- Hey guys, this is Austin. The Switch is nearly two years old at this point. And while it's absolutely smashed sales records and given Nintendo a very important win after the disaster that was the Wii U, it's now going on sale for the holidays. Which, of course, begs the question: is now the time to buy?You can't talk about the Switch without being impressed with the flexibility of the hardware. Drop it in the dock and you have a proper dedicated console. It's kind of even better as a portable especially when you compare this to the 3DS, it is a way better experience. Detach the Joyconsand you can see one of the many, many ways of playing the Switch. So, now that you have a stand that you can play it in tabletop mode. But you can also sync another controller including the pro controller or even if you're docked you can use the USB controller. There's a lot of different options of playing the Switch. This is clearly what Nintendo wanted the Wii U to be; a tablet-sized console that's actually portable. The Wii U is a good comparison here. A lot of titles from it have imported over to the Switch, including Mario Kart, Splatoon, Toad and, of course, the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. There's a great selection of indie games as well, such as Overcooked 2, as well as Dead Cells and this is a little bit of a trend for the console. Lots of games have found their home on the Switch, especially the ones that aren't super graphically intensive that run really, really nice here. This is also the spiritual successor to the 3DS which means that we're finally getting games such as Pokemon, moving over to a full, proper Nintendo console. For a portable, it's also got some serious power. Take one look at a game such as Wolfenstein and it is hard not to be impressed. Now sure, it's way lower resolution than the PS4, Xbox One but it does look reasonably close and it is incredibly impressive that this is running in a handheld console. Fortnight is a great example. This is a game that runs on basically every device out there but this is the best mobile version on the Switch, mostly thanks to the physical controls. The thing is though, the Switch really doesn't make sense if it's your only dedicated console. Most big AAA games take months to make it to the Switch and that's if they make it at all. And on top of that they generally donut perform as well as other consoles and they cost full price. This is totally fine if you wanna play the excellent Nintendo exclusives. But if you wanna play other games such as Call of Duty, Assassin's Creator Gran Turismo, this is not the console for you. The thing is, both the base PS4 and X Box OneCare cheaper than the Switch and with those console, you are getting a better-dedicated gaming experience. If you don't care about the portable stuff, they make a lot of sense. You also don't have any kind of backward-compatibility or virtual console here. This is bizarre considering that it was Nintendo who kind of pioneered whole idea of doing a virtual console. Both the Wii and the Wii U could play a lot of older games via the virtual console. And on top of that, they could also, you know, work with a disc that you just pop in from your last generation system. Instead, on the Switch, I'm buying Mario Kart for the third time on the second different platform in the last couple of years. Is that just me?I guess Nintendo just has to keep selling those mini consoles, right?Sure, you've got access to some NES games if you pay for Nintendo's online service but well, let's get into that. Both PSN and Xbox Live include current generation games for free every month at opposed to a couple of old NES titles. And on top of that, you actually don't even need to necessarily pay for the Switch online service to play online. Now yes, if you wanna play Smash, for example, online you have to pay. But if you wanna play something like Fortnightyou actually don't have to pay anything because that makes sense. There's also no proper party system, you can't do voice chat on the console itself. While it does support cloud saves doesn't work for all games. The entire online system does just feel a little bit half-baked. I will give them credit, at 20 dollars a year at least the Nintendo Switch online service is less expensive than PSN or Xbox Live. But, well, that makes sense because it's not as good. Probably the biggest reason to hold off on buying a Nintendo Switch right now are the rumors that there'san upcoming Switch Pro due out next year. Supposedly, the Switch will have an upgraded screen as well as potentially a little bit more power. Now, that's all fine and good but if you take one look at the 3DSyou'll know that there is very little chance that the Switch is going anywhere anytime soon. Even though there are upgraded versions of the 3DS available, pretty much all games do support the older version. I expect that to be the exact same case for the Switch. I really do enjoy the Switch. It feels like a glimpse of the future of where consoles are headed over the next few years. Now, of course, with an upgraded version on the horizon, it might not be a crazy idea to hold off and wait. But you could also just not do that, buy a Switch right now and come play Pokemon Smash with the rest of us. Your call.
