PixlBit

Look at that title. I know what you're thinking. What a vague title. Switch to what? Why it's simple. Switching to the Nintendo Switch of Course! I did my best to remain purely impartial.  So I gathered a list of pros and cons or as my pun filled title suggests joy cons (rimshot*) Anyways, bad jokes aside I figure it would be best for me to offer my opinion. Because even though I am a fan. I am privy to Nintendo's manipulative ways. So without further ado...here's the list!

 

Pros: Region Free Gaming: This is big. It's been a long time coming. To put this into perspective, only the Nintendo DS was region free when it was released. This is something that will be a game changer. So now if for say Nintendo of Europe gets a exclusive physical game that only America gets a digital download of we can rest easy knowing we can still get the game physically. Oh and better yet...Dragon X will finally be playable...The mmo Dragon Quest you've been waiting for since it was released on Wii and Wii U is now going to be playable anywhere!  And think of the taiko drum games and quirky japanese visual novels!

Play anywhere/Play everywhere: Finally with the Nintendo Switch we are seeing what many see as what the Wii U truly lacked. A home console that can be played on the go, on a plane, in the car on a long trip... this is great news.

The control options: Whether playing it in tablet mode, on the TV, with the joy cons in tabletop mode... or possibly all of the above. The switch has a control scheme for everyone to get behind.

Zelda and Mario: Both of these games look amazing. With Zelda set to arrive launch day and Mario coming this holiday season...it'll be fantastic to get true definitive open world experiences with Nintendo's big guns.

 

The neutral: Online carryover? Nintendo knows that no one wants to keep buying Super Mario Bros. on the Virtual Console over and over. Hopefully they are in fact paying attention to making a unified account system that tracks the fact that yes I can carry over my Super Mario Bros. 3 or Golden Sun VC buys over. Or maybe even recognize that yes I bought Trine: The Enchanted Edition and Runner 2 through eshop and can just carry that data over. Where do they stand? How are they working to solve this? What about Wii U owners who are on the fence about upgrading? There are so many unanswered questions I can't quite wrap my head around it.

 

The Cons:

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: I'm not excited for MK8D: For $60 they are adding 3 new characters, revamping the battle mode with 4 new tracks, and 2 carriable items for a racer...This is tough for me. Because right now even in the case that all the DLC is included...is it worth buying 8 again? It depends how much you enjoy battle mode I guess, but I would've liked to see at least a $30 price point for what is essentially Mario Kart 8.5.

Paid Online: Welp Nintendo broke into paid online subscriptions. Now the price isn't known, nor is there anyway to tell if Nintendo will provide a good internet service. All I know is that Nintendo has made repeated attempts at online...and it hasn't been pretty. I'm on the fence about the options too. Connecting through an app on your phone for voice chat? One free game a month for limited use? What? There are a lot of unknowns, but by god this doesn't sound promising to start.

The Game Trickle continues: So at this point 4 games will be available on Launch day for Switch. Zelda, 1-2, Switch, and two others...yikes. The rest are due in the coming months, but that is going to be some time to wait for Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, and Fire Emblem Warriors. 80 games are confirmed to be in develpoment for Switch, they better have more than that if they want more gamers on board... Take it from from me. My Wii  collection is massive at 300+ games. Yes most are cheap shovelware garbage, but it's a expansive game collection. My Wii U collection is about a paltry 40 games...it would be half that if third party titles on Wii U weren't so dirt cheap. I mean I bought Rayman Legends on wii u for like $10.

Ports, Ports, Ports: Let's look at some of these. Zelda-On Wii U, Lego City-Wii U, Rayman Legends- Multi-Platform, Elder Scrolls V- multi-platform, etc. to name a few. What the Switch needs is Switch exclusives in the vein of that odd Square-ENIX rpg that was announced. Maybe When Goichi Suda came out he could have said "Oh by the way...No More Heroes 3....exclusively for Switch. Something along those lines could go a long way for Switch buyers.

3rd Party support?: Depending how well switch does sales wise we may see a repeat of Wii U. Remember when EA and Ubisoft were at first on board in 2012 with Mass Effect 3, Rayman, etc. and by 2016 Ea was gone and Ubisoft was bringing yet another Just Dance. Reggie has stated that the Switch will be easier to develop for since it has access to unreal and unity engines respectively, but again if no one is buying Switch versions of a game we could experience a strange sense of deja vu. 

The Incentive to buy: I remarked a couple months ago that the Switch needs to have a pack in game, be $300, and have more then 32gb of memory for saves...well it got 1 out of 3-the price point. With the PS4 and XboxOne out for over a year and priced equally in competition at $300 with most consoles bundling 500 gb worth of memory and a pack in game...it may be tough sledding.

Anyways that's just some of my opinions. Again... I may be a little jaded. I enjoyed the Wii U with it's slow painful spiral to death. It reminded me in some ways when I had my Dreamcast. Watching a system die a slow death, but enjoying it for what it was. Will the Wii U be remembered as anything special? Will it be looked at fondly as perhaps the template and proof of concept for what the Switch is promising? For many the Wii U underperformed and I can't argue that. Still, I got my $300 worth...and a couple of really good games for it as well. I can only say that hopefully the Switch does in fact Switch things up for the better. I however am not picking this up launch day... I'll wait until the holidays when Mario Odyssey is out.