
Today we were lucky enough to attend the UK premiere of the Switch, the latest games console from the Japanese gaming giant Nintendo. The event took place at the Hammersmith Apollo in London and was filled with Switch units running some of the titles we'll be playing on the platform in 2017.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe had its own section, as did the promising-looking ARMS, which is actually a lot more enjoyable than video footage suggests. Elsewhere, 1-2-Switch had a moderately large stand, with different Switch consoles playing each of the title's one-on-one mini-games. "Milk" was perhaps the most entertaining; the objective is to produce more white stuff from a virtual cow's udder than your rival by performing a precise (and, when taken out of context, quite rude-looking) milking motion with the Joy-Con. Ahem.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild naturally had a large section of the floor and looks positively lovely, whether it's in 1080p on a TV screen or on the screen of the Switch itself - which, we should mention, looks absolutely gorgeous, with striking brightness and punchy colour. Splatoon 2 was the other big game of the show, and naturally ensnared our resident fan Alex Olney for quite some time.
Finally, third-party games were limited to one demo pod each on one of the far walls, but despite this, they attracted a fair amount of attention, especially Sonic Mania and Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers.
Anyway, enough talk - check out the images on this very page and let us know what you think of Switch - and its software - so far. You can also check out the full gallery of images from the event over on our Facebook page.
Comments 33
Looks good. Looking forward to all of your reviews and informed opinions. Or wait: is that being too positive?
Looks good. Hope tomorrow's a bright day.
The Switch looks amazing, reasonably priced and a big step up in technology and fun. As a handheld gamer I think it's something I could really come to love over the years.
As I have said a few times, Nintendo has dropped the ball with it's games coverage. While I assume they are withholding the launch lineup to create additional buzz up until launch... it's the one thing they SHOULDN'T do. Y'know... your last console didn't get great game support?
Anyway!! Looking forward to more news, reviews & milking moos!
Kind of curious to see the new version of street fighter 2, certainly seems one of the stranger games to be announced
Skylanders lol
@ThanosReXXX Positivity? How dare you!
Nintendo Life is a positivity-free zone!
@Mega_Yarn_Poochy Et tu, Poochy?
I'd love to get your guys impression on SFII. Other sites have said using the tablet or joycons to play is not great and you absolutely need the pro controller.
I tried out SFIV last weekend and I didn't like it at all, so I'm looking forward to playing an updated SFII.
@Agent721 Most people think it's vital to have a solid d-pad to play Streetfighter as you need to perform semi-circle movements for a lot of the ki attacks. You can get away with a button setup, or even use an analogue stick.. but pro-players will always say anything except a d-pad/arcade stick is second best.
It's all up to how competitive you want to be. You can certainly enjoy it on the Switch's default controls, just won't be the 100% optimum experience.
@DanteSolablood
Which is exactly what Polygon said as well. Hopefully the pro controller's digital pad will soften over time, as it's been noted to be quite stiff by multiple outlets. I plan on getting the game, so hopefully a good D pad joystick will follow suit if the pro one doesn't cut it. Thanks for response!
And has anyone in the US seen the pro controller for sale? I cannot find it anywhere on Amazon or Best Buy and I've looked throughout the day. I've got everything else ordered but that.
What is with the Hamburglar lady with the Crack poster behind her?
@Dysnomia
Hamburglar lady ? XD
Pssst... she want to 'Steal' Nintendo Switch during event. XD
Just kidding.
Surprised no one has asked. So. What are the Joy-Con Shoulder buttons then? (ZL/ZR)
the pic of Alex Parsing the Light made me lol
@Dysnomia Apparently she was selling some "safe crack". That's an invention Nintendo could make billions from.
Shabata-san was their???? I hope Nintendolife had a chat with him #Legend
Love that pic of Alex with Chandra Nair. Remember him from the CUBE magazine days!
One of the 1-2-Switch mini games is about cracking a safe, hence the robber outfit.
Another is a Western style quick draw, two players facing each other and being first with their 'gun'.
Then there is milking a cow... let's just say the action needed seems ideally suited to gentlemen with hairy palms.
I'm lucky enough to have a ticket for Sunday, I'm really looking forward to this! (I don't have hairy palms.)
Now I want live in the UK and meet Alex for some game event. I bet gaming with him must be fun since he himself is such kind and funny person too
What is the two titles at the far end of the third party fixture after just dance?
There is a video of the UK event in this article, if you're interested -
http://www.t3.com/reviews/nintendo-switch-review
Oh my god it's Chandra, yes!!! Ah Official Nintendo Magazine, those were the days
I can't believe Nintendo aren't bundling 12 Switch with the console. It could have been the new Wii Sports!
Instead they are showing their stinginess by releasing it as a full price retail game. Don't get me wrong, I've not played it and it could be very deep and enjoyable, but from what I can tell it looks like a shallow game that you might play for a few hours if that.
Love the look of the Switch but I'm so disappointed with the high prices I'm considering holding of buying one at launch and waiting for the end of the year to see if it's cheaper then. Not sure I can wait that long for Zelda though!
@rkinghorn I knew I knew him from somewhere! Thanks
Went today and it was a terrible experience. Took my 11 year old nephew and drove for 3.5 hours to get there (left at 4am). Told to get there for doors open at 8:30 so did. They left us standing in the freezing cold for an hour and didn't open doors until after 9am.. when they did open doors they didn't check anyone's invites, and people were walking in off the street. This led to massive queues inside the event, to the extent that three times we tried to queue for Zelda and three times we were told to go away as the crush was too much.
We ended up not playing at all. We also wanted to play Mario Kart 8 Grand Prix but were told we couldn't as there was a gap on battle mode screen so we had to go there. We pleaded to play Grand Prix but were told that demo unit was not configured for it. An hour or so later we went past.....to find that people were playing Grand Prix on it. They were just desperately trying to flog battle mode as it was the new mode.
Went away very disillusioned and wished we had not bothered
@DanteSolablood Completely agree, I love the switch from a hardware perspective and the concept I find incredible, but software was severely lacking during the presentation. I know they have a lot of other things they could have shown but must have reserved it for E3, which is a big mistake imo. They needed to come out with even more game annoucements just to assure fans that so much is coming even if it'll take a while. Really enjoyed seeing some of the new IP like Arms though.
Was interesting to see the switch in action! They seem to have mixed a trick with certain elements.. asked a few of the switch team (ones in red switch t shirts) a few questions but they couldn't answer. So much stuff missing the launch line up is dire to say the least Zelda will be great but is a Wii u game, ARMS whilst interesting looks as tho it will be it will be forgotten about. 1 2 Switch could be a fun party game but really should be packaged in with the system. Mario kart 8 already on Wii u can't really see that converting current Wii u owners same for splatoon 2 ( specially if online is going to charged) but both fun games!! sonic mania I am happy is coming to switch, just dance just not my type of game but yes can see the appeal to those who like it, Street fighter is Street fighter. Sky landers not for me... the others nice and all but ergh maybe it's just me and my tastes changing.
Why no mention of virtual console? Why did I hold out hope that my digital Wii and then Wii u purchases will be transferable to Switch?
Free food was nice bit dry tho
@Mogster Yeah, I remember him from Official Nintendo Magazine, those were the days. I was wondering if anyone else would recognise him!
@norwichred it was incredibly busy and I hadn't thought about it until you said but they didn't check names were on the 'guest list'. I hasn't thought of chancers coming in off the street but maybe that was why it was so busy? I got turned away from Zelda 3 times too because they closed the queue and they told me to come back a hour later when it would be 'quieter'. Trouble is they told everyone else the same so there was then a massive horde of people waiting for them to reopen the queue. Madness. They should have a ticket system because you basically have to run to the back of the venue AS SOON AS THE DOORS OPEN to get to the Zelda queue or sacrifice it to play some of the other games.
I also got turned away from Splatoon because they closed the queue, only to come back part 5mins later and a load of people had just joined it anyway so I had to give up on that too as there was an hour+ wait. Didn't manage to get to play snipperclips either.
Easily got in mario kart twice and SF2 3 times but had to wait 45mins to play ARMS when there were only 3 couples in front of me. The bloke running it loved his own voice and just took to long introducing it all. Just let people play dude.
There was no organisation and lots of queue jumping and confusion as you didn't know where to queue for which game and which queue ended where and there simply wasn't enough room! Had to elbow people out the way to get through the floor.
Other than that I got a free burger which was nice and I enjoyed what I got to play. Not a great experience though overall.
The lack of knowledge (or refusal to divulge) was a surprise! I really wanted to know if Mario Kart 8 deluxe had extra tracks but they all allegedly didn't know. Just kept parroting on about battle mode. Yeah - something that should have been included in my £60 download on the Wii U
@brumspurant would you believe they even refused to give my 11 year old nephew a pin badge because he hadn't played Zelda? Great PR right there!
It's such a shame as the console itself wowed me much more in the flesh than in the presentation. It might be the sexiest, best designed, contemporary console they have come up with in many generations.
@Alexkidd1985 - you sum it up perfectly. It's heartbreaking that they can make the same mistake two generations in a row.
And the accessory prices!
@norwichred if you can DM me with your address I'll post you a Switch pin badge from today (are you on twitter? If so follow me @antonynoble, I'll follow you back then you can DM me. Not sure if there's an easier way to do it!). I got 2 badges as they were giving people stamps by the end if you couldn't get to play a game because the queue was too long. So I got all the stamps, picked up a badge and then on the way out the guy on the door just handed me another one. Makes a mockery of them not handing your nephew one!
You are a star mate, but someone overheard the conversation we were having and gave him one, which was a gesture equally as generous as yours!
Thanks anyway though - really appreciated!
Well, after reading this thread last night we were worried about the Sunday morning session, but it seemed lessons had been learned.
Our names were checked at the door, and it wasn't too busy at all inside (still a long wait for Zelda, as you'd expect).
All the staff were friendly and mostly genuinely into the games, even the free food seemed OK.
The pins were handed out at the door with nary a glance at your card (if you asked nicely the staff were happy to stamp any games you may have missed anyway).
I'm really sorry some of you had a bad experience, but I really enjoyed it!
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