Nintendo hardware often has interesting little features that go massively under used, or used only for pointless gimmicks.

As far back as the GBC there was an infra red port, the SNES had the super game boy, the N64 had the expansion port which led to the stillborn DD as well as the GB transfer pak, the DS had its touch screen which became shovelware, card games, menus and name entry after an initial burst of bad features (recall Castlevania ice sections and seals), the Wii had its remote dubbed waggle controls for a reason, the 3d of the 3ds ceased to be mentioned after about a year and "the Wii u".

Now that we have seen a few Switch games, got a feel for the hardware and can look to what is to come what then do you think the Switch will have as its equivalent? Will its joy cons be controls that can be detached to go into another holder, never to experience "HD rumble" or tilt sensors? Will handheld and docked mode be slightly different clocked versions of each other? Will its online services be the domain of score boards and DLC?

Edit. As many have mentioned the infra red camera is most likely to be the main one, if you want to skip that in favour of the second or third place ones then feel free.

 

[duffmmann]

most under used aspect of the switch? the hardware designer's brain

dock to tv? why not just package a dongle to connect to tv and stream it from your hand so u can use both screens at once; a Wii U where the gamepad IS the console
so u can "switch" without havin to cease touch screen capability

For all 5 games that make good use the touch screen capability? Doesn't seem worth it. Seems like the system they have in play now for 2 screen gaming on the Switch is acceptable: having 2 physical Switchs. I mean thus far there has only been 1 example I know of that makes good use of asymetrical gaming on the Switch anyway: Playing Pac Man Vs. in Namco Museum with 2 Switchs.

 

[grossaffe]

I mean thus far there has only been 1 example I know of that makes good use of asymetrical gaming on the Switch anyway: Playing Pac Man Vs. in Namco Museum with 2 Switchs.

And that is a port of a Gamecube title making use of the GBA connectivity.

 

[duffmmann]

And that is a port of a Gamecube title making use of the GBA connectivity.

Yup. Actually now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure Rayman Legends can have the same asymmetrical playstyle as the Wii U version as well if you have 2 Switchs, where the one player that wants to use the touch controlled character (pretty sure his name was Murphy) they have to played on the undocked Switch, and everyone else can play together on the TV with the other Switch.

I like some of the asymmetrical experiences we saw between the Wii U and the combination of a Gamecube and GBAs, but the fact of the matter is, there aren't of lot of developers interested in really exploring this part of gaming, at least not in the way that Nintendo was trying to showcase. Which is a shame, as I think there is a lot of potential that can still be mined there, but the overall consensus just seems to be that people aren't all that interested in it (I blame more and more people playing multiplayer games over the internet over coming together to play on the same system on the couch), so in that respect it makes sense why Nintendo has really backed off the style of play. All the same, they have still made it achievable on the Switch, so long as at least one of your friends coming over also has a Switch.

 

[hobbledehoy899]

the SNES had the super game boy

How was that an under utilized gimmick? There were plenty of games that took advantage of the Super Game Boy.

 

[Subtle Demise]

HD Rumble

 

[RayD97]

The most underused features are voice chat and cloud sav...o wait nevermind.

 

[incidentallyscribble]

I feel like video streaming will be very underutilized on the switch when not docked. Everyone had cell phones now, there isn't going to be a huge market for it.

 

[FAST6191]

How was that an under utilized gimmick? There were plenty of games that took advantage of the Super Game Boy.

Reading the articles linked there and some hardware docs I am going to have to disagree, at least as far as wasted potential goes.

I like some of the asymmetrical experiences we saw between the Wii U and the combination of a Gamecube and GBAs, but the fact of the matter is, there aren't of lot of developers interested in really exploring this part of gaming, at least not in the way that Nintendo was trying to showcase. Which is a shame, as I think there is a lot of potential that can still be mined there, but the overall consensus just seems to be that people aren't all that interested in it

asymmetrical mechanics are used all the time in board games and that family of stuff.

I reckon it is more the sort of thing people have to be dragged kicking and screaming into experiencing and then being all "actually yeah".

That said for a lot of the potential of the hardware setups asymmetrical games is if not the wrong term then a horribly limiting one. Perfect information and imperfect information, possibly even complete information. It then enables things like fog of war, and solves the screen looking problem, and also does all the fun things with different players being able to use different strategies or have different goals that are not initially known to the opponent.

Likewise if we are all expected to have phones for the voice chat then they provide an option better than having to cough up for another screen.

 

[duffmmann]

I reckon it is more the sort of thing people have to be dragged kicking and screaming into experiencing and then being all "actually yeah".

That said for a lot of the potential of the hardware setups asymmetrical games is if not the wrong term then a horribly limiting one. Perfect information and imperfect information, possibly even complete information. It then enables things like fog of war, and solves the screen looking problem, and also does all the fun things with different players being able to use different strategies or have different goals that are not initially known to the opponent.

Likewise if we are all expected to have phones for the voice chat then they provide an option better than having to cough up for another screen.

You bring up a good point with the phones as well. I've forgotten, but some video games like the Jackbox packs and the Just Dance series have companion apps to allow for your phone to both be utilized as a controller and a second screen on the Switch. Granted due to how this connection works, you can't be as intricate with this form of 2 screen gaming as you could with the setup with the Wii U, but there is potential for asymetrical gaming on the Switch in this fashion as well as the way I outlined in my earlier post with 2 Switchs. So there are two forms of multiple screen gaming for the Switch, and its nice that the options is there, but it will go heavily underutilized, which again is a shame (though again, understandable) as there is still a lot to be discovered and showcased with this kind of gaming setup.

 

[grossaffe]

Yup. Actually now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure Rayman Legends can have the same asymmetrical playstyle as the Wii U version as well if you have 2 Switchs, where the one player that wants to use the touch controlled character (pretty sure his name was Murphy) they have to played on the undocked Switch, and everyone else can play together on the TV with the other Switch.

I like some of the asymmetrical experiences we saw between the Wii U and the combination of a Gamecube and GBAs, but the fact of the matter is, there aren't of lot of developers interested in really exploring this part of gaming, at least not in the way that Nintendo was trying to showcase. Which is a shame, as I think there is a lot of potential that can still be mined there, but the overall consensus just seems to be that people aren't all that interested in it (I blame more and more people playing multiplayer games over the internet over coming together to play on the same system on the couch), so in that respect it makes sense why Nintendo has really backed off the style of play. All the same, they have still made it achievable on the Switch, so long as at least one of your friends coming over also has a Switch.

Yeah, I really liked the asymmetrical capabilities of the Wii U, just nobody bothered to realize it. Did get a good deal of play out of Nintendo Land for games like Chase Mii and Luigi's Mansion, though.

 

[spacelaser]

its availability

 

[SG854]

Graphics

 

[Missing Number]

Okay, that's pretty neat. I find that usage quite acceptable.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


Because then you have to develop games for both single and dual-screen experiences. Not to mention from a technical standpoint that wireless communication isn't that fast; there's a reason why the main Wii U console was hooked up to the HDTV while the tablet wirelessly streamed SD video. Plus with the unit in your hands, it's not in the dock receiving power so it will only be able to handle short gaming sessions being that you want it pumping graphics to a TV rather than running in a lower power mode.

TL;DR: Their engineers are far more knowledgeable than yourself and actually understand how electronics work in the real world.

only thing stopping them from shipping a dongle with enough juice to stream without lag is $$$, there is tech out there that can stream HD. its just all about the price point.

devs could go the route of single screen focus, some Wii U games had minimal use, though the option to dualscreen would open 3DS / DS libraries and ofcourse wii / u, thusly their entire catalog on 1 system.

 

[PossiblyOne]

The infrared camera or the HD rumble. The rumble to me is useless and kind of annoying.

Also, great job on picking out the main pic for the original post.

 

[330]

IR camera. Anything infrared has never been used that much in all Nintendo portable consoles starting with the Game Boy Color.

 

[WhiteMaze]

The most underutilized aspect of the Switch, is not having released Advance Wars for switch and Super Smash Bros for switch.

GOD DAMMIT

 

[Deboog]

The most underutilized aspect of the Switch, is not having released Advance Wars for switch and Super Smash Bros for switch.

GOD DAMMIT

War Groove is coming out next year. :3

 

[air2004]

The system itself

 

[Xzi]

The system itself

 

[LuigiXHero]

Mario vs. Donkey Kong? You mean the GBA version was a figment of my imagination?

This bothers me because it tells me you never played the NDS MVDK since they are completely different from the GBA one.

The NDS ones are puzzle games that has you using the touch screen to interact with the level for the mini characters to get to the goal, basically mario lemmings.