, all kinds of games, but just games.
What I think people didn't account for is Nintendo finally getting a handle on making excellent games for the HD gaming era. Mario Kart 8 is a standout on Wii U and Nintendo Land/Pikmin 3 were good, but it it took the whole of the Wii U life for Nintendo to show the world what it can do with Breath of the Wild. There seemed like a renewed focus on quality core gaming experiences at Nintendo; they finally broke free of the Wii hangover.
I don't remember any articles predicting Nintendo's return to form of Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. That combined with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, couple of "impossible ports," and a platform primed for the new wave of indie titles... it seemed like Nintendo had just the right balance of "other" gaming categories outside of the AAA space to support the Switch.
@IronMan30,
Soon as I saw the reveal and the Switch logo I knew it would be a success, just looked like a cool bit of kit with a wide appeal.
NeoGaf as usual were not so sure, this thread is pure comedy gold.
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/betting-time-do-you-think-the-switch-will-be-a-success.1333545/
@electrolite77/
So true, the core minorities do not get the buying motivators of the wider mass market consumers.
And even now expect sales to fall off a cliff because there is no Switch Pro, when in reality they are just going back to the beginning, when the console did not offer them the power they wanted, and it still sold tonnes.
@Aneira,
I love the Wii U, one of my favorite Nintendo consoles, but Nintendo did an awful job promoting it, and a big portion of the massive Wii user base had moved on by the the time it had released.... such a shame.
@johnvboy "the core minorities do not get the buying motivators of the wider mass market consumers."
Yeah, been true throughout the ages but it's especially true for Nintendo's products. Weirdly, for Nintendo, the core minorities can also include gaming press and videogame industry analysts (possibly because they're still in love with power and graphics)
@clianvXAi "When the console was out, there was more botw sold than consoles" - I think this was because people were buying them in advance of getting their own console. From my vague recollection, the figures were already for the Switch version.
Breath of the Wild saved Nintendo as a home console manufacturer, not the Switch itself. The Wii was a fluke, the only thing that was bought by 90% of Wii owners was the initial console with Wii sports, nothing more. The Wii U showed us that the home gaming scene had moved to PC, Sony or Microsoft and generally had no faith in Nintendo's next underpowered offering. Breath of the Wild turned heads, not the console.
@johnvboy I avoid Gaf and Resetera like the plague.
I would say I was cautiously optimistic when it was announced. I thought merging handheld and home console was incredibly smart. Nintendo has always dominated in the handheld market, so it really just played to its strengths.
As far as games, or third party offerings, again I was cautiously optimistic. Granted, its still not quite there, but it’s better than where we were years ago. I know it was an old game by then, but getting Skyrim on the system early on doesn’t get enough credit. It was so cool being able to play that whenever I wanted, and it’s actually a pretty good port too.
I do think the Switch really, really needs some part quality improvements. The Joycons are still laughably bad. I will never understand why they won’t just bite the bullet and just “fix” the drifting problem. I’m not saying they need to go as far as recalling them, but it would be nice if I could go to a store and buy joycons that I know are solid, and likely won’t drift, or at least drift for a while. Their quiet “were looking into it” stance has been frustrating and maddening.
All in all, most of the criticisms in the article were fair, but Nintendo was able to overcome everything cause they just make really good games for the handheld market. Me personally, I love the switch, and I hope they keep going with a hybrid console.
@BraniclesUK "The Wii U showed us that the home gaming scene had moved to PC, Sony or Microsoft and generally had no faith in Nintendo's next underpowered offering. Breath of the Wild turned heads, not the console."
Enter in Exhibit A - "Weirdly, for Nintendo, the core minorities can also include gaming press and videogame industry analysts (possibly because they're still in love with power and graphics)"
@johnvboy
“ the core minorities do not get the buying motivators of the wider mass market consumers.”
Spot on, we see it time and time again. The next example will be the Steam Deck.
A little bit of extra RAM would of helped the Switch in the later years. That's what the real bottleneck of the hardware is.
Nintendo...bringing me the games I love on the hardware I don't love.
@electrolite77,
The Steam deck will be more evidence the core really is out of touch, not that they will see any of this however.
@johnvboy
Exactly, it will find a healthy niche but make no impact on the Switch. The amount of chatter on dedicated forums will in no way be an indicator of mainstream success. Again.
@BraniclesUK,
Your post just goes to show how out of touch with reality the core really is, yes Nintendo were pushed into a corner with the Wii and DS, as the core market alrady had two very high profile players operating within it, and it would have not been commercially viable for them to obtain a decent slice of this, considering the amount of money required to secure this in the first place.
Nintendo had to go in a different direction, hence the Wii and DS, Nintendo would have done some market research into motion and touch controls, what they could not have known was that the more casual customers were a lot more fickle, and had moved onto other things when the Wii U cane out, also the 3DS was down on numbers compared to the DS, clearly a decent amount of both markets were simply not there. Also bit systems had very little marketing effort put into them, they just expected the same customers to still be there, but still not just pure luck with the Wii and 3DS consoles success.
The Switch on the other hand has been a lot more measured in it's approach, and Nintendo even consulted a western console designer to help with the whole process, no doubt he would have suggested Nvidia as a good partner which has turned out to be a smart move, Nintendo have built up a powerful brand with the Switch that will have a lot of traction going forward, and can be built on, I mean Nintendo were trying to do the same with the Wii/Wii U and DS/3DS, but did not just gauge the market right, not totally their fault as they were in a totally new market.
Another thing the Switch has done that the Wii struggled to do, was to sell lots of more traditional software to it's wider audience, a perfect example of this is 3D Mario games, the first Mario galaxy game on the Wii sold around 13 million as it's motion control element was heavily promoted, but of course at it's heart it was a regular traditionally controlled Mario title, hence Mario galaxy only selling around 7 million or so. Moving onto the Switch Mario odyssey it has sold around 22 million copies and is as a traditional controlled Mario game as you could want, the Switch will continue to do well for Nintendo, and you can't apply the same Wii logic to it.
Also your comment suggesting that 90% of Wii owners only bought the console and Wii sports is incorrect, the Wii sold a total number of 921 million units of software, full list below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Wii_video_games
Of course people thought that. Look at the wii u...
It's funny, I remember seeing much of this from the media, hearing it from youtubers, and even hearing much of this from friends. As a tech enthusiast though, I found much of concerns to be misplaced and completely unfounded. Specifically the concerns about price, storage, and capabilities.
I don't say this in a mean spirited way or aimed at anybody in specific, but the lesson to be learned when it comes to Switch is also a lesson that many still haven't learned by the time the Xbox Series S came out. If you have no prior knowledge to tech specs or tech prices, you should either do the leg work, examine the market, and look up the tech before commenting or don't comment on the tech.
The same, this won't run, that won't run, it's holding gaming back, it's overpriced, it's too weak for X Y and Z that people said about Switch, many are saying about Xbox Series S. It's the same song and dance, every time. Honestly, it's really annoying.
Look, I understand as gamers, gaming enthusiasts, gaming youtubers, and gaming journalists our hobby/passion/job is gaming related. But if you don't know tech, you avoid PC gaming because you don't want to deal with the tech, you have no interest in learning tech or the tech market, and you can't be bothered to look up benchmarks or performance videos on youtube, stay away from tech talk.
It would be like if I ate a salad and felt that somehow gives me enough knowledge to have serious discussion about the pricing of seed, how to grow various vegetables, how long it takes to grow things, the pros and cons between having a local and organic farm vs mass production for a major supplier, global trade policy for produce, etc. No, I don't have that knowledge and I'm not going to pretend that I do. I like the vegetables, I'll eat them, I know the prices of buying them and can see fluctuations in the market on the consumer end, but I have 0 knowledge in farming, I won't pretend I do, and I'm not going to comment on these things as if I do.
I still don’t think the WiiU was given it’s due but the Switch renewed my faith in handhelds. I know it’s a hybrid but it made me excited for a handheld for the first time since Pokemon first came out.
Where is the option to complain about faulty joy con drift…? That should have been included in
If I'm being honest I kind of wish it did. At least enough for Nintendo to go 3rd party but alas it wasn't meant to be. Don't get me wrong I like Nintendo games, but that's about it from them. Although weirdly enough I did like the idea of the Wii U even though it didn't ever hit its full potential.
Time to correct some false and misleading statements.
it's frustrating that $300 for the console, plus another $60 for Breath of the Wild, plus ANOTHER $80 for a second pair of Joy-Cons if you have a Player Two, has to be supplemented with yet ANOTHER few bucks for a microSD card if you ever want to own more than two big games
Perhaps, but that's true for any console. It's frustrating that $500 for the PS5, plus another $70 for Demons Souls, plus ANOTHER $70 for a controller if you have a Player Two, has to be supplemented with yet ANOTHER $100-400 for external SSD or internal NVMe if you ever want to own a game, since your PS4 collection is already eating up the paltry 660 GB in an era of 100-200 GB games.
battery life is pants
Hogwash. Switch OLED is miles beyond the 3DS or Vita. I can play any AAA game on max brightness and get FIVE HOURS, while games such as Final Fantasy IX get TEN HOURS. It's true the original model had mediocre battery life, but the v2 Switch was way more than a modest bump- it practically DOUBLED the battery life, and the OLED tacks on another hour of playtime in most games thanks to the more efficient screen. There's no ifs, ands or buts, the current Switch OLED has the best battery life we've seen in decades.
As for the trash talking...
I quit frequenting PushSquare in January 2017, after half the members there were mocking and laughing, claiming Switch was the "worst idea in the history of video games, Nintendo doesn't know wtf they're doing, it's going to flop harder than Wii U", all while praising Vita in the same breath, just to rub the ignorant hypocrisy in further.
I knew that wasn't going to be the case, as did most impartial ppl. The concept was too good. But console warring took over. Ppl knew it was a killer idea deep down, and that's why they hated it so much. Fear. They were afraid it would succeed and steal the spotlight from their precious plastic idol of worship, and that would be a massive blow to their ego. So they did what all console warring fanatics do- they trashed the system to guise their insecurity. It's one thing to fanboy out over something you love. But when you start warring against anything that's not that you've gone full zealot. Which is why I had to break ties with that site.
We want club penguin back... any console would do.
Nintendoom has been happening every generation since the N64
The Switch is my personal favorite console of all time. I love the games and the ability to play where I want and how I want.
I knew it was gonna be a huge hit as a hybrid and the games made it a mega hit.
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