CONSOLE

Nintendo While it can’t compete with the monstrous processing power or online multiplayer capacities of its rivals, this modular gaming tablet offers an entirely new approach to video-gaming, merging the Wii and the DS in a convivial hybrid. As testament to its success, more and more non-Nintendo games are being released for the device and video streaming services are coming soon.

Here’s my pick of the best, the most interesting or the most innovative offerings on the market, which are either available now or coming soon!

Nintendo remains a puzzling phenomenon for a lot of modern gamers. The company never makes powerful consoles, or cool consoles; it never pushes the processing envelope, and it always seems a little eccentric when it comes to online infrastructure. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, it isn’t trying to make gaming PCs designed to resemble dedicated games machines – it just makes games machines.

The Switch is the latest evolution of an idea Nintendo has been playing with since the arrival of the Wii in 2006 – a console for everyone, with an interesting, accessible and flexible interface. The console itself is basically a tablet, and completely portable, but plug it into the stand and the action immediately appears on your TV. It is a weird hybrid, a new mid-point between home and handheld.

The question is – is it fun?

The basics

Priced at £280, the Nintendo Switch is a hybrid system – a cross between a home console and a handheld. When you buy one, you get the console itself, as well as the two JoyCon controllers, the stand for plugging the device into your TV, and a controller grip. HDMI and power cables come too.

 

Games are on small cartridges (that rattle rather suspiciously) and they slot into a port at the top of the console. Unlike with PS4 and Xbox One, you don’t need to install the software on to your hard drive, which is just as well as the Switch drive is a measly 32GB. There’s a Micro SD slot at the rear of the Switch, which adds additional storage capacity.

Optional accessories include a wired LAN adaptor and pro controller which offers a more refined and traditional interface for £65. Extra Joy-Con controllers (necessary for multiplayer games like Arms) cost £75.

Specifications

• Size: 10cm x 24cm x 1.4cm (with Joy-Con attached)
• Screen: 6.2-inch LCD Screen, 1280 x 720 resolution
• Processor: Nvidia Custom Tegra processor
• Storage: 32GB (with Micro SD card slot for additional space)
• Connectivity: wifi (IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) and Bluetooth 4.1
• Weight: 300g (400g with Joy-Con attached)

A design of two halves

The Nintendo Switch looks like a very small, budget-conscious tablet, with the same sort of build quality (ie solid and kind of sleek). The capacitive touchscreen is not as precise as you’ll find on your new smartphone, but it’s a definite step up from the spongy Wii U GamePad and reacts to the slightest touch rather than a frustrated jab. The experience really does merge the accessibility of playing on a tablet with the added controller accuracy of a handheld. It’s like a modern take on the multifaceted approach of the DS and 3DS, but with a larger screen and much more granular control.

When you want to plug it into into your TV, you slide the Switch into the dock, until it clicks into the port. This is a smooth, seamless procedure, but the console does rattle a little in its toaster-like home. The dock has HDMI, three USB ports and a power socket but that’s all. It’s just a hunk of plastic.

The Switch’s built-in 6.2-inch display is 720p HD, and the picture quality is usually very good, with rich colours and a nice sharpness. When you plug the console in to your TV, Switch can output in full 1080p (though not 4K). On a larger display, it’s very clear this console is far behind Xbox One and PS4 in terms of visual fidelity – the graphics have that familiar Nintendo look; cartoony, slightly hazy, but also artful. Titles like Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart and, later, Super Mario Odyssey do look beautiful, but in a more stylised way than the photorealistic aspirations of the other consoles.

Shared pleasures

Once charged, the Switch can be taken wherever you go – and this is a key feature. With this console, you can put the screen down wherever you are, slide the Joy-Con off, hand them out and start multiplayer sessions with friends. The fact that the controllers can be used independently means Mario Kart, Bomberman, Just Dance and SnipperClips can all be played without the need to buy extra pads. It’s the whole games-for-everyone philosophy of the Wii, joyously emancipated from the home.

On top of this, the console offers ad-hoc local networking for up to eight Switches. The idea of being able to meet up with pals wherever you are and play Mario Kart or Splatoon 2 together in big team sessions is an enticing one – and the concept becomes even more interesting if/when we start seeing community-focused titles like Monster Hunter and Pokemon coming along. It was the former that more or less kept the Sony PSP alive, exploiting the machine’s ad-hoc connectivity; and we saw how powerful Pokemon Go was as a roving social experience. If Nintendo can harness this potential, it would be a major plus for the console. Sitting in a park with a whole bunch of people playing Mario Kart is a really fun proposition.

Joy or con?

Perhaps the most intriguing element of the Switch is its two Joy-Con controllers, which can be used separately, or snapped either side of a plastic grip to make a standard pad. Each Joy-Con has an analogue stick, a button array on the front, and four shoulder buttons along the edges. They also have built-in accelerometers and gyroscopes for motion control, while the right Joy-Con has a motion-sensitive IR camera, which can sense movement in front of it. There’s also a Capture button which lets you take, store and share in-game screenshots (but not video just yet).

The Joy-Con are small, but they’re very comfortable in the hand and the plastic is good quality. To make them more sturdy, there are wrist strap sections that slide on to the side of each controller, clipping into place. They’re easy to get on, but removing them is an unnecessarily fiddly process of lifting a small locking mechanism, pressing a tiny black button then sliding them off – it takes some practice (and brute force) and if anyone accidentally puts one on the wrong way round – which really shouldn’t be possible – they become wedged pretty fast. It doesn’t really feel like the neat, graceful, child-friendly industrial design we’re used to from Nintendo.

But they’re definitely good fun to use. Gripped in your hands they become almost invisible facilitators of ridiculous interactions. Whether that’s milking a cow or pretending to scoff sandwiches in 1-2 Switch, or cutting out shapes in Snipperclips – they take on the forms that each game requires; like the computer mouse, they simply become extensions of your own movements. This could (and in Nintendo’s hands should) lead to whole new interactive experiences.

Update: some reviewers have experienced problems with the left Joy-Con becoming un-synced from the console, especially when occluded by the player’s hand or body. We have not experienced these issues. Eurogamer has written a very in-depth analysis.

It has also been correctly pointed out that gamers with disabilities may struggle with controllers that rely heavily on precise physical movements. Game developers can offer options to help here