Nintendo Switch Review

Finally, after testing and lots of research I got a Nintendo Switch. This is something I asked for my wife as gift for my birthday, Christmas and our anniversary so I did not really had problems requesting this from her haha. I use my 3DS and PS Vita for majority of my game reviews and since those two were about to say goodbye to the consumer market, I have to get the device next in line which is the Nintendo Switch.

Anyway, she got me the Mario Odyssey version around P22,500 which costs way more than the standard version P17,999 which is due to its added stuff inside. It includes the game, red Joy Con, some stickers, a screen protector and Mario Pouch which is not included with the normal switch versions. She chose the color so I have no complaints here.

What made me want to buy the Nintendo Switch

First I was skeptical on getting one when it was released way back March. I am one of the early adopters of 3ds and PS VITA and the experience owning those two for the first year were not really that great mainly because it does not have games that can lasts you up for a year until AAA games come up. But hey, it's different with the NS(I'd call it NS for the rest of this review). It got tons of games and that includes heavy RPG's(Bought Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Party games which will entertain everyone during reunions and friend gatherings. I also thought of waiting for the next Switch, since when I got my hands on the NS last March, it felt like I was holding a cheap 7 inch Chinese tablet. The screen is a little washed out and not really worth the price for me. So that made me think that I'd just wait for the next NS version where it might get a better screen? But Nah. I need a new device for game reviews haha. Plus lots of games in development announced for the Switch in the coming years.

Nintendo OS:

NS OS is pretty straight forward, No confusing menus and everything is easy to Navigate. It felt like you're navigating an IPhone. Nintendo Friend Code is still there and it's still a hassle to add friends but other than that it's fresh and clean. You can see what your friends has been playing and you can check it out directly on the E-shop if you want to check out the price and game details. There's no internet browser but there's a News section which I find very useful as it contains game recommendations, tips and tricks and flash sales. Overall, I liked the NS' Operating System.

Nintendo Hardware:

I'll discuss the hardware briefly. The NS has a 6.2 inch LCD which is a bit sharp but washed and I am not a fan of since we are already on the age of sharp displays and LCDs but it gets the job done. It uses NVIDIA's custom Tegra processor *ding* *ding* you get that right, remember the NVIDIA SHIELD android devices few years ago? It uses that processor but of course the upgraded version. It has a USB type C for charging and connecting the NS to TV. It has a 32GB built in memory for saves and games expandable to 2TB if that even exists. It uses a Cart for games and it does not  Last but not the least is the kick stand, Yep a kick stand that you can use if you want to use the NS in table top mode. It does not support the kick stand as good as the one you'd found in Microsoft Surface Devices but again it gets the job done.

Hassle Switching

I'd like to tell my experience when switching from TV to Handheld mode. I made sure that my NS is super protected. I bought Silicon cases for the Joy Cons and a Crystal case for the NS tablet itself. So it's good that I have full protection while on Handheld mode but the challenge now is when you need to go TV mode. You need to remove all of those accessories and place them somewhere. Plus you need to remove the Joy Cons and then place them to the Joy Con grips. It's not as instant as advertised when you got it fully protected. Majority of you guys for sure will protect your device. Well there's a Slim case developed by Nyko that saves you from all the hassle but I don't have that and its quite expensive if you'd ask me and it does not give much protection to the device.

Gaming Experience

I've been playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Mario Kart, Pokken, Some NEO GEO games and Demos. So I've played all the genres. I enjoyed playing XC2 on my Switch and Mario Kart using single Joy Cons. BUT, I think not all games are at home for NS especially fighting games. There's a bit of delay when executing moves, though it's not that visible when playing Pokken but for NEO GEO games, I had difficulty executing moves in King of Fighters which  I am  really good at way back lol. The mini sticks ain't built for Fighting games which if you have a PRO Controller which is real OP for me, you can get away with this issue. Overall though, I had fun gaming and did not really experience pain playing for long periods of time. Playing with Joy Cons using the included grip is also good. Though I wished that triggers would be softer and does not click like small buttons. I am comparing this with DS4 and the PSVITA triggers which are one of the best around.

Pricey Accessories and Games

Switch games and Accessories will burn your wallet down. It's quite addicting buying NS games due to its portability, you can play NBA anytime, anywhere unlike the PS4. So that makes our itchy gamer hands to buy any game that we want. You might also want to invest in a SD Card and not just 64GB but a wooping 128GB as Switch games are really huge. Sample is Resident Evil Revelations 2 which is a massive 23GB. You only have 32GB built in so you might want to invest on that. The PRO Controller the one I mentioned earlier is way pricey than a DS4 controller which you can almost but 2 DS4 for the price of the NS PRO controller and it doesn’t even have a headphone jack that you can use for TV Mode. I also read that it has some ghost movement issues and the best PRO controller so far is the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 version. You might want to do research before buying. There are cheap alternatives like the 8bit Do and Snakebyte which I don't have yet so I could not recommend those but it's cheaper than the pro controller.

Battery Life

 It drains fast when playing games with demanding graphics but that's how it goes for anything on the go. It's about 2.5-3 hours when playing games with heavy graphics and same time for the console to full charge. I really don't have issues with the battery life since majority of the us now have power banks which you can power up your unit when it ran out of juice when playing outside.

Lots of Games

One of its edge is the massive number of games that was released for the console. There's NBA, Mario Kart, Mario Odyssey, Zelda, Indie games, and a lot more. Developers are racing to have their games ported to Nintendo Switch and it's not even rushed low quality ports. Quality wise its better ports compared to PS4 to PS Vita ports. It's quite a good future for the NS if Developers continues this for the next years to come.

Final Thoughts

Nintendo Switch is not just a device for kids but also for Adults. The games being released for the NS is for all generations and something that you'd never in your dreams you'd be able to play outside. Playing via handheld and TV mode though it’s a bit of hassle to switch between those modes is enjoying and not to mention multiplayer and party games are never this easy to execute. I'd recommend the NS now.

Pros:

·       Tons of Games

·       Handheld and TV mode

·       NVIDIA Tegra processor handle games really well in Handheld mode

Cons:

·       Expensive games

·       Expensive Accessories

Overall: 4/5