I waited outside for three hours last Thursday night in twenty degree weather staying up until 1:30am to insure that I got myself one of the new Nintendo Switch gaming consoles. I got one (and my father in law Lloyd got one for Cory) and I freaking love it so far!
Admittedly, I've been out of the gaming world for a while now, having kids will do that to the best of us, so this was a whole new world for me. But I don't think I'm alone in that.
I've logged a good amount of time over my first weekend, at least enough to formulate some opinions on what I like and don't like. Below, you'll see the top "Five Things That I LOVE" about the Nintendo Switch and by CLICKING HERE you can bounce over to another article and see the "Five Things I Hate". Hate might be a strong word, but it sounds better as a title to the article.
So, here are the five things I like the most about the Nintendo switch so far...
- The Portability Is a COMPLETE Game ChangerTo date, it's always been two different worlds, that of home gaming and portable gaming. Because of technology limitations, the portable gaming has always been more limited than home gaming when it comes to graphics, functionality and depth of play with your games...that is until now.
Most of the time I've played has been logged with the Nintendo Switch system in it's docking station hooked up to the big screen so that I could get the full effect and see all the details of the new Zelda: Breath of The Wild game (which is fantastic, see below for more). But the first time that I walked over, clicked on the joy cons only to pick up the unit and CONTINUE PLAYING ZELDA my mind was actually blown! It was the coolest thing. I walked upstairs, laid down in bed and kept playing for another half hour using the handheld setup which is equally as sweet.But it gets better.The next morning, I took that portable unit on my bed stand down to the kitchen table where I detached the joy-con controllers, flicked out the kickstand and played on table top mode with free flowing controllers in each hand which adds another element to gameplay, some that you literally cannot experience when latched on handheld mode or docked on the controller port.Presently, I only have Zelda so no multiplayer games meaning I haven't been able to experience any multiplayer play with the joy-con controller on its side meaning that there's still more amazement to come!
- Having a HUGE Launch Game Is AwesomeIt might seem like the biggest no brainer, but it's something that Nintendo has fumbled before. Having a new Zelda game at launch might have been the best thing they did with this system. In fact, I saw Nintendo Switch consoles on the shelf over the weekend, but they were sold out of Zelda: Breath of The Wild games everywhere. Think about that, you could get yourself a system over the weekend but you might not get THE game...Wow!
I would estimate that I'm just shy of a quarter of the way through the game and I love everything about it so far. The depth of everything would make you think that they seriously thought of it all. It would appear so.I'll be sure to continue without spoilers cuz that's no fun. The new gameplay showcases many of the new functionality features of the system and offers different ways to play depending on how your holding the controllers (attached or detached). That said, it still carries with it the charm of the old Zelda games. Many outlets are already calling it the best Zelda game if not THE BEST VIDEO GAME flat out of all time! Open world goodness, HD graphics, it has everything and is a must have if you grab a console.
- There's Already More To Love On The HorizonIf having Zelda at launch isn't good enough for you, there's already a list of more interesting big games coming on the horizon. Here's a list of some of the big titles that are in the hopper ready to come out over the next calendar year...
- April 28th, 2017 - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe- Summer 2017 - Splatoon 2- Fall 2017 - Skyrim- Late 2017 - FIFA Soccer- Holiday 2017 - Super Mario Odyssey
- Console is open to "Nindies" TitlesIf you're discouraged by the fact that you have to wait until Christmas for the new Mario game, fill that void by downloading and playing one of the multitude of "Nindie" games that are coming soon.
What's a "Nindie"? Good question. Combine the words Nintendo and Independent Developers (Indie) and you'll get "Nindies" the bundle of independently developed games that will hit the e-store in the near future. Think of the awesome iPhone games that have dropped from indie developers over the years to take the world by storm. Expand the power and depth, but keep the affordable price points and that's what you're going to get on the Switch.
- You Can Already Tell There's SO MUCH MORE To Come!After only one weekend of playing only one game, it's already SUPER clear to me that there's so much more to come with games on the Nintendo Switch. Let's start with the system hardware features. There's a touch screen, an infrared camera and HD rumble features that are only touched upon if not included at all in the Zelda game which opens up the possibilities for games and Nindies into the future. Think about directional rumble effects adding in another element into your gameplay, the different things you can do with the infrared features.Then there are the software capabilities that we know little about. System patches and operating system updates along the way will certainly have new things coming down the chute. It's safe to say that the system I bought last week will be vastly different from the same system, post updates, about a year from now.