It's still hard to believe that the Switch has now been in our lives for over 5 years. Granted, there were about 2 years there that many of us would probably rather forget thanks to the "Virus That Shall Not Be Named", but to think that Nintendo's latest console came out in 2017 and we're now barrelling through 2022 is frankly bonkers.
Our lovely video producer Felix has been feeling the wistful threads of nostalgia recently, and - likely due to a recent purchase of the Switch OLED - has sat down to talk through his first year with the console, the games he played, and what pushed him to purchase the system in the first place.
It's a great look into the launch of the Switch, as well as a glance at our boy Felix's personal history with Nintendo and its franchises. For example, did you know that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the first game that Felix played in the franchise? Yep! We're so jealous he got to dive into such a rich selection of Zelda titles for the first time.
Give the video a watch, then let us know in the comments what made you purchase the Switch and what you played during its first year of life!
Comments 23
I was so wrapped up in the PS4 that I hadn't noticed Nintendo even released a new platform until August of 2017. Once I saw that the Switch offered a portable version of Skyrim I was sold.
And 5 years later, we're at over 107 Million Nintendo Switch Hybrid Consoles Sold and Still Counting, with many Excellent Exclusives to come!
@Magician As soon as I played Breath of the Wild, I forgot all about Skyrim.
@NintendoEternity even after all those years BOTW is still best game in my opunion and still play it even today lol
cant wait to BOTW2 coming out <3
I'm a bit split with the Switch. I love all the exclusives, but we really need a new console at this rate. It needs more power. There are many games that I pass up because the Switch ver. is lacking. I don't need SUPER ULTRA REALISTIC GRAPHICS!!! or anything like that, but we need to stop pretending that this is a console and treat it more like a tablet. I think I would much more enjoyable if it was treated like a tablet and created games around that concept.
The Switch is such a great console. I've been gaming since basically the start. I was born with an Atari 2600 joystick in my hands. And have owned a home console from every generation. And the Switch has to be my favourite console. It's delivered practically everything I hoped it would before launch and way beyond. I asked for arcade games and shmups and I got a ridiculous amount of them. I asked for retro sequels for the classics and I got a fair few of them. I asked for 2016 Doom and I got that and the entire series on top. I asked for other 90's shooters and I got Quake, Duke Nukem and more I'd never even heard of. I asked for The Witcher 3 and Rocket League and I got them both and I love them. Only my wish for a SEGA 90's Arcade collection has yet to come true. But I have faith.
The only one really letting the Switch down for me was Nintendo themselves. Too many Wii U ports in those first few years and very little brand new experiences but things are looking much better now. There's a few 1st party games I'm looking forward to this year and I'm sure there will be next year too. The Switch still has a strong 2 or 3 years ahead of it I think.
It's both scary & exciting to think we're potentially over half way through the Switch's lifecycle and that a follow up console (be a Pro model, or full on successor) could be announced within a few years. In the meantime, so many games to look forward to.
The Switch had a good first year, but it took some time before it got games on it. It was basically just Breath of the Wild and 1-2-Switch in the beginning, and very little on the eShop.
EDIT: Oh yeah. I forgot about Snipperclips. It was fun, but me and my friend suck at co-operating lol
@TommyTendo yeah….I would buy games on the eShop just to have something to play. Now I look back and think, why did I buy that?
@Hero8-Bit It wouldn’t sell if it was treated as a tablet. That’s not how it was designed and not the problem it’s aiming to solve. There are much better tablets out there. And maybe you feel that way but the system is still selling well and will be at least the third best selling game device of all time.
@roboshort Yeah, I guess I'm just tired of the underpowered Nintendo console. I notice that I play fewer and fewer Nintendo games and only have it to play first-party titles when it used to be my go-to. I have been a Nintendo fan for a long time (Since SNES days), but it may just be time to face facts and give it up (I don't want to!). Hopefully my initial comment doesn't seem to negative!
I should have also mentioned that I work from Home and don't really leave and do not see that benefit that it offered many years ago. I realize that I am no longer there target audience, but that makes me sad
I remember once I was "done" with Breath of the Wild, I got hooked on Thumper. It's such a wonderful rhythm game and it implemented the Switch's HD Rumble feature really well!
That first year could be a study in how to launch a Console. The pace of releases was perfect.
BOTW at launch (backed up by Snipperclips, Shovel Knight, Fast Racing RMX and then World of Goo/Lego City/Puyo Tetris).
Mario Kart in late April.
Minecraft in May (plus Thumper and Disgaea 5).
ARMS in June.
Splatoon 2 in July.
Mario Rabbids/Sonic Mania in August.
Pokken/Rayman Legends/FIFA/NBA/Steamworld Dig 2/Golf Story in September.
Mario Odyssey/Fire Emblem Warriors/Stardew Valley in October.
Skyrim/DOOM/Rocket League/LA Noire/RE Revelations in November.
Xenoblade 2/Yooka Laylee/Floor Kids in December.
@Hero8-Bit - It was my go to for all games the past few years, but I recently acquired a PS5, so like you it’ll be mainly for Nintendo exclusive titles or older ports that are fine in portable mode. Any new third part games will be purchased on the PS5.
Been "addicted" to it since day 1 release. Thw first year was fascinating, tbh
@Hero8-Bit
Wth the architecture of the Switch being pretty much the same as any mobile device, the whole point of it is to bridge the gap between mobile/handheld and home console.
However, I do have to agree that looking at the mindset of developers, the Switch shouldn't be a console that simply houses water-downed ports of AAA titles. Whatever happened to the exclusive spin-offs we kept getting on the 3DS or PSVita? How about the DS and PSP styled games?
@talllennart I agree 👍 💯
I can't wait either for the Sequel!
Easily the best year 1 of any platform for me. Getting a new Zelda, 3D Mario, Xenoblade and Splatoon 2 was great. Mario+Rabbids was a nice surprise too. Not to mention the ports were all solid too, while Skyrim and Doom didn't add anything new, having them portably makes them the superior versions for me.
Honestly, I think the first year of the Switch is a little overrated. I'm not the biggest Mario Odyssey fan for reasons others have stated (Moons are too common, etc.). Breath of the Wild is a great game, but I got super burned out on it and now can hardly look at it.
Other than BotW, Switch launched with Bomberman, a Tetris game, Street Fighter II...all good games if you're launching a console in 1994. Then there were lots of Wii U ports early on--Mario Kart 8 DX, Pokken, Shovel Knight, Rayman Legends, Fast RMX. ARMS and Splatoon 2 were fairly bairbones at launch. Splatoon 2 ended up being quite good, but I just couldn't get into ARMS and always felt like it was meant to be a substitute for not having Smash early on.
It was still a solid year overall, but not the best, in my opinion. A fantastic year for the games industry at large, but some of the best games that year were on other platforms. Cuphead and Crash N. Sane Trilogy were my games of the year, and they didn't come to Switch until some time later. Then you had Metroid's long-awaited return and a remaster of Superstar Saga, but that was on 3DS.
I think 2019 was the best year for Switch. Lots of great first-party games like Super Mario Maker 2, Link's Awakening, Yoshi's Woolly World, and Luigi's Mansion 3. Even better were the absolutely stellar third-party games: A Hat in Time, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Cuphead, Crash Team Racing, Super Lucky's Tale, Dragon Quest 11, and probably even more I'm not thinking of. Plus, SNES added to Nintendo Switch Online!
2021 came close to topping that for me, with games like Bowser's Fury, Metroid Dread, Mario Party Superstars, WarioWare, Sonic Colors Ultimate, Colors! 3D, Nick All-Star Brawl, Super Monkey Ball, The Tetris Effect, and N64 games added to NSO.
2022 is already shaping up to potentially be even better, as Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Pokémon Legends Arceus have been great, we've gotten a lot of great legacy content in the form of Banjo-Kazooie, Majora's Mask, Earthworm Jim, and EarthBound, and plenty more on the way like Splatoon 3, Nintendo Switch Sports, Mario Strikers Battle League, and Kirby 64. Not to mention all the new Mario Kart content, which is awesome.
If I were to rank all the years of the Switch, it'd probably go like this:
1. 2019
2. 2021
3. 2017
4. 2018
5. 2020
@sikthvash i am thinking next year some sort of new switch could be released..with the sequel to breath of the wild!!
@Hero8-Bit I think if you like JRPGs or indies it is is still great from a 3rd party standpoint. But Nintendo hasn’t got much for 3rd party beyond that. It’s also 5 years old so probably just one or two more years until the next iteration
@johnedwin It would be a lovely surprise, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I would think Nintendo will wait & ride out the major manufacturing / chip shortages before commiting to a new model, plus they know the existing models sell well due to the huge library of games. Would love to be proved wrong though ^_^
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