We are thinking of getting the kids a Switch for Christmas but I do not fully understand its pros and cons.
We are quite sure a PS4 or Xbox 360 would not be worth it; those platforms concentrate on killing games and sports titles, which our girls (13 and 12) are less interested in.
Is it a suitable gift for two kids of that age?
What 's the downloadable content like?
What strengths and weaknesses should we be aware of?
Thanks!
We have one, our children are of roughly that age and they love it.
Pros? great games that you can play wherever the heck you want. “breath of the wild” is one of the greatest games I’ve ever played, Mario Kart 8 is not far behind, Splatoon 2 is an absolute joy and “Super Mario Odyssey” is reckoned to be right up there with them. Our two have it in the back of the car on long journeys, I’ve got an extra dock in my bedroom and it is great to be playing it on the downstairs big screen and think “I’ll just take this in the kitchen/bedroom/car/garden” and being able to do just that instantly with no loss of functionality. You dock or un-dock it and carry on where you left off.
The catalogue is big and getting bigger. Plenty on offer from the very casual for a few £’s to the big blockbusters past and present. The latest version of Doom has just been ported across and that is fairly incredible and bodes well for the future. I bought “rocket league” for £15 a few days ago and that is immense fun.
Another pro is that it all just works, loading times are pretty quick and it really is just “pick up and play”. Also the current hoo-ha about loot boxes seems less of an issue on the switch, there is additional content that can be downloaded for some games but it really is that, an addition. More levels and such, rather than having to pay more to get through the game quicker or unlock content.
Cons? the graphics are not up with the very latest Microsoft and Sony consoles but the lack of graphical grunt is really a non-issue. This may mean that some of the most recent games won’t port over but seeing as they’ve managed it with Doom and The newest Wolfenstein games, we may be surprised by what is possible.
The games aren’t cheap (but if you buy physical copies they retain a great deal of value for resale). The battery life when undocked is 3-5 hours depending on what you play but a simple USB-c connector keeps you topped-up and to be honest, in any off-line session I’ve played I’ve not come up against the battery limitation.
The on-line gaming experience is apparently not as extensive for the switch as the other consoles, on-line chat etc. Personally I’ve played MK8, Splatoon and Rocket League and it is seamless and speedy. I’ve experienced no problems at all and to be honest I rather like the fact that there is limited communication with the online community.
What else? peripherals tend to be pricey (but good quality and the 3rd party manufacturers are getting up to speed)
There are limited utility applications such as video streaming but I believe they may come in time.
There was an article recently about the success of the switch and it said it has managed this by being “good enough” rather than chasing the power-users who demand 60fps 4k images. I have to agree. The size and screen and battery are all “good enough”. The graphics on the big screen are hd and 30fps at least, easily enough for talented art designers and directors to extract jaw-dropping moments and make you forget any gap between the switch and the heavyweights.
But ultimately the games make it. The fact that BOTW and MK8 exist at all is a wonderful thing, the fact that you can play them anywhere, anytime, pause, resume and switch as the mood takes you is a bit of a game-changer.
It’s a suitable gift, sure. If you’re going to be downloading a few games, then you’ll probably need to buy a Micro SD card. The internal memory is 32GB, which can get filled up fairly quickly. There’s a fair bit of content available, so you might just go to meta critic or Nintendo’s own site to browse around.
Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart are good picks to start with; they’re great games that just about everyone likes. There are other great games like Zelda and Splatoon 2, but they probably have a higher chance of not clicking with people.
In some games, you can play 2-player using the set of joy-cons that come with the system. Some others don’t work that way, and require another set of joy-cons or a pro controller. We have Lego City, which is like this. Nintendo’s accessories are pretty expensive.
If you’re going to be using it as a portable, I’d recommend getting some kind of case for it. Also I highly recommend getting a glass screen protector. They’re only a few bucks and they make a big improvement to the screen quality.
Finally, Nintendo is planning a subscription-based online service starting next year, but they haven’t announced the details yet. It’s going to cost $25 or $30 per year, if I recall.
Pros: Odyssey and BotW are in fact great games.
Con: Only 1 but it’s a big one. Games are being released at a glacial pace and that doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon. This is probably the slowest ramp up I’ve ever seen for a new console. Part of the problem is few 3rd parties have made/are making games for it because they can’t just port games to it like they can PS4/XBONE/PC.
I do like the Switch for what it is but there’s no way I would recommend it if it’s going to be the only current gen system in the house. There’s just nothing to play
Really? I guess I don’t have numbers to compare, but that’s not my impression at all, at least since the first couple months. Metacritic lists 67 games with scores of 75+, which seems fine for a 9-month-old system. For myself, my problem is finding enough time to play the games I have, but that’s at least partly a lack of free time.
Part of the reason the Switch is getting so much third party support is how easy porting to it is, at least compared to Nintendo’s previous systems.
I don’t get the comment about the slow release pace either. There are plenty out there already and lots more slated.
I certainly can’t find the time to fully play the ones I’ve already got.
Do you need one for each kid? Like a DS?
Or is it more like a console?
It is both, when docked it is exactly like a normal console and when undocked it is exactly like a DS (or similar…but much. much more powerful) You plug in cartridges and play (or download and play). The dock isn’t tied to a specific switch so multiple units can use the same dock
You could get one each and it opens up more options for local multiplayer gaming but you may need two copies of a specific game.
Also, if you have two systems and only downloaded a game then it is locked to that system.
They’ll have to share it.
Sure I suppose that if you count every game that’s been officially released on switch there are “plenty of games”. There are plenty of games released on iOS too. All games aren’t created equal though.
If you count only the games that you really need a Switch to play it’s anemic. Multi platform games are almost always watered down to turd status for Switch. Is there any case where the Switch version is superior?
Reality is the the Switch exclusive games have been pretty good to outstanding. If you want to play Non Nintendo character games you will always be able to do it cheaper, and better, on any of the other consoles.
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My kid really likes it. He uses it much more than his other consoles at this point. Switch only content has been slow in coming, but enough multi-platform content is out there that he seems pretty happy. He likes the option to either play on a big screen or switch to the small one. Definitely get an SD card.
It depends what you want. The Switch can’t compete graphically with the other consoles, but it’s portable. If I were buying Doom (which I’m not), I would prefer it on the Switch because the portability is more important for me. If you treat the Switch as a home console only, then it loses some of its appeal.
I’m not sure what other metric we should go by
That’s certainly true. I can only comment on the ones I’ve bought, played and downloaded and I haven’t been disappointed yet. it is worth getting the Switch purely for the big Nintendo games that you can’t get anywhere else, they are that good.
It doesn’t have to be superior, it just has to be “good enough” I played “rocket league” against players on other consoles and it is perfectly fine, certainly not a “turd”. Which games on the Switch have you played that deserve that label?
on the bus? in the car? on the plane? playing room to room? taking it on holiday?
I think you are misunderstanding the market that the Switch is going for, People will end up having a PC gaming rig, a PS4 or Xbox and a Switch. Why wouldn’t you? I played BOTW in a cafe 3000 metres up a mountain in Austria. My kids played Splatoon 2 and co-op Snipperclips in the car on a 12 hour drive across Europe. And you certainly don’t have to have access to all third party titles in order for a console to be worthwhile.
Well if portability is the key factor then absolutely the best console for you. OP didn’t mention that as a selection criteria though. As far as value per dollar of cost though the Switch can’t come close to PS4 or XBONE right now. Historically it never will either. Games (good games) prices never really drop on Nintendo systems even years later. Yeah you’ll find a few stinkers in the shitbin at GameStop at some point but not the Mario’s and Zelda’s and if you don’t care about those (or portability) why buy a Switch any way?
I will say again though, Odyssey and BotW are great games as is Mario Kart if you don’t have it on Wii U already.
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OTOH, the Switch being cartridge based rather than being disc based leads to incredibly quick load up and go gameplay, even as a home console (where I’ve played it 90% of the time). I find I play games much more if I can fire up the console and go back into a game within 2 seconds (literally). I think I’ve already played more Skyrim on the Switch than I did with my PC version, mostly because of that ease of getting in and playing. It’s gotten me back into gaming (I was so out of the gaming scene that my last console of an original XBox).
FWIW, I think it’s probably had the greatest launch of any new console in a long while. I already have 11 games on my (physical) shelf - Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, MarioKart 8, Disgaea 5, ARMS, Splatoon 2, FIFA 18, Super Mario Odyssey, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Doom, Skyrim, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - then add Stardew Valley as a digital download.
The graphics aren’t the best, but the way the system goes into a sleep mode so you can jump almost immediately into a game, and then you can take it off the dock if someone else wants to watch the TV (or bring it with you when you go somewhere - I was playing Skyrim at the airport the day before Thanksgiving) makes it something that has me gaming far more than I have in a long while.
For kids who are sharing having the joy cons each being a controller is a great way to have local multiplayer.