The Nintendo Switch Console Thread

[thadoggfather]

Has it really though? The Wii U was a crucible that made rabid, nearly fanatical Nintendo fans. If you go by basic generational attrition, you had a minimum of a 9m fanbase that would literally purchase anything that Nintendo makes, regardless of trade-offs or price. Thus far, we've seen, maximum, 3m total units sold. Strong for a Nintendo console, yes, but I've seen nothing in the sales to make me change my mind on my projections for the Switch. If and when it goes materially above the 13m Wii U sales, say 10% above, then I'll account it a success. It likely will, within the first eighteen months, but those are always the best months of sales for any console. The intrinsic issues with Nintendo's offerings, the utter lack of any strong western multi-plats, and the continued lack of information regarding its online services or VC, tells any reasonable person that Nintendo has not diverged to any great degree from the same corporate philosophy that caused the Wii U disaster.

The reason that the PS4 trounced everything in this generation has been the breadth of experience available on the platform coupled with ease of development (both architecture and sufficient spec overhead to allow rapid development with few technical hiccoughs). The Switch allows for broad situational variability, with some caveats, but the game experiences that I've seen on offer so far are literally no different that what was available on the Wii U. Until that changes, I'll remain most pessimistic.

You bring up interesting points

It was my Impression WiiU was the biggest Nintendo failure for a long while even though people that owned them enjoy it.

And switch is onto a swift recovery from that.

But you definitely know the matter better than me

And I guess good to be skeptical

But I seriously haven't owned a Nintendo system for keeping since GBA/N64 so I guess I'm optimistic

 

[wchigo]

They're (PS4/XBone) just PCs being incrementally upgraded at this point. The only way(at least for me) to tell if it's a new generation, is when they drop support and the requirement of backwards compatibility of new titles for the original PS4/XBone.

But make no mistake, they're just repackaged PCs(as far as hardware goes anyway).

I actually completely agree with this and with the PS4 Pro and Codename Scorpio, it seems pretty likely that both companies are interested in going this route and we might have seen the end of your typical console generation and instead a move into a PC, or rather a phone/tablet business model. Of course, they have to go with a slower schedule as people may buy a new phone every year, but even tablet sales have slowed considerably and I doubt there's many people out there who would buy a new Playstation or Xbox system every year.

In my mind, I basically agree but I kind of equate console generations to system architecture; it changed from PS2 to PS3 to PS4 and that's kind of how the generations are defined to me, and both new boxes eschew the above. As you said, it's definitely more PC-like and it's always been much, MUCH harder to define generations of games on the PC due to that.

Nice thing about these consoles is the turn-key capabilities - my PSVR just works. Trying to get the PSVR to work on my PC (or probably any VR Headset for that matter) is a bit of a pain...

Yeah, the Wii U, turned out, was just a Wii with a Touchpad Controller and better graphics capabilities - we know where that went...

Switch - TOTALLY NEW platform and formfactor - we know where it's going...

VR seems really cool, but there just isn't much out there that has really made me go "I need to buy that right now." No killer app for me you might say.

I always loved hearing people say "The Wii U is just two Wiis stuck together" joke, just as people made the same joke regarding the GCN and Wii. I have games on Wii U I really want to get back to, like Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, Bayonetta 2, etc., but I find it hard to justify an HDMI port for it when it's fighting for space with my PS4 (NieR, Persona 5, Horizon), Switch (Zelda) and PC (huge Steam backlog, video streaming, etc.)

 

[thadoggfather]

I would agree XB1 is becoming like a lesser powerful PC, especially in light of very slim exclusive lineup, and a lot of overlap with Windows games since its MS too

but PC's can't play Uncharted/won't taste the Naughty Dog nectar. That alone distinguishes it from a PC imo, and some other great exclusives, depending on what kinda video games you enjoy.


Also, switch seems perfect for a PC gamer tethered to their desk looking for a little versatility or multitasking between it and regular computer use,

 

[hawkeye_a]

In my mind, I basically agree but I kind of equate console generations to system architecture; it changed from PS2 to PS3 to PS4 and that's kind of how the generations are defined to me, and both new boxes eschew the above. As you said, it's definitely more PC-like and it's always been much, MUCH harder to define generations of games on the PC due to that.

Agreed. That is part of what determined the different console "generations" to me as well. Now it seems like its just newer/faster components on the same general architecture. Not necessarily a bad thing; its obviously cheaper to make, sell and upgrade periodically. But seeing as how there is no clear distinction in the hardware and games can probably scale from the oldest to newest hardware, it's very much a PC in my eyes. I do think that not having a 'constant' hardware to target over half a decade, for devs will lead to some unintended consequences in terms of quality and getting the most out of the hardware. And it *could* lead to some consumer frustration knowing that a model they they got this year, wont be able to present a game as well as next years model.

And switch has absolutely been a massive success so far, carving out a market that was unexplored before (hybrid) and some fun games but it's a new system it needs time to get a broad library, even if that broad library becomes mostly 1st party and nindies, sounds great to me!

I think it's less about the system/hardware than it is about "the" game (Zelda). WiiU never had "it" at launch. However, truth be told, even if BotW was a WiiU exclusive, there's no way I would have picked up that console. I honestly dont think the Switch would have been as big a success as it is, without Zelda BotW. In my case, the Switch pretty much functions as a home console, so the 'gimmick' wasnt really a major selling factor for me (its nice to have, but not a make/break issue for me anyway).

Regarding the XBone, i think we all know the exact point in time when we realized that the PS4 would dominate... that E3 conference when they announced daily online checkins. That coupled with that bogus presentation where they talked more about "TV" than about games, all while Sony was doubling down on games and announcing a lot of exclusive content.

Cheers

 

[GeekishlyGreek]

Bought it. It's ok, essentially columns meets Tetris. I'm playing single player, adventure mode so it's likely better in 2-4 player. I think it should have been closer to $20 (€20) than $35 (€35). I do feel I paid too much.

Agreed. 20 bucks definitely sounds more fair, for what this game is.

I downloaded the demo the other day. I do like how this time they managed to make the music much closer to the original gameboy version than many of the other Tetris remakes I have played in the past, but I agree that it's overpriced game for what it is. I certainly won't be purchasing the full game unless it gets cheaper, and won't miss it if I never do.

It does seem to have gotten cheaper than what they were originally asking for it though. (it was 49.99 when I last looked on amazon) but looking at it today it seems they've brought it down to closer to what they're selling it for on the eShop.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06W564MKT
But 35 bucks is still too much for me for this game, so it may be that this is as low as it's getting for now, so I'll wait for if and when they reduce it further. (hopefully there'll be special offers and things later on, but we'll see).

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Is this normal: I had my switched docked all night, in sleep mode, I didn't close out the Zelda game. I took in out of the dock and an hour or so later, I saw that the battery was down to 80% when I woke it up. I played Zelda for a bit and put it back to sleep without closing out the Zelda game. When I woke it up a few hours later, it was already down to 7%.

Seems like a lot of battery use for something that isn't really on.

 

[s0nicpr0s]

Is this normal: I had my switched docked all night, in sleep mode, I didn't close out the Zelda game. I took in out of the dock and an hour or so later, I saw that the battery was down to 80% when I woke it up. I played Zelda for a bit and put it back to sleep without closing out the Zelda game. When I woke it up a few hours later, it was already down to 7%.

Seems like a lot of battery use for something that isn't really on.

It is and is not normal. The gauge does not accurately reflect the battery sometimes. Unfortunately it's been an issue that has popped up since release day. I would bet that you could play for a few hours on that 7% to be totally honest. Some folks have had success completely turning off their system and turning it back on, while for others it will persist and then suddenly vanish a few days later. I've only had the 80% charge after sitting in the dock all night once so far, and after an hour and a half of shovel knight I think I was at like 70-75%.

The game is still loaded into memory, but isn't actively running in the background, so you should have seen some battery drop, but not 60%+.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

It is and is not normal. The gauge does not accurately reflect the battery sometimes. Unfortunately it's been an issue that has popped up since release day. I would bet that you could play for a few hours on that 7% to be totally honest. Some folks have had success completely turning off their system and turning it back on, while for others it will persist and then suddenly vanish a few days later. I've only had the 80% charge after sitting in the dock all night once so far, and after an hour and a half of shovel knight I think I was at like 70-75%.

The game is still loaded into memory, but isn't actively running in the background, so you should have seen some battery drop, but not 60%+.

Ok. Thank you. I'll keep an eye on it and see if it happens again.

 

[HoosBruce]

Anyone have one for sale? I made a thread in Marketplace haha

 

[GeekishlyGreek]

Ok. Thank you. I'll keep an eye on it and see if it happens again.

My experience was a little different. So hopefully this will help...

For me, it's normal to see battery drainage when powered by just the TypeC cable. (Just to clarify what I mean, battery drainage happens for me if I'm actually playing the switch, but only with the cable, and never happens when docked). I also find that it charges just fine even with just the TypeC cable when the switch is either completely powered off (or even if just in sleep mode). But when plugged into the dock using the proper Nintendo charger though, I have absolutely no drainage issues whatsoever, even while playing. So if people are getting drainage issues when done that way, it suggests to me that some people have faulty units. (so if anyone is experiencing stuff like that, I'd recommend not just putting up with it, and asking for a console replacement, as this should totally stop this happening)

 

[GeekishlyGreek]

Yes! Been hoping for those too. I've been using an emulation app on my iMac (Retroarch) that has a mega comprehensive library of filters to emulate TVs of the time too. And since then it's become my standard for playing old games on new TVs.

Actually, Dagless considering you're into you're roms and emulators, have you come across a good emulated version of the game named Undertale by any chance? I've found several incomplete versions, but I know some full ones must exist somewhere, so if you know of any your help would definitely be greatly appreciated. My daughter keeps hassling me for this game, and it does look kinda fun, but not gonna buy an xbox just for that game. While it was rumored to come out on switch at some point, I think the original creator has decided he doesn't want to do it due to getting annoyed with everyone trying to petition him to make it. Shame though, Music's kinda addictive on that one too! (especially for those of us who grew up playing videogames in the 80s with really catchy polyphonic sounds)

 

[JohnGrey]

Actually, Dagless considering you're into you're roms and emulators, have you come across a good emulated version of the game named Undertale by any chance? I've found several incomplete versions, but I know some full ones must exist somewhere, so if you know of any your help would definitely be greatly appreciated. My daughter keeps hassling me for this game, and it does look kinda fun, but not gonna buy an xbox just for that game. While it was rumored to come out on switch at some point, I think the original creator has decided he doesn't want to do it due to getting annoyed with everyone trying to petition him to make it. Shame though, Music's kinda addictive on that one too! (especially for those of us who grew up playing videogames in the 80s with really catchy polyphonic sounds)

Undertale is only available on computer, though it's available on all operating systems (Windows, macOS and Linux).

 

[0098386]

Actually, Dagless considering you're into you're roms and emulators, have you come across a good emulated version of the game named Undertale by any chance? I've found several incomplete versions, but I know some full ones must exist somewhere, so if you know of any your help would definitely be greatly appreciated. My daughter keeps hassling me for this game, and it does look kinda fun, but not gonna buy an xbox just for that game. While it was rumored to come out on switch at some point, I think the original creator has decided he doesn't want to do it due to getting annoyed with everyone trying to petition him to make it. Shame though, Music's kinda addictive on that one too! (especially for those of us who grew up playing videogames in the 80s with really catchy polyphonic sounds)

I support emulation as a form of preserving and playing games on modern setups, not to pirate software. Undertale is a new game and available on Steam.

 

[GeekishlyGreek]

I support emulation as a form of preserving and playing games on modern setups, not to pirate software. Undertale is a new game and available on Steam.

Thanks Man. Yeah, no problems paying for it if I can get hold of a legit copy. My daughter had been asking me for this game for ages after having come across Jacksepticeye playing it on YouTube (but for some reason she thought it was for XBOX though, so thanks for pointing out that it's only on Steam). -Makes sense now why I couldn't find this either on Amazon or in any retail stores. Given the graphics and music style, I thought it must have been an old game that I had to go the emulator route in order to get hold of, but even places on the internet were only offering incomplete demo versions of it, so had almost given up on being able to find it.

I knew you would be the right person to ask though. Now you've pointed out that it's on Steam, I found it straight away.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/391540/Undertale/
(my daughter's going to be well happy, so thanks from her too!)

Undertale is only available on computer, though it's available on all operating systems (Windows, macOS and Linux).

Thanks to you also. You were right, it was for those three platforms.

 

[0098386]

So I've had Minecraft on PC since the alpha days, and I got it for free (glitch) on PSN, but never really played it since those first few days in 2011ish.

I bought it on the Switch to play in co-op with the partner and we're already hooked! Love how far it's come - all this flying and villager and pet stuff… I can see why people really go for this now.

Again it's another "perfect on Switch" games with how portable it is, but fully capable with physical controls and incredible multiplayer support.

(We were going to pick up Tumbleseed too but for now I just really want coop games)

 

[Justin_Kemp]

Does anyone having left joycon issue or should i buy the pro controller?

 

[thadoggfather]

Does anyone having left joycon issue or should i buy the pro controller?

Yes

 

[GeekishlyGreek]

So I've had Minecraft on PC since the alpha days, and I got it for free (glitch) on PSN, but never really played it since those first few days in 2011ish.

I bought it on the Switch to play in co-op with the partner and we're already hooked! Love how far it's come - all this flying and villager and pet stuff… I can see why people really go for this now.

Again it's another "perfect on Switch" games with how portable it is, but fully capable with physical controls and incredible multiplayer support.

(We were going to pick up Tumbleseed too but for now I just really want coop games)

I was never really into minecraft before, but the addition of the mario buildables in the switch version has tempted me to maybe give it a try. I know my daughter definitely wants this game, as she even liked the version she plays on the iPhone, so I'll probably wind up getting it for her and just play hers to see if I like it myself or not. What's it like in co-op mode? (if I end up liking it and buy myself a copy aswell, would be fun to play with my daughter online with her that way when she's not in the house, but would only be useful if it lets you choose specific online friends to play with, and is not just randomly selected online players)

 

[hawkeye_a]

Probably a stupid question....
Does each player need their own MK8d in order to play in local multi-switch ad-hoc mode?

Cheers

 

[0098386]

Literally spending all my partners and my days off playing Minecraft on this. I keep saying it but it's so perfect on this console! Also picked up Tumbleseed but haven't played it properly yet (AMAZING HD rumble effect though!).

Definitely getting Disgaea 5 on Monday. Always loved the art style and gameplay of that series but never played much of them on PSP and Vita. Hoping this is the one that really gets me hooked, then I can go back and play the rest

Probably a stupid question....
Does each player need their own MK8d in order to play in local multi-switch ad-hoc mode?

Cheers

Yup. Nintendo seem to have dropped their Download Play feature from their previous handhelds.

 

[KevinRightWing]

Why is the Switch still so hard to find? I would think they would be able to keep up with demand at this point. Cant find one in Texas.

 

[gkarris]

Why is the Switch still so hard to find? I would think they would be able to keep up with demand at this point. Cant find one in Texas.

Probably because momentum is building and word-of-mouth that the system is great.

Also, Nintendo has made Unreal 4 ports are easy...

OMG!!!

https://uploadvr.com/heres-nintendo-switch-vr-headset-look-like/

(Concept)

 

[GeekishlyGreek]

Probably a stupid question....
Does each player need their own MK8d in order to play in local multi-switch ad-hoc mode?

Cheers

Yeah, the "local wireless play" mode is the mode where each player needs their own copy of the game an their own switch. The beauty of this is that both players can play on the gamepad, which is how me and my daughter do it.

There is a way to play multiplayer without needing another copy of the game, but that's just on the mode from the menu named as "multiplayer" mode, (on that, you are both playing off the same switch, so you can't both play with your own switch as a controller, so you are essentially using the joycons from your existing switch).

Not sure if you can use the Pro-Contoller in that mode or not, as I've not tried that yet. (The one I ordered is the special splatoon edition for my daughter, which isn't fully out yet).

Just a heads up on those, while I still haven't seen those sold everywhere yet (not even in most of the major places), I noticed that amazon uk had already listed them on pre-order. (so knowing what supply issues have been like on all things Nintendo these days, I clicked the order button the moment I saw it, even tough I can't really afford this yet).

But here's the link in case anyone else wanted to snag one before all their pre-order allocation stock inevitably dries up.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07235SQMF
(have not seen these on any of the other amazons yet, but I reckon it won't be long if they've already begun listing these on one of them)

 

[0098386]

Picking up Disgaea 5 soon I tried to buy US eShop vouchers but the total (with fees) came to the same price as the UK shop. Ho hum. Gotta wait a few days for it to launch here! Been playing bits of Disgaea 4 Vita as a warm up.

 

[iosuser]

Probably because momentum is building and word-of-mouth that the system is great.

Also, Nintendo has made Unreal 4 ports are easy...

OMG!!!

https://uploadvr.com/heres-nintendo-switch-vr-headset-look-like/

(Concept)

Not sure if Nintendo is seriously considering or developing a VR for the Switch, but it is not going to be pretty. The current Samsung phones with their 500+ PPI displays are not even good enough, with very visible screen door effect. With the Switch's 200+ PPI, every game will look like classic pixel games, not quite what you'd want in a VR lol.

8bitdo just released a firmware that lets their current BT controller work on the Switch. What is Nintendo's excuse (besides the obvious) for not letting the Switch use the Wii U Pro controller..