I bought a Wii U late in its lifetime thinking I still had a few years to go with it. Well, I had about 6 months. Yeah, imagine that. Needless to say I was more than pissed. I was FURIOUS. The Switch is coming and Nintendo soothes my fears of the Switch replacing the Wii U. "No, no. Hush, wee one. Father Nintendo will always love you", says Nintendo, as they choke the Wii U with garrote wire. Seriously though. What was that about? One week, they say its not going to replace the Wii U, then the next they say they're stopping production. And it stung that much more. And it stung that the only games I got for the Wii U are the same ones I ended up buying for the Switch when I finally got one. Mario Kart 8 (deluxe), and Breath of the Wild. Okay, I did still sell the Wii U Breath of the Wild for $40, so it wasn't that bad of a trade-off.
The Switch had barely been announced and I already hated it. I wanted it to fail. I hoped that it would fall flat on its face worse than the Virtual Boy. I had a now worthless gaming console staring at me from across the room. What I then considered to be Switch version 0.5. I seethed about it for quite a while.
A few months later, I moved into a new house, and my new office was fairly small. I was grateful for a space all of my own, but it was too small to use my newly acquired HTC Vive. I had to sell it. I posted it up on Craigslist, and a few days later I got a hit. A trade for a like-new Switch plus two games and a fairly large chunk of cash. Purely for the reason of the Switch being so rare to find at the time, I decided to pull the trigger on it. Whatever, I'll probably sell it and then I'd have more money than what the Vive was worth if I played my card right.
But then I played it. And I liked it. I mean I REALLY liked it. And I hated that I liked it. I looked at my beautiful Wind Waker edition Wii U, and felt a pang of sadness for it, because I knew I'd be selling it soon. I grew to love my Switch. The Wii U is long gone, but the only sadness I feel for it now are the exclusive games I never had a chance to play on it. Xenoblade coming to mind the most. I finally knew why the Switch sold so well. The Joycons, hearkening back to the Wiimotes of old, and the ability to slide them into this joypad thing to make it more of a traditional controller. It was everything that anyone could want out of a console, hardware-wise. Portability. Ease of use. Multiple modes of controls purely from what is included right in the box. GAMES, holy shit, the games.
I was expecting Nintendo's old tried and "true" method of games releases. One or two big launch titles, then nothing for a solid year or more. But that's not what we got. We got Mario Kart, Zelda, ARMS, Fire Emblem Warriors, Splatoon, that Rabbids game that is more fun than it even has any right to be, Mario Odyssey, Pokken, and a countless amount of rock solid indie games including Binding of Issac and Stardew Fucking Valley, one of my all time favorite games, period. And we're getting a new Xenoblade soon. Nintendo is being very un-Nintendo-like this time around, and it absolutely floors me.
I never thought I would be gushing about a console that gutted the Wii U like a piglet for a ritual sacrifice. But here I am, and I'll admit it. I was wrong, and I'm glad. Sure, what they did to the Wii U was really shitty. They lied, and turned around to do what they said they wouldn't the week before. But even less than a year out, the Switch has a rock solid, absolutely stunning lineup of games. Now it isn't the Wii U that I'm staring at with sad eyes. It's my PS4, and its stagnant pool of rehashed sequels and all the games I refused to buy for it because I absolutely hate microtransactions in what is supposed to be a fully featured game that they're asking me to shell out $60 for.
But that is a topic for another day, boys and girls.
The Switch had barely been announced and I already hated it. I wanted it to fail. I hoped that it would fall flat on its face worse than the Virtual Boy. I had a now worthless gaming console staring at me from across the room. What I then considered to be Switch version 0.5. I seethed about it for quite a while.
A few months later, I moved into a new house, and my new office was fairly small. I was grateful for a space all of my own, but it was too small to use my newly acquired HTC Vive. I had to sell it. I posted it up on Craigslist, and a few days later I got a hit. A trade for a like-new Switch plus two games and a fairly large chunk of cash. Purely for the reason of the Switch being so rare to find at the time, I decided to pull the trigger on it. Whatever, I'll probably sell it and then I'd have more money than what the Vive was worth if I played my card right.
But then I played it. And I liked it. I mean I REALLY liked it. And I hated that I liked it. I looked at my beautiful Wind Waker edition Wii U, and felt a pang of sadness for it, because I knew I'd be selling it soon. I grew to love my Switch. The Wii U is long gone, but the only sadness I feel for it now are the exclusive games I never had a chance to play on it. Xenoblade coming to mind the most. I finally knew why the Switch sold so well. The Joycons, hearkening back to the Wiimotes of old, and the ability to slide them into this joypad thing to make it more of a traditional controller. It was everything that anyone could want out of a console, hardware-wise. Portability. Ease of use. Multiple modes of controls purely from what is included right in the box. GAMES, holy shit, the games.
I was expecting Nintendo's old tried and "true" method of games releases. One or two big launch titles, then nothing for a solid year or more. But that's not what we got. We got Mario Kart, Zelda, ARMS, Fire Emblem Warriors, Splatoon, that Rabbids game that is more fun than it even has any right to be, Mario Odyssey, Pokken, and a countless amount of rock solid indie games including Binding of Issac and Stardew Fucking Valley, one of my all time favorite games, period. And we're getting a new Xenoblade soon. Nintendo is being very un-Nintendo-like this time around, and it absolutely floors me.
I never thought I would be gushing about a console that gutted the Wii U like a piglet for a ritual sacrifice. But here I am, and I'll admit it. I was wrong, and I'm glad. Sure, what they did to the Wii U was really shitty. They lied, and turned around to do what they said they wouldn't the week before. But even less than a year out, the Switch has a rock solid, absolutely stunning lineup of games. Now it isn't the Wii U that I'm staring at with sad eyes. It's my PS4, and its stagnant pool of rehashed sequels and all the games I refused to buy for it because I absolutely hate microtransactions in what is supposed to be a fully featured game that they're asking me to shell out $60 for.
But that is a topic for another day, boys and girls.
