It could be good, but I thought they would have learned from the failure of the WiiU... which everyone who is analyzing the announcement critically is echoing.

I just wanted a Metroid or a non gimmick Star Fox. I know others feel my pain, but I don't think Nintendo cares anymore. And then all this insanity with their new online network policies. Maybe I should just buy a WiiU.

This thing's to effin expensive. For the price of a Switch + Pro-Controller I could get a PS4 Pro. Mario and Zelda are not worth that price. Especially not if they look as weird as Super Mario Odyssey.

I must say, I am kind of tempted to pre-order. I'll give myself the weekend to mull this one over. The whole package is much more appealing to me than the Wii U ever was. Yeah, I'm weird like that. =P

I don't get what people have against the cartridge system for games. Sure, it had a huge disadvantage during the N64 days, but nowadays one can pack as much as may be available on a blu-ray on an itty bitty cartridge that will likely be the physical size of 3DS games. I think it's much preferable over disc. Disc drives can be prone to hardware failure, discs can be scratched, and, more often than not, flash-memory-based games tend to load faster, too. Such a system is also a good bit less power-hungry. It also makes sense for a system that is "portable."

Games that look good to me as someone who completely skipped the Wii-U: Zelda BotW, MK 8D, Splatoon 2. I'm actually kind of hoping Nintendo will bring some other Wii U games to the Switch.

Indeed, it does look quite good. That voice acting caught me a bit off-guard. Yeah, Mario cartoon style doesn't really mesh well with that semi-realistic 1920s world. When I first saw Fire Emblem I was like: "Yeah, baby!" Then comes the 'Warriors' part: "Uh oh!" Made by Koei Tecmo: "Oh, dear!" Granted, I think it makes more sense in a Dynasty-Warriors-like with Nintendo clothing than HW, but I guess I'm still worried a bit.

I'm still hoping Nintendo will see fit to revisit the Advance Wars series. There's been not a peep about the franchise since Days of Ruin on the DS nine years ago. I love the Fire Emblem games, but it would be shame for AW to be neglected. As much as I enjoy Nintendo's main games the Fire Emblem and Advance Wars line from Intelligent Systems are by far my favorites of them all. I suppose I just love a good strategy/tactical TBS, and IS has a knack for developing games with great style that are always just a lot of fun to play.

If you like RPGs get all the Xenoblade games you can get your hands on (I imagine some kind of re-release, remastering or Virtual Console offering won't be far off), the original is probably my favourite game of all time.

As for Fire Emblem Warriors, it will be what it will be. If you like the Warriors series it will be good, if you don't you probably won't.
Fire Emblem should be a really good fit. Loads of good guys and bad guys, lots of generic unit types for soldiers. Lots of scenarios that would translate quite nicely too. I presume it will be a cross over between all the various game worlds with characters from all of them.

No they're actually including a plug. Not sure if it's the same plug for the dock and the device itself, but as it's USB-3 they should at least be easily purchasable.

The 3DS didn't have a plug because Nintendo refused to conform to international standards in spite of having known them for ample time. As already mentioned, the Switch actually does conform to international standards, so a very small huzzah the size of a dust mote for that.
I'm getting uncomfortable Sonic Adventure vibes from Mario Odyssey, seeing him next to a "real" human. The last time Nintendo went in a major story direction with Mario that wasn't just some variant of "There's Bowser, knock em down!", we got Super Mario Sunshine, where it was expressly implied that Peach was so stupid, that she gave thought to the idea of giving birth to a spiky lizard.

It could be good. Like the Wii-U could have been good (and 100 dollars cheaper) had they just dropped the tablet. The same thing applies here, except comparisons to The Homer are even more apt this time. with them both being garish products designed by an idiot, overloaded with features the average consumer doesn't need or want, and at a price that most feel is an awful value.

As for a new Metroid, here's Reggie wearing his Metroid lapel pin to tease everyone with profound lies that would get a normal person fired from his job. But thankfully, Reggie works in marketing, and is therefore immune to the clause of getting caught lying wholesale since that's his job.

Extra costs are always off-putting.You have to really like those exclusive games to put up with it. I think that is what Nintendo is banking on.

The issue they face is not a technological one, it's whether they will make enough games that masses of people really want to play and buy a new system for. As with the XBox One and PS4 launch, things are looking somewhat meagre on the game front.

I understand the appeal of having innovative technical designs, but the focus should be on the games and on gaming.
Nintendo is thinking in the long-run, on long-term use and appeal. However most gamers today are looking for immediate short-term reasons for buying into a new system, they are not really thinking 3+ years ahead.

Extra costs are one thing. 90 dollars for a plastic dock is is ridiculous. 70 dollars for a controller made for humans is also silly. 80 bucks for an extra pair of overenginnered wiimotes is just insane. And their launch game isn't exclusive. (Breath of the Wild.) 1-2 Switch should have been a pack in, even as unwholesomely idiotic as it looks.

The problem is that Nintendo is launching against systems with proven libraries, online, and form factors. Which include, but aren't limited to, the PS4/PS4 Pro, the XBOX 1/Scorpio, all of PCdom, and smartphones. It's priced as a primary console with none of the appeal when everyone purchases it as a secondary console. At best.

...And did you see what Nintendo did with all the years given to them with the 3DS, Wii, and Wii-U? The "innovations" presented by those systems were not utilized by Nintendo in the long run. Will fancy rumble and more waggle really have longterm appeal, even if the technology has improved? Here's a quick reminder:
On the Wii, the interest in waving about like a ponce died out and everyone moved onto other devices. On the 3DS, the 3DS was seen as such a non-feature that they made a revision specifically without it. And finally, the Wii-U never made good use of the baffling overlay system where you hold your massive tablet before the screen, therefore preventing you form focusing on your nice television. Even when forced, none of these features were met with longterm appeal.

In the case of the latter, it was even to the detriment of many a game such as Star Fox Zero Sales.

If Nintendo just gave up on trying to capture the same audiance that would have bought "The Homer" and focused on making a normal system for people with normal hands, spending all their statpoints in the one thing they do well in, making games, they would be in a far better position.

At the end of the day, whether you get a Switch or not depends on whether you enjoy Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokémon, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, Pikmin and all of Nintendo's other franchises. If you don't like these games, no price or feature set is going to convince you to buy their hardware. Is this console worth picking up at launch on March 3rd? Probably not. However, based on what we've seen, there are going to be plenty of solid games to play by year's end. Personally, I think the price is a little high, but it's far from outrageous. I do, however, agree that the accessories are overpriced. Then again, I think the same thing about Dual Shock 4 controllers, too.

There are a few comments that people have made here that I would like to address. I will try to keep this as short as possible, but no promises.

Why is this bad news? Flash storage has gotten to the point where it has exceeded current disc-based media. A dual-layer Blu-Ray disc can hold up to 50Gb while SD cards can exceed 256Gb now. Cartridges have faster load times, more durability and the ability to save and rewrite data internally. It's a smart move.

This complaint is the same as when people were attacking the Wii for not being a DVD player. At this point, the average household already has one, if not multiple, Blu-Ray players. There is no need for one to be included in the Switch. Additionally, Blu-Ray technology is a Sony-owned media. By not including it, they avoid having to pay a license to their competitor.

There are new IP's on the Switch. Arms and Snipperclip are both totally new. Splatoon is still a fairly new IP as it will only be seeing its second game with this console. Nintendo is always trying new things. At the same time, their classic IP's have a massive following. People expect these franchises to have games on every system Nintendo releases. Can you really fault them for giving the people what they want? These games might seem stale to you, but the bulk of Nintendo's audience simply can't get enough.

VR is definitely the hot item right now. However, a VR headset is only 1/3 of the overall experience. In order to have a fully immersive virtual experience, you also need a reliable form of mobility (room scale, omni-directional treadmill, etc.) and "whack ass controllers with tiny Wiimotes built into them plus some dumb rumble system". While Nintendo hasn't spoken at length about VR yet, it is definitely something that are keeping a close eye on. They could easily build a headset that you insert the Switch into and the HD haptic vibration, motion control and IR sensors on the new Joy-Con controllers would make an excellent interface for your hands in a VR space. Sure, Nintendo might never create a VR platform, but the Joy-Con controllers are a brilliant invention to assist with enhancing immersion.

An expensive move for the consumer. 32 gigs of internal storage is tiny. IL-2 STURMOVIK™: 1946, for example is about 6.2 gigs. Doom 2k16 is 45 Gigs. You can quickly see what manner of issue that becomes.

The Wii not having DVD was baffling as it was possible, but they decided against it at the last moment. As such, they missed out on system functionality and additional appeal that systems have had since the PS2. The problem with the Switch is that it appears to be even less media capable (by choice) than the DSi.


Enhancing immersion with a system that has to be seen and felt, literally. That'll be easy to market. Not to mention the term HD is an old hat. What about the term, "HD rumble" sounds appealing to you? What is it? What makes it better than actual rumble? Why should I care that the rumble lets me feel ice cubes?

With VR, it is so much easier. You can actually see people react to it, including your grandmother. There are videos of it, to get the concept across.

Remember the Wii Commercials in 2006? They got the point across, and didn't even have to say a word. That's the kind of simplicity they should have aimed for. But now, in a world where they've got Youtube to work with...they can't even get the message clear with their systems.

Nintendo instead gave us cow masturbation and "I took acting lessons for this" fake sandwich eating. That might appeal to people who like Japan's crazy gameshows and...that's about it. Okay then, so that was a waste of R&D time. What about Breath of the Wild, Nintendo's baby that they seem to have focused the entire company on?

It's on the Wii-U, so why bother paying though the nose for it? NEXT! All that's left for launch is 3rd party efforts! But who buys Nintendo systems for third party games?

I look forward to learning about "Has Been Heroes". It really outlines the company as a whole, so I expect Miyamoto to be the main character.

Your complaint is only valid for people who buy digital-only. This is not as big of a concern for people who just buy the games on cartridge. Still, all you need is a MicroSD card, not some ridiculous proprietary card (I'm looking at you, Sony). The system is compatible with cards up to 256Gb in size. That's a decent amount. My PS4 is 500Gb and I don't use anywhere near that. Many people may already have a suitable MicroSD card, so the cost of extra internal storage is negligible in that case.

The Wii sold more units than the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined. Did they really need the added incentive of DVD playback? Personally, I already had three DVD players by the time I got my Wii. It didn't need that functionality.

In a regular game, I will agree that it seems like overkill. However, in a VR setting, having a more robust haptic feedback would be excellent. Anything that helps to add to the immersion of a VR experience is welcome in my book.

As I said in my opening paragraph, there is very little reason to get a Switch at launch. However, before the end of 2017, we will get Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and (possibly) Fire Emblem Warriors. For anyone that didn't have a WiiU, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be great reasons to own the system this year as well. Between three and six solid first-party titles in a 9 month span isn't bad at all. The third party support will just be icing on the cake. Super Bomberman R, PuyoPuyo Tetris and Ultra Street Fighter 2 all look like a lot of fun.

I'm only really interested in Shin Megami Tensei, but I'd rather get some more PC games or some hardware. Or a 3DS. Quite a few games I wanna play on one of those.

But maybe it will be worth it later, who knows? I certainly won't be getting the Switch as a handheld or portable gaming device, my laptop would be more useful (and I don't go out that much anyway).

Hah! I only saw one screenshot and I immediately started thinking of Sonic Adventure as well. And everything that happened to SEGA afterwards...

In general, I agree with Darvond, I don't really see this thing doing much better than the Wii U.

Okay, I'm trying to figure out the "roles" here.

Mario would obvious be the equal to Sonic, Luigi would probably take the Tails role, Wario of course would be the Knuckles equal, but then things get a bit hairy depending on how many "bad friends" Nintendo feels the need to shoehorn in.

For example, I have no idea who would be in the Amy, Shadow, Rogue, or most importantly, the Big the Cat role.