Nintendo Switch with Neon Blue and Neon Red Joy‑Con

I have an loaded opinion on this console that I want to express. The Switch is flawed. As an avid gamer who usually ends up buying all the consoles (except the xbox one) and loves the hardware behind these machines, the switch was super cool when I first heard about it and saw it. I got one not to long after release once they came back to my area. Though it took awhile to save up for any games as during that point in its life, everything was expensive on it and 3rd party devs hadn't moved to it yet. Also there were no media apps on it besides hulu which somehow is still a thing, surprising. But that isn't what I want to talk about, its more how the switch feels really damn cheap.I don't mean cheap as with the plastic shell either (but that is an issue, dislike the texture a lot, and it was also damaged by strong adhesives from dbrand before), but you get a wimpy TN panel for its main built in display, in an era where amoled and ips are very obtainable for device of this size (the original psvita was oled, so it could have been possible). As the resolution is at a solid 720p, which can help balance good enough quality on the go with actual game performance, I feel like they should have opted for a nicer quality screen to have better range of colors, would have created more vivid scenes using sharper and brighter colors. Instead they chose washed out TN panels which leave a lot to be desired when comparing it to any handheld screen semi modern hand held screen with exception of DS's which also chose awful screens. (and some might argue TN for faster response time, and to that, I highly disagree with improvements to other display types, and also for the type of audience the switch aims at)Next I want to talk about the Joycons, as they are lovely little controllers that snap onto the side of the console with a satisfying click. I actually wouldn't have minded them despite being kinda awful when using them on a big screen if they worked correctly, but three years in and these things are still built to fail. There is a major design flaw in them that eventually has the analogue stick wear our and start "drifting", making the controller effectively useless. If these were cheap, maybe I wouldn't care as much, but they are 80$ to replace. Sure you can contact nintendo customer support and they sometimes take care of you, but this is a hassle and shouldn't even be a problem. They could have just owned up to the mistake, and redesigned the controllers at this point. ( pro controller is actually a solid design, but its more expensive then both ps4 and xbox one controllers so I dislike recommending it. I believe its the amiibo sensor that does this and that's just bad).Lastly, I kinda wanna just complain about nintendo being nintendo. But before that I want to praise them for how far they did come up to this point. There is finally 3rd party content being pushed on the Switch and thats awesome. It seems like they did listen a bit and made it much easier to get games on the Switch. Ok now onto the bad. The Switch has no utility, and I get that its a gaming console, but still its surprsing that the most mobile and potentially flexible console lacks basic OS features that things like the ps4, psvita, and even 3DS were capable of doing such as, have a variety of streaming services, a basic web browser, and customizing the layout of your home screen/having fun backgrounds. There is no personality to the switch despite it being one of the most unique consoles I have ever seen, which is quite baffling to me. Despite the console featuring bluetooth for its joycons and pro controller, you cant connect bluetooth headphones to it without a 3rd party adapter, which is a little baffling for an on the go console. The UI looks pretty ugly when put onto a big screen, just a personal gripe of mine, I really don't like it. Lastly, the game cartridges are a letdown. The reason games usually feel more expensive on the switch is because they more often then not are. This is due to the game cartridges costing more to make than blu-ray media for the other consoles. Nintendo also didn't want a disparity of cost between physical media and digital media, so if you launch a game both ways, you need to have the price be the same, which creates higher costing digital games on the switch store vs any other platform. The cost of the cartridge also varies depending on size of the game, so larger games will suffer more to this than smaller ones.That's my loaded opinion which turned more into a typed rant on the switch. Its still a pretty ok console that provides a ton of unique experiences that you can't get on any other platform. As a sole console I don't think I would recommend this unless you fully know what you are getting into, but as a side device to play exclusives its not bad. Hopefully they will release new hardware and software updates to fix many of the gripes I rambled on about.

Sure, it's no PS4 or PS5, but it's an incredible little machine with such incredible versatility in such a tiny package. While it might not have the pure processing power and graphics capability of the other two major systems it does do what Nintendo has done best for a long time, provide a reasonably priced quality portable gaming system. The advantage this time is that the Switch is both a home console and a portable console in one unit. This is something that consoles in general have never really been able to do until now and it's amazing how great the game quality is even in this small form factor.I mean, the Wii was good in the motion control but the gimmick did wear after a bit. The WiiU really felt like a disappointment in that it just didn't bring much to the table and Nintendo clearly wasn't going to be able to compete in the home console market against the other two juggernauts. What Nintendo has always been great at though is dominating the portable gaming market and the switch sees them bringing their expertise in the portable market to the home console market in a power play that really paid off in my opinion.Now, this system does still suffer from some of Nintendo's generally less favorable business practices so do take that in to account. The price for the Switch itself actually isn't that unreasonable so I don't fault them for that whatsoever. The peripherals, on the other hand, really put a dent in the pocketbook if you need to buy anything that didn't come in the box (and you probably will need to at some point, let's be honest). The price of games also comes at a premium just as it has with past Nintendo systems as you will rarely see even older games every discounted or put on sale while such things are very common with the the competing systems. For instances, "Zelda: Link's Awakening", which has roughly 13 to 15 hours of content, will still cost you $60 which is incredibly high for a game that offers so little content with little replay value. Sadly Nintendo has a tendency of doing this and always has so do be prepared to pay premium prices for most games with the Switch.All in all I still think the unit is worth it particularly since you just can't find a better portable gaming platform than this. I definitely recommend getting the Switch over the Switch Lite as those are fully integrated and if you bust an analog stick or a button you're pretty much screwed. With a Switch you can replace the side controllers as you need and we all know controller buttons and analog sticks can wear over time so that alone is worth it. I mean, for $100 more you get a heck of a lot better of a system than you do with a lite so I highly recommend going this route if you're looking in to a Switch.

I absolutely love my Nintendo Switch. The ability to seamlessly switch between handheld and TV mode is a game-changer for me. I can easily take my favorite games on the go and then pick up right where I left off when I get home.The variety of games available for the Switch is impressive, and I especially enjoy the selection of first-party titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. The joy-cons are comfortable to use and the motion controls add an extra level of immersion to gameplay.The only downside I have found with the Switch is the battery life when playing in handheld mode. I often find myself having to stop and recharge the console after a few hours of play.Overall, the Nintendo Switch has brought me countless hours of entertainment and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a versatile and enjoyable gaming experience.