Nintendo's newest console, the Switch, is gearing up to take the world by storm. With its Youtube trailer from October totaling more views than the Wii U saw total sales, many people are anticipating this new unit to possibly even rival the gargantuan success of the immensely popular original Wii.
Out of interest, I decided to get my pre-order down for the Switch and discovered very quickly that, despite most stores only having been open for a few hours, the Switch has almost entirely burned through its stock of pre-orders across the country. Within seconds of being in the store about a third of the allotted stock had been taken, and as of this writing (an hour after the store opened) I wouldn't doubt that it's all gone. To say there's hype for the Switch is a massive understatement, but the major presentation left me a bit concerned.
The price is fine; $300 for a hybrid handheld-console makes sense, even if it is underpowered. That doesn't concern me at all; the Wii was also incredibly weak compared to its contemporaries but it still managed to pump out extraordinary games like Xenoblade. Surprisingly, Xenoblade 2, not a sequel to X, was shown as one of the first major games to launch on the Switch. This, more than anything else, sold the console for me.
Not that this is the only game that piqued my interest; Fire Emblem Warriors is a dream game of mine, one which I can immediately internalize and understand. The Fire Emblem franchise is perfect for the genre, though I hope there are more characters than just the standard boring Akaneia bunch. Much like the Wii U, I saw a certain vibe from this Nintendo aiming at a more standard gaming crowd with games such as these and other titles like the new mainline Shin Megami Tensei. On the other hand, the casual market was appeased at the beginning of the presentation with games like 1, 2, Switch, a party game in the vein of Wii Sports or Nintendoland. Although it looks unsubstantial, even I might have interest in little titles like these.
All this aside, I am worried about the longevity of the system. The Wii U saw fewer releases in typical Nintendo franchises than any console before, and many of them were of extremely low quality. Star Fox Zero and Paper Mario: Color Splash soured the future of both of these series, while mainline entries for Metroid and F-Zero were entirely shunned. I don't know if this is a fault of Nintendo's sheepish response to the Wii U's low sales numbers or just a new direction the company is taking, but their old franchises were what kept me around and if they're not utilized fully for what might be their best console in history, I'll lose a lot of my goodwill they've built up. And that Mario trailer? Sure, it looks pretty fun but what's with the humans and real-life New York? I got crazy Sonic Adventure vibes from that trailer for all the wrong reasons, though I have a bit more faith in Nintendo to not ruin their biggest franchise.
Even more infuriating is Nintendo being mum about the Virtual Console. I'm frankly pretty annoyed with waiting a week between dumb garbage bin sports games, and if the Switch is given similar dribbles of games on its Virtual Console I don't think I'll be able to handle it. Even more annoying is the very real possibility that Virtual Console purchases will not carry over to the new unit; the Wii U got around this with a massive discount on previously bought titles, but without a unified account system I don't know how this is going to work--if they even make the attempt.
I'm also a bit concerned with the ridiculous pricing of Switch accessories. While I probably won't move away from the standard Joycon controller, if I wanted to use a pro controller I don't know how I could justify dropping $70 on the thing. A smaller concern is the possibility of an upgraded model down the line; while Nintendo has never done this with their home consoles (unless you count stuff like the SNES Jr.), every single Nintendo handheld has seen some sort of revision down the line. I'm hoping against all hope that isn't the case with the Switch.
So there you have it. Some of the games didn't wow me as much as I'd like, and I don't have a lot of faith in Nintendo's dedication to their legacy franchises. I'm definitely glad I pre-ordered a Switch and I'm even more excited that it was a blue/red unit, but recent decisions from the company has me skeptical. I'm ready for Nintendo to prove me wrong on this, because the idea of a hybrid console/handheld is quite exciting. With less than two months to go until the console launch, I'll be keeping my eyes on more news and posting my thoughts as we get closer to release.
No comments:
Post a Comment