It is here. Whispered about for ages, revealed in October and
finally unleashed on march 3rd. There now resides under my TV a new
baby, my ickle Nintendo Switch.
Flip me its tiny. You’ve probably read that, heard that and
maybe even watched the unboxing vids. I know I did but that still didn’t stop
me opening up the box last week and saying “what the..?!” It’s about the size
of a Kindle with a controller either side that’s probably less than half the size
of a Wii remote. Take them off and attach to a grip and you’ve got something resembling
the standard ps4/xbox controller, but again in really tiny form. It’s blooming
gorgeous. Go google image it, or YouTube it, or even better just buy the damn
thing…
It plays games!! Bet you didn’t know
that. So far mine has primarily been used as a Zelda machine. I’d imagine most
switch owners are saying the same thing. Two reasons for that; Zelda is utterly
amazing and everything else isn’t. I bought three of the five retail launch
titles. Two of those are currently on ebay awaiting a new home. Bomberman is
Bomberman, a simple party game for up to four players that I’d probably keep if
it had cost me £10. For £40 I just can’t see me using anywhere near enough. The
story mode felt awkward to control and a bit tedious. The multiplayer kept my
mates entertained for all of five minutes before they wanted to see something else.
And that’s it really. Can’t call it terrible but it’s instantly forgettable.
1-2-Switch is that game you’ve probably seen bits of already.
The cow milking game will live online forever in the form of GIFS. We tried it
drunk and it did get a laugh, albeit mainly due to sexual innuendos being
chucked about as friends competed to show their best wrist action. Fake Draw
was funny, a game in which you stare each other out Wild West style and wait
for the announcer to cry fire. Simple and effective. The same can’t be said
about most of the rest. Some of the mini games had us scratching our heads at
how to play, others had us play them before asking “what was the point?” It’s
not a videogame at all really, more like a Nintendo rival to board games and the
current crazes of Speak Out and Splat Face. In that respect you might see it as
worth keeping. I did not. Again I couldn’t see it being used for any more than half
an hour maybe twice a year. Another problem I found was that it’s really
dependant on everyone watching and listening whilst the two folk play. Get
eight people in a room with alcohol and make them not have their own conversations.
You’ll struggle, and you’ll also be a friendless numpty. 
Back to Zelda then. Oh my, this is a wonderful experience so
far. The scale of the world and the level of interaction available is
incredible. Climb anything, go anywhere. Kill folk, cook stuff, ride horses,
solve puzzles, glide through the air and just look in awe that the prettiness
of it all. I absolutely love it. I love playing it on my TV and i equally loved
playing it in handheld mode whilst my wife watched reality TV gubbins beside
me. I’ll love taking it on a train and playing it on my lunch break in work too,
but it’s too new and shiny for me to take it outside. My baby’s not ready for
its first outdoors excursion yet. 
Next up for it… More games. I regret not buying Fast RMX but
I’ll correct that this weekend. I might pick up SnipperClips to after the demo
charmed me. It’s a two player puzzle game that requires co-operation to
progress. Didn’t go that well with a hungover wife, but I’m hopeful it’s fun
with less impatient types. And after those? Hard to say to be honest, the
immediate future looks indie game heavy but that’s no bad thing (SteamWorld Dig
2 and Runner 3 look superb) then the rest of the year has Mario Kart, Mario
Odyssey, Splatoon 2 and plenty of surprises. E3 in June should be particularly
fun (I need Metroid)
So all in all… I’m enjoying it so far. It’s a nifty bit of
tech, the slickest and most un-Nintendo like of Nintendo devices. It has one
must have game to play and plenty more will come. Not a bad start at all and
many seem to agree… Nintendo have reported today that its their best launch
ever in USA and Europe. Keeping that momentum will be the interesting part, and
hopefully the most fun for us game playing hobbyists. Exciting.
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