Nintendo Switch

It could be argued that the Switch is natural progression for Nintendo; the Wii U, Nintendo’s last console, had a screen that could be used instead of the TV, thought that was tethered by a weak wireless signal which meant that even leaving the room to play a game was impossible. The console before that had Wii Remotes, motion sensitive batons which promoted new and exciting ways to play games, especially in multiplayer. Consider Switch the next evolutionary leap, then, in Nintendo’s console history. It takes the Wii remotes and makes smaller but far more accurate motion sensors, this time with real analogue controls built in, then it takes the off-screen play idea and transforms it into a proper handheld device, capable of not only leaving the room but also the house, both as a dedicated handheld and a portable TV with separate controllers. My first real impressions of the Switch, earlier in the week, were that it was a little smaller than the pictures made it out to be and immediately much better looking than the plastic shiny shell of the Wii U’s screen-controller. The quality turned out to be the same across the board, from the stand which houses the console for TV play to the slide in wrist straps which hark back to the Wii days but also bring improvements to the controllers themselves. In the box you get a neatly packed screen and Joy-cons (Nintendo’s name for their latest controllers), the stand, power cable, HDMI lead and a grip which transforms the 2 controllers in to a single, slightly more traditional device. It takes all of 5 minutes to set up, if that, and then the fun begins. If you’re getting a Switch the best thing you can do is avoid the temptation of sliding the controllers in before you turn on the system. For one, the initial menu will guide you through the rest of the set up, including the sliding in of said Joy-cons, and secondly because it means that finally sliding them in gives you the same satisfying ‘click’ from the adverts, cue grin. Setup is intuitive and soon has you up and running, with 2 further day one firmware updates bringing the eStore and large SD card support online. The UI has a clean, easy to use feel to it, with option icons lining the bottom of the screen, games centre stage (blank until you insert a cart or download a game) and information boxed off to the left. The eStore has been online for over 24 hours now, so I’ve played around with it for a bit, but it’s certainly not the most comprehensive of stores at present, lots of coming soon titles and some launch indie games to download, as well as Nintendo’s big hitters like Zelda, Bomberman and 1 2 Switch. In docked mode the console runs at 900p with the UI, upscaled to 1080p. It should be able to provide 1080p standard on any game that requires it but the 900p compromise may be to keep the UI fast and responsive. When taken out of the dock the console only needs to run in 720p, the resolution of the screen, so the GPU clock is reduced to save power. Unfortunately, even with this power-saving trick, the handheld lasted just over 3 hours. Handheld mode is a seemless transition from TV mode, where lifting the console out of its dock will switch the picture from the TV to the small screen. Gameplay continues from this point, either with the joy-cons attached to the sides (to form a ‘proper’ handheld gaming device) or using them as you would with the TV and using the main device as a portable screen. The second option is great for taking the console around to a friend’s house and playing multiplayer games with the screen propped up on a table. Viewing angles from the side are good enough for this to work but I did find that moving above the screen washed the colours out considerably, so you’d need to ensure the screen was at full height. Although the docking station isn’t currently available separately, it’s thought Nintendo will bring these out as added extras, allowing you to dock the Switch on different TVs. Without the docking station you won’t be able to connect to a TV, even though the console’s main connection is through the standard USB-C port. As mentioned, battery life in portable mode is a little disappointing, though it’s not all that different from the 3DS. Nintendo states 3-6 hours depending on the game, I found that just over 3 and a half hours on a medium brightness was all it could take play Just Dance, for instance (a game which streams from the internet at times and therefore will require the power-sapping wireless connection). Indies may require less power, so last longer but I’ve not had a chance to test the power of other games in this mode as yet. The console, when docked, can manage 1080p though, as previously stated, the UI runs at 900p. It’s also clear that 1080p/60fps gaming will depend on the sort of game being played. At launch, I only know that Fast RMX manages this. That said, graphical fidelity has never been a top priority for Nintendo hardware and the focus is purely on fun and innovation. Even Zelda is running at native 900p resolution but still looks great, despite this, which bolsters Nintendo’s claims that it really doesn’t need to be competing for graphics. Are there issues? Well there have been occasional Joycon issues with syncing to the console while I played from about 6 feet away. Moving nearer seemed to solve it, but the issues were few and far between. There are also reports of scratches from the dock, which I haven't experiences but still used a few kids stick-on foam shapes to line the inside of the dock just in case. Overall, then, the Switch is Nintendo at its finest. For the most part, other than the dock issue, this is good quality solid feeling hardware that tries to push gaming in a different direction and provides a new way to think about playing games. If you’re anything like me, someone who doesn’t always have time to play a game on the main TV, then the idea of taking your main games catalogue on the move with you rather than some cut down mobile version is pretty amazing. Now all we need is a continuous catalogue of quality software to go with it.

This a brilliant console, I am a hard core gamer, PS4 and PC mainly but this is probably one of if not my favourite console of all time and i will tell you why. DOCKED MODE: The Switch embodies the spirit and style of the N64 and the gamecube in how it feels, the colour scheme and it's general style but at it's heart it feels like a proper gaming console, I will get to how it performs as a handheld but lets focus on how it performs as a living room console for now. I will start with graphics, wow I did not expect these level of graphics from such compact hardware, I don't know how they did it but play Zelda breath of the wild on a 1080p 42" TV and it's gorgeous not to mention the world is so alive, the shadows are smooth and the motion is smooth too, the grass reacts to wind, fire, your motion, you can cut it, I guess what I'm saying is that apart from the graphics looking smooth and beautiful the movement, the animations and physics this console can produce is exceptional, you can't really grasp it without trying it for your self. On a side note the pro controller is a serious gamers must have, not because the joy con grip is bad in any way but because the pro controller is the best controller I've ever used. Talking of the joy con grip, as a home console the grip gets you by just fine and looks fine, feels really comfortable however the right thumb stick does feel a bit too low down, you have to reach a bit sometimes. The user interface is simple looking enough but it's actually really quick and easy to use which I find better than the xbox or playstation UI, loading times are quick and there are a lot of options. One major plus is that you can have a Japanese account and download games and demos only for japan which also means you can buy games from japan as it's not region locked. HAND HELD: What can I say, taking it out of the dock and putting it back is as seamless as it looks in the commercials, as a handheld it is much bigger than you expect and with the joy con on the sides it looks like a skateboard with a screen, it's really quite thin, thinner than it looks and it is quiet and don't get very hot unless you have been playing it in the dock for hours and take it out to play hand held. The quality is brilliant, it feels like an iPad level product and the joy-con detaching and attaching work brilliantly, the battery on the joy-con and the console lasts for ages, I've never ran out when playing hand held. The speakers are really loud compared to a vita or 3DS which is great for tabletop mode, playing in table top mode is so much better than I thought, I never expected i would play table top mode but I bought snipperclips (Amazing gamely the way) and played it a bunch on table top mode with friends using the individual joy-cons with the joy con straps (rails) and as little nugget controllers that they are they actually work but definitely use the straps to add that extra beaf to them, if you use the traps they just feel like small rounded nes controllers and they work really well, you forget you're using a small controller like that especially with snipperclips. As a handheld that you can play in bed or on the couch it's superb, I can't think of any complaints, the screen is bright and colourful and you can see it from really obscure angles and as my friend said in shock when she saw it in handheld mode, the graphics are amazing! a million times more impressive than my Vita. GREY OR NEON? I originally ordered the Neon but canceled to get a grey version and I am glad I did, my reasons were that the Neon is distracting to your eye when in handheld mode on either side of the screen seeing something so bright just takes you out of your immersion, in docked mode I don't want something to bright and garish in my living room sat next to or under my tv while I watch it or play a game. If you're worried about it being stolen if you're out and about, having a Neon version just screams I have a nintendo switch come steal it, and finally the grey just really emphasises this isn't a kids toy it's a luxury item like an iPad that has an air of quality and expense about it, the neon version just devalues it in my opinion.

I got this under instruction from my friend. However I was dubious about it. In any case I got it and I'm quite happy with it. It's not perfect however. The good: It's fast, getting into a game is really quick. Resuming a game is even quicker, the device can be in a standby state for a week, and still have 50 percent battery left over. Graphics looks quite good on the device it's self. Sitting on the bus or lying in bed, you can have a good game. As far as portable gaming experiences go, it's pretty much the best you can get from a mobile device. Battery life. I've heard different opinions on this, some people yay it and others moaning. I'm going to say yay and I feel that the naggers have clearly got expectations that are too high. It is game dependent, and of course brightness is a massive impact on it. To give an example, you could play Mario Kart in the dark, brightness low, and you would get 8 hours plus. At high brightness, you'll get about 4. Playing Zelda on the other hand will drain you faster, due to the increased load on the system. If you compare this with high end mobile phone or tablet battery life, it's fairly on par! The flexibility with the controllers, being able to play with both, or switch to one and give the other half to a friend in acouole seconds is awesome. Battery on the controllers is also great. Having them charge through the main unit is also good. Having USB type C is great. The adapter of the future, be able to charge it with a phone charger. Can't complain. The dock. Simply put, this is what truely makes the switch work. It's in the dock, turn on the TV and pick up the controller. Like a PS4 you are in the game in less than 5 seconds due to the resume feature, you're playing your fave game, and then you've got to go. You pick the unit up out of its dock, fire it into your bag and jump on the bus. Pull it out your bag and within 2 seconds you are right back where you were and you can play for hours! The bad: The screen is plastic, not glass. I get that this helps prevent cracks, gives it that little bit of shock resistance. However what you loose is scratch resistance and that nice smooth feel you get from a new smartphone. The dock is also made of plastic, which isn't a bad thing. But after a single week of usage, you will be able to see scratches on the screen at the bottom left and right where the dock runs along it. It highlights how prone the screen is to scratching when another bit of smooth plastic can scratch the panel. I recommend a tempered glass screen protector for it as soon as you buy it. You get the protection, and the premium feel as well. Price of games. I'm not one of these people that have issue buying a £40 to £50 game. But some of the games aren't fully fledged games in m opinion. Tomb raider is an example of a complex piece of software, high quality voice acting, a script, etc. Fully justified a price of £50. Minecraft, great game with a great community, costing £10 to £15 on other platfrms, free on Android, £33 on switch? It's not all games, don't get me wrong. But you could argue that there is a few titles that could be considered mobile games, or experiences. On Android these would often be games you would see for free, or a few quid, maybe £5. The online experience. Nintendo is well behind the other manufacturers or providers when it comes to their online offering. On other consoles or PC there is entire online communities all easily connected and offering a broad range of features. Nintendo offers nothing in this area besides the basics. It was a free service which was fine, but they are going to start charging for that this month and the offering isn't really improving to justify the charge. Maybe this will change, but for now it just feels like a bit of a slap in the face. No apps or multimedia abilities. For a device that is effectively a tablet, that even uses a chipset which was designed for high end Android tablets, I find it completely mind boggling that there is no apps like netflix, BBC iPlayer, decent web browser, a media player so that you can pop some videos into an SD card. I spend about 4 hours a day on the bus, when I bought the switch I kind of expected that I'd be able to leave the tablet in he house and use the switch for games and movies. To finish off I'll touch back on graphics again. When docked, you get to play your games on the big screen. This I were the graphics might start to let you down as the cracks will start to show. It's not bad by any means, in fact there is some really nice looking stuff. But, if you are looking at buying one system, and portability is not something all that important to you, graphics on a console dedicated to the living room will impress to a much greater degree.

5 star console, great games, quick shipping, fun for all ages however within 3 months the left joycon has failed even though it has been looked after by an adult all this time with minimal time spent detached. Will be contacting nintendo for replacement and others have had the same issue, but other then this it really is a very good product.

Don’t get me wrong... I love my Switch and its games, I love the convenience of being able to play games on the go (well sometimes). What I don’t love is the fact that, over time, the connection between switch and joycon wears out to the point that the controllers no longer connect. What I love even less is Nintendo Customer Support UK’s refusal to fix the problem, each time mailing my Switch back to me claiming there’s nothing wrong with the switch body (although completely failing to tell me what tests they have performed. It’s not as if my Switch gets that much use in handheld mode, as it’s too cumbersome to use on Bus/Tube. I use it in this mode only on long distance travel by train or plane. So what I’m left with is a rather underpowered console that is now awkward to play when travelling, as I have to use the joycons detached. Nintendo used to be known for producing high-quality hardware; it’s a real shame to see them turn out cheap junk like this.

If not for the faulty right joycon, i would have given a 5 star review. The console is nice, looks nice on portable mode, it looks nicer on tv mode. The controller grip is confy, the joycons are nice too, but it's really sad that months go by and more faulty units continue to appear. I think i was lucky, for only one joycon failed me (the analog click, hence i CAN'T play zelda, i got stuck while i try to find where to get a pro controller or something asap, because the game was like a drug in the short hour i played so far). I never had a faulty nintendo (not the nes, nor the snes, or the n64, not the gc either, or the wii and wiiu, never, not even the portable ones, gb, gba, ds and 3ds/n3ds). If you're like me, live FAR away, and had to import the system cause its not released on your region (and probably won't for a long time, if ever), then this is a big bummer. Im really sad, i was really enjoying my gaming session.

Great console, just lacks launch games. The system looks/ feels great. Very small to what I thought it would be. I got my switch at launch at Game and I have been playing BOTW. Iv not experienced any problems with the joy cons or any frame rate so far. The console is 1080p when in TV mode and it is 720p when in portable mode. Honestly I don't see much of a difference but iv been mainly playing it in portable mode. The controls feel small at first BUT I have gotten use to them. Iv played a good amount of hours in portable mode and the controls are still at full percentage. Where I'm so use to Xbox/ps4 controls I find it unconftable when in portable mode and the joy cons are lose in your hands. That's when you notice how small they really are. I love the fact that you can play with up to 8 controllers (bomberman R does this). It's simple to change the settings of the controls by the setting on the main screen. This means you can play them vertically or horizontally and the setting can change them to player one or two or both to be one large control. The console is very quick and responsive. There is not much of a loading time when starting up a new game. It took literally 1 minute or so to load Zelda and that is a big open world game. Iv known my ps4 to take 90 minutes to load and update a game before I can play single and multiplayer. Consider how small the console is that's amazing. Switching from portable to TV is literally a blink of an eye. As soon as you put it in the dock two seconds later it's on the big screen. The console seems quite sturdy However I do recommend a screen protector ASAP because there are reports that the dock scratches the edges of the screen!! Not happened to me thankfully. The joycons are attached to the console and accessories by sliding them into a metal frame. They seem strong enough to hold the controllers with nearly no movement at all so I'm confident it will last. It seems the motion isn't that great. I'm not sure if it's the game or the controls but in Zelda you get a puzzle board where you tilt the switch to move a ball around a maze. The maze kept getting stuck in a certain way where I had to reset the puzzle. Because there isn't many games out I can't really test the theory... I'm thinking it's the game but even aiming an arrow wobbles about a bit so we shall see in other games. Also the battery doesn't last very long when in portable, iv gotten about 3 hours of Zelda with the light all the way up. The internet connection isn't very good. From my bedroom which is upstairs and the hub is downstairs I get one bar at most. However this didn't effect me when I played the splatoon demo! There are a couple of flaws but what system is perfect in every way? Every console has a flaw even years after launch. Considering it is £280 I think it is a great device. I would hold out for more games if you are unsure about it but if you own Nintendo consoles and enjoy them then this may intrigue you. Think of it as a 3DS/ vita but with better controls, games, hardware and more ways to play. !!EDIT!! My grey switch had trouble with the battery this week so I went to the store I bought it from (Game) and they gave me a replacement after testing it. They only had the neon at the time so I took that. The colours are fabulous, I expected them to be a horrible dull colour but the joy cons are really bright and great. The battery in this console is really noticeable as I got over an hour gameplay and less then 20% was used up. Still love it however, just bad luck is all. I also noticed that when you click the joy con into place you get a grey line on the side for the grey switch and for the neon you get red on one side and blue on the other. It's to show you the controls have clicked into place!! It just shows how detailed the switches are programmed!

This is the most exciting, most innovative games console I have ever picked up. Will it replace my PlayStation 4? Probably not, but as a father of 2 girls under 2 I don't get a lot of TV time so this will let me play games while freeing up the TV. I had a Wii U and loved it but it always felt a bit clunky and not entirely thought through. The Switch by contrast is an almost perfect blend of everything I want from a games console. A lot of critics are moaning that it's not as powerful as the Xbox or PS4 but honestly who cares. This isn't a powerhouse of a home console, it's a handheld that you can play on your TV. A handheld that will play blockbuster mainstream games like Skyrim and FIFA. Bottom line is the PlayStation and Xbox just can do what the Switch does. There's also a lot of moaning about the games available at release. Yes there is some truth to this and it is slightly worrying due to the lack of content for Wii U but you need to remember that the lineup for both the PlayStation and Xbox at launch were very unexciting. I got my Switch with Zelda and to be honest that's all you need right now. Breath of the wild is one of the best games released in years and by the time you are done with it there will be plenty of other games to choose from. The Console itself it incredibly well put together. The touch screen is very responsive and the display is crystal clear. With the Joy Con attached it feels like a beefed up PSP (which is a good thing). I have had some issues playing the console this way but I resynced the controllers and haven't had any further problems. The console has a really nice weight to it without being overly heavy. Using the Joy Con grip does feel a little strange at first as it is a bit on the small side but not off puttingly so and after 5 mins it felt fine. Unattaching the Joy Con and using them Wii style is also great but you need to attach the straps otherwise they are too small. Attaching the straps adds another centimetre to the width of each controller and makes a big difference. The Joy Con themselves are riddled with buttons and we definitely haven't seen the full potential of these yet, they are definitely the stand out controllers on the market just now. For any gamer casual or seasoned this console is a must have. You don't know what your missing out on until you get one.