Nintendo held a press conference on Thursday, Jan 12th live from Tokyo detailing the Nintendo Switch, it’s new hybrid game system that’s also portable and releases on March 3rd worldwide. Yesterday on Friday the 13th, the first day of the preview tour was held to try out the new system and I attended it. Here are my hands on impressions.
The event was well organized and on this 1st day, as well as the second, only those invited were allowed to attend. A sheet was handed out that detailed that while you could film game footage, there were some guidelines and time restraints that you had to follow. Once I walked into the event, I headed straight to the back area where The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was located.
If I had to sum up this game in one word, it would be amazing. I’ve seen video footage of the game before, but to hold the controller in your hand and play and experience that world, if only for 30 minutes was enough to warrant a day 1 purchase for me. The art style is also fantastic and has sort of a water painting look to it, and the brief section I saw of the world inside the game made me want to keep playing.
I played Zelda with the pro controller on the television screen but was given the option to use the system as a portable with 5 minutes left in the demo. I’m completely sold on the idea of how the system works and the signal transfer from the television screen to the handheld one is flawless without too much of a dip in visual quality. The variety of ways the system can be played is sure to be a key selling point even if the battery life ends up not being the greatest once you undock the system.
As I only had 3 and a half hours at the event, I dipped around to some other games after the Zelda demo and landed upon Mario Kart 8 Deluxe which is an upgraded version of Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U. This one I played strictly as a portable and tried out the new battle mode. Everyone who plays Mario Kart loves it and to be able to take this one on the go may have those who already own this on the Wii U giving it a second look if you travel a lot.
Some of the other titles I got to try out at the event were Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challenge, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Disgaea 5 Complete, and Splatoon 2. Having never played the fist Splatoon I could understand what all the hype was about and had fun in my short time with this demo. Disgaea was also a welcome surprise tactical game which reminded me of Final Fantasy Tactics and should be a great game to have on the go for a long flight or road trip, provided you can have some sort of spare battery source.
As someone who already pre-ordered the system, my opinion might be a little biased but as a gamer at heart, I love the Nintendo Switch. In the gaming world, a Nintendo home console is sort of a niche product now and the gaming audience doesn’t look at Nintendo to provide the same experiences Sony and Microsoft do and that’s okay. I have those systems for that and Nintendo takes me back to my childhood over and over again, and I’m happy that this time I can take my childhood with me when I’m out in the world away from home.
The Nintendo Switch releases on March 3rd, 2017 for $299 USD. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild also releases the same day as well as other launch titles with games like Super Mario Odyssey releasing in the summer and Xenoblade 2 following later on in the year. You’ll also see titles like Sonic Mania, NBA 2K18 and the original title 1,2 Switch. And if that’s not enough at some point you’ll get Skyrim, and you can have it on the go which should be enough to make anyone want to run out and by the Switch on day one. I know I already have.
Find me on Instagram at 718Burke where I show off my multiple personalities or Twitter at AccessImmortal where sometimes I tweet. And oh yeah, if you play games, which I’ll assume you might if you’re reading this, i’m Shane718 on PSN and Xbox Live.
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