After months of rumors, we have finally gotten our first look at the Nintendo Switch. Formerly known as “NX,” Nintendo Switch is the successor to the under-performing Wii-U. Can Nintendo strike gold with this modular console/handheld hybrid? If their first look video is any indication, I’m ready to jump on the bandwagon.
We heard rumors of this type of handheld console back in April, and it seems that at least some of those rumors were true. I’m not going to go play-by-play through the first look video above (but seriously watch it), however I’ll highlight a couple of the major points, especially as it relates to some of the rumors we’ve seen.
We start with a guy playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and it isn’t much of a surprise that they’d highlight that game. What may have come as more of a surprise is when he pulls the sides off of his controller, slides those onto either side of the “console,” and then pulls the console off of a dock, exposing a large high-definition screen to continue playing his game on the go.
There are a lot of mobile gameplay and other mobile options seen throughout the video, but maybe the coolest thing is the modular abilities of the controller. We see someone pull the sides off of the screen and continue to use the controllers held in their hands, and then are introduced to some games where each side of the controller can be used individually for multiple players, and even see what looks like a Wii-U Pro Controller being used too. Nintendo has always been one of the leaders when it comes to couch multiplayer, so it’s no surprise to see them show off the many ways for you to play Mario Kart on the go.
One of the biggest shortcomings of nearly ever Nintendo console ever released comes by way of third-party games. Nintendo consoles are fantastic for first-party Nintendo games, but you’re almost always left feeling shortchanged by console support from other developers. There were rumors that the console formerly known as NX would see an uptick in support, with more games on board and this trailer has shown us at least a couple things we can expect.
In the trailer we get a glimpse of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim playing through multiple hardware scenarios, we also see NBA 2K being played along with a currently unannounced Mario game, and other Nintendo games including Splatoon and Mario Kart. Nintendo has said that they have quite a few developers on board for Switch, including Activision, Atlus, Bethesda, Capcom, EA, Epic Games, Konami, PlatinumGames, Square Enix, Take-Two and Ubisoft. Hopefully we’ll really get a chance to see what the Switch can do, and hopefully third-party developers won’t abandon the console early on as has been done on past Nintendo consoles.
In the trailer, the Nintendo Switch looks very solid. With an expected launch date of March 2017 I don’t know how this hardware wouldn’t be at least close to final, but we’ll have to wait and see what we get once the console is closer to release. While Skyrim is a few years old, it will still take pretty solid hardware to run that type of game. There were rumors of especially beefy hardware on the NX, hopefully that is a rumor that will come true with the Nintendo Switch. As it stands right now, I can absolutely say that I want one. If Nintendo wanted to whet the appetite of gamers with this first look trailer I feel they’ve done a fantastic job.
What do you think about the Nintendo Switch? Will you look to pre-order or wait to see what type of launch titles are available? Tell us what you think in the comment section below, or on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.
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