By The Way, The Joy-Con Grip Bundled With Nintendo Switch Won't Charge Your Joy-Cons

Was aware however it was not very clear

Just wow

Boy they really did some value engineering to get down under $300US. Maybe that means the console itself is just so great. Maybe?

The more I read about the the Switch, the more it feels like a giant micro transaction in physical form.

All this cost cutting from Nintendo, and yet the console still costs £270.

In reality, I'm betting people will be happier for a console at that price than another 25 quid for a 2nd pack in charger- the 1st being the console itself.

In all likelihood I'll get a premium grip when I need a 2nd set of joy cons for Arms.

Based on that game release schedule people should easily have the 30 bucks saved in no time. Lol.

Not getting a Pro Controller (which I was going to do before the presentation) because it is too expensive. I will also not buy a charging grip. I will just put the joy-cons on the Switch when docked and charge them while I'm not using it, in standby mode I'm guessing (if it's anything like PS4)

Waiting 3 hours to charge them doesn't sound too bad. It's a lot like waiting to charge a wireless controller after all; do we complain about that?

Personally I never use anything with a rechargeable battery unless it's been fully charged the first time without interruption. Pretty sure that's how it should be.

I don't have any plans atm of using the grip I'm a pro controller kinda guy!

Still does seem a bit cheap though Nintendo why not just have the charging one as standard and not have the none charging at all???

First of all, I've preordered the Switch and I'm getting it day 1.
The thing I'm worried about, though, is that I'm afraid Nintendo spent money and invested in the "wrong" place.
What I mean is, the price of a console is not justified by CPU, GPU or RAM, but on the whole technology involved. Allowing us to play Breath of the Wild on the go for 3 hours is a feat in and on itself, but did they really need the HD Rumble?
I don't doubt that developing that technology cost money, but is THAT the feature they needed to invest in?
Just saying.

Unbelievable! Talk about money grabbing!

Interesting. At the Preview event in London they had the Switch laid out to show off the contents of the box and all that seemed to be the parts that came in the box. The Joy-Con Grip there displayed has a USB C port in the top of it.

Not a massive problem. It's not like it doesn't have a charger (switch) already. So it's a non issue. And obviously would have jacked the price up another $20 so - smart move really.

Gives me the option of choosing between a standard pair being charged, or buy the Nyko dual charger. Or not at all!

Actually I had to get the dual charger anyway..

I'm now wondering if Nintendo can pull off this level of pricing arrogance and get away with it. People pay these prices for Sony products (and to a lesser extent Microsoft) because producing expensive, premium hardware with many pricey accessories has become their brand.

Meanwhile, people still associate Nintendo with no-nonsense, budget experiences. Can they change that in time to sell this thing? I guess we'll have to wait and see!

@Deadeyerobbie

REPTON!

Well...not bad.
Playing straightly 3 hours sometimes made me bored and sleepy (so embarassing to admit that).

Before everyone gets worked up - would you rather pay more for LED lights, a USB port and then charge it across the room - or save a few dollars and chuck it in the Switch anyways? Its not like the premium cradle has a battery in it.

@Megas I'm keeping the grey for the kids. My parnter and I went red and blue! Gotta have colour in your life.

@Anti-Matter Neither can I, lol. I can't play videogames for longer than 90 minutes or else my head starts to hurt a bit.

@World you absolutely don't need it. And just adds to cost of the bundle. And you could be better served by getting the dual Nyko chargers.

@Megas
Take the Neon colors !
Grey and Black color for console are sooo.... depressing color.
Enlighten your gaming room with colorful colors !

@Adhrast tech outlets are already calling it the most innovative feature nobody will use. Sadly, it sounds great - but wont know until I can use a Joycon.

As long as they last that long (20 hours), it doesn't matter. 20 hours are plenty in my opinion.

All people complaining... Just leave the Switch docked at night, and the Joycons connected to the Switch.
Wake up next day, you have the controllers fully charged. If you can do it with your cell phone, you can do it with your game console, can't you?

What?? Nintendo goodbye. You are being a lately.

Yeah this really isn't much of an issue. Unless you do a huge amount of traveling away from your home you will always be able to charge it before it runs out without it getting in the way of your gaming. Just dock it before you go to bed.

The real issue is charging 70$ for a pro controller. That is about twice what a reasonable price would be. It doesn't have any special gimmicks. At least the joycons have IR, HD rumble and motion controls. I can get charging that much for a pair of those because they have some tech that might cost a bit in them. I will just buy a cheap third party knockoff of the pro controller or wait for a half off Black Friday sale or something if I need a pro controller.

@OzHuski Yeah, if I do get one near launch, I'll probably go without. Charging on the dock is absolutely fine with me.

I'm going to have the pro anyways for home use. Going to need multiple controllers since Wii/u ones won't work.

Honestly I am ok with that. Ps4/xbone don't come with charging stands and as usual that gives consumers the option to buy what they need instead of having it forced upon them at cost. I have no idea if I am even going to use the joycons outside of portable mode. Also I don't think it is that much of a stretch to put the joycons back on the NS and then let it charge. Or toss the whole system on a charger when you get to wherever you are going (as I am sure the joycons will use some of the Switch's battery when connected). I do that with my 3ds all the time. I doubt that if you run the joycons down, while playing in tv mode that if you reconnect them to your fully charged NS (because it was on the dock) that you will have a paperweight with a charged screen. People are making a mountain out of a molehill out of this. Personally, I may just get a Procon and call it a day. But I am sure this is going to urk some people that think tech should be free.

Seemed like it was perfectly obvious given the part listing and the pictures. It's clearly a hunk of plastic the two parts clip onto and nothing more.

Seems like more media trolling to trump garbage about expensive accessories which is hardly the case given what these things do anyway. Here's a positive spin on top of that 20hrs/each... when was the last time a console shipped with 2 controllers in the box?

Oh no, how will I go on living if my video game controller can only play games for TWENTY HOURS STRAIGHT????? But based on my gaming habits of only playing for an average of 1-2 hours a day, that means that I can only play for 10-20 days in a row before I have to charge my joycons! And then it takes four hours to charge these things?! It's almost like I could charge them at night while I'm sleeping, but that would require me to sleep for AT LEAST four hours every 10-20 days, and who has time for a four-hour sleep session every 10-20 days? Not me! Therefore, this is an unmitigated disaster.

So yeah this feels like DLC all over again but with the hardware this time around....

It's honestly more and more tempting to cancel my pre-order by the minute... I want to see a comparison of Zelda with the current/final build on Wii u as I'm sure the difference is a lot less than it looks on the e3 build and that's the only reason I'm planning to get the switch.

@Pikachupwnage the Pro controller has all of that too, IIRC, and the amiibo reader too. The only thing it can't do is replace two-hand gestures, but it can do some motion control, Sixaxis style.

Once again, Nintendo is unable to get its system's controller situation under controller. Like the Wii and Wii U, we have an insane number of controller and controller components to buy. I played the Switch at the New York event yesterday....the normal controllers are SO SMALL. There is no way you can play Zelda comfortably with them. If this ends up being the last Nintendo system, it will be well deserved.

We're getting quite the slew of bad news today, aren't we.

@KingofSaiyanZ first time charging should be done without interruptions for the sake of the long term battery life. Same applies to phones.

Well, it's stupid if they don't take charge/run from the main Switch console when you have them attached if it's not plugged into the dock, particularly if you have the thing plugged into the wall and charging via the included AC adapter—but I just assume(d) they do. Initial charging from the main dock for the very first time isn't a huge deal if they work fine when plugged into the main Switch unit and basically run out of battery as it does, so you don't have to worry too much about when what is running out of juice. I never expected the Joy-Cons to charge from the Grip; it's just an attachment to make them form a more traditional gamepad shape. I do, however, expect them to charge/run from the main Switch unit when attached, and not only when it's plugged into the dock.

At this point, it's starting to look like I will not be an early adopter. I'll wait for the inevitable price drop then buy a second hand one. Same as WiiU, which is still sitting at $300 after 4 years. I would've rather had a more traditional console with the pro controller. There's 3DS for portability. I'd pay $199 happliy but, after $300 for Switch then $80 for a controller then $60 for a game, another $30 for a charging grip!?!? $470?! WTF! PS4's $250. I'll jump in when I can get all of this for $220-$250.

We'll see if i need them or not. I have preordered a Switch and BoTW, and no other accessories other than a case to keep it safe. I'll mess around with just the standard joy cons and grip for now until either i feel what i have is good enough or if i need to get anything else. Having four controllers is a big deal for me though, so eventually I'll need to buy more.

Now that they'll only be supporting one machine going forward, all this BS is just Nintendo's new way of charging everyone up the bum to play their games.
The Nintendo tax, everybody.

Why all the negative comments. Everyone should thank Nintendo for keeping the price down. It's only 50-65 pounds more than the PlayStation 4 or Xbox. Also no game bundled means another 50 pounds saved. Also you can add more memmory from your side which saves more in that price. Also the power supply and hdmi comes free. Also. . .

If they gave you all this, it would of made the console a whopping 550 pounds.

Thanks Nintendo.

This seems to be a very minor issue. When you're done, put the joys back on the console where they belong and they'll charge. Just like putting my chargeable a pair of wiimotes on a 3rd party stand to charge the 3rd party rechargeable batteries, only. So much whining .....

@impurekind Right, because I want my system to die after an hour of portable use just so my controllers that last 20 hours can get a charge because I'm too impatient to want to charge them on the dock once every couple of weeks.

Well if it can all charge whilst the console is powered off, I won't need it. Charge it all overnight, I'll never have a problem.

"If you don't have the premium grip and want to charge your Joy-Cons "out of the box", you'll have to have them connected to the Switch itself while it's docked."

That's what I need to know. Grip charging is of the same value to me as all these 3DS docks and whatnot, and the grip itself is not something I picture myself using anytime soon regardless. XD

@Anti-Matter haha me too! Usually i play two hours then take a break and come back. I would rather play for shorter and have more fun than play longer and be weary.

If the premium grip didn't exist, this wouldn't be a story. If anyone is gaming solidly for more than 20 hours then the price of a peripheral is the least of their problems. I don't know why this "news" is being presented so negatively by the gaming media.

@KingofSaiyanZ

Surely you'd have to wait for the pro controller to charge day 1. If you dock or put your switch on charge with the joycons on between play sessions after day one you should be good.

Lolol at some of these comments. I don't think the whole "20 hours of gameplay to 4 hours of charging" thing is sinking in for people. Good job, Damien. As ever, your "reporting" has done its job of bringing the inner-stupid out of 90% of us.

@Ryu_Niiyama True but, a $5-$8 controller charging cord(XboxOne) is alot different than a $30 dollar charge grip.

@Tendogamerxxx thought exactly the same, why don't they just make it so you have to pay coins to play the games, by the way to can earn coins, or just buy them, this is getting ridiculous

@BAN I simply think the system and its necessary control inputs should run as one unit when the Joy-Cons are attached—just like every other handheld gaming console in existence—instead of separately. You might think that sounds stupid; I think you're stupid if you think anything else makes good and practical sense for the user.

It doesn't have to "charge" the controllers but they shouldn't be running down independently of the system when plugged into it as far as I'm concerned. And hopefully it actually does work the way I think it should, rather than requiring you to dock the system with the controllers plugged in any time you want to charge them, especially if you've got the thing running via the included AC adapter that supplies power to the system directly without the dock.

@LiberatedAnimal Charge them on the Switch itself. Are you not going to replace the joycons on the system after you stop playing on the TV?

@AVahne No.

What the hell, man

@KingofSaiyanZ what was the point then? No matter the controller it has to be charged first before use. Preferably without interruption.

Waiting an extra few hours to play seems like a small price to pay to ensure longevity on your hardware.

Edit: I saw the point now. Never mind.

I think the grip is such a silly idea. Pro controller is the only way to go.

I'm seriously thinking about cancelling my preorder. Without a bundled game made me weary enough. I really do not want to invest $300 into another failed console either.

@impurekind If you honestly think that the system itself can afford to expend a major portion of its battery to charge the controllers, then A) you don't understand the importance of battery life in handheld gaming, B) haven't been paying attention, because the number one concern people have had is the Switch's potential battery life while in portable mode, and C) shouldn't be commenting on a topic you don't understand and haven't been paying attention to.

hey nintendo. you might wanna look what happened to the vita with their overpriced memory cards

@BAN See my comment above. . . .

@impurekind I've read all of your comments. See ya.

If this continues Nintendo will fid themself in another PR nightmare.

@UK-Nintendo But, but everything should be free because I don't understand the value of products or that the company making them is trying to make a profit to recoup their research and manufacturing. Also apparently I can't budget.

No?...doesn't make sense? Oh darn.

Sigh. I try not to be snarky in general, but the amount of needless whining over Nintendo giving the consumer options is dragging my Monday. Nintendo is giving you the option. If you HAVE to have an additional dock to charge then you buy it. If not, everything you need is already in the box. the non charging grip is just to make the joycons more comfortable for extended tv play.

I was going to pre-order but the crazy accessory prices and the fact I only want one game (guess which!? lol) has put me off. Think I'll wait and see if there's a price drop near Christmas as I've plenty on my PS4 to keep me going...

It just keeps getting better. Other than shortages, I see no way this doesn't follow the Wii U's first year sales trajectory. So far HD rumble seems to be a completely unnecessary gimmick that is upping the cost of the console considerably. I'm sure it's cool feeling the bumps in the road in Mario Kart, but I don't want to pay $50 for it. And why the hell is the IR blaster at the bottom of the Joy con? So when using it as a pointer, there is literally no button to press, only the control stick. It makes the Wii's love it or hate it FPS control scheme impossible, where the joy cons could have actually improved it. What the hell.

@Ryu_Niiyama There's needless whining and then there's overinflated prices. People are allowed to voice their unhappiness with the latter if they feel it unfair...

Guess they have to make up for wiiu related losses. Staying a nintendo fan has become more expensive I guess.
In that case it might be better to get the pro controller and charge the cons while docked.

They should have released 2 intirely different bundles instead of joycon color variations. What they shouldv done was release one version with the joycons and one version instead of the Joy cons the pro controller. That would be much better.

Bundled Power supply cable confirmed?

I wonder, though, would I be able to go to Best Buy and purchase a separate USB-C cable so that I can charge my Switch on my bedside table like I do with my 3DS? Having to dock everything in the living room each night would be such a pain. I play a bit on my 3DS just before bed each night then plug it in and put it in sleep mode all without leaving my bed, then grab it and put it in my bag in the morning. I'd like to do the same thing with the Switch as it will more or less be replacing my 3DS as my primary portable system.

Do the Joy Cons charge if you charge your Switch while playing handheld mode?

The controllers for the Switch, so far, are proving to be the worst part of the system, simply because of how much Nintendo expects people to pay for the damn things. I thought the Wii U Pro Controller was pricey at $40, but the Switch Pro Controller is almost twice as much! Granted, replacing the Game Pad was much worse, Nintendo needs to stop focusing on putting gimmicky contraptions in their controllers, because it will only make less people able to afford them!

Does the pro controller come with a charger? These things were already overpriced.

at least they last 20 hours

It's like Nintendo don't want us to buy a Switch.

OK, I think it's important to clarify that the Joy-Cons do in fact also charge if you have them plugged into the Switch and have the Switch plugged into the wall via the included USB-C power adapter; this at least means you can still play the system in "portable" mode while charging everything (no docking required):

http://www.polygon.com/2017/1/13/14269692/nintendo-switch-controller-charger

The article doesn't make this clear.

I was by no means expecting the joy con grip to even charge the joy cons so this really isn't a surprise to me.
However what I would like to know is - will the joy cons charge when you've got the console plugged in by USB-C or purely when the console is docked?

@impurekind thank you. You've answered my question before I even finished writing it. This is good news

@Ryu_Niiyama Yeah I feel ya. It's just I actually want a charge grip. With a usb charging port, you would think they could have just one grip with it included. Making 2 types of grips seems more trivial than just having a charge grip.

Sounds pretty fair, afterall the Join-Con grip with the charger sound like an extra, not a needed piece of hardware.
All I want is the option to hold the Joy-Con like a regular controller when the Switch is docked and the default Joy-Con grip does just that.

@ottospooky See my post directly above yours.

@impurekind USB-C charger is not included but they're so cheap anyway so doesn't matter. More worried about the size of the included AC adapter though. It's twice as big and weighs twice as much as the 3DS charger. I'd also like to know what you can use to charge with USB-C. Where do I connect the USB-C cable from the Switch to? Only to battery packs?

@Nico87 Well, the article says it is, so who knows.

If the actual AC adapter included with Switch can't be use to power the main Switch unit directly that's a bit annoying; it surely would have made sense to make that single adapter work either plugged into the dock or the main Switch unit—but this is Nintendo.

@datamonkey Never said you couldn't voice your opinion. I merely voiced mine. Also again you have an option. Vote with your wallet. Think it costs too much? Don't buy it. I rather people use their buying power than Nintendo have to jack up the price to (which y'all will still complain about) to put every accessory under the sun in the box with the primary system. You have everything you need to work the system for 300 USD. The rest is extra.

So many corners cut to get under 300$, by now it's already ridiculous

Honestly this isn't going to bother me as if I was going to keep them attached to the Switch because I will loose them otherwise.

@impurekind I dunno, Nintendo had a "what's included" picture with description but no mention of it there.

Oh Nintendo, sometimes I think you like to be pointed out.

Anyway, judging by all this cost cutting I think the console itself might be a very good piece of software. They let some features out in order to keep the price as low as possible. I can imagine folks getting mad if the console cost more than $300. And they wouldn't understand the extra price was for all those little details like charging grip and pack in games.

I honestly don't get all the griping. like others said, just plug it into the Switch to charge? Or invest in joycon charging dock, which charges four of those bad boys? or just buy the joycon charging grip. It charges from the switch anyways, so it's not like that has to be an immediate investment. The battery lasts around 16 hours longer than the DS4. I mean if you have to play when the batteries are low, you could always undock and plug it in via USB, much how other controllers work.

As far as the price for the ProCon, it's well in line with the industry.

-MSRP for DS4 - $60-$65
-MSRP for X1 - $60-$65

and here's the kicker for the XBOX One controllers: Unless you buy a crapton of batteries, you're going to want a Play and Charge kit in which the OEM solution is $25, which jacks the initial investment for an XBOX controller to $85, unless you opt for the controller with Play and Charge which runs for $75 retail. So I'm not too fussed about the cost of extra, optional accessories.

@Nico87

OK: Going by the Japanese sight, the included AC adapter appears to be useable as either the power supply for the dock or for the main Switch unit directly, and presumably the Joy-Con controllers will still charge if you have it and them plugged directly into the main Switch unit (it seems this is the case):

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/hardware/switch/lineup/index.html

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/hardware/switch/accessories/index.html

That makes sense to me; any other way would just be stupid on Nintendo's part imo.

@Ryu_Niiyama Exactly, as I said two posts above my prior one...

What the heck are you trying to do, Nintendo?

EDIT: I just realized that I misunderstood everything! I thought you needed to buy a new dock to be able to charge the console in it... XD

I don't like where this is going...

@Sir_JBizzle To be clear, I've had a set of four rechargeable batteries in my flat that I use for loads of things around my house (shavers, TV remotes, Wiimotes, etc.) and they've lasted around 5-10 years so far just recharging them when and whenever is necessary; so let's not exaggerate that a set of rechargeable batteries for an Xbox controller is somehow a crazy notion and that everyone just has to go out and buy an $80 (or whatever it costs) play & recharge kit. Only people that work for GAME sell that lie on a daily basis.

@MrGawain at least it's better than the £49:99 Microsoft charge for one of their charge kits

honestly in this day and age they should ALL come with either a plug and play kit or a charging kit

the only one who offers a chargeable controller with the ability to charge while you play out of the box is Sony

Honestly, if theae things really last 20 hours, then it's a non-issue.

@datamonkey So I have no idea why you replied to me then. To complain about my post? I tend to leave comment sections after I make my post unless some replies to me. Given the generally negative tone (and the poorly constructed arguments...I don't dislike negativity so much as I dislike the vague reasoning most posts have behind it) of many posters on this site I tend to skim most posts except for certain users that I feel contribute interesting opinions. So I didn't read your previous comments and you didn't refer to it in your kneejerk reaction to part of my comment. So again what was your point exactly?

Whatever. Gamers will complain because apparently that is more fun than playing games. Have a nice day.

@Damo But at the same time they didn't have the pro controller in the cabinet as part of the TV play set up. everything they showed seemed to be the contents of the retail package they outlined in the presentation.

But now I've looked a little there is a difference (apart from the USB). The Joy-Con Grip is all black/grey plasitc. The Charge model is the same shape bu appears to have clear plastic joining the handles to the centre of the grip.

I hate to say it but this is another thing that make it look like the Switch is trimmed to keep the unit as a acceptable price while also ensuring that they don't need to sell the unit as a loss and try to claim money back from software sales.

They passively charge when connected to the console.. so unless people sleep less than three hours a night, they'll be full by morning. Don't really see what the big deal is.

I think there's been some confusion caused here:

Surely no one reasonably expected a plastic shell attachment for the Joy-Cons to actually charge them.

That would be like expecting the gun attachment or steering wheel shell for the Wiimote to charge it or something like that.

From what I've read on the official sites, the Switch comes with an included AC adapter (I think a USB-C one) than can be plugged into either the dock or directly into the main Switch unit itself, and that can be used to charge the Joy-Cons when they are attached to the Switch and it's plugged into the power supply one way or another. I think that's about par for the course in this day and age and reasonable on Nintendo's part.

The bundled Grip is really just a cheap plastic shell for those people who simply can't play traditional games unless they're holding a controller that's a single piece.

@impurekind to be clear, I was merely speaking from the POV of parity in price between the OEMs not the fact you can switch out the batteries on the X1 or Wii controllers. Also, yes I may have exaggerated the fact that people would buy a ton of batteries, but it's not exactly too far out the realm of possibility.

Also to further clarify, I as well have rechargeable batteries around the house but I and some folks (like myself) enjoy the convenience of just plug and play, so I'm not sure how it's a lie to sell an option to a customer. (though honestly I know nothing of GAME)

Good to get some clarification... the two look identical from what I've seen, and most other mentions of it had been pretty vague.
I'm guessing the charging one is mainly for additional Joy-Cons you might buy, as the ones that come with it will be charged via the system itself... and the apparent 20 hour battery life on the Joy-Cons should make that even easier to manage.

@Sir_JBizzle Yeah, I'd say the plug and play part is the main advantage in going with the official accessory for the Xbox controller.

@Megas same here with the "dual wield" pad love. I think I might even slip on the extra rails, I think that'll chunk out the pad enough.

"dual wield" control style for Monster Hunter Tri was the only time I felt "relaxed" when playing the franchise I've loved for about 1200 hours

First comment here outside the welcome thread. Hi everyone, and just a heads up to Ryu_Niiyama, rejr, and aaron_sullivan, if I tend to reply to your comments a lot, it's because I've been lurking these threads for YEARS and I always read your comments with interest! I kind of felt like I was stalking you guys, reading your comments specifically without ever replying!

Anyway, I'm not really sure what to make of the charging situation. Nintendo can't possibly want people clipping and unclipping the controllers to the console every time they play. The wear and tear would generate failures which in turn would generate negative consumer image. These things have to clip on pretty sturdily in order to not flex in mobile play, and that means friction, which means wear on each insertion cycle. That's ok for the controllers, they can be replaced, but not for the console (queue "but they cost the same" jokes in 1, 2, SWITCH!) Consoles will still cost $300 in 6 months. Controllers probably won't. They need to set the price high now to limit purchases because they certainly didn't make that many more controllers and docks than the ones they're shipping with consoles right now.

But, that implies pro controllers would be the "standard" for playing on the TV. But instead they're pushing the "premium charging grip" instead. Which doesn't even come with the AC adapter/USB cable needed AFAIK. Which I don't get. Why sell the regargable grip if all it does is have a USB port on it? Did trimming the USB port actually save any real amount of money on the bundled grip?

Either the existence of the charging grip is weird, or the lack of USB port on the bundled grip is weird. Right now there's 3 different controller combinations. JoyCon with bare grip, "premium" grip (is the whole grip better, or does it just have a charging port?), and Pro controller. Meanwhile Pro has a real D-pad. But then games will mostly assume you AREN'T using a D-pad because JoyCon is the main setup.

You can always count on Nintendo to make a collection of confusing accessories. SNES might be their only "weird accessory collection-free" console to date.

The system itself can charge them, and they stay charged for a long time. No big deal really, more of an inconvenience.

@Ryu_Niiyama lol. I really hope it sells. I really do.

Lord in heaven

@Yorumi At least it has a charger this time

My company is paying so I'll get everything. Lol

The joycons still charge if they're mounted on the undocked tablet while it's plugged in, right?

That will be my most common configuration.

@crimsontadpoles It's £280.

@AlexSora89 "slew of bad news today,"

I call it "Monday".

I think the $30 Grip charger is really only for people who lay out $80 for the 2nd set of Joycon. If you only have the 1 set that comes with the Switch then the non-charging Grip should suffice. But if you have a 2nd set for ARMS or whatever, then yeah, spend the extra $30. Might be good for 2 player MK8D as well, not sure what control methods work.

@FengLong Yup. This charger is 100% optional, hence the "mountain out of a molehill" comments

Just more of my money nintendo won't be gettin'.

@Megas It's couch, not cough.

Yikes.... Nintendo WTF?!!

Iwata must be rolling over in his grave.

the joycons will be mostly charged already like most devices nowadays.

Surprising... I was just pondering this yesterday to myself. I was planning to get a Pro Controller anyway, but still, I wouldn't mind having the charging grip, especially if someone comes over. I'll get the charging grip at a later date.

@Yorumi do you really need more than one way to charge them? The charging grip will be something that would collect dust as the joycons will be attached to the Switch when not playing. With 20 hour battery life it would take a seriously long TV play session to need the chaging grip - unless you buy a second set of joy cons.

The messaging on the two different grips could definitely have been clearer, but come on. If you really can't wait an hour after you get the Switch to start playing, you can plug the AC adapter into the Switch and play it in portable mode.

@Syrek24 If life is too short to complain about things, why do I see you in almost every article complaining about people complaining? At least complainers are here posting relevant comments. Much better than attempting to stroke your ego from your high horse.

I think a lot of people are missing the point. It is another accessory that is way over priced and most people will assume that would be included in the price of the console. every thing is coming up way more expensive than it should be and was planning on a pro controller for when at home but that is an insane price. It looks like we need to wait for third party companies to get the price of controllers down.

@MarcelRguez Don't forget the NFC reader in the Procon too. It is no small wonder that the controller isn't 5 dollars.

@Yorumi they last 20 hours. And when you finish playing TV mode, you put the joycons back on the Switch. The Joycons charge whenever connected to the Switch. I think they can survive being disconnected from a charger for 7 hours.

@Yorumi the wires might be cheap but actually putting them and plugs inside a piece of plastic costs more.
I would rather my Switch be cheaper and not come bundled with stuff I don't want to buy.
It's not greed. Greed is making everybody who buys a Switch also buy this pointless charger by including it in the bundle.

@Captain_Gonru

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's useless.
Just wondering if it was worth investing in a technology that might not even be used to its fullest potentional by anyone other than Nintendo.

@Captain_Gonru If they put the $30 charger in the box then the Switch itself would basically be free. $90 dock, $80 Joycon pair, $8 straps x2, $30 Charging Grip. I'm thinking that isn't Parker X2 in there.

Hey @aaronsullivan at least that's 1 problem solved. Here's another one for you. If you have to pay for online play, and you, your wife and kids each have their own NNID, MyNintendo account, does everyone have to pay for their own online or is it by the system? When you buy a 2nd Switch will you have to pay twice for online, once for each Switch, or will it be connected to your NNIN, MyNintendo acvount. Now THATS a question somebody should ask Reggie. I'll bet he doesn't know the answer.

How often are you going to be playing for more than twenty hours at a time without a three hour break in between?

@MarcelRguez Ugh, I have so many issues with how Sony did their premium controllers. I am kinda glad they aren't in the US so I don't talk myself into buying one.

However that is another topic for another day.

@rjejr
You didn't strike me as a "Garfield" kind of guy...

Thankfully there are other, non-Nintendo manifacturers that will sell the charging-grip for a more reasonable price.

LOL

I wrote it before (after the online subscription reveal), but I can only repeat myself: They're trying to charge you for everything. Trying to get everything up to the last cent out of your pocket. Trying to rip you off.

The right thing to do would be to boycott the Switch entirely, to show Nintendo that their fans won't support such devious behaviour.
But the things is, I really want to play Splatoon 2. That's a real dilemma...

Woah, 20 hours?! That's incredible for such a small device. I must have charged my WiiU Pro Controller twice in the last year. The battery is insane.

@McGruber I'm not going to deny some big missteps in the Switch's pricing and launch, but it already has a big advantage over the Wii U in that people know it's a new console and not and add-on to a pre-existing one. The Wii U had a bunch of issues but its biggest problem was arguably the confusion surrounding what it actually even was. The Switch doesn't have this issue.

I already know three people personally who have preorders who haven't owned a Nintendo console in years. The Switch already has more general appeal than the Wii U ever did, and there's no way it's going to sell less than the Wii U. I'm not saying it'll blow everyone away or become a market leader, but beating 10 million Wii U units will be a cinch. Sure, the price of the Switch was a bit of a shocker, but don't forget, the Wii U was $50 more expensive when it launched (and still currently retails at the same price the Switch will launch).

I'm beginning to dislike the Switch more and more with each of these little "catches" they didn't tell us during the presentation.

Why?!?!

@Yorumi Unfortunetly we will be paying for online all the other consoles inforce this and looks like the only way we are going to get decent online service. They do however need to match the free game incentive being provided by microsoft and sony and not have the game disappear after a month. Unless the service is cheaper ( not likely looking at the gauging prices so far) I cant see why the game would disappear it will cost them nothing.

@jimi I was giving relative data displaying parity in accessory cost. Whether or not anyone cares about facts, is up to them. Also, Nintendo is not a charity either. It also doesn't change the fact that the accessories are also completely optional, unless you happen to engage in a lot of local play, and you have a paticular need.

How the blank is this an issue? Three hour charge for 20 hours. Even if you didn't get a pro controller and just had the joy cons it wouldn't be an issue. Do people even think before they rant anymore?

The switch is terrible value for money. The premium one should come as standard! And have 2TB of storage built in. And free online play. And what's this I hear about having to pay for games as well, I don't pay for games on my iPhone! All the available games should be bundled in. And while we are at it I think a more reasonable price for all this would be around £50 or possibly even free to those who made the mistake of buying a Wii U.

@greengecko007 😂😂😂 you tell him 😂😂 that really tickled me

Hahaha ..... sigh...not a big deal though...

@SetupDisk no they don't ( maybe it's entitlement).
Gaming is an expensive hobby though and it's getting harder to keep up with it all. But out if the box you get two players for some games and at most just need a pro controller or another set of joy-cons .. the grip will most likely be made by other 3rd party for really cheap..

@Mellor2000 you know what you do gave some points here- the memory thing really isn't a problem and never has been as you can buy cheap enough memory yourself- that and rage fact that physical games won't need to be installed. The whole paying for online is also not an issue- Sony and MS do it but you know what you get a regular supply of free games linked to an account and they stay there as long as you pay. Come on nes or she's games that you can play for a month- that is laughable.
The big issue for me is not the price for me paying for it- I can afford 280 quid but it's that it's way higher than they realistically need it to be. In order to play Zelda you need to fork out 340 pounds- for 200 pounds you can get a ps 4 and uncharted 4. I'm sorry but parents buying for kids are going to look at that and opt for the more affordable option. It just doesn't make sense to me how this reveal has happened. They show an expensive alternative to what's out there with no bloody games other than Zelda on launch- okay I do love bomberman. The whole 1 2 switch stuff had me staring at the screen in disbelief. It's like they honestly think they are getting the Wii casuals back. They aren't and the reactions to the reveal have been the exact opposite to what they wanted.
In October I was getting this day one but they have done the usual thing they do and completely shot themselves in the foot. The two things that were priorities- make this an impulse buy (much like the Wii was) and lay to rest all the VC eshop fears our existing customers already have and have been asking us about for years.
They blew it big time. The console looks great but I'm waiting for at least a year now. I honestly believe unless they introduce a price drop then this is as dead as the Wii u. 😪😪

@jimi yep I've tried to make that point but some people really don't understand it. I'm pretty convinced now as well that all my Wii VC games which I had to stupidly transfer to the Wii u will not be available if I ever buy a switch. I've got a sad feeling that the switch- which I honestly believed could save Nintendo on all fronts is going to do the exact opposite. I have never known a company so out of touch with what it needs to do or what it's customers want.
On the plus side, the money I was saving for it has at present bought me five GameCube games, including four swords and two game boy sps. That hasn't even totalled 60 quid so far and we've been having a cracking time playing PAC man vs and four sword adventures.

@jaymacx
Exactly, I'm thinking back to a kid when I would rent games on the weekend. 16 hours over a day and a half would be pushing it.

Who actually needs this premium grip? Besides the joy cons not having charge when bought (which I doubt but possible) or your power being out for a few days. This is clearly a luxury item for you to say "look what I have here!".

There are quite are few things about the switch launch that are iffy/not good but complaining about this makes little to no sense.

@jimi how do they not know this- it is seriously hurting my brain.

Not a big deal, but they seemed to have handled it in a pretty shady fashion. Good ol' Nintendo!

Hey peeps, here's a revolutionary idea. If you see value in the switch then buy it. If not forget about it. Get on with your lives, maybe go for a walk or talk to a friend you haven't seen in ages. Tomorrow will be a beautiful day. Perhaps getting angry about something you have no intention of buying is not the best use of your time.

@jimi I remember being so pissed I couldn't play my NES games on my SNES let alone use all my old controllers.

The situation Nintendo is in (of their own doing of course) is the debacle that was the Wii U. They wanted to make a clean break of that family and start anew which is why BC wouldn't make sense.

Now if I have to full price for VC games that's a whole other issue.

@Dakt it really is mate, I took a day out to calm down. Came back to NL and it's all go on the bad news parade again! Really struggling to not feel bummed out by all the negative hype surrounding the switch! 😱

There must be a mistake. The grip included with the console isn't just a plastic shell, as there are 8 leds in the front of the device.
Is it possible this is all a misunderstanding from the japanese website?

@Yorumi at least it was a clearer vision than what they ever did with the Wii U. We all know the main appeal is that it's a home console you can take on the go. I will agree It is quite the shame that they had to dedicate that time to show off the controller as opposed to some of the titles that we got drip fed after the presentation.

And surely you meant "we" as in "I" because I personally don't mind the "gimmicks"

@Mellor2000 you're absolutely right! See my above post, things seem major at times but there really are more important things to worry about 😁

Knew about this topic, but I'm not overly concerned.

The fact is, console accessories have always been overpriced. That is how these companies turn a quick profit; higher margins on lower volume sales. This is because they know other manufacturers will do the opposite, whereby they make small margins on cheap (and sometimes nasty) products, but sell in high volume.

Let's keep things in context and not have select-memory. Following the Wii's launch, the RRP of a single Wiimote was £39.99. The likes of Amazon undercut this at £34-7.99, but that was still relatively expensive for a 'controller' that dubiously looked like a TV remote, and that people were still skeptical of. The reaction when wasn't far off what we have today.

The difference now however is that Nintendo has shrunk the Wiimote, improved every single one its core technologies (whilst adding more), enhanced its hardware-application, and raised the RRP by just £3. Now, is that fair? That's for you to decide, but I'd feel like a fool for believing the opposite.

Or what about the Playstation 2 launch? More than a decade ago, Sony's official 8MB Memory Card was £29.99. Back then that was an awful lot of money for such a necessity, but other manufacturers made their own versions - just as they did with the Wiimote.

The point to all this is that, for one, an RRP is merely a guide. Very rarely will you find the likes of Amazon sticking to them throughout the lifecycle of a product. Heck, even Zavvi have already reduced the price of the Pro Controller to £59.99, which at this point is a great deal.

The second point is that licensed products by the likes of HORI will always be cheaper, and are usually also high quality. I use HORI as an example because I've been buying accessories from them since the SNES days, and they always deliver. They have a smashing 'Tough Pouch' that is not only a hardshell, but also cheaper than Nintendo's own 'Starter Pack' case. Again, just shop around.

And with regards to the Joy-Con Charging Grip... The Joy-Cons themselves have a 20-hour battery life.

For measure; you would have to be using the Joy-Cons on their own, detached from the Switch console, for 20-hours

You want to know why Nintendo aren't including the charging feature? Then be realistic - how many people are going to be in the above scenario?

You might have a session that typically lasts between 1 and 2 hours. When you're done, the Joy-Cons go back onto the Switch, which itself will be docked, and they begin charging.

When the Switch is undocked, the console itself only has a 3-6 hour battery life, meaning that it's impossible to run out of Joy-Con battery before the Switch dies (unless you use the Joy-Cons on another system). So to me, it seems like a sensible cost-cutting measure.

@Tendogamerxxx No, they have amiibo for that

@Emperor-Palpsy
Logic apparently doesn't work here but I thank you for your effort nonetheless.

@Browny you can just normally plug the cable into the wireless controller and still play the damn thing whilst it's charging!!!!!!!!!

@jimi
"Let's compare it to Wii U / Iwata-Nintendo.
Oh, I was and still am able to use my old Wii controllers. Oh my.
And I got my Wii U pro controllers for almost nothing. I guess it was 25 EUR imported from Japan.

It's as if Wii U never happened, and Wii just sold gangbusters and Nintendo is totally full of themselves.

Where it should be the exact opposite. They should be even more customer friendly than back with the Wii U. But nope, the exact opposite. Insane. It's even worse than what Sony did with the $599 PS3. At least that one had backward compatibility."

Wii to Wii U compatibility made sense. It was the same branding and same product family. They went out of their way to make it an extension device. Too much so to the point that people thought the second was just an accessory. But more importantly the underlying tech was related. This time it's all new. Software is simply not compatible in anyway. Architecturally it can't happen. Hardware....if you were Nintendo and you knew "gamers" loathed the Wii and everything associated with it and the broader market thinks everything remotely similar to Wii is just part of that Wii thing they had 10 years ago, wouldn't you make sure Wii goes away and never comes back? They want it OFF the shelves entirely, so nobody sees the white + blue boxes ever again. Looking at the WiiU I can't fault them for that. Not to mention Wiimotes aren't very compatible with a portable console no matter what.

Mentioning Sony's PS3 backward compatibility actually makes Switch look good. The $600 behemoth was backward compatible. The PS3 brand was backward compatible. Then they sold new ones at $400 and REMOVED the backward compatibility feature, the SACD feature, and the install your own OS feature a little later. Imagine if the Switch models sold next year removed the gyros, HD rumble, and SD card slot but was only $199.

@alcabcucu

You're right. The question about whether the "grip" included was the same as the "premium charging grip" was on my mind for the past several days and I looked VERY carefully at the images of the console from the shows and noticed the lights and thought "wow maybe that IS the charging grip, that's surprising". I'm not sure why it has the lights (expensive) and not the USB port (inexpensive) if so. That's a little weird.

@Yorumi "if only they didn't spend the majority of the presentation showing off more gimmicks that we don't need. Clean break indeed." Still less of a hot mess than the Wii U console reveal that showed a controller, a repeat name, and never actually showed a console

Honestly though CONTROLLER charging is not a real issue in the Switch. It's a 20 hour battery set, that charges on the console itself. I myself prefer a dedicated external charger (Power A makes one) but it's not the end of the world. Whether you plug in your "charging grip" to a cable, or dock the JoyCon to the console or charger you still have to remember to charge your controllers. And if I "forget" I'm still in much much MUCH better shape than if I fogot to charge my GamePad or my Dual Shock 4 that seems to have about 5 hours battery life....

@Emperor-Palpsy comment #195 so much this. You've explained my thought process way more elegantly than I would ever had today.

Couldn't get any higher? That's a bit of a stretch. It's a $300 console home and portable together with advanced HD Rumble motion camera etc controllers enabling 2 players from the box to play and oh yeah a capacitive touchscreen and all that. How much do you want it to cost. A freakin lousy iPhone costs $700 and comes with just about nothing.

Also this news made no sense at all. You're saying there is one grip with a USB that allows you to connect a cable to charge and one without. Who the hell would even want to attach a cable to their grip especially with 20 hours long chargers. That's just stupid. You'd want it to be wireless obviously. So I guess for stupid people Nintendo is willing to make such a grip at extra cost. More than reasonble. Now one day where all electricity will be wireless that would make sense maybe so revisit it then.

where else would you leave the joy cons? seems logical to charge them when connected to the switch.

Unexpected, but I'm fine with it. Also 99% of Switch users (those that aren't hardcore gamers and don't read gaming news and message boards) won't find this a problem at all as they won't even be aware it's a thing.

@Yorumi Huh, never thought about that (alternative servers). Although I bet Nintendo would prevent that by not allowing the console to use the Wifi/Ethernet-Adapter without a subscription. But who knows, maybe it will lead to a Homebrew revival.

@jimi I so agree on everything you wrote! The state of post-Iwata Nintendo, Apple, stupid people, everything!
And the picture @Yorumi posted sums it up quite nicely. They should add a Nintendo picture to it. ^^

Let's not add anything else that could put the price up!

@Yorumi Yeah, I don't understand why they didn't include a charging port on the grip in the box. The cost difference would be non-existent, and they DID include the battery status lights. 8 LEDs cost way more than a USB port. So they didn't even save anything.

It's possible the "charging grip" wasn't originally intended, and therefore wasn't in the boxes with the consoles, but somebody got the idea later on "hey here's something people might want, lets sell this too."

I also get the impression that in-fighting is VERY serious at Nintendo. More and more I see an image where there are people with ideas (even at the top) and a clique of other people at the top who disagree and do everything to suppress that idea. I wouldn't be surprised if someone early on proposed a USB port on the grip, and other managers decided it was a stupid idea and therefore won't be done, and then someone got it approved through some other back-door channel and they ended up having both the USB and USB-less design approved, so to save face they had to produce both. Sometimes these things are political ideas.

Personally I wish the box included the one with the charger, BUT at the same time if I were the design team, I'd have gone without ANY charger port model of grip to begin with. In a way it's feature clutter. The dock is the central charging dock, and I can see an interest in maintaining that theme in the whole product design rather than "charge here, or here, or over there too!"

@Captain_Gonru I've spent the past few days trying to figure out how PS+ works an dI still don't know. I have PS+ on my main PS4 account - same old account I've had on PS3 for 8 years. My kid has an old PS3 account and a new PS4 "sub-account" I just made for him since the old PS3 account is based in Hong Kong. The new PS4 account has a lot of parental contorls enale - since turned out, ki dhas to learn online gamers suxxx - an dhe does seem to be gaming online now. So it's possible PS+ is console rleated, or he is online b/c it sa lid "subaccount b/c he just turned 12 and he was 11 when I made the sub account. Not knowing is weird, but as long as he can play Rocket League and Dragonball Xenorvse 2 online He's already played a few PS+ rentals so I know that works.

But Nintendo being Nintendo, I won't even hazard a guess. Well I'll hazard a guess - people won't be happy.

@Yorumi "$80 for a controller? my god I got a high quality programmable flight stick for my pc for $70. I get free online, massive discounts on games all the time to the point that I've almost never paid full price for a pc game. it used to be that pc hardware was so much more expensive but that's not the case anymore. PC is actually cheaper now. I havn't totally given up on the switch but I'm almost there."

For a number of years I was PC-die-hard. I finally got sick of it and went back to consoles. Yeah back then it was when it was expensive, but PC hardware, IMO tends to be nothing but problems. If it wasn't a $450 video card failing (for the 3rd time) it was a power supply burning out, or insufficient cooling, or driver conflicts or you name it. And then there's the DRM nightmares.

Granted, I never bought into Steam and am not a fan of digital. Steam is now what makes PC "cheap" but it's also a certain subset of use case (all digital, all through one vendor, always online) that pushed a lot of folks away from PC gaming to begin with. Steam and the migration away from physical media on PC is what made me leave it (add the hardware frustrations of that era and it was becoming toxic.) Ironically, Steam's race to the bottom pricing is one of the reasons console software remains expensive. Publishers need to recoup the losses from giving away the farm somehow. If the consoles stopped the gouging on software, you'd find publishers pushing back on Steam heavily. I'm not a fan of big publishers but I almost pity them when I see what Steam does to them. Gabe built a house of cards.

"I feel like they need to clean up their hardware teams cause all this screams of the same mess that made the wiiU."

Well lets remember that, specifically to build the Switch, they merged what were, basically, two different companies, the console and handheld R&D units into one big department. The Switch is the first product of that unified team that saw a merger, new internal middle management, the death of their visionary, unifying leader, and then the power vacuum/squabble that emerged to replace it. That we see design ideas that are contradictory is probably to be expected. That there might be power struggles between the segments of the 2 former departments would become evident in the end product too. The Red + Blue controllers may be a metaphor

The "cram it full of junk" probably comes from the Wii team. But the problem they're stuck with is: Virtual Console. They now have YEARS of odd control schemes, and if they ever want to resell old games from those eras, which is a big part of Nintendo, they need to support all the odd control schemes.

It's a miracle it doesn't have a DK bongo built into it. Oh, wait, that's probably what the IR camera is for...

@datamonkey Being allowed to complain is not always the same as being correct, and if people are saying things that make no sense and are clearly wrong, others should rightly feel the urge to correct them.

@Emperor-Palpsy "Sensible" is a completely foreign term to most of the denizens (and apparently some of the staff) of this particular site. Actually, it's not even just on this site. Gamers in general seem to be a cut below the rest when it comes to their capacity for rational thought and reasonable, measured reactions. At least the ones that comment on most gaming sites, anyway.

With a 20 hour battery life, there's really not much difference between charging them via USB versus charging them on the docked console. With some planning ahead, you just can't play for more than 20 hours when taking it somewhere else to play in portable or tabletop mode, which shouldn't be an issue most of the time. I'm certainly not going to pay extra for deluxe grips when I eventually get a Switch.

This console is getting mighty expensive. Im canceling my oreorder ill wait til the inevitable price drop and game bundling.

So many switch haters on this site now... and so many comments on an accessory that most wont need. It was obvious on presentation that you dont get charging grip as you have the console to charge the joycons on. They even stated what was in the box. The grip is for those who would prefer classic controller style and dont want to buy a pro controller.

You might decide to buy the charging grip if you buy a further set of joycons though.

The only thing i believe nintendo are overcharging for is the additional docks.

The joycons and pro controller clearly have new technology which is why they showed it in detail in the presentation. They are not wiimotes with motion plus.

But many stores are adding £5 to £10 to accessories so they make more profit.

I would like to see a standard poll showing how many have preordered switch in usa and uk. And how many have preordered zelda on switch and wii u in usa and uk so we can compare.

Lotsa comments means lots of whiners, defenders and people that clearly find an Internet comment War a worthwhile endeavour in life (Dios Mio!!).

My thoughts:It is a bit of a nickel and dime move by Nintendo but from a business perspective, makes perfect sense. Not what I would have liked, but there are more important things to get "excited" about than having to put down some more cash on a gaming accessory.

Although likely to only be an issue when first out of the box as solution is simple; attach Joycons to Switch after each play session.

May get premium charge grip at some point but instead grabbing the Premium controller and intend to use that whenever it's docked. So really will only undock Joycons when in travel mode, local multiplayer or motion games.

As i said on other posts, and i will repeat again..
Nintendo became an greedy money grabbing company, instead to focus on selling the product as much as possible they fukn put non sense "HD" dualshock and motion controlsm on top of that 900p zelda at 30 fps and splatton 2 at 720p docked and undocket - If it was the year 2011 such fps/resolution on games would be high end, but today even android phones have a higher resolution and fps on some games... Not to mention how much expensive switch is compared to the far superior ps4 and xbone..

I gotta hand it to Nintendo. If the Switch is popular and people buy it, they have created a system in which you could be buying accessories for nearly a year after you pick up the system. First, you buy a pro controller for the more intensive games. Later in the year you want to spice up your system so you buy a second set of Joy-Cons to change the colour. Later you get tired of charging the Joy-Cons while docked and since you have two pairs, you buy an additional charger. The final straw is when you realize you want to play on multiple TV's and you decide to buy the second dock. Next thing you know it, you've spent about $300 on accessories to go with the $300 console. Personally, these things don't bother me because I never buy everything at once. I enjoy making follow up purchases down the road.

@Yorumi What has killed me getting a PS4 for CHirstmsa is those contollers only keep a charge for about 7 ours, PS3 controllers I think were 20. That's a big difference and something I'm having to get used to. Know how I got used to it? I bought a new PS4 controller on Friday for $40 so one is always charged. I think that's Nintneod's plan w/ these - buy an extra set of Joycons for $80 or a Pro for $70 so you always have something chagred to play with.

@Captain_Gonru The name Joycon is growing on me, it sounds like some ancient Chinese secret.

So in other news, it doesn't really matter.

One set of joy cons will be more than enough for me. Going to get the pro controller for tv gaming and the cons can stay on the switch pretty much all the time.

The amount of tears this is causing is hilarious.

The joy-cons have a 20 hour battery life, and charge fully in 3 hours.

This means that as long as you sleep more than 4 hours a day and you are not gaming for 20 hours straight, and you can remember to put your controllers up/dock the switch... This is a none issue

So if you want to start from scratch and have a 4 player on the go setup, you need:

$300 for the console
$30 for the JoyCon Charge Grip
$80 for an extra L & R JoyCon
$? for mobile USB-C charger/converter and games (external battery packs and solar chargers for the NS and Charge Grip are possible)

So that's $410+ for a basic 4 player on the go package. If you want more:

$70-140 for an extra Pro controller or two
$? for extra accessories and SD cards if you need them

Suddenly, we're looking at a system that has around a $600+ price tag for 4 player multiplayer. Wow, where did the days of $300-450 4 player multiplayer setups go...

@PlywoodStick

Hell, forego the game and listen to icecubes falling into a glass, heheh.

@k8sMum My folks have two Siamese cats... One of them has a penchant for ice cubes, for some odd reason... She sometimes jumps up to the sink when we throw one in. Then, when more ice cubes are lined up along the middle of the sink (it's dual sided) and pushed down, she stares at them quizzically. She even once leapt at my TV screen while I was waving the hand on a Wii around using the Wiimote... 😂

@PlywoodStick $410 for mobile on the go multi-player gamer with current Gen games vs... What exactly? No other system does this.

You technically don't even need a charging grip. The controller batteries last 20 hours and charge in 3. I don't know many people that play 20 hours straight.

@PlywoodStick

You may want to consider body armor if you play with the joy con then. I have a vision in my head of the cat trying to climb up your body to get that sucker.

Come on Nintendo! I know you're moving into mobile but please don't treat your new console as a free to play iOS game, complete with in app purchases.

@Yorumi Yeah my PC era was from the late 90's through the late '00's. Golden age with a lot of games that are still the classics for PC. But it was also a disastrous age for hardware and software. It was a period of time where you had no choice but to do a full upgrade every 2-4 years max. The $250-450 video card would be instantly obsolete with each DirectX version, and with each video card the bus standard would change (PCI, to AGP, too AGP Pro to AGP 2, to PCI-E to PCI-E 2 etc.) So every 2-4 years DX would change which meant the video card change with a new bus required which would mean the mobo/CPU/mem would change, and that usually meant a bigger PSU, and new mobo meant new OS install which meant new OS licence, and at at that point might as well go with a new chassis and HDDs. Then you spend 6 months working out the cooling solution problems, random freezes, and the games still have driver conflicts. And then you just have a big, loud, space heater for a "gaming" box. Even in summer. If you missed that era, consider yourself lucky. For those that didn't miss the era, it's the stuff of legends up there with blowing into your NES carts

BUT for me digital was really the downfall. I just don't like digital (and I've often had bandwidth caps on me or obsolete speeds....) so it was never a real option, especially then (I still cringe when I get an 8-12GB patch on PS4. Somehow even BoTW is only 13.4 gig in TOTAL. I've had PATCHES bigger than that on PS4. Another reason I may continue to prefer Nintendo...they seem sane regarding distribution sizes. But yeah, the latter years of PC still having some physical media after the industry went to Steam, discs were PAINFUL, often failing to install right leading to random crashes and such. You might be right that these days it's cheaper (if you go digital, which I wouldn't) but imagine if the only Nintendo console you ever saw was the Wii. Even 10 years later if they just started selling SteamBoxes with a Nintendo logo on them....you'd wince every time you hit the power button remembering the horror that was the Wii

It's not new for Nintendo to be the priciest option though. I remember someone a while back pointing out that the Wii with all it's "essential" accessories of the era was actually the most expensive 7th gen console. SNES and NES weren't cheap so much as "the only price point the market would sustain." And they certainly had a lot of accessories to throw money at back then too. Compared to arcades it was a bargain however.

Switch accessories are pricey, though I do believe that will come down by November, but PS4 and X360 accessories aren't particularly cheap. DS4 is what $50? And the battery lasts about 5 hours, not 20, and it has no real gyro controls (sixaxis was primitive in the DS3) Xbox controller is $40 or $50 (haven't checked lately) but it doesn't even COME with a battery.... "OEM" battery packs are another $25 if you don't want AA batteries. TV docks are pricey but how long until there's 3rd party docks? Not long I'd guess. I think the launch pricing of accessories can't be compared to a stable console.

Wow... seriously people? All this crying over this? The things charge in 3 hours... they last for 20 hours... I honestly dont see me keeping the joy cons hooked on anything less than the tablet when docked in the first place. Is it really that big of a deal? If this is what stresses you out, you have a rough road agead of you...

This makes me concerned over the long term appeal of the console. A big part of why the Vita failed was due to the price gouging memory cards on top of the high price of the console for its time. If $300 is just the "soft price" of the console, but I have to pay an arm and a leg to pick up a bunch of peripherals on top of that, the draw of the console becomes greatly diminished.

So if it ships with drained batteries, I guess you have to wait a bit to charge the joy cons first. Is that it? I'm not understanding the issue, I guess.

Why the hell bother with the joycon grip that doesn't charge? Oh I know why, Nintendo! Thanks.

@Yorumi:"It's really gotten to the point that I don't have clue what a console is even for anymore." - One thing that can be said, is that accessories aside, it used to be, & still is, to a certain degree, that consoles didn't require fiddling around with to get everything working right; Out of the box it all works, little setup required. Not everyone has the tech knowledge to setup the stuff. I guess the summary word I would use is convenience(specifically ease of use). I still like my Nintendo consoles, & I also feel that consoles have lost some of that convenience.

@NEStalgia: First, I wanna welcome you to NLife! Don't let negativity scare you off. It's not always like that here. Second, if you wanna get somebody's attention, you can use the reply button located at the bottom of every comment, or if you know their "name", just put an @ symbol, followed by their name, no spaces in between. They will see they have a reply, when they are logged in. Third, as far as I know, any text within 2 *s will appear bold(ex. * Hello there! * minus spacing). However, as the rules were last I knew, bold text should not be overused in a post.

@Everyone_Else: I don't really see this being too much of an issue. I understand it might be to some, but I guess it all whittles down to how individual (game)play styles vary; I'll probably adapt to using both methods(Joycons attached/separately in my hands).

@KickButt_Gaming What catches? That we aren't charity so shouldn't be begging Nintendo for donations?

@King_Johobo So you want your Switch to cost an extra $30 for an item you may use once?

I got to half way down the comments and I gave up.I was getting a sore neck from shaking my head.The fact the Joy-cons have such long battery life and they can be charged while plugged in while in portable mode makes this a complete non issue.

@King_Johobo Because it's a cheap plastic shell that gives us the useful option of turning the little Joy-cons into a standard controller for those times it's needed say for a local multiplayer session with a mate who's used to standard controls,slip them in the grip and you're good to go.It also saves us solo players the immediate expense of having to buy a Pro controller.If the grip had the ability to charge the Joy-cons then it wouldn't be a cheap plastic shell anymore and it would add considerably to the cost of the console.They could have just not included the basic grip at all but it would have saved us very little and gave us less useful options,which no doubt will have generated hundreds of negative comments too.

@MadAdam81 No, I want my Switch to cost $100 less.

My bad I didn't realise how long the batteries last in the joycons.

Plus if I get a pro controller I can charge the joycons while I play.

@Yorumi: There's also the fact consoles now have their own os, & sometimes need/require updates before it will start loading up certain new games. This is something that much older consoles didn't have to deal with.(You bought it, & were guaranteed it would play games made for it, years down the line, needing no upgrades/updates to do so.) So, there is that, also. One more way in which consoles are becoming less distinguishable from pcs, in terms of advantages vs. disadvantages.

@Tendogamerxxx I was thinking the exact same thing.

@rjejr That was one of my first impressions of the PS4 controllers too. I was questioning if mine were defective.

@Capt_N Thanks for the warm welcome and the tutorial! Yeah I've been lurking around here for YEARS so I'm already familiar with the dominant personalities around here (and the trends of negativity...hey, it's the internet, it's gaming, and it's Nintendo. One doesn't sign up and not expect a black hole of swirling negativity! I remember when we were Nintendoomed back in the 80's... I remember when the XBox (1, not One!) came out and PC gaming was DOOMED, it was all game over! Consoles were going to take over and PC wouldn't have games anymore. It strangely goes with the territory regardless of platform.

I'd agree with the convenience of consoles being eroded over time. Online got in the way of what made consoles great, I think. Patches, expansions installs, etc confused matters. That's one of the things I'm excited about with the Switch. Accessory options aside, it's all options, and cartridges make physical make sense again (not that 3DS ever stopped.) I like my PS4 but if I have to watch one more 30 minute install from disc to HDD with STILL slow load times from spinning platter 5200 RPM HDDs followed by a 6-14 gig PATCH download because all the DLC is bundled into a required patch I'm going to throw something. That's why I left PC!

I think a lot of PS owners are missing the notion that random access speeds on a Switch cartridge is much, much faster than RA on their 2.5" 5200 RPM spinner. SSD upgraders wouldn't see a gain, but that's not the bulk of PS owners. Compared to a stock PS4/XBOne, Switch storage access, be it a fast SD card or a game card, will be blazing fast, physical or digital.

"Lego City: It loads in under 5 minutes" should be a system seller

@dkxcalibur Well, I waited 3 years to buy a PS4 so I knew what I was getting into. It was also kind of annoying that even though the DS4 has a standard charger, it's different from DS3, so my 10' cable I kept hooked up to my PS3 while playing when needed is no good. And I think the PS4 cable is 18" long, totally useless.

Nintendo fans should be happy to know my new $60 DS4(2) doesn't come with a charging cable at all, I need to use the short useless PS4 one, which also means I can only charge 1 at a time. I've tried 4 different 4 chargers that won't work, the DS4 are more picky then I was lead to believe. .085 amps is weird. I've been using my 1amp Tablet charger, that cord is at least 2".

But 7 hours for a home console controller without a screen is too short. Game pad was only 3 hours but that had a 6" screen. My 7" tablets all get more time than the DS4.

@rjejr I've already given up on the included charger too. It's too short. It's similar to the Amazon Fire charger. I use my cell phone chargers to charge my PS4 controllers now. They work fine, but like you said, 7 hours for a controller with no screen is sad! Plus, in my experience, when a company says the battery will last a certain amount of time, I think it's safe to subtract and hour or two from the total.

@MitchVogel

It's different than Vita. Vita you HAD to buy the memory card. It wasn't an option. Even if you didn't download digital games, most retail games needed a card larger than the default to save to and use for temporary storage. Worse, due to the inexcusable lack of retail games and bulk of the library being download only, you generally need a large one.

Switch's accessories are just that, optional accessories. Everything you need to use the console is in the box for $299 minus the game (Vita didn't include a game at launch either unless you bought the deluxe preorder kit with the case and all for more money.)
We also can't excuse Vita's AT&T 3G model that supported an expensive wireless data plan that allows nothing other than checking leaderboards, all for a premium launch SKU + fee.

Switch's peripherals may be expensive, but nobody actually needs them. 32GB internal storage is more than anyone playing retail-games-only will likely ever need, an SD card is an accessory if you want to go digital (and even then only if you're buying multiple large digital games), the Pro Controller is just a luxury option for those that want it, the charging grip is simply an alternative external charger if you don't want to use the main one, extra docks are if you want to use it in more than one room but don't want to carry your 8 ounce plastic dock from room to room. Nothing essential to use it normally, just options (and gouging for those that want to explore the options.)

For now, Arms is the sole outlier that benefits from 2 pairs of Joycon, followed probably by Splatoon 2. And even for Arms it's only if you want to do local split screen, but you don't need it for online or playing with someone else who also has a $299 Switch and the game.

A closer approximation to Vita's "accessories" cost would be if the Switch came with only the Joy-Con (R). Some games only need one Joy-Con, but if you want to play any games that need both (which is nearly every game except a few) you have to buy the Joy-Con (L) for $50. That's the situation the memory cards had. Except they cost even more than that. And I had 2 of the buggers fail on me.

@Yorumi The idea of not needing a new $400 video card (or pair of $400 video cards) and supporting power and bus requirements every other year just sounds so alien to me

Of course there's the problem of genres. Most of the genres Nintendo platforms tend to dominate in, especially RPGs tend to be sorely lacking on PC. Ironic, since that's the platform RPGs started on.

@rjejr PS4 controllers aren't exactly standard chargers either. I've had the same dreadful experience you have. MOST of the AC->USB wall chargers i have don't charge it. It blinks, then shuts off. If I connect it to a PC it installs a driver of some sort and charges. There's a software component to the charging. It infurates me that most USB chargers don't actually charge the DS4, and I have to use the console or a PDP charger most of the time. You get seven hours out of your DS4!? They must have improved the newer units. My launch day DS4's only ever got 5 hours tops. Often less. The extended battery for the Gamepad makes it outlast the DS4 while powering that 6" screen and a bigger rumble pack. Not sure why Sony always gets a pass on this stuff. (Then again Microsoft doesn't even include the battery at all...)

@NEStalgia: You're welcome!

@DarthNocturnal they will start charging $60 for super mario bros.. I mean if they can charge that for 1,2 Switch which is not more than a tech demo... a virtual console game will go to the roofs in price.. ("yes, but we added online to it" - Nintendo)

@dkxcalibur "It's similar to the Amazon Fire charger."

That thing is a joke. Picked up a 7" Fire back on Prime day in July for $33, so really can't complain fr that price, that's less than the $40 I paid for the PS4 controller, but that cord is so short even sitting on the couch right next to the outlet my wife still can't use it plugged in. My similar Samsung Tab 4 charger has an extra foot or more. Of course that was also a $150 tablet. that's the charger I use for my DS4s, just long enough to play plugged in, as long as I don't move from my seat.

Oh, first thing I did, go into the PS4 settings and change the light to "dim". Nobody needs that light anyway. Of course it seems like I had to do it w/ both controllers on each account, which is a pain, but it's probably helping a bit w/ battery life, those things are way too bright on normal.

Just in case you need it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYBBqH9vtpI