In typical Nintendo style, the company’s latest console – the Switch – is a rather eccentric device. A lot of people are still not entirely sure what to expect when it hits retailers worldwide on 3 March.
We’ve spent a couple of days with one and here’s what we’ve learned so far.
The basics
The Switch is launching on 3 March, at the price of £280 – though some retailers may offer it for slightly less, or in bundles with selected launch titles. The console features a built-in 6.2in display and two J-Con controllers, which attach either side. These can be removed and attached to a dedicated ‘grip’ device, creating a more traditional-looking controller. To play games on a TV, the Switch can be placed in a dock which connects to the television via an HDMI cable – the game then instantly appears on screen. While docked, the built-in Switch display is not visible.
Battery life
The Switch battery will last between 2.5 and 6.5 hours on a single charge. According to Nintendo, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild can be played for around three hours before you’ll need to charge again. The Joy-Cons will last significantly longer, though, with an estimated 20-hour battery life.
In the box
The Switch comes with the console itself, the two Joycon controllers, two Joycon wrist straps (which attach to the sides of each controller, and also provide larger side buttons), the dock, the grip, a power adaptor and an HDMI cable. There is no game included, and the grip is not the more advanced “charging grip”, which lets you play and charge the Joy-Cons at the same time.
Out of the box
When you turn on a Switch, don’t expect a rich experience immediately. Version one of the system software makes it extremely clear that this is a machine for playing games only. As well as the app launcher, which shows all the games you’ve played and installed, there are a few more icons down the bottom: a picture viewer, for all the images you’ve captured; a newsfeed, for Nintendo to send chatty updates to you; the eShop, which we couldn’t use because it wasn’t turned on yet; and system settings, controller settings, and an off button.
The games
Switch is launching with the following 11 titles:
- 1-2-Switch
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Skylanders Imaginators
- Just Dance 2017
- Super Bomberman R
- Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+
- I Am Setsuna
- World of Goo
- Little Inferno
- Human Resource Machine
- Snipperclips
Plus, the online eShop will be available on launch day, with three more titles available, Fast RMX, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment and Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. Nintendo says at least 60 more indie games will be available on the digital store this year.
Other major releases due this year include Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Lego City Undercover, as well as original new titles Arms and SnipperClips.
The Joy-Cons
The main controllers for the Switch are small marvels, packed full of features. As well as the obvious buttons on the front and sides, they have gyroscopes for motion controls, an NFC chip for reading Amiibos, an IR sensor for gesture controls, and a genuinely impressive set of vibration motors which create the most finely-defined rumble effects on any console we’ve seen.
The Joy-Cons can also be split up and used as individual controllers in their own right. But while that’s a nice idea for the times when you suddenly have a lot of friends round, you won’t want to do significant amount of gaming with them: the right controller, in particular, is fairly uncomfortable.
Oh, and those straps? They’re good for ensuring you don’t throw the Joy-Cons at the screen, Wii-style, and for making the shape slightly more ergonomic. But be careful putting them on: if you accidentally clip one on upside-down, it’s surprisingly hard to remove it.
The accessories
Nintendo offers a range of add-ons, some more useful, some less:
- New Joy-Cons, £69.99 for two or £39.99 each. You’ll need these to play games with more than two players, or to comfortably play games with more than one.
- A Pro Controller, £59.99. This lets you control the Switch in a more conventional manner, perfect for meaty singleplayer games like Breath of the Wild.
- Joy-Con Charging Grip, £24.99. This lets you play with the Joy-Cons while the Switch is docked, but still charge them. If you have only one pair, you might not need it as much as you think – it’s very easy to return the controllers to the Switch for charging.
- Joy-Con Wheel Pair, £12.99. This is two pieces of plastic you put your Joy-Cons into, to play Mario Kart using the motion controls. Mario Kart isn’t actually out until April.
- Accessory Set, £16.99. A screen protector, which you probably don’t need, and a case, which you might. The Switch doesn’t feel fragile, per se, but it’s thin enough to make you wary of chucking it loose into a bag.
The rest
The console doesn’t have support for bluetooth headphones, which is a shame given the ability to use it as a standalone display with the controllers undocked.
1-2 Switch is clearly meant to be played drunk, or with families (what are children, after all, but tiny drunk adults). Don’t expect a normal Nintendo party game, in other words. The dock, meanwhile, is incredibly smooth It doesn’t even click: simply place the Switch inside, and it smoothly and frictionlessly docks and undocks.
