Nintendo Switch 1 Year Old: The Good and The Bad

Blogging live to you and yours! It’s your boy TWOTALL4UFOOL! So this past Friday the Nintendo Switch just turned one year old. A lot has happened in that one year. It’s the fastest selling console of all time and has no signs of slowing down. Hell I even saw myself getting one and when I thought I was never going to buy another Nintendo console ever again. But in the mist of it’s success there are things that the Switch could improve upon. In this post I’ll go over the good and the bad of the Nintendo Switch.

Let’s start with the bad. And when I say bad I really mean things/issues it can improve upon.

Hard Drive Size: Why did this console only come with 32 GB of storage? Kind of ridiculous if you ask me. They have games that are bigger than the hard drive it self such as NBA 2K18. It should’ve come with a complimentary micro SD card. Ok that’s wishful thinking. But the size should’ve been a little bigger. Say 56 GB maybe? And Nintendo expects consumers to pay for their overpriced micro SD cards. Don’t fall for it people. You are only paying for the name on the card. All of them work the same if you get the correct one.

Friend Codes: This is a bit silly if you ask me. Why does Nintendo still use friend codes? Only Nintendo! LOL! What’s your friend code? I would tell you but I don’t have it memorized because it’s longer than my phone number. If you want it look on my about me page. Can we please just use usernames like everbody else Nintendo? PLEASE!

No Voice Chat: Now there are alternatives around this. Discord, Skype, or a classic telephone call. But the fact that you can’t do it on the console itself is a head scratcher if you ask me. Games like Splatoon 2, and Payday 2 aren’t fun unless you are talking to your friends. Even Mariokart 8 Deluxe is more fun if you can talk to one another. So Nintendo why no voice chat?

No entertainment apps: Besides Hulu we’ve yet to see any other media apps. No YouTube! No Netflix! You name the app it isn’t on the Switch. I would probably have my Swtich on all the time if YouTube was on it. I know Nintendo wants this console to be a gaming device first but it doesn’t hurt to have apps on there to make the fans happy. Come on Nintendo? This is just a missed opportunity on Nintendo’s part. But let’s see what they do in year 2.

No paid online or virtual console yet: Now should have this been ready when the console launched. Maybe 3-6 months after the launch at the most. But yet it’s a year now and everyone is still waiting for the online service. They need to put voice chat in it. Now with all this waiting it better be the best online we the fans have ever seen. I’m liking the price however. Only $19.99 for one whole year. We’ll see if it the best online gaming experience. And now what about virtual console. They haven’t given us a straight answer it seems on if they are are discontinuing the service on the Switch or not. Hopefully we can play some later titles on Virtual Console. Or just sell them on the Nintendo eShop. But if there’s no Virtual Console and you still want to play your retro games you’ll have to get one of the classic edition consoles, or set up an emulator of some sort. If you have a Wii U you may want to keep it around a little longer.

Every negative always has a positive. Here’s what the Switch has going for it.

Advertised towards adult gamers: Nintendo continues to be the most family friendly of the three main consoles, but if you remember when they had promos for it did you see any children or families? It seems that Nintendo has finally figured out it’s demographic and have realized that the consumers they had during the years of the Wii are gone. The fact that they changed their advertising strategy was a sign that things were going to be different for Nintendo this time around.

No Shortages: It seems that if you want a Nintendo Switch you can get one pretty easily. Even during the holidays they were readily available. In the past it’s been hard to get hands on Nintendo hardware in its first year. I guess they have learned their lessons from the NES Classic Edition. Supply and demand. Nintendo has seemed to figure it out.

1st Party Titles: Nintendo is killing it with it’s 1st party content. They are doing it with great games such as the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Mariokart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and that’s just only the beginning. Who knows what they will be putting out this year. This is Nintendo proving you don’t need the most powerful system to be successful as long as you got quality games. And now they have decent 3rd party support as well to compliment it. The eShop has some really great games as well.

Outselling The Wii U: Did the Nintendo Switch really outsell the Wii U in it’s first year? That just tells you how incredible the Switch is and how crappy the Wii U was. I’m happy to be supporting Nintendo again without ever having to buy that thing. I’m really glad Nintendo got it turned around.

Portability: Did anyone ever tell you that you can take the Switch with you wherever you go? I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times but the fact that you can be playing a game and then just take it with you out of your living room, bedroom, or wherever you play your video games in your house is amazing. I’ve always considered Nintendo the king of handheld and now they’ve solidified that title for good in my opinion. I don’t think any company will ever come close to them in that category. And now that they found a good mix in the first ever hybrid console you know they are not afraid to try new things.

Those are my thoughts on the good and bad of the Nintendo Switch after a year. My most concerning is definitely this online service/Virtual Console thing. I think a lot of people will be disappointed if you only get one retro game a month. We’ll have to wait and see what the details are. Hopefully we get more answers soon. What do guys think? Did I leave anything out? Let me know in the comments below. If you like this post give it a like and subscribe if you haven’t done so yet. Blogging live to you and yours! It’s your boy TWOTALL4UFOOL! Remember TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE! Thanks for reading folks. Hope you come back soon! Later!