I've logged a good amount of time over my first weekend with the Nintendo Switch in hand, at least enough to formulate some opinions on what I like and don't like. There are definitely two sides to every story and this post highlights "the other side" of the Switch. Below, you'll see the top "Five Things That I HATE" about the Nintendo Switch and by CLICKING HERE you can bounce over to another article and see the "Five Things I LOVE".
Hate might be a strong word, but when you drop $300 bones on a new system with so much anticipation, you hope that it's perfect and they rarely are. Many of these things are pretty nit-picky, but that's what I'm here to to!
Here are some of the things that bug me about Nintendo's new console, the Switch...
- It Doesn't Feel Super DurableI'm already convinced that at some point I'm going to break this system. If I don't, my two year old Tasmanian devil son certainly will. With developing for portability weight comes into play and to cut weight you have to cut heavy duty materials. That means the system has a plasticky kind of feel to it the worries me when preparing for durability. A case is almost a necessary accessory to keep your system pristine.Another accessory that I'm learning is going to be essential is a screen film cover. We're all so used to the scratch proof materials that makeup the face of our Smart Phones that we forget, many screens are scratchable. The Switch screen face is one of those scratchable surfaces, something that seems silly since certain games will require the touch screen to be used.
But maybe the most glaring worry is the flimsy kickstand used during table to mode. A thin plastic piece that holds up your device is assured to break off at some point during your system's life cycle. It looks like it can snap back into place, but I'm not willing to test that feature out yet. There's also no grippiness on the bottom of the system so if you are playing the table top setup on an airplane tray table or in the car, it could easily slide around like plastic-on-plastic is wont to do.
2. There's No Netflix, Hulu or YouTube Available...yet
It's likely to come at some point down the road, but that fact that there is no way to watch Netflix or the like on the system out of the box bugs me. We're so used to our devices doing EVERYTHING for us, the fact that this thing seemingly has the capabilities but they chose not to code it to support third party entertainment apps for the time being. Like I said, they'd be foolish not to implement this going forward, but presently it doesn't exist.
3. Built-In Storage Is Light...It's one of the more glaring complaints given today's day and age, but the system ships with only a 32GB hard drive. The operating system takes up 4GB leaving you with 28GB to store games and download stuff. The E-Store is open for some launch games but no Nindies yet so the problem hasn't really reared it's ugly head quite yet. But given that a downloaded version of Zelda takes up more than half of the original space (13.4GB), you won't have much room for other big games...unless you expand.There is a fix for this but it will cost you more money. Hidden behind the kickstand on the back of the unit is a Mini-SD slot for expandable storage to be purchased. You can double your storage with another 32GB card for about $20 with 128GB cards pushing about $75. So they are relatively affordable but will cost you more money.
4. There aren't many games right now...It's an impossible problem to solve because people who are upgrading to a new system are leaving behind a system that's likely been around for 3+ years. That means that what they are familiar with has 3+ years worth of games in its library. Then you move to a new Nintendo Switch with all the excitement and for all intents and purposes there's only one real game available, Zelda.
Sure you can buy Just Dance, 1-2 Switch, Bomberman and a few other titles, but those are smaller games that showcase specific features of the new system but they don't take advantage of the entirety of it.Thankfully the one large game you can buy (Zelda) is freaking awesome and should take people a long time to explore and be ready to move on. But for those power users that rush through it, your left with a void until the next big titles drop.
5. Accessories are essential, and they're mostly pretty pricey...
While there is a lot that goes into the Nintendo Switch, there's also a lot that you might need to give you the seamless experience that you're looking for. As a one player option, you're set to play but you're leaving much of the Switch's capabilities on the table, that means you need more controllers. The Pro Controller runs $70, a set of two joy cons runs you another $80. A quick note on the joy cons, a set of two amounts to what is needed for one player in a single player game like Zelda but for Multi-player games like Mario Kart, 1-2 Switch and other, the pair of joy cons turn on their sides to work as two controllers. You'll need a case for the system ($20), a screen protector ($8), a joy con charging charging dock ($30), expandable storage ($20-$75), an extra AC adaptor unless you want to deconstruct your home dock all the time ($30), maybe a car charger ($15). And that doesn't include any combination of game cartridge cases, mounts, stands and the like that you can also get.The $300 console price point isn't going to scare people away, but they should know what they might be in for going into it.
All in all, I LOVE my Nintendo Switch so far. These are just some things to consider before you go out and buy your own!