Video: You Are Cordially Invited To The Nintendo Switch Unboxing Ceremony

"Alex! Would you like to give us your review on the Switch?"
"Playing Zelda, you do it"

I love how small and compact these boxes are.

These unboxing porn-like videos are getting out of control!

We are ALL lovely people on this blessed day

Once you've seen one unboxing, you've seen them all.

Cringing at the fingerprints and marks on the screen. I have to get a screen protector on any new gadget I get the instant it comes out of the plastic!

We've already had one elsewhere, but thanks for the offer. We'll take a look at yours, too. (Hopefully with more wuv applied for yours.)

@SLIGEACH_EIRE That is, until you see N64 Kid unboxings... Or troll unboxings... Or trap unboxings.

@eltomo A truly dedicated unboxing video is not complete until the unboxer gives the unwrapped item a little smackeroo on the cheek... Maybe a little tongue wiggling action too, but that's getting little too weird about it.

Nice, I didn't see Nintendo's unboxing, I preferred to wait for dear Alex and his british accent.
The only worry I have is that the main unit and the dock seem like fingerprint magnets! The Wii U Gamepad is a pain in you try to keep fingerprint free, and I hoped that Nintendo had fixed that with the Switch.... Seems I hoped wrong.

I have to say I'm a little surprised by the dock having a hollow back. I expected that to be where the magic happened.

And for some reason I expected the Joy-Con wrist strap to have buttons that were registered through the connectors and not just buttons that pushed through to press the real ones...

@Luna_110 it's not really something that's fixable with a gloss finish, is it? Phone screens are notoriously bad for fingerprints. It just depends on how clean your hands are, which is difficult to have. The one thing they have done, which I'm thankful for, is make the Joy-Con a matt finish. Wii U's glossy GamePad was a pain, and one of the worst design choices they made. Same with the original 3DS, I'm thankful the New 3DS did away with that glossy interior. Screens are always gonna get fingerprints, buttons and the surfaces around them shouldn't.

@Baker1000
I know, but it seems far better than the Wii U Gamepad's glossy finish was.... But it doesn't mean that its still a fingerprint magnet. Maybe if the dock came on other color the prints wouldn't be as noticeable...

We got an official Nintendo unboxing too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysccgk5SAGs

Shibata-san is quite adorable in the vid hahaha

2.6, 2.7...whatever it takes.

I scrubbed through the video and gave up on it for two reasons.

1) I really want to keep my excitement up for the system and not spoil things too much... and

2) You guys are pros, but the video was really meh. Not the running commentary or demonstrations necessarily, but the fact that you appear to have manually fixed your focus but continuously missed the mark; everything was blurry.

You move the contents away from your focus point... towards the camera and out of focus. Just saying' It would have been nice to see some wide and some close in shots edited in similar to the official unboxing. Just a few sexy close ups edited in would have elevated this vid. Also, crisp focus.

With so many unboxing vids hitting or ready to hit the web, there's nothing wrong with going back and recapturing suboptimal footage and adding some b roll/cuts to step things up a little, imho.

Thanks for doing it though.

I suspect that, if I eventually get one, I'll be inclined to use the Joy-Cons unattached. I always liked that about the Wii - you can move your arms and not have them locked in front of you.

Can't wait for March 3rd!

Am I the only one who thought Alex almost slipped out the F word at the 8-second mark when he said " finally finally able to open this puppy up"?

Can't contain his excitement I guess? lol!

I enjoyed the Nintendo Minute unboxing. Cant wait until 3/3.

@PlywoodStick Alex seems like the kind of guy who'd be into that

I wanted to comment on he video about 1/2 switch which you put up recently but the comment section wasn't there. I was watching with my 4 yr old and early into the video Alex swore, this was unsuspected and disappointing.

Should I not watch anymore videos posted by NL with him in the future, or was this just a one off? Please can you let me know.

Too late Alex ive already seen an unboxing by Nintendo themselfs

I still think it's odd they pack the screen up, just begging to be scratched or cracked. The back of the unit even says "Nintendo Switch" which I think should be the way it's packed.

I'm also glad, though it seems obvious now, that the dock plug is usable w/o the dock. I was afraid the console would only be able to be charged in dock w/ a different connector, which would severely cut down on handheld mode playing time.

I wonder how many people won't even bother using the dock? After awhile it's going to be a pain opening it open and unplugging it and bringing that charger to another room. Sacrifice TV use for portability. Though I suppose after a few days most people will simply buy a separate charger and set up the dock once and for all.

That was cool and "legally done" (the way it should be). Thanks Nintendolife!

I'm jelly.

'So we may have been beaten to it by some naughty people'
Still jealous then!

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Have you seen Mr Shibata's Unboxing video?

Utterly charming!

@cfgk24 I know of it but I won't be watching it.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Yeah, it would probably make you unhappy. .
Meanwhile. . . on Amazon UK...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LEGO-City-Undercover-Nintendo-Switch/dp/B01MXTK60H/ref=sr_1_1_twi_gam_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1487878746&sr=8-1&keywords=lego+city+undercover

It seems to be very VERY finger print prone.

@rjejr "After awhile it's going to be a pain opening it open and unplugging it and bringing that charger to another room. Sacrifice TV use for portability. Though I suppose after a few days most people will simply buy a separate charger and set up the dock once and for all."

Say wut now?

But in all seriousness: the dock will still be an essential part of the configuration, though. Well, at least for playing on the TV and for playing in full speed and full resolution mode.

The portable charge and play mode isn't going to allow for that full speed mode, so it's going to be a bit more than just sacrificing TV mode, and that won't really cut the mustard for many people.

What's the screen made of? And are the bits that hold it in the dock cushioned in anyway? Still trying to get a bead on whether I should bother with a screen protector for this thing...

Great video as always. I think I'm going to go for the neon and buy the neon double pack for a solid neon setup. Can you guys at Nintendo life clarify on this rumoured left joy-con disconnection rumor I keep hearing about. I hope it's not a problem that's been covered up until launch.

"This is the dock" been in your hands literally 2 seconds and has 4 visible fingerprints on it.

Either your a fan of the bargain bucket, or I'm going to be cleaning this thing 24/7

@ThanosReXXX Say wut now?

I think a lot of people are going to want to play Switch on their big screen tvs. I aslo think a lot of people are going to want to play Switch in bed or who knows maybe sitting outside on a deck or patio. My kids probably spend about 1/4 of their 3DS time playing w/ it plugged in, they know which chairs in the house are right next to outlets so they can sit down, plug in, and play. The SWitch dock will be on the ame TV as the PS4. The PS4 will never be unplugged form that TV, so a lot of play time in our house on SWitch will likely be in handheld mode. And since that mode has about a 2 hour battery life my kids will want to play w/ it plugged in. So, they'll have to go to the dock, open the back, unplug the charger from there, unplug it from the wall, then go play plugged in somewhere in the house. When they are done they'll need to bring that charger back to the dock, plug it in the dock and in the wall.

So while I'm very thankful that the dock plug can be used on it's on, I can very easily imagine people who prefer playing in handheld mode won't bother plugging in the dock. Well unless they buy another charger. It would have been better I think if that USB-C charger simply plugged into the side or back of the dock so it was easier to remove and replace w/o it being hidden away under that fold-able side.

@rjejr They play with the 3DS plugged into a wall socket? How long do they play for? If my 3DS XL is fully charged, I can play quite a few hours without ever having to charge it.

As for the "say wut now" comment: that was just me pulling your leg because of the rather confusing and grammar killing sentence "After awhile it's going to be a pain opening it open and unplugging it and bringing that charger to another room."

But why would you constantly need to unplug and plug it back in? I have more than one HDMI port on the back of my TV and even now that I've come up short with 4 HD devices, I've simply solved that by buying an HDMI hub/switch, that allows you to connect another four and automatically transfers the right signal to the screen when switched on. So, a PS4, Xbox One or whatever other console also connected certainly won't stop me from connecting the Switch at the same time as well.

And HDMI hubs are dirt-cheap as well: I paid no more than 10 bucks for mine...

And once the cables in the dock are connected, they'd probably be better off staying there instead of constantly plugging them in and out. I'd sooner buy an extra USB-C cable to charge and play while having the Switch out of the dock. A much easier and nicer solution if you ask me...

And that fold-able side, and the considerable amount of empty space inside of it, may very well have some alternate purpose, like upcoming expansion possibilities and so on.

@ThanosReXXX "like upcoming expansion possibilities and so on."

But does it really need a moveable side? Why not just rip the back off? I bet a lot of people will if it comes off easily enough and can be put back on like the Switch stand.

"buy an extra USB-C cable"

That will be the solution most people choose after messing with the dock enough.

My kids are kids, they don't always think to fully charge a 3DS when it's still on blue so a 45 minute session could be 5 minutes on battery power then 40 minutes plugged in. Pokemon isn't really playable in small bursts, it's a huge time sink for them.

@eltomo You never know, playing Milk may have softened him up to the premise...

@rjejr I don't know if it really needs a moveable side, I don't know what the idea behind it is, so I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to, which I would...

@ThanosReXXX Did you ever pick up a Wii U or are you waiting on Switch now?

I keep saying we'll get a Switch for Christmas but that's really just so I can stop thinking about it until E3 and we find out what games it is getting and when. My 1 kid wants ARMS and the other kid and I want Mario and XC2, so no rush. If it gets Pokémon Stars it becomes a must own system for them.

@rjejr "Did you ever pick up a Wii U"

I present you with exhibit A...

And that answer was because you already asked me:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/01/poll_what_did_you_think_of_the_nintendo_switch_presentation#comment3774303

I'm not going to tell you to dial down on the intake of alcoholic beverages and I know you've got a busy (family) life and all, but I always like to think that I have meaningful conversations with people and that they actually remember what I said to them at one point...

Got a small update for you as well:

Besides all the games mentioned in exhibit A, It just so happened that I ordered a couple of more games today...

Last week I already downloaded all the extra levels for Mario Kart 8, and the games I ordered now are Ninja Gaiden 3, Project Guard, Need For Speed Most Wanted and Call of Duty Ghosts.

They'll be arriving at my doorstep tomorrow, and I took a couple of days off, so I've got some time to test drive them.

As for you, I'm all but sure that you'll just buy all the games you mentioned. You can't risk disappointing either of your two kids...

@ThanosReXXX Yeah, I'm not sure I recall reading that one, may be one of the 232 unread emails now taking up residence in my inbox, sorry.

So, you getting a Switch on Friday or anytime soon? I do think even w/ a few days off you have a few months worth of games there to play.

@rjejr No, I'm not getting a Switch day one. I've spent enough money on the Wii U and its games as it is, and that was about all I can afford right now. Business is slowly getting better, but not so much that I can afford to buy yet another console next month.

There are other, more important matters to take care of first. But having said that, I never buy a console on launch day, so with the Switch it would be no different, even if I would have had the money.

And I still need to be able to acquire all the Wii U games I can get before they aren't available anymore. I'll catch up at the end of this year or next year, where the Switch is concerned...

Got my other games today, and found out to my annoyance that Star Fox Guard is download code-only, even though it did come in a disc case. That wasn't mentioned on the site I ordered it from.

Now I can't play it because I haven't got enough space left on my Wii U, and there's no budget left to buy an external HDD.

As for how much playtime I can get out of it: the next few days is only for the newly bought games, and just to play around with them a little.

I don't think I'm going to complete any of them in a few days, but I did already finish most of Mario Kart (except for 200cc and mirror), and I'm halfway through Darksiders 2. In the other games that I already had before today, I just played the first few levels or to the first save point, to get a feel and taste of it and to see if I want to keep them or not.

P.S.
Figured as much that you missed that reply because it got lost in the 300-something e-mails you still had to wade through, but you might have remembered asking me that question before. I just wanted to point that out, and show you my answer, in case you thought I was being a tool and didn't reply... (which I would never do, since I'm WAY too polite)