How is the switch for handheld gameplay?

SUPER_MOOSE93 · December 16, 2020

I travel a lot for work and mobile games just aren't cutting it. I do have a 3ds but don't really have many games I want to play on it, instead I am looking at getting a switch. There are a few games I want to play but I'm not sure how they will perform while being used as a handheld.

Another thing is the price, they are still quite expensive and so are the games. I don't want to drop £500 and get disappointed

Zenedge · December 16, 2020

The switch is great. I always bring it with me, my main problem with the switch is that games are really expensive, and hardly ever go on sale. which is why I only get exclusives.

you cant go wrong with it, its a nice device for short bursts of gaming on the go, especially when waiting

I have a v1 switch, but i use it 99% on handheld mode. if you don't plan on playing it on the TV, then a switch lite is a good fit for you.

SteveGrabowski0 · December 16, 2020

There are certainly some games I vastly prefer on the bigscreen like Super Mario Odyssey (mostly because the control is way better with split joycons) and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (because the resolution is terrible handheld), but for the most part Switch is pretty awesome handheld and for most games on the system I prefer it handheld. Which surprises the hell out of me because when I bought the Switch I figured I'd barely use it handheld. 2D games like Dead Cells, Wonder Boy, Zelda Links Awakening, and Super Mario Maker 2 are incredible handheld, and even a lot of 3D games like Zelda BOTW, Mario Tennis Aces, Mario 64, Astral Chain, and so on are great handheld. Never even really considered it much for handheld but the system won me over there. Screen and resolution are even good enough for me to be able to read kanji when playing Persona 5 Scramble handheld in Japanese, which I couldn't say for playing Persona 4 Golden in Japanese on my OLED Vita. Switch really is as good as the hype and even being a 720p machine, it still looks good on the bigscreen too unless you're trying to play heavily cut down third party titles like Witcher 3 or Doom that were really designed for more powerful hardware. Glad you can actually get a Switch nowadays too, they were really tough to find for months after the pandemic started.

SteveGrabowski0 · December 16, 2020

Also, Mario Maker 2 on Switch is way more fun than New Super Mario Bros 2 on 3DS was. Even just counting the built-in levels for story mode in Mario Maker 2. I wasn't impressed at all by New Super Mario Bros U though. Mario Maker 2 might be the best 2D Mario since Super Mario World on SNES, though I did also really like New Super Mario Bros on DS. But I'd probably still take Mario Maker 2 over it.

Ultra_Kaiju · December 22, 2020

I have Xbox One S and PS4 Pro and bought the Switch Lite (handheld) on a whim when I couldn't find the PS5 for sale. I've been extremely impressed with it, much more so than I was expecting. It's a great little system. Ended up buying like 10+ games for it already.

Super Mario Odyssey and Zelda: Breath of the Wild are must owns. But other stuff like Witcher 3 and Assassins Creed 3, Black Flag, and Rogue are really good too.