Curtains must be drawn over the Nintendo Switch era. After its 8-year-long reign since its groundbreaking debut, the hybrid console was pushed to the edge of being replaced, with Switch 2 posed to come in between. However, before diving headlong into the future, let us lift up a Joy-Con to the original Switch a console whose story is far from concluded while the spotlight is being stolen by the next one. What imprint has it left upon us, and what memories will stay long after the last update?
Forget my nostalgic ramblings. The Engadget rendering of the Switch stands out because almost the entire staff has spent some time with the beast. And then followed the reflections: sweeping declarations, intimate anecdotes, outright contradictions. Much remains unsaid-and perhaps that is the magic behind Nintendo’s handheld hybrid. In the near decade since its birth, the unique resonance of this device continues with every gamer.
The Switch embodied Nintendo’s lateral thinking with withered technology
Nintendo’s console history isn’t just a linear progression of successive upgrades. Instead, it’s a branching trajectory that bifurcates into two separate directions. One way trends toward the ever-refined power: the SNES refining the NES, the Game Boy Color adding vibrancy to the Guitar, the Game Boy Advance injecting speed, the 3DS granting depth, and, presumably, the Switch 2 promising more of what we love, but better. Even the N64 and the NES themselves probably fall on this side, representing major advances that were much expected.
On the opposite end of the road lies a truly wild one. Nintendo truly shines here, bringing to life Gunpei Yokoi’s concept of “lateral thinking with withered technology.” These consoles are not about raw power; they are about radical ideas. For them, it’s about how to enjoy themselves.
Nintendo’s magic hasn’t been chasing bleeding edge; it’s imbibing new life into dying tech. It sometimes simply plummets all the way down into oblivion, as were cases with Virtual Boy or Wii U. But if it manages to go right, it’s somebody’s jackpot. Game Boy, DS, Wii, these consoles opened the gates to gameplay that we could never have imagined: a kind of gaming experience that had felt so threadbare and punishing onlyafter its very existence.These are not the blockbusters; these are Nintendo’s biggest victories-the ones that forged a new path for playing.
The Switch had no ambition of being cutting-edge; that was where the charm lay in its greater accessibility. Who would mind that its processor was simply a recycled Android TV chip? Who really cared about an ergonomics nightmare of tiny buttons and drift-prone sticks? Should it have mattered that there were only 32GB of storage, that the screen faded under the sun, that the triggers gave no thrill, and that the kickstand was among the flimsiest set up-out-there ideas? A world craved comfort, and though simplicity was its threat, conveniency was its champion. For so much convenience, it kind of bent backward to fityourlife, a feat no other console had gone through before. Anyway, with those games; or rather, without good games, great Nintendo systems simply don’t exist. The Nintendo Switch, much like its predecessors-Gameloft and Wii-was an idea borne through a literal lightning strike, hence needing almost no considerable hardware, just hardware that was “good enough.” And that’s just what it delivered: a marked example of Nintendo’s alleged “making something out of nothing” philosophy, taking uninspiring parts and transforming them into a playfully charged extraordinary.”
The Switch saw Nintendo (finally) embrace indies
A veritable fortress of indie games: one could say that about the Nintendo Switch. It was more than just a platform- it was a launchpad that would shoot indie darlings into the stratosphere. For the first time, Nintendo had fully embraced the smaller companies, and gamers were the ultimate beneficiaries. Indies must now-have almost likeCelestebreathtaking,Dead Cellsruthlessly addictive, andHadesgod-tier roguelike, got their ultimate home. Add the genre bendersGolf Story,Undertalewith its emotional resonance,Stardew Valleywith charm, andHollow Knightwith haunting beauty, and you have a console bathed in indie treasures.
Back then, the Switch served as a perfect haven for indie games, because there weren’t many others. I remember waiting with bated breath for these games to release on the Switch so I could get on my bus and play them, even before the Steam Deck ever saw the light of day. Nintendo’s opening up to indie devs was not just beneficial to us, who suddenly had tons of great games, but was a smart move for Nintendo on their end as well: these titles sold like hotcakes online, especially when placed between Nintendo’s bigger releases. That is, of course, largely due to the Switch not having the muscle to run most AAA titles. Now? Nintendo is throwing lights on indie games with its own dedicated Directs!
The Switch was a haven for the golden age of Metroidvanias
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was a phrase that implied it was an ideal send-off for the Switch. This console has been the undisputed capital of the Metroidvania renaissance ever since Hollow Knight was released. Think of it: the arcane puzzles of Animal Well, the dark beauty of Blasphemous 2, the sprawling depth of Hollow Knight, the kinetic combat of Nine Sols, and even Nintendo’s own experiments with the genre. The Nintendo Switch became the center of this genre. Microsoft even brought the Ori games to the platform. If a title was considered a must-play Metroidvania post-2017, it was most certainly present on Switch.
“The Switch was everything to me: A Metroidvania paradise. These sprawling adventures, befitting of simple yet charming graphics, had the perfect home on this Nintendo hybrid. Just thinkHollow KnightandMetroid Dreadrunning slick at 60fps, Disney-esque on the OLED model, where the deep blacks really let the world pop. But really, the real thing that turned it into magic was the portability. With this in tow, the Switch turned these games into small escapes, either for quick commutes or the kind of get-lost-timewhileputting-another-hourintoworld.”
In praise of the Switch Lite, the handheld console for everyone
My mind conjures up a vision of my coral Switch Lite whenever someone would utter the name of Nintendo’s hybrid console. A morsel of exquisite gourmetity. Ditch the glare of the OLED, the detachable Joy-Con, and the sultry call of the big screen; it’s unadulterated personal gaming joy wrapped up in a candy coating of a 720p dream. In a world generically carving elegance into excess, the simplicity of Switch Lite turns to beauty. It rests snugly inside your palms (take notes, Steam Deck) and carries with it every conceivable indie and AAA adventure. The screen is just the right size and makes for great travel company. A charm that no one can resist. Be it a grade-schooler, adult, subway rider, or a work-from-home soul; the allure of the Switch Lite speaks loud. It is proof that underneath it all, we yearn for clever gameplay and fresh ideas instead of superb graphical fidelity and blistering frame rates.
A Nintendo lover caught between two worlds: the communal roar ofMario Kart 8on an OG Switch and the quiet bliss of the pastel Mini-thing. With everyone clamoring for the Switch 2, visions of 8-inch screens and detachable joy-cons churn up half of my anticipation. The other half is a sugar-sweet daydream of a Lite sequel draped in delicious pastels, whispering promises of solitary game bliss. Nintendo practically invented handheld paradise-from the brick-like Game Boy onward-and my fingers are crossed that they haven’t unlearned the wizardry of intimate pocket-sized play.
The Switch is a lesson to all developers, everywhere
The moment I found a way to track a Chrome tab’s RAM usage, an elegant philosophy struck me. An elegance that lacked the grandeur for tuxedos and champagne flutes; it was one of efficiency. To transform limit into launchpad, achieving far more with less. More than just a brilliant minimalist stroke, the Nintendo Switch was the bright toy that gave life to this philosophy.
Nintendo has never chased after raw power, so the moment the Switch was announced, the specs were definitely under scrutiny. Its heart, a Tegra X1 of sorts, tweaked and throttled, simply did not sit well in most minds; one began to hear little whispers of inadequacy. The chorus then burst out: smartphones, those powerful little things in our very pockets, might just outmuscle Nintendo’s latest offering!
The Xbox and PS4? Powerhouses. The Switch? The featherweight champion. Other machines growled like oil-spilling behemoths in their wake, while the Nintendo console rode silently along by a single, graceful wheel. Strangely, unaccountably, it has been my favored console throughout the generation. There is no doubt it cannot flex big gun graphics; at least, it lands every well-aimed knockout punch in the areas that count.
The people at Nintendo are wringing every bit of power the Switch has to giveña sort of statement on their dedication to the platform. Other consoles might flaunt their cards ahead to probably hyper-realistic gore fests, but it’s not like the Switch is slacking. Remember the doom hordes of Doom Eternal or Geralt’s monster slaughtering in The Witcher 3? And, of course, the classics: underwater dystopia of BioShock and mind-bending puzzles of Portal, both on the go.
The impossible: In the Switch? They were nothing short of miracle-level wonders off of the limited silicon substrate.Tears of the Kingdom, at times, stuttered, one small lag in an otherwise flawless orchestration of gameplay that bent time and space. Yet, who could blame a solitary drop in frame rate when such limitless creativity has been witnessed? The switch screams a powerful lesson: Constraints breed brilliance. A challenge thrown to developers around the world: squeeze every last bit of potential from the constraints given to them. – Daniel Cooper, Senior Editor
The Switch had me dreaming of a higher-fidelity Hyrule
I’ll say this first: do not roll your eyes just yet. The underpowered systems fallacy is just a tired opinion that a thousand people could throw in your face without even listening to you. Nintendo has been playing yellowing chess for years, and frankly, they’re winning. Forget pixel-pushing powerhouses; Nintendo crafts worlds filled with charm and wonder. When was the very last time any of you played a Nintendo game and yearned for “more pixels”? Exactly. Their magic lies elsewhere.
Late 2017 found me utterly captivated by two titans: Horizon Zero Dawn blazing on my PS4 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild releasing on my brand-new Nintendo Switch. Those games were released that March with Horizon earning acclaim but being overshadowed by the juggernaut that was Zelda for its revolutionary take on the franchise. Both games in their own way offered something truly intoxicating: breathtaking, sprawling open worlds where the only constraint in sight was the horizon. This gave in me a powerful urge: What if Nintendo really pushed the envelope with graphical prowess and gave us a Zelda with the visual fidelity of Horizon?
Getting photorealism into Zelda is out of question. This masterpiece is an incredible spectacle of beauty. But think of Hyrule, with the breathtaking detail that thoseHorizonlandscapes have-putting her in splendid stands of woods and soaring mountain tops! A world so vast to explore and beautiful? Nintendo, the Switch 2 has been awaiting its eclipse. The nextZeldasimply CANNOT look like the past two. Blow. Us. Away.
The Switch changed me from Nintendo skeptic to Nintendo superfan
Before the Switch came out, I often felt that the Nintendo fandom was some secret language I couldn’t quite grasp. I would see the devotees, see the T-shirts, and somehow the knowing nods-the whole thing just felt rather strange. My experience with Nintendo had always been secondhand, from friends’ consoles to likelihood of someMario Kartchaos on a Friday night. It was a casual acquaintance at best, nothing serious, nothing very deep. Later on, my perspective as a games writer inched towards the cynical: For me, Nintendo almost felt like a master hype-man, generating artificial demand through limited releases-and a maddening apathy for its own history. I was a spectator who watched something I really didn’t quite understand, and maybe even unfairly judged.
There’s no way to fully put into words the whole thing that possessed me into purchasing a Switch, particularly with a less-than-stellar feeling about the company at the time. Maybe it was a year or so of positive whispers hounding me until my resistances just gave up. The thought of just walking into the store and buying my very first Nintendo console is just a miracle in itself.
Nintendo Switch was much more than a console-the gateway that transported me into those bright worlds ofSuper Mario Odyssey, where I would find all those Robonoids in every crack and corner. When reality got too heavy, Hyrule inBreath of the Wildwas my sanctuary-a vast and beautiful escapism. I lost hours gluing myself toFire Emblem: Three Houses, navigating through politics in Garreg Mach Monastery, bonding with students, and leading them into epic battles. And then there’sDr. Mario…well, those pills met their end in my hands. These immersive adventures entertained the Switch players and offered a collection of titles that turned into deeply cherished favorites.
Throw away those warp pipes and pixelated plumbers. Rather, my Nintendo life experience started not with 8-bit nostalgia but with the jumps and intense color palette of the Switch. I might have waxed nostalgic myself if it were an SNES or perhaps even an N64 that had held the pedestal of my very first console. But somehow, for this heart, maximum creativity, maximum joy equals Switch. I get it now, Nintendo faithful. The magic is real. Count me in. -Anna Washenko, contributing reporter
The Switch was the console I always wanted – until it wasn’t
Basically, before the Nintendo Switch came into being, something was silently calling for such a console in my gamer heart. I mean, I was juggling the 3DS and the Vita then, but the epiphany came with the Vita TV. The call from the big screen applied to handheld gaming was just too much to ignore. I remember strategizing in Fire Emblem Awakening on the 3DS and looking around wistfully for the grander view, the bigger canvas for the intricately unfolding battle.
Then came Nintendo and the Switch. Years mere days since Nintendo delivered on what Vita TV failed to deliver: Portable gaming, unleashed. Dock it for big screen bliss. Say goodbye to memory card Tetris-anytime-from-anywhere seamless gaming. What the Vita TV was: cumbersome and half-baked in its prototype status-the very epitome of elegance in execution vis-a-vis the Switch.
Years have marched on, carrying along a kaleidoscope of change into my life and into the very lens through which I view the universe. Gaming, at one point an open gamut of pixels, has come to require a grand stage. It has to fill my living room TV, or it won’t make the cut. As much as I adore Nintendo, I often find myself at a crossroad. Most of the times, it is PlayStation that wins out. I, of myself, move on to richer visuals: the glare of detail that drags one into the game so forcibly.
Imagine a world where Nintendo sheds its screen-centric skin. I dream of a sleek, screenless Switch-software powerhouse along the lines of the Vita TV, only much more so. Think gorgeous graphics, buttery gameplay sans carrying the device around. Or, if overhaul tech seems like too much bother, perhaps aslim down-and-cheapalternative could do. I’m not alone in wanting a headless Switch; the gaming world echoes the clamour. But then, the horizon is stubbornly screened all along. Perhaps it is one of those deep-seated wishes that might join my other perennial wish for the Switch itself-which I used to have until it came to be. For now, my docked Switch is the gateway to Hyrule and beyond, a bittersweet reminder of the screenless future I still wish for.
The Switch helped make handhelds feel special again
A true testament of enduring lovable memories, the Nintendo Switch, being the March 2017 release, had its Joy-Con operators die due to drift several years ago, whilst its Tegra X1 chip had felt outdated from day one. That was until the cool ten-year stretch. In an odd way, Nintendo’s magic never made the console feel limited by the hardware it came with. The console has been sitting ever experimented with cherished in the annals of gaming history.
As the curtain begins to fall on the Nintendo Switch era, credit must be given where it is due: it resurrected the dream of the handheld. Remember the 3DS getting limpy in its death? The Vita, old history? Then came the Switch from Nintendo-a chameleon of a console that switches from being a TV companion to being out there with you. And with a single stroke, the salutation of the handheld PC market: ASUS ROG Ally, Steam Deck, and a whole new generation brought about by the bold versatility of the Switch. That wave of handhelds unlocks a key childhood memory. It whisks me back to all the epic road trips crushed under a Game Boy Color. Remember the dentist’s chair, instantly transformed into a pixel paradise? Laptops and tablets don’t stand a chance at that pure escape. Nintendo, for daring to weave that magic into their very DNA, I salute you.
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