We’ve Had Our First Look at the Nintendo Switch and the Outlook is Positive

So, the Nintendo NXT is no longer the NX, it’s now the ‘Switch’. Props to Ninty, that’s the least silly name they’ve come up with since the Gamecube, and much like the Gamecube was a cube you could play games on, the Switch is a console that you can ‘switch’ around between a home console, a handheld, and somewhere in between. As the trailer reveals, it behaves like a transformer hell-bent on keeping you entertained no matter where you are in the world.

The advert is trying a bit too hard to stay in tune with modern society. It’s true that we’re all screen-gazing hunchbacks these days, but suggesting that you’d be better off playing Legend of Zelda while you’re out in a stunning field with your huge, beautiful dog left vying for attention is preposterous, as is the idea that you’d spend your down time between basketball games playing a basketball game just outside the court.

That aside, the console looks to be basically everything the Wii U should have been. You can use it as a handheld anywhere, it has a detachable control pad with at least 3 different modes (full pad, split pad and half a pad, so 2 pads become 4), a stand so you can lay it on a flat surface and some kind of cartridge system for better portability. And not a motion controller in sight. New Nintendo consoles always have to have something, that’s their deal, but it looks in this instance that that something strikes a fine balance between innovation and practicality, much like the DS did.

The thing to pay attention to is content and graphical fidelity, the two things that usually let Nintendo consoles down. You’ll notice that alongside the Links and Marios, Skyrim was kicking about. It’s hard to say whether or not it was the fully remastered version that just dropped on the PS4 and Xbox One, but it’s there to send the message that the Switch will have good third party support, and the Splatoon segment near the end was Nintendo’s distinctly unsubtle way of showing that they intend to cater to the pro gamer market. Information will likely trickle in at a steady rate in the run up to the next E3, during which, if they’ve clever, Nintendo will roll out as many launch titles as humanely possible.