Gaming The Switch isn't living up to its fullest potential, and here's why

[Deleted User]

Personally, I've been looking forward to having a good discussion about this for a while now, I just didn't have any time.
Before I start I just want to say that all of the points I make in this post are just my thoughts. So you don't have to go attacking me for something that I wanna discuss. This is gonna talk mostly about the Switch's software, not necessarily anything hardware related.

The switch has amazing third party games, but I feel like it's really been lacking in the amount and quality of its first party content, which is something I don't hear a lot of people discussing for some reason. Mario Maker 2 was supposed to be an expansion from the original but it really doesn't add a whole lot of elements, and I still think we're missing some stuff people would like to see. (Like a super Mario Bros. 2 U.S. theme cough)

Another thing I dislike about the Switch when it comes to software is that there's no backwards-compatibility. Sure there are a few retro titles available on the eShop, but what about the massive library of NES, SNES, and N64 games that were on the Wii Shop Channel? Even the 3DS has more compatibility in that sense.

And hackers from the homebrew scene have proven that the Switch has little to no problem running GameCube, Wii and even Wii U games, so that's something Nintendo definitely could and should look into.

Now... let's talk about Nintendo Switch Online... The first thing that I want to get into is the perks, or, what you get once you have a Switch Online membership. You finally get a couple of NES and SNES games to play, but the selection of games chosen for both those consoles, aren't the best of the bunch. If you want a true S/NES experience I'd say, buy one of the mini consoles; those are great.

Switch Online really just feels to me like a wasted opportunity. It still can improve, but I just don't like the fact that in order to do things like voice chat, you have you use your phone.. at that point, why not just call the person? Sometimes, Nintendo is really innovative, but other times they act like they don't know how to make games right. Mind you, Sony and Microsoft have been allowing you to do voice chat properly since the days of the XBOX 360 and PS3.

What do you guys think about all of these things I mentioned? Do you agree? Do you disagree? I'd love to hear your comments, so please do!

 

[RHOPKINS13]

Lacking in first party content? Like what? We've got Breath of the Wild 2 coming, we've got Super Mario Odyssey, MK8DX, Splatoon 2, Mario Maker 2, Super Mario Party, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Luigi's Mansion 3, Kirby Star Allies, Nintendo Labo, Pokken Tournament DX, Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokemon Let's Go with Sword & Shield on the horizon...

I feel like there's plenty of first party support for Switch, or at least as much if not more than there was for the Wii U.

Switch Online could be a lot better, but I'm pretty happy with the NES/SNES game selections. Nintendo has never had voice chat in any of their first party games before, I think you're expecting the equivalent of Xbox Live on Switch and that's just not what Nintendo's aiming for.

 

[Deleted User]

Nintendo has never had voice chat in any of their first party games before, I think you're expecting the equivalent of Xbox Live on Switch and that's just not what Nintendo's aiming for.

To be honest though, all I want is to be able to plug my headsets in and voicechat, how is that so hard for Nintendo.

As for the titles you mentioned, most of them are either sequels or Wii U ports. They're not necessarily all "new" games.

 

[supernintendo128]

I feel like it's really been lacking in the amount and quality of its first party content

I couldn't disagree more. Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mario Kart 8 DX, and now Luigi's Mansion 3 are all amazing first-party titles for the system. We're getting more on the way like Breath of the Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4.

Another thing I dislike about the Switch when it comes to software is that there's no backwards-compatibility.

The Switch and the Wii U use completely different architecture, making hardware backwards compatibility with the Wii U impossible. The Wii U runs on an IBM PowerPC-based architecture similar to the Wii and the GameCube. The Switch runs on NVidia Tegra-based hardware which uses the ARM architecture. The Switch also lacks a disc drive for portability purposes (and the Wii U uses a proprietary disc format that normal Blu-Ray drives cannot read so you can't plug one in).

And hackers from the homebrew scene have proven that the Switch has little to no problem running GameCube, Wii and even Wii U games

I've not heard of Wii U games being ran on the Nintendo Switch. I've heard of GameCube and Wii emulation on the Switch but a google search for Wii U games running on the Switch turns up a lot of forum posts (some from this very website) talking about how impossible it is. Where did you get this?

I doubt Nintendo will add Wii backwards compatibility, since they would have to release a special USB disc drive that may open the door to Wii piracy. I know that the Wii is a dead system at this point but Nintendo is heavily against piracy with even their older titles. I doubt we'll see any downloadable Wii titles for the Switch since Nintendo seems to be pushing their online service as a means to experience older Nintendo games.

As for GameCube support, honestly I'd rather see HD remakes of the GameCube-era titles than straight-up ports.

Switch Online really just feels to me like a wasted opportunity.

Can't argue with that. I hate how Nintendo has handled online support this generation. Some games can't save to the cloud, you need your PHONE to voice-chat with people (they should've just installed a headphone jack in the Pro Controller and call it a day), the selection of games for their streaming services is shoddy, and they still haven't let go of friend codes. Their online service has barely improved from the last generation, now they're charging for it. What.

 

[abilaunken]

Exactly, i dont know what they are thinking... little stuff like themes and voice chat i understand not having in the first year. But now it seems like they are give a fu** about that and only do what investors whant.
"If the sales and the money are great so we dont need to improve anything."
The Switch isn't living up to its fullest potential

 

[Owenge]

You missed the marks on this post... First party titles are great and it's only getting bigger. As for change: I think Nintendo is just scared do make any changes to the system in the fear of an exploit being discovered.

 

[slaphappygamer]

..

 

[James_]

I feel like it's really been lacking in the amount and quality of its first party content

Let me go grab my big ass list of first-party Switch games very quickly and see how many good ones there are

Oh yeah, almost all of them

 

[Bat420maN]

The only thing you have a point on is the online, but with that you need to remember that Nintendo's main focus will always be kids. They will never allow that kind of access to them. I think it's fine the way it is as a parent of a 13 year old daughter.

Switch has the best first party games, period!

Backwards compatibility is a pretty recent thing, up until last gen it basically didn't exist, except from Nintendo. Seems more like entitlement to me when I see this.

I haven't seen a thing saying the Switch can run Wii U, I would really like to see a source there.

 

[Owenge]

Let me go grab my big ass list of first-party Switch games very quickly and see how many good ones there are

Oh yeah, almost all of them

This manz laying the facts.

 

[Tigran]

I know it may not have anything to do with it, it may have everything to do with it.... but there was something passed recently that will make voice chat required to be trans-coded onto the game. Using the phone may be way around that.

https://igda-gasig.org/what-and-why/about-cvaa/

 

[Deleted User]

Yeah, I knew my opinion wasn't going to be very popular... But still, it's just an opinion. Anyways I'm glad you guys gave your thoughts on all this. I just feel like we're getting either just ports or sequels/remakes of existing games, that's really how I feel. And NSO isn't all too bad. At least we have voicechat...

 

[altorn]

Yeah, I knew my opinion wasn't going to be very popular... But still, it's just an opinion. Anyways I'm glad you guys gave your thoughts on all this. I just feel like we're getting either just ports or sequels/remakes of existing games, that's really how I feel. And NSO isn't all too bad. At least we have voicechat...

If it's just an opinion, don't put a title that seems to be the definitive reason. "and here's why", it's so similar to how Youtubers do clickbaits.

 

[Bat420maN]

Yeah, I knew my opinion wasn't going to be very popular... But still, it's just an opinion. Anyways I'm glad you guys gave your thoughts on all this. I just feel like we're getting either just ports or sequels/remakes of existing games, that's really how I feel. And NSO isn't all too bad. At least we have voicechat...

That's kind of every piece of entertainment at this point, there are no new movies or TV, it's all rehashed BS. All entertainment has turned into "go with what they know". That's why all the 15-16 year old kids need to get their shit together, in 5-10 years you guys will get a shot to get us new stuff, and I cant wait, as long as it doesn't turn out like rap has.

 

[Deleted User]

If it's just an opinion, don't put a title that seems to be the definitive reason. "and here's why", it's so similar to how Youtubers do clickbaits.

Yeah, you made a pretty good point there...

 

[James_]

Yeah, I knew my opinion wasn't going to be very popular...

I'm not really surprised.

I just feel like we're getting either just ports or sequels/remakes of existing games, that's really how I feel.

Yeah, this is pretty much the situation right now.

And NSO isn't all too bad. At least we have voicechat...

It could've been worse.

Anyways, I'll continue and then I'll leave.

and even Wii U games

No.

(Like a super Mario Bros. 2 U.S. theme cough)

All I'm going to say is this is most likely not going to happen.

If you want a true S/NES experience I'd say, buy one of the mini consoles; those are great.

I do have a NES Mini myself and I do have to admit it's not bad... but then again you could just pick up a DS and a flashcard and fill it with NES and SNES games for cheaper. Or you could just hack the NES Mini.

 

[Deleted User]

I do have a NES Mini myself and I do have to admit it's not bad... but then again you could just pick up a DS and a flashcard and fill it with NES and SNES games for cheaper. Or you could just hack the NES Mini.

I myself do have a flashcart and DS... I agree that's a good method.

 

[whateverg1012]

The only point I disagree with you is the first party stuff, I really like the exclusives on switch, but I can see why people would be annoyed about ports if they already played the OG games.

NSO being garbage is to be expected of Nintendo, they will always be decades behind on this basic stuff. I never expected anything of value from the online so when it came out in such a poor state I was not surprised or disappointed.

On the plus side, bad NSO gives you even more reason to hack your console and gain functionality.
Wanna play all your classic games? Load up retroarch, and depending on the core you use it could be even more accurate emulation than whatever Nintendo provides, not to mention cross-platform support. Wanna edit Smash Ultimate to play more like Melee? Just drop a mod in your sdcard.

I'd be disappointed with a vanilla Switch, but ever since it was hacked it's probably my favorite system now.

 

[spotanjo3]

Lacking in first party content? Like what? We've got Breath of the Wild 2 coming, we've got Super Mario Odyssey, MK8DX, Splatoon 2, Mario Maker 2, Super Mario Party, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Luigi's Mansion 3, Kirby Star Allies, Nintendo Labo, Pokken Tournament DX, Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokemon Let's Go with Sword & Shield on the horizon...

I feel like there's plenty of first party support for Switch, or at least as much if not more than there was for the Wii U.

Switch Online could be a lot better, but I'm pretty happy with the NES/SNES game selections. Nintendo has never had voice chat in any of their first party games before, I think you're expecting the equivalent of Xbox Live on Switch and that's just not what Nintendo's aiming for.

Don't get me wrong but those games are awesome like BW2 and LM3 but this system is just lacking and underpowered anyway. Nintendo still never learned anything from Sony. That's why Sony is so successfully because they are used the system that is very powerful. If Nintendo Switch is so powerful like PS4 then it will be successfully with easily popular and beat PS4 with 3rd part supporting because it can be on the go. So 3rd party is just ported mostly to Nintendo Switch rather than make a brand new powerful 3rd party games like PS4 does. Nintendo never learned anything since Wii U.

 

[Deleted User]

I'd be disappointed with a vanilla Switch, but ever since it was hacked it's probably my favorite system now.

I couldn't agree more with that last part. The Switch is capable of doing some pretty cool stuff with homebrew!