Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@gcunit
I feel that too. I think Deck OLED not only made me fall in love with that device, but it also reinvigorated my appreciation for Switch OLED, with its much lighter weight and tabletop mode with detachable controllers and HD rumble. But having proper joycon was the missing link. Now that my Switch feels as comfy as Deck in hand while retaining all the functionality I've grown accustomed to, I've felt a renewed interest in the system.

Hence why I sent an OLED off to get chipped. Not for piracy- I already own every game digitally. There's literally nothing to gain in that respect. But edging out peak performance on the system I love so much, that's the goal. Cause really, that's the only downside to Switch OLED for me now. It has an OLED screen, good kickstand, I have tons of storage now, proper joycon... the only negative is performance in some games. If chipping can resolve that one final issue, then so be it. And Switch 2 may make a chipped Switch obsolete if it's BC and irons out uncapped framerates and maxes res, but even so, it likely won't have an OLED screen, and there's no guarantee it'll be BC with games or joycon, and it's not here yet. There's still time to enjoy Switch min-maxed to its full capabilities.

I look at my friends list and see only 1 other person played Prince of Persia demo, and none played the full game, and I think what are you guys even doing!!! This game is the pinnacle of the Switch experience! This here is what it's all about!

Oh well. I'm still gettin it in on Switch OLED, and can only continue to repeat how great of an experience it is playing top-shelf games like Prince of Persia with M6 HD joycon and soon, a modchip to eek out stable framerates and resolution for those borderline games. If you can spend it, I say spend it. The experience is worth it.

Same, and after reading the essays back and forth between @JaxonH and @skywake , I can't help but feel that we sometimes lose sight of why the Switch kicks so much butt: It's simple, and it just works.

And with the Switch 2 or whatever it's gonna be called, I really hope Nintendo doesn't lose the essence of what their stuff has always been: simple and fun. (Sometimes their stuff is so simple that it's actually kind of complex... but you guys know what I mean lol)

Also, my moonshot of hoping they go back to some kind of dual-screen design when it's in handheld mode.

@JaxonH You need me on your friends list bruh! Love Prince of Persia so far. Though strangely this weekend I've had a massive hankering for some Yoshi so I've been playing Crafted World, but PoP is most definitely in the rotation.

PS. Srs... SW-3124-5612-5724

Interesting reading about your modchip pursuit - fingers crossed you get a hassle free experience and it provides those extra boosts you're hoping for. You're braver than I.

BTW, your new controllers look sweet. I would be tempted, but I am a bit of a Nintendo purist and have always loved the joy-con design. The asymmetrical shape of yours just doesn't quite sit right with me. I don't doubt they're ace though and might still pick some up some day. Nice find - your valiant search for the perfect controllers has paid off so I'm chuffed for you.

@rallydefault
To be fair, the simplicity (and portability) of the Switch is why most of my gaming time outside of stuff like Civ is on Switch. It's just one button boot and I can just pick it up and carry on from where I was. I have a pile of indie games on Steam I'll never touch because if I want something that light it's just easier to go for the Switch Pro Controller

But even so, when I go back to the Switch after playing a bit on my PC and seeing what my OLED can do? You just boot up the thing and see the UI in all it's 720p glory and.... yeah.... it's quite a downgrade. I still go back to it because of the convenience and in portable mode if you pick your titles it's still good tier. But yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to Switch 2

I am enthusiastic about Switch 2 not because I hate the Switch. I'm enthusiastic because I love Switch as a concept and just want to see it continue to improve

@gcunit
Sent. Be nice to see someone else playing this gem for a change and not just me. You've restored my faith in Switch gamers 😎

Btw, I've largely enjoyed the official joycon, though I did get a dpad mod, HALL Effect analogs and metal latches. But these feel like they should be the official joycon. First 3rd party pair that has every last bit of functionality and more, finally surpassing the official joycon and raising the bar.

Curious what you mean about asymmetrical, given the official joycon are also assymetrical? I've found it perfect as your thumb naturally rests on the face buttons. Also, I swapped the left analog with their M9 HD pro controller which has fatter analogs, so both joycon and that pro controller have a fatter grey analog on the left for movement (perfect since your thumb rests on it) and smaller white analog for camera (perfect because the smaller concave dome grips more for fine movements).

I do hope everything goes well with the mod. I think it will. But it does mean investing quite a bit of time into learning how to do things. And I've grown lazy over the years. I just want overclocking, pretty much. And dumping all digital games to use with the flashcart for posterity. I sent a spare Switch OLED so no risk to my main system. And being a paid service from someone who does it for a living I'm pretty confident they know what they're doing. So much easier with a chip, no worries about losing the soft mod with an update and stuff like that. I remember the pain of keeping 3DS files up to date to work with new system updates.

@skywake
I am enthusiastic about Switch 2 not because I hate the Switch. I'm enthusiastic because I love Switch as a concept and just want to see it continue to improve

This pretty much. Most of us love Switch, and it's specifically because of how much we love the system we're especially excited to see what's next. It's not an "I'm over Switch, lemme see what's next", it's an "I love Switch, can't wait to see what's next!". And trust me, once it's here, everyone else will be excited too.

With that mig switch cart out in the wild now is the 2nd hand switch game market in trouble as how can you tell if N will ban you online for playing a 2nd game that someone has already cloned ?

@skywake
I still play WoW on my PC, but my Switch was like 90% of my gaming this generation.

I had a friend over the other day, and he was like: Why is your TV stand empty? Where's your PS5/Xbox?

And I was like: Dude, I've been a father for a few years now. I own a Switch if I want to game, and if I didn't own a Switch, I probably wouldn't get to game nearly as much as I do.

The portability and snappy UI of the Switch that just gets me right into and out of the games has allowed me to play sooooo much more than a traditional console would have the last few years. When I do get a few minutes after my daughter goes to bed and I can dock it and play on my TV, it's like luxury mode lol

Nintendo has (almost) always designed their stuff for all sorts of people, and the Switch is the epitome of that. I hope they don't try to start chasing power or go more of a Steamdeck direction. Keep the Switch simple and fun.

@rallydefault
Hmm, I hear you but I don't think these things have to be mutually exclusive. What makes the Switch great, appart from Nintendo's IP, is that it's quick to boot and portable. Other devices can and have achieved the same. More powerful hardware from Nintendo won't be any less portable and it won't be slower to boot. If anything Switch 2 will have an even snappier OS

It has been said that this transition will kinda be like when we moved from DS to 3DS. I think it'll be even smoother than that. DS games run better on DS than 3DS because of the change in screen resolution not allowing perfect scaling. With Switch to Switch 2 I expect it'll be much the same.... except worst case for BC 720p/1080p fit nicer into 720p/1080p/4K and best case we see similar to what Sony/MS have done and existing games run better. But for Switch 2 stuff generally? It's just going to be positives over Switch all round.

When people got their hands on the 3DS they didn't miss the DS. It'll be the same here. Once you have the same portability, an even snappier OS, new great games and all with HDR, post HD resolutions, VRR etc? Your current Switch will quickly find itself in a box or on a second TV

And in terms of "fun", games be games. That's a software problem. Better hardware makes software development easier but good software has to be good software. Better hardware certainly won't make the software less fun

@Yydeckard
No one knows.

It has been speculated that Nintendo won't ban consoles but rather, they'll ban the specific certificates if they see duplicates being used for online games. Which does mean that game then couldn't be played online, but at the same time, better that than your entire console getting a ban.

But nobody knows for sure. Thankfully, there's 140 million Switches sold, and I doubt more than 20,000 flash carts will end up in the wild where ppl are dumping games and selling on the 2nd hand market. So the odds of this becoming an issue for anyone buying used is pretty slim. Not zero, but definitely unlikely.

@JaxonH Regardless of which platform I play it on, I've decided I'm gonna restart! I've left the game sitting on a 25 hour save file for far too long.

It really is a tremendous game, though. There's so many tremendous games, and so little time in the day when you (happily) have relationships and work duties to attend to.

Absolutely. I've been meaning to try asking Kit and Krysta about Nintendo's continued analog trigger avoidance.

Fired up Brigandine and Ikenfell for the first time over the weekend. Brigandine is the Master of Monsters clone I have been looking for and Ikenfell seems like an alright Paper Mario clone.

@Ralizah
It is. I'll report back on it's performance on the chipped OLED. Speaking of which I wonder if it can also cap framerates? That would be just as good as OC tbh, I need to look into that.

@gcunit
There's 1 game I play that would benefit from analog triggers- Trials Rising. Everything else I play has no need for them. And to be brutally honest, as unpopular as this opinion may be, I despise using analog triggers for games which use them as digital inputs. Having that massive mushy travel just to activate a button press is super annoying. I LOVE my digital triggers. Though to be fair, when a game needs analog triggers, the digital triggers do suddenly become a detriment.

But... I'd rather have digital triggers for the 299 games I play that use the triggers as buttons, and use the analog stick for the 1 game (Trials Rising), then use large travel, mushy analog triggers for the 299 games I play that use them as buttons, just so that 1 game can play better.

For that reason, I've changed my mind and am now in favor of permanent digital triggers. The best solution though would be how Mobapad does it on the M9 HD pro controller- the triggers are analog but there's a switch on the backside behind each trigger which locks the travel to become a hairpin digital trigger. And you can swap back and forth between digital and analog as needed.

THAT is the solution. But because it's such a perfect solution, you can be sure Nintendo won't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

I second @JaxonH on much preferring digital triggers (at least if it's either/or). My mushy inaccurate pro controller d-pad already annoys me enough, the last thing I want is similar issues on my triggers. Honestly games just require a lot of standard buttons nowadays so I am happy to use my triggers to dodge or heal or whatever. I can't think of many scenarios besides maybe racing where analog triggers are both useful and don't require an annoying amount of precision. Maybe I'm just uncultured.

I don't have much a view about analog vs. digital triggers. F-Zero GX would need to come to Switch for me to make a proper judgment but that'll probably never happen.

@JaxonH On the asymmetric joy-cons thing, I was just referring to the basic shape - ignoring the inputs layout, a joy-con has parallel lines and a line of symmetry, whereas your new controllers bulge out on the lower portion and no symmetry. I'm just quite attached to that slimline look and feel that the og joy-cons have.

Regarding analog triggers... I just want the option somewhere. Racing games may not be at their peak popularity-wise currently, but Gran Turismo and Forza still move units and consoles, so it just seems like the most visible gap in the Nintendo armoury, having this unaccommodating approach to the genre.

I don't even care that much about analog control, but it's the apparent impact it has on the racing games that come to Nintendo platforms that bothers me. All the bike racing and rally car games on Switch, for example, are well below par ports. GRID is the only semi-realistic racer that made the effort. I don't want to give these devs any excuses for any more sub par ports.

Have to agree with @JaxonH when it comes to preference for digital triggers. Nothing against analog as an option, but I also hate the travel on e.g. Xbox and PS5 controllers, and it actually causes hand cramps for me in some games. If analogue triggers aren't crucial to the specific game's experiences (e.g. Mario Sunshine really suffers from this on the Switch) then I would generally prefer a digital trigger.

Maybe something like the Xbox Elite controller where you can set the travel distance would be ideal. Or different variants of the joy-con.

Easy solution. Give the new controllers analogue triggers but maintain full support for existing Switch accessories. If people really want digital triggers they can use the old Pro Controller or old JoyCon. I mean we seem to keep dragging GC controller support through the generations just to keep Smash Bros players happy so why not?

@gcunit
Oh I see. Nice thing is you'd still have the official joycon. But just for personal use, these are WAY more comfy and ergonomic.

I 100% agree about the option. I think a switch that toggles between analog and digital is the only real solution. And funny enough, the Moba M9 HD pro controller, as well as the new Gulikit King Kong 3 Max controller, do exactly that. Why Nintendo can't is beyond me. Cause I need my digital triggers, but having analog for those rare games that use them would be much appreciated. And every player needs access for devs to implement it. Thus a toggle switch solution is the only way forward.

@FishyS
Man, Pro Controller is soooo good except for the d-pad. I finally got fed up and said enough. It's time to rectify these shortcomings. Mobapad M9 HD does have a better d-pad than the pro controller but, it's nowhere near the level of excellence their M6 HD joycon offer. I'm basically to a point where I'm sliding them off and putting them on the official charge grip (I unscrewed it and disassembled the wings so it's only the middle slab left), and using them as a "Pro Controller", and tbh it makes for a better Pro Controller than their M9 HD- the d-pad is the pinnacle of perfection. And once you use a d-pad with mechanical Omron switches... there's no going back. I can't. I won't. We spent 7 full years with mediocre d-pads. It's time to splurge and enjoy this sunset year with some primo.

But if you have a penchant for official joycon, I recommend getting the Basstop d-pad mod. Straight up, that's a VERY good d-pad. The ExtremeRate are garbage. I know the Basstop look cheaper and they probably are. But the d-pad is just superior. It can't touch the M6 HD, not even close. But I'd say it's better than any other d-pad I've tried on Switch these past 7 years.

@skywake
That would work for me, but I'd much rather them just provide a toggle switch so that everyone can use the new controllers (though... I seriously doubt the new joycon will top these Mobapads so, with that in mind, having BC support for joycon would actually be preferred).