Nintendo Switch Worth It?

[Creed1]

I am looking at getting a Nintendo switch as it seems pretty neat and it bring back my childhood. Here are a couple questions I have about the device.

 

 

1. Is it worth it overall?

 

2. Battery Life/Performance Pretty Good?

 

Thanks!

[aeroencychris]

"worth it" is a very relative term

It looks pretty nice in itself, but the game category is small and framerate/quality won't be 2017 PC standards by any means.

However, BOTW is incredible and I'm sure all the other first party titles like Mario Kart or Mario Odyssey will be great too.

Battery life is eh but simply adding a portable USB C battery bank can help a ton.

Personally I'm fine using my Wii U since I only want to play BOTW, but if you don't have one of those then it might be a decent purchase.

[LHJKO]

Its will be worth it right now i dont think so 

[Scruffy90]

At the moment, no. 

[shadowbyte]

it's a pretty sweet device imo

I know someone who owns one, and they love it. 

It's just such a different idea compared to any other console. If you can find one for retail price, and not stupidly marked up by a reseller, go for it

[SteveGrabowski0]

Zelda is an excellent game but I'd wait until the Christmas season when there should be more good games to justify the purchase.

[EunSoo]

It really depends what your expectations of a device like this is. For instance, my expectations for my PC were to run Overwatch at 1440p and maintain 144hz, and I got what met that. Now when I considered getting a switch, I didn't think "can it run Crisis 3 at 4k60" nor "can it run Crisis 3 at 720p30". I thought can it provide an enjoyable experience of BOTW by not hindiring my play style, and it did so I got it. I'm not saying any of those expectations are bad or good but you have to know what you want and only then consider if it's worth it.

[Creed1]

Ok, Thanks Everyone. So I have been asking people and its been 50/50 on opinions. I think I may try it out for a week and if I don't like it I will return it. 

 

 

[WAR Corporation]

A lot of people have had problems with it. Check this video out: 

 

[SteveGrabowski0]

2 hours ago, CmzPlusHardware said:

Ok, Thanks Everyone. So I have been asking people and its been 50/50 on opinions. I think I may try it out for a week and if I don't like it I will return it. 

 

 

I imagine you'll keep it then, as Zelda is awesome. Just what the hell do you play once you finish it?

[skywake]

8 hours ago, WAR Corporation said:

A lot of people have had problems with it. Check this video out: 

Sell millions of anything and some people are going to have problems. It doesn't necessarily amount to "a lot". Of course the people who did buy one are too busy enjoying Zelda to bother uploading a video about how their Switch is working fine.

[GoodBytes]

On 4/13/2017 at 6:13 PM, CmzPlusHardware said:

I am looking at getting a Nintendo switch as it seems pretty neat and it bring back my childhood. Here are a couple questions I have about the device.

 

 

1. Is it worth it overall?

 

2. Battery Life/Performance Pretty Good?

 

Thanks!

Sames figures indicates that it is worth it.

However it depends on you.

• Are you interested in the portability factor?
• Do you know Nintendo games/systems? Do you care about them or not?
• Lots of questions are still not answered. Like: Online. Online price. Will it have additional apps / web browser or not, Online voice chat, Virtual Console, Bluetooth Headset, and more.
• Game library is small. But the system has high interest in the system, and the demand by indie dev to make/port games on it is so great that Nintendo is looking only at high quality games, which the company considers "system sellers"-grades. Basically, they get the best they fall onto. So you have to see if you enjoy playing these games on the Switch.
• Third party support will be difficult. What I mean, is that, many big games like CoD, Battlefield, etc.. have little gamers that likes this type of game on Nintendo side. So, they'll experiment, but sale numbers aren't great... they might pull out. And by experiment, I don't mean "Yea, lets do a genuine effort to make the best possible game".. this is bug publishers we are talking about... it will be: "Let's make it quick port.. already we need to reduce the visuals a lot, don't want to spend money on optimization to maximize visuals from the port, just a quick port, and we will see how it sales. If it does well, then next game will be serious about it". An example of this, PayDay 2. If you have another system, and don't mind not being able to play these game on the go with the Switch, this might not affect you.
• Cost. Nintendo games don't drop in price like other games. You might find some sale somewhere online, but that is about it. Don't expect Zelda BotW to drop in price even at the end of the life of the system. Max 10$ cheaper at this point.

 

Personally, I want a Switch. I like Nintendo games very much. But in Canada, the console is $400, and games are $80. Which make it VERY difficult to swallow. Yes, it is because our currency went down over the years, but remember that our salary doesn't adjust. So, it if a form of high inflation. I am personally waiting for some form of official bundle (Beside including 1-2 Switch if they ever do this).

[Magnifyy]

It's all in your preference. I would find a friend that has one then play it, then see if you want to spend your money 

[Guest]

I have one and I love it. But I would definitely wait as there are some issues in EVERY switch currently (atleats half). Like the warping, joycon stops clicking in (happened to me), etc. But MK8 is absolutely amazing and so is Zelda. Another Mario Galaxy would complete it.

[Creed1]

Ok thanks everyone. I got the Nintendo Switch and I love it so far, but I am experiencing some issues with warping and left joy con disconnecting. Otherwise I love the battery life and the performance of the unit. Way better than bringing out my laptop and playing 30 mins of a AAA game and then the battery dying. 

[DaltonM]

I like the portability. I feel like all consoles should aim to be a tablet with a 1060. I really want the parity between portable and console graphics and gaming to disappear. 

 

For what the switch can do, it's amazing. I've played BotW and loved it. I also got 1-2 Switch which is surprisingly a very innovative gaming experience. I played the binding of issac for the first time on the switch, I love rouge likes. Of course I rebought and replayed Shovel Knight as Specter Knight before everyone else >:). I also picked up Fast RMX which is FAST and looks amazing. Finally I got mario kart yesterday. 

 

I travel a lot for work, so portable is what works best for me. I love the fact I can dock it my TV when I get home, or in some cases back to the hotel. 

When you have the switch with 2 joycon you can invite another person to play with you, each using a joycon and the kickstand on the tablet. It seems like a gimmick, but it's super useful and legitimately revives couch/anywhere multiplayer gaming. 

 

The switch is the most social gaming platform, and it doesn't even have online play yet. 

 

I am honestly loving the switch and I'm excited to see if VC and the Zelda HD games come to it. I want every game like Little Nightmares, Axiom Verge, A Night in the Woods, and many more of the ilk on the switch. Nintendo needs to tap into that. Those games would be made so much more accessible if they were portable. I would rebuy or buy many games on the switch simply to have the option of portability. 

 

Now for some of the bad stuff

-Switch hardware isn't great we all know it, hopefully switch 2 will have some pascal lovin.

-HUGE power adapter wall wart. It's the biggest thing (aside from the dock) you'll need for proper charging. 

-joycon straps feel and operate like garbage

-sometimes goes into an error state when inserted into the dock incorrectly, causing it to heat up, possibly all night.

 

One thing I think Nintendo really messed up is not being a tablet. Remember the PS3 was $600 when it came out, but it had a bluray player (and would later get Netflix etc..) which made it the cheapest bluray player you could get, that also played high fidelity games. Nintendo could have had this Zelda machine, that also did netfix and youtube and all the media streaming you could want. After all, it's basically a re-purposed Nvidia shield android tablet. 

It's unlike nintendo to do anything like this, but it would have been explosive. People pay $500+ for high quality Samsung tablets. $300 for the same thing but also zelda, come on. 

 

 

Overall, the switch was 100% worth it. It has seriously reignited my love for games. Partly due the fact I can play anywhere (mainly in bed) and also Zelda. This game has captured my imagination the same way the N64 games did when I was kid. It's a monumental achievement for gaming as industry and an artform. it's magical in way game have not been for over a decade. 

 

 

 

TL:DR; If you like playing games in bed get one.

[GoodBytes]

1 minute ago, CmzPlusHardware said:

Ok thanks everyone. I got the Nintendo Switch and I love it so far, but I am experiencing some issues with warping and left joy con disconnecting. Otherwise I love the battery life and the performance of the unit. Way better than bringing out my laptop and playing 30 mins of a AAA game and then the battery dying. 

Awesome. For your problems, either exchange it in store (if they have another one), or contact Nintendo. Nintendo will take real good care of you. You'll need to ship the system to them for replacement, sadly. So that means potentially up to 2 weeks without it, But the company will/should pay you both direction shipping (they usually e-mail you a pre-paid shipping label. Just print it and stick it with transparent tape, go to the local correct postal office with it, and they'll put it for you as you give your package to them). Just make sure you package it right.

[Syntaxvgm]

it is absolutely not worth it right now in terms of the amount of games you'd play on it. But I bought one anyway. Gonna buy mk8 soon, only my third game.

One note, if you have large hands, it can be plain painful to play in handheld, especially racing games like Fast RMX. I expected to use it in handheld but so far I've been mostly docked. For the joycon grip, I find it still painful if I have to ike hold face buttons, but I made it through BOTW without complaints.  

[vladonizer]

On 4/13/2017 at 5:25 PM, rrubberr said:

Won't even meet 1996 standards. The hardware is absolute garbage and they're trying to run Unreal Engine demos on it.

Well it plays MK8 1080p 60fps, I say that wouldn't be 1996.

[vladonizer]

1 minute ago, rrubberr said:

I could play Soulcalibur at SD 60 FPS in 2002, so A-HA!

So... am I missing something or is 1996 6 years earlier than that? Also it doesn't really perform much worse then the xbox one does. Yeah it doesn't perform as well as a PC does (DUH) but it doesn't mean its performances are bad. Even though I'm used to gaming on 3440x1440 Max settings at 100fps, I still find BoTW and MK8 very pretty games(Can't list more than that since I haven't played very much in other games) You can also take a AAA title on the go.. like what?

[GoodBytes]

2 minutes ago, vladonizer said:

So... am I missing something or is 1996 6 years earlier than that? Also it doesn't really perform much worse then the xbox one does. Yeah it doesn't perform as well as a PC does (DUH) but it doesn't mean its performances are bad. Even though I'm used to gaming on 3440x1440 Max settings at 100fps, I still find BoTW and MK8 very pretty games(Can't list more than that since I haven't played very much in other games) You can also take a AAA title on the go.. like what?

Don't bother he is a troll.

[vladonizer]

5 minutes ago, rrubberr said:

It was a joke, good job kid.

 

But it is subpar hardware to say the least, so that still stands.

BTW not a kid

[Mira Yurizaki]

17 minutes ago, rrubberr said:

It was a joke, good job kid.

 

But it is subpar hardware to say the least, so that still stands.

Subpar by your high standards.

 

Perfectly fine for everyone else.

[GoodBytes]

54 minutes ago, rrubberr said:

But it is subpar hardware to say the least, so that still stands.

Ok, what chip would you put inside then?

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 hour ago, GoodBytes said:

Ok, what chip would you put inside then?

One might say the Tegra X2, but considering it has Denver in it, which is an odd beast, Nintendo probably didn't want it because you can't exactly guarantee consistent performance with Denver. It has to "learn" and optimize, then you may get good performance.  That or the X2 wasn't available for development by the time Nintendo wanted to freeze the hardware configuration.

 

... I don't know what other high-performance SoCs were readily available at the time other than Apple's (good luck getting it) or Samsung's.