Have you ever held a switch? Its long, flat and the controllers suck. Awful dpad and bad sticks.

Its almost comical, for a small stick the 3ds stick is better than any joycon stick.

And also, internal storage being only 32 GB, and cart games being downloaded in full to the system.

The switch is a mess. At least the games emulate well.

That’s not even going into the online ransom shit.

And the dock sucks too. Would it have killed Nintendo to add like 2 more USB ports and an Ethernet port.

And not related but powera can eat shit

  • To be fair when it came out seven years ago it really shook up the portable gaming scene. Every portable console coming out since is an iteration on that design. The joycons can go to hell though. And those weird ass online plans.

      • I really liked the original 2DS personally. The announcement left everyone incredulous as the device sounded and looked like a dumb downgrade. I mean, it was hard to tell if it was joke or not. In the end though it’s light, cheap, tough and surprisingly comfortable.

      • Hey, is it too late to buy a couple of n3dsxl in 2024? Is it unusable now as all online services are shut down? Can you still find game cartridges to buy?

        I just want something simple to play co-op game with the wife and kids on camping trip or on-the-go sometimes. Last month I dug out my old DSLite from the attic and it’s still boot. My candy-crush-4-life wife love the Mario kart and couldn’t stop playing LOL. But we can’t justify to buy 2-4 Switch.

        Because fuck Nintendo and their predatory anti consumer business model.

    • Isn’t the switch itself just an iteration on the GameGear, or close to ‘home’, the GBA?

      It’s not the first chunky, horizontal handheld. The only thing that was new about it was the joycons, and they ditched those immediately for the Lite.

      • The Game gear and GBA played games that were nothing like the home console games of their time.

        This is what the Switch brought to the table. Breadth of the Wild was a great home console title, and you could play it handheld on the go.

        •  t3rmit3   ( @t3rmit3@beehaw.org ) 
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          I think that calling BOtW similar to other full-scale console games of 2017 like Sniper Elite 4, Middle Earth: Shadow of War, Nier Automata, Prey, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, RE7, or AssCreed Origins, is a biiiiiiig stretch.

          It was a huge jump for Nintendo (it was basically putting GameCube-level games on a handheld), but it was still far behind other consoles. Witcher 3 (2015) even eventually released on the Switch in 2019, and it was massively graphically gimped compared to *ahem* real consoles.

            •  t3rmit3   ( @t3rmit3@beehaw.org ) 
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              I didn’t say it’s not good, I said it’s not equivalent to console releases of that year. Graphics isn’t everything, and I still enjoy playing Pax Imperia and Nox, but that doesn’t change that it was a handheld game, not a console game. Pokemon Red/Blue were also some of the best selling games the year they released, but that doesn’t make the Gameboy equivalent as a console to PSX or N64 either.

      • The Switch design is an evolution of the Wii U controller, which itself was evolved from the the lower screen design of the DS, which itself was modelled on the old Vertical Multi Screen Game and Watches from the 1980s.

        Have a look through all of Nintendo’s consoles and you’ll see the lines of inspiration drawn from generation to generation.

  •  Domiku   ( @Domiku@beehaw.org ) 
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    It’s definitely not as comfortable as something like the Steam Deck, but I played so much Switch while commuting on the train since it came out. It’s been a real joy to have. It’s also WAY smaller than any of the current-gen handhelds.

    What do you mean by “cart games being downloaded in full to the system?”

  •  teradome   ( @teradome@lemmy.one ) 
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    Not a hot take at all. It was revolutionary for the first year it was released and then was quickly surpassed on every front by any company that put slightly more effort (and more cost) into any part of the switch: graphics, sensors, controllers, expandability, etc. Pretty stock for any Nintendo product, because they only focus on hardware that be produced mass-market and get good profit margins on. Which means it’s often made with current-to-dated components that can get overlooked because it’s the only platform you can play Nintendo games on. Also, not sure why they are so allergic to ergonomics, all the way back to the NES controller, the least comfortable controller of its peers

  •  thejml   ( @thejml@lemm.ee ) 
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    The OLED dock has an Ethernet port. They’ll work with non-OLED switches so you could buy one if you need the port.

    The two USB’s on the side of the case seem sufficient for most use cases. Might be able to add a tiny usb hub if need be, there’s a few tiny ones fore less than $9.

    Ergonomics are a bit odd, but the 3DS had similar issues as well. I ended up 3d printing ergonomics grips for my 3ds and I know they have something similar for the switch. I feel like they were towing a line between OTG usability and being able to hold the joycons in multiple orientations (think just dance, 1-2 switch, Mario party, 51 games, etc), or in different accessories (not sure how well an ergo one would work in a leg strap with the ring fit).

    Edit: also the first thing I did was buy a cheap 128GB micro SD and never look back. Sure it probably would her been nice if it wasn’t needed, but it’s swappable and it’s cheaper than if they built it in.

  • One small thing but I’m surprised nobody points it out - the charging port location. I like using my switch/steam deck in bed or otherwise laying down, and the fact that the charging lead is at the bottom of the console rather than the top sucks. It just gets in the way and stops you resting the console on you. Whereas the Steam Deck just has it on top where you can just plug it in while playing.

    I know the technical reasons behind it because of the dock and all that, but it’s annoying.

    In general, I think the steam deck is better than the switch in almost every way - The switch is just an expensive ticket for the right to play Nintendo games nowadays.

    • Yup. I’ve always loved having a handheld device as a companion to my PC. The first few months with the Switch were great, but as time went on I just wanted a better designed Switch that’s also just a PC, particularly after getting hardware-banned for trying to fix some of the issues myself with homebrew apps.

      I never would’ve thought that we’d actually get to see a device that’s real so quickly (anyone remember the Smach Z?), is actually pretty good and how quickly it’s now becoming its own market segment.

  • Yes, I didn’t and still don’t understand why they didn’t make the joycon buttons and “d-pad” more comfortable. It’s Nintendo’s least comfortable controller and it’s the biggest reason I hate using the Switch portable mode.

    Everyone’s saying it’s old here - the Game Boy was more comfortable to hold and had better buttons. It’s not about age.

  • I preferred the switch lite with a protective case that gave the grips a little more body, made it way more comfortable to hold. At least until I picked up a Steam Deck, which ended up being pretty much everything I wanted out of portable gaming, and waaaay easier to emulate on.

  • This is something I think a lot, how portable gaming kind died. I don’t mean the devices itself, yes the switch and the deck are amazing devices, but I miss games designed and meant to be playable on small devices, like the games we got until the 3DS, games that fit the portable device if that makes sense.

    It’s amazing but I simply can’t play a game like Elden Ring on a portable device the same way I used to play my DS.

  • The Joycons were an absolute disaster and ruined the portable experience. I got 4 of them repaired. When they inevitably broke again, I gave up and bought a pro controller. Precariously balancing the Switch on your lap or setting it on furniture so you can use a pro controller is not a handheld. Still had lots of fun with the games on it, but the experience should have been better. Nintendo has building controllers for decades, you would think they could at least begin to approach competency.

  • I find I very rarely use it as a handheld. I find it kind of heavy and awkward to hold after longer periods of time. I kinda wish Nintendo made another 3ds, lol. I’m extremely curious about what they’re going to do for the switch successor