Just recently TIME named the Switch as one of the best inventions of 2017, albeit it was a rather peculiar list. Nintendo's hybrid device has now arguably earned a greater honour from the respected publication, however, being named the number one gadget of 2017.
As a list focused on cool technology, it's a sign of the positive impact Nintendo's system has had that it's taken top spot, seeing off fellow console Xbox One X and various other devices. Also of note is the SNES Classic / Mini in 6th place, praised for its faithfulness and ability to evoke nostalgia for the original system. The top 10 is below.
- Nintendo Switch
- Apple iPhone X
- Microsoft Surface Laptop
- DJI Spark
- Samsung Galaxy S8
- Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) Classic
- Amazon Echo (Second Generation)
- Xbox One X
- Apple Watch 3
- Sony Alpha A7R III
For about as long as game consoles have existed, players have had to choose between gaming in front of a TV or holding a tiny screen in their hands while out and about. Not so with the Nintendo Switch, the first console that’s truly designed for both at-home and on-the-go entertainment. The Switch consists of a tablet with a 6.2-inch screen with slots for attaching Nintendo’s Joy-Con controllers on either side, turning it into a handheld video game machine. But when you’re at home, you can slide the slate into a dock that hooks up to your TV and play it like a traditional console. That “play anywhere, anytime” approach, combined with a stellar games roster, from the recently launched Super Mario Odyssey to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, makes the Switch a true knockout.
So there you have it, another fantastic acknowledgement of what the Switch has to offer, and yet more handy publicity ahead of the peak festive shopping season.
Let us know what you think of this list in the comments.
[source time.com]
Comments 52
"For about as long as game consoles have existed, players have had to choose between gaming in front of a TV or holding a tiny screen in their hands while out and about. Not so with the Nintendo Switch, the first console that’s truly designed for both at-home and on-the-go entertainment."
It's about TIME.
What a TIME for gaming
2017 has been Nintendo's TIME to shine.
Oh yeah! I always knew I was cooler than my wife (who rocks an iPhone X)
The iPhone X is just another iPhone lol
2012: "What's a Wii U? A Wii accessory? I already bought the Wii Fit balance board"
2017: "TIME Names the Nintendo Switch Its #1 Gadget of 2017"
Hard to believe it's been half a decade.
Its really a great console. One I haven't regretted in any sense investing in.
Moving up in the world. Last week it was only one of the best.
More importantly its my number one gadget!
Boy is that list randomized. Switch does deserve number one but Iphone X needs to gtfo. Xb1x should be number 2 Galaxy s8 number 3
Well deserved, it's a powerful yet versatile little thing. Doom, BotW, and Odyssey are my biggest highlights, but the steady flow of 3rd party games really brought variety to the library. Different folks want it for different reasons, that's awesome.
Excellent. Nice to see the snes classic mini beat the Xbox One X also.
More positive press as we’re just days away from the annual widespread spending spree.
A guy at work was one of those really negative aholes who used to belittle the switch on release....skyrim came out he runs out and gets one now is telling everyone it's his favourite console lol
This was PS4 pro fanboy! It is worthy of the praise, cannot wait to see Nintendo knock it out the park in 2018!
Apple cult members across the planet: (TRIGGERING INTENSIFIES)
Its not wise to anger the church of Steve Jobs....
I really had high hopes for the Switch but Nintendo have delivered something better than I could ever have wished for! I started to playing Doom tonight on my TV and was blown away. The version is superb and when I then took it out of the dock it was still so damn good!
I don’t think I have ever bought as many games as I have for the Switch in a consoles first 8 months. The fact it is not even a year old is unbelievable.
The Wii U was a disappointment despite having some quality games but Nintendo have got it so right this time! Rather than fighting the other two, Nintendo have once again done there own thing and the future is only going to be even more exciting as developers get used to the box of pure magic.
Go Nintendo! They deserve it! You can tell they put a lot of time and effort into the switch and it’s nice to see it paying off for them.
Still remember that 6/10 for switch as a console?
Back in 2009, I finally switched from the Wii with its lackluster release schedule and overall lacking games to the Xbox 360, and I was blown away with the sheer amount of content available at that moment. I kept the Wii for another 6 months before trading it in, and I didn't look back.
The first year owning the Switch has been giving me the same feeling, (and some of the same games, lol) and it's not even a year on the market. I have had to stop playing good games to make room for great games. To me, that is insane.
Switch deserves it. I think it's the best invention in video games in the last 30 years. VR is perhaps a more impressive invention, but I wouldn't rate it as better because it simply doesn't have the practical use or mass appeal that the Nintendo Switch offers, and the buyin price is considerable, and games are still pixelated because the tech hasn't advanced far enough yet. VR will make its mark, in due time, when the technology advances a little more and we see $100 VR add on for consoles that offer 4K per eye.
But ya, Nintendo Switch is it. It's just one of those devices where a hand reaches out and slaps you across the face for an "aha" moment. It's brilliance is its simplicity and practicality, and its sheer value. In previous generations, you would have had to spend $600 at launch to get a home console + handheld, and even then you still would have only had 2 of the 3 gameplay modes offered by Switch. And the handheld games would have been severely watered down, and you'd have to buy 2 copies of every game if you wanted to play on the TV and on the go. And no sharing the save file between, either, with the exception of a few select games that had awkward upload transfer tools.
@Equinox It's almost like they also have an opinion...............
Another big difference is basically everything else on the list is just an update of something already on the market. But the Switch really lacks a direct analog. It is really in a class of it's own.
I predict that there will be a lot of "Switchmas" gifts this year.
Excellent and the snes beating the Xbox one x is funny
@SanderEvers
How is Apple still innovative?
Sure, they once were. But since Jobs passed away they have made nothing special or innovative at all. More or less trying to catch up.
There is nothing special or innovative about the iPhone X. Most of the new stuff have already been made by other companies, like Samsung.
Apple still makes some high quality products, and the iPhone X is a fantastic phone. But how is it innovative?!?
I understand why people like Apple products, but I do not like their closed ecosystems. Almost nothing what they do is cross-platform and play nice with other systems or platforms. They are building their own little evil and closed empire!
I think that is the main reason why some people do not like Apple very much.
Google products and services are mostly cross-platform, and work nice with other platforms. That is why I prefer Android devices over Apple's. There is more freedom on Android!
I think a Super Nintendo with 21 built-in games (including one that nobody had ever played before 2017) that takes up negligible space in my tiny apartment is a bigger deal than animated emojis, but that's just me. Looks like they really are going to make Nintendo great again.
The Nintendo Switch might just be my favorite console of all time now! Sorry N64, but you just got dethroned. The Switch is truly a step beyond the Wii U. (My least favorite Nintendo console.)
They're less 'inventions' and more 'products' to me
Why is the Surface Laptop there? It's just a laptop, nothing new.
Glad to see Nintendo getting things right this time around with the switch , but how is iPhone x above Galaxy s8, the iPhone x is a rip off of the s8 lol .
@GravyThief the way the switch revolutionized the gaming world probably counts as an invention. I do see where you are coming from though and also realize that this was more of an opinion.
Switch deserves that spot,
Xbpx one X deserves a higher spot.
I also hope, that in 2018 switch will do even better.
just anounce the right games the fans are waiting for then they are settles. Smash, pokemon, zelda dlc, some good third party games etc
Ha ha, Nintendo beat Apple even if it wasn't much of a surprise.
It's a Great Time,to be Alive! XD the future of gaming has arrived and it's Called Nintendoe $$$$.We gonna party like its 1999! Ya'll but Retro style
@SanderEvers I have to disagree on many fronts. Having used an iPhone, an Android and a Windows Phone, there is no argument. Apple is stuck. Little incremental changes and catching up to tech and features that various Android phones (and to a degree, Windows Phone) already had is not my idea of innovation. I will give Apple credit. There products are well made. Extremely well made.
I also think Apple gets alot of flak because of the fact (as I mentioned above) that features long having been on other phones tend to be touted as revolutionary somehow when Apple finally adopts them. And while it isn't necessarily Apple's fault for the perception, I can see why non Apple fans feel a bit annoyed
‘It’s my number one too. In fact, my favourite new device since the Kindle Paperwhite
Hmm this list is kinda of. almost half of the gadgets on that list are not worth having or special. The Surface laptop has windows 10S and only uses apps from the windows store which is a wasteland. The new echo is cheaper and smaller, really innovated. A drone that uses hand controls and 2 flagship phones, one of which is more than $1000.
I agree the Switch is the best gadget of 2017 especially if you are a gaming fan . I preordered the system and picked mine up on launch day and I can honestly say I started to drop my preorder a couple of times, now looking back I am so glad I didnt the Switch is a brilliant system with a ton of hidden potential and the games this far have been nothing short of stellar. What we have could easily end up being Nintendo's greatest system to date .
I must have been very tech savvy this year. I bought a Switch, an S8, and a SNES Classic and I've been satisfied with all of them. However, I really have to give it to the Switch. There just hasn't been a better year-one lineup in gaming history, and its year one isn't even close to over. On top of that it's truly the most innovative thing to hit gaming since maybe the D-pad, or at least analogue sticks. I'm serious, it's changed how I see games at least that much. The fact that I can take any game anywhere has been pounded into my head thoroughly at this point. Whether I'm going on a long car trip across the country or in an airplane or laying up in bed at night or simply going to the bathroom, I never have to stop playing that game I can play on my big screen TV. And I've had some of the best multiplayer experiences, in person and online, that I've had since college (aka the Wii days) on the Switch. I'm not going to call it my favorite console yet, I think that's too soon, but if it can get Jim Sterling to post a retraction then it must be doing something right.
Well deserved for Nintendo. The Switch is such awesome hardware and has one one of the best first years in terms of software for any platform.
And so it should be!
The Switch has the best concept for a home console... one that you can play on the go. Ingenious.
If the nest gen Switch is as powerful as the next gen PS5 and whatever Xbox will be... then it will be game over for the console war. Everyone would want a Switch right now if it was as powerful as a PS4...
Nintendo have the winning formula, all they need is more power in the next Switch.
As well it should be.
@Rontanamo_Bay
*I think there's a large amount of intersection between HUMANITY and apple fans
FIXED
Well done Nintendo, for all the talk of the power of the new Xbox all it really does is allow you to play the exact same games but just a bit prettier. The Switch has changed how I play games. The wife wants to watch the tv, no problem just put it on the stand and play multiplayer with my stepson or hand held by myself. I can take it to work to play on my lunchbreak and if anybody wants to join in I already have the controllers with me. Then when I get chance I can still play on the big screen and with exclusives like Zelda and Mario its off to a great start. One final thought, does the mini SNES have the greatest launch lineup ever?
Nicely done Nintnedo, but the iPhone number 2? (I hate all smart phones so kinda biased) but it's exactly the same product as the iPhone 1 just more powerful.
Nobody's said "But but but where's Netflix???" yet. Ah well I've done it now.
@Bunkerneath Dude if you think the iPhone X is "exactly the same product as the iPhone 1 just more powerful" then you clearly have no idea what you're talking about.
Anyway well done to Switch, it's a superb device and worthy winner, love mine!
Well, it's certainly better than the Wii U at what it's trying to achieve. That's for sure.
This absolutely will move additional units.
Better than the iPhone X, have some of that!
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