Hands on: Our Impressions of the Nintendo Switch and Game Lineup

It’s been a big weekend for Nintendo and for Nintendo fans, there’s been explosion of Nintendo Switch information and istoryands on impressions from events all around the world. Now here come some Australian ones from the Vooks team. Since the team all played a different range of games, we’ve split it up per-person impressions.

After any presentation by Nintendo I always have a thousand questions about even the tiniest little bits of information about whatever they’ve shown. This has been only the second time I’ve ever had the privilege of being able play it the next day and find out for myself.

The hype was immense, we were led into this amazing room in Melbourne, given the run down of all the local in formation by Nintendo Australia and then – have at it! We walked into this awesome setup, there were tons of Nintendo Switch consoles in all sorts of different configurations with every game we saw (basically) playable in one of the three configs the Switch can be played in.

The Vooks team we all rushed over to play some Mario Kart 8 Deluxe first and it was our first ever hands on with the console. This machine is quality, it’s well built and all the buttons and triggers feel like classic Nintendo quality. We played the game in handheld mode first (with the Joy-Cons attached) and had at the new battle mode, which is to say the old battle mode. It’s just as good as you remember it, there are some changes like if you die you can come back with 3 points lost, the re-added Feather item is still pretty useless. There was really only one complaint and that was that the maps seemed too large, even with 8 players.

Before I move onto another game I want to talk about the hardware a little more, I was lucky enough to play with all the controller configurations and even with the Pro Controller. The Joy-Cons are little wonders, there are so much packed into those things its like a SNES controller made out with a Wii Remote and Circle Pad Pro add-on. It’s light, but solid and melds into your hands. The Joy-Con Grip (the thing that slides over the top) helps too if you have big hands. However controller that impressed me the most was the Pro Controller, it’s amazing. Its’ well built, it has everything you’d expect from such a controller and it also has the HD Rumble.

So what is HD Rumble? Can you feel ice cubes in the controller and shake them around? Yes you can! Essentially HD Rumble is an advanced haptic feedback, it can make you feel location and depth in the controller. One 1-2 Switch game has you rolling balls around in the Joy-Con to out guess your friend, it really does feels like there’s things rolling around in there. This isn’t to say its only good for showing off, the rumble in Mario Kart 8 was more pronounced and provided better feedback as well.

The next game we played was Splatoon 2, it was a simple multiplayer demo with limited load-outs but it was enough to see how much the game has changed. Which isn’t too much, but its changed a lot in the meta. The Brush now splats different and the Dualies (dual wield weapons) also mix things up. The game looks fairly similar to the Wii U version but there’s a lot more going on with lighting and special effects. It runs perfectly silky smooth as well.

Surprisingly the biggest line at the event aside from Zelda (obviously) was for 1-2 Switch. Nintendo had a booth setup in the middle with four of the different games setup. I only got to play the ‘Milk’ game which sees you try and out squeeze your opponent and abuse a poor cow. Holding the Joy-Con vertically you pull your hand down and use the new SL and SR buttons to simulate the milking while making an arse of yourself to your peers. It’s fairly shallow, but its only one of what could be a dozen games on 1-2 Switch. Should it be a pack-in? Lets see how many games are included at the end, but $70 is a tough pill to swallow for an impressive tech demo.

Going into ARMS I was a bit hesitant because I’ve every single motion game you can think of. Having had to review Wii games for nearly 6 years will do that. Was I interested in it before I played it? No. Am I now after trying it out? Maybe.

ARMS works with a Joy-Con in each hand, you hold it ‘vertically’ and punch away. Unlike some motion games though you’ll need to be more subtle rather than just throwing your hands around like 16 year old girls meeting up for shopping. You can apply curves to your punch by twisting the controller as you punch, but that’s not too crazy an idea. The real great thing was that each character we played as was a completely different beast. The same techniques and movements wouldn’t work between them. I’ll have to play more of this one to see how deep it goes or doesn’t go, but it’s exciting to see a new IP from Nintendo non the less.

I’ve left Snipperclips to last not because it’s the worst but because it was the biggest surprise. Mario Kart is Mario Kart, Splatoon 2 is a sequel, and other games are all existing ideas – Snipperclips is some crazy co-op fun. We played the game in table-top mode and each Joy-Con is used to control a character who can snip each other into shapes to solve puzzles. It sounds like a fairly simple idea but even the demo quickly ramped up with some crazy solutions. It was great to bounce ideas and plan how to juggle balls and balloons with Theo who was playing as the other character. Snipperclips may only be an eShop game but it’s one of the ones I’m most excited for.

Playing the Switch was a roller coaster of emotions, getting the first hands on was uplifting. Being able to hold it in your hands just 47 days before release was a spectacular tease. While I didn’t get to play everything I wanted to, least myself and all of us won’t have to wait until we can purchase one ourselves. The Switch is magical baby of Nintendo systems wrapped up in some amazing tech. You will pay for that tech though, it’s not cheap – but if you find value in what the Switch offers you’re going to have a hell of a time.

So what about the price? It’s no secret it’s expensive, and it’s expensive to go ‘fully armed’ with the thing as well. New controllers, new cables, new docks, cases, games – everything! Gaming is an expensive hobby and it all adds up. People focus on how much the main console costs but forget about the rest.

Should the Switch be cheaper? Could it be? Probably and I don’t know. To compare it to other products, tablets, VR headsets and even other consoles are moot because the Switch is a unique proposition. If you conflate price to power, of course the Switch isn’t as good of a deal as the other consoles or even a gaming PC. You have to weigh up what you find value in and if you think the Switch is worth the money for what it offers you – then that’s a good deal. =

Had Nintendo announced the console $50 cheaper would it made a difference? You know probably not, maybe in America where they care about that price point so much more than anyone else. I’m fine with the price, but it worries me the additional costs and uncertainty about services surrounding it that’ll slowly rack up to full enjoy it. That’s what we should be worried about.

The moment I first picked up the Switch and touched the Joy-Cons while looking into the screen is likely a gaming memory I will never forget. It all just felt and looked so right, way surpassing my expectations. Then I felt the analog stick on the left and pressed the buttons on the right and was again impressed. You see, after the eyesore that was the Wii U Gamepad I was pretty sure Nintendo would get it wrong again. I can hardly believe how much of a pivot this thing is for Nintendo. Just when I thought they had lost their touch, they’ve returned with a console that is both sexy to look at and satisfying to play. Super clear display. Great button clicks. Monstrous rumble. I don’t usually game on the go unless the Go we’re talking about is Pokemon but there might even be a chance I will Switch that up very soon.

Here’s what I played at the Switch event, in order…

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (with both Joy-Cons attached to the Switch)

Battle mode was great fun, even though it had been a while since I had played any Kart. There’s not much to report here, you all know the drill when it comes to MK8. But it looked better than ever and played perfectly.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (with one Joy-Con)

I thought that playing with one Joy-Con would not work very well. The things look so tiny. However, my hands are on the smallish side so I didn’t have a problem at all. Very responsive and definitely another check on the board for the portability of the console. If you’re travelling with a friend and have time to kill, the Switch is going to be perfect.

Ultra Street Fighter II (with one Joy-Con)

This was one of the games I was most excited to play, for two reasons. Firstly, I’m a fan of fighting games. Not to say I play them heaps or am that great at them but I’ve put some time into most of the bigger franchises over the years. And the love affair began on the SNES. Which brings me to the second reason I was all over this one – the nostalgic feeling of my old buddy Blanka electrocuting the competition. And I loved everything about it. It played smoothly and looked very cool with the updated HD graphics. Loved it.

Super Bomberman R (with one Joy-Con)

Another series I’ve loved for most of my life is Bomberman.. I’ve played through countless games in the series over the years, on lots of different consoles and it was the game I was most excited about during the Switch reveal last week. I played a few games in Battle Mode against other people and it was just as fun as ever. It’s a very easy to play game as there are only three buttons needed, so it’s a no-brainer for multiplayer fun using one Joy-Con each. If you’re a fan of the series, you’re probably going to want to check this out.

Sonic Mania (with both Joy-Cons attached to the Switch)

The console was available as I was walking past so I jumped into Green Hill Zone and took Sonic for a spin. It was very much what you’d expect. There was a new boss at the end of the stage, though, which I guess is cool if you’re into the Hedgehog and his games.

Snipperclips (with one Joy-Con)

Vook mentioned this may have been his game of the day and I’m right there with him. Because while the other games we played may have more to do, better graphics or some other awesome features, this was the most fun I had all day. We were laughing nonstop when we weren’t looking dumbfounded about how to solve the puzzle on the screen. Working together towards a solution with very little help onscreen made this one a rewarding delight. Definitely the biggest surprise of the day and one to watch out for.

ARMS (with a Joy-Con in each hands)

Vook and I battled it out in this unique party-style fighting game. It’s like Wii Boxing on drugs. Lots of customisation available for your flailing arms, different characters who all have different strengths and weaknesses and lots of moves to learn. I feel like you will need some real time with this one to get to know its intricacies well and figure out the best strategies for beating your opponents but it’s definitely going to be fun while you’re doing so.

If you’ve met me in real life, you’ll know I’m a big Nintendo fanboy. I even catch myself defending them for some dubious decisions when I shouldn’t. So when I say I found myself a bit underwhelmed and skeptical about the Switch after the presentation, I think that’s a fairly big deal. Even though, while watching it, I’m thinking “It’s Nintendo, if they’re pushing it, it must be good on some level!”

And thankfully, I did get to put my gigantic hands on the Switch the following day, and a lot of my concerns were put to rest. I didn’t accidentally swallow a Joy Con, instead finding them surprisingly comfortable to hold in my monstrous grip. The gimmicky games like 1, 2, Switch and ARMS were actually a lot of fun to try out. And Splatoon 2 is definitely worthy of being called a sequel.

So the first thing the Vooks crew jumped on was Mario Kart, in the portable Switch mode. Holding the Switch itself felt natural to this Wii U user, with the form factor being pretty much identical, barring the joystick placement. Speaking of the joysticks, the ones on the Joy Cons felt like a larger, more usable version of the Vita joysticks. Because they’re bigger, that range of movement felt a lot more accessible, compared to the Vita’s “I’ve moved you a millimeter and now I’m sprinting” joysticks.

But as for Mario Kart- it mostly felt the same. I mean, it’s a “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” situation, where the original game was a dream to control and play. The Switch mostly just tightened up the graphics, and from what I understand, assists you with staying on the track, especially with motion controls. But the original Battle Mode is back, with new courses! We tried all the ones on offer, other than the haunted mansion themed one. That includes the Urchin Underpass from Splatoon, which is really cool to see, with the exposure Splatoon gets these days. As for the new characters, I can confirm the Inklings have 3 colours each, much like how the Yoshi and Shy Guy characters have their colour selection. Other than all of these additions, the core game is still Mario Kart, and is still a blast to play. I’m excited to try this with friends over local multiplayer!

Next up was Splatoon 2, which was the game I was looking forward to most. I loved the original, and was super keen and curious to see what they were doing with the game without that second screen. And it looks like almost all of the special weapons have been retooled to work with this new play style. There’s a tracking missile battery type thing, that seems to replace the inkstrike. It fires a volley of smaller missiles, the amount depending on how many players were locked on when you hit fire. They track the enemy, so you don’t have total control over where it lands, and they’re also given a heads up to where they’ll land to try avoid them.

I could go on and on about the minutia of the changes in Splatoon 2, but there’s just so much that it could cover its own article. However, I do want to talk about the pro controller support- it works! While having it in handheld form factor might be immediately comfortable for Wii U Splatoon veterans, the Switch is all about playing it in all the different styles, which means the pro controller really needed the gyro controls. And yep… it does! I think playing with the smaller pro controller felt more comfortable than the Wii U gamepad, especially for long sessions. Even the rumble felt a lot more focused than the Wii U, which is definitely something I’ll get into…

…right now! The next game I tried was 1, 2, Switch. I played two of the games- Safe cracking and the samurai one- and each focused on a different part of the Joy Con. First up was safe cracking, which I could ramble on about for ages, despite how simple it was. When I first heard about HD Rumble, I scoffed. Xbox One tried to pull that on me, and I felt very unimpressed. But bear with me here- it’s actually great. It had the finesse to let me feel each individual click of a safe dial, and then the oh-so-subtle pin dropping into place. I was amazed. It took me a while for me to actually trust the difference in the pin dropping, as I figured it was just the vibration motor being crazy as I spun the dial- uh, rotated the Joy Con- really fast.

The second mini game in 1, 2, Switch I tried was the samurai game, where one person swings a sword down, and the other thas to clap and catch the sword… or die. This game focused on the “look at your opponent’s face rather thant the screen” selling line, and yeah. I played against Theo from the Vooks team, who I have met before, but don’t know incredibly well, so it was actually fascinating staring into his eyes, trying to not fall for his bluff, or goad him into clapping early. After a lot of playing chicken with a sword, I tried the gambit of just going as soon as the game said go, not giving Theo any time to prepare. Yeah, I’m a dick.

I also tried ARMS, which is definitely a game that needs to be played to be fully understood and appreciated, because again, it came across as a bit of a gimmicky game during the reveal. But… it’s solid, for sure. The controls actually make a lot of sense, the Joy Cons are comfortable in the thumb wrestling style they ask you to play with, and the gameplay itself is responsive and challenging. You can swap out your gloves for different type of attacks, and each character seemed to have their own styles of play, with heavy ones being, you guessed it, slower, and smaller characters being faster, but doing less damage. It feels like it could be a much more approachable fighting games for more casual players (not an insult, fighting games have a tough learning curve and are ridiculously hard to get into once the player-base understands the intricacies of a game)

And of course, I tried Zelda… However, I didn’t get to play the Wii U demo, so I have nothing to compare it to, so everything here is just me gushing about Zelda. I loved it! The survival elements are key, but also not complicated enough to push me away, after so many survival games just have you drown in menus instead of the open world it provides. The controls feel like classic 3D Zelda, and climbing anything gives the stamina bar a lot more purpose for existing. However, my hopes for a repeat of the philosophy of Legend of Zelda on the NES are a bit shaken, with the game having a lot of quest objectives telling you where to go, and waypoints even spelling it out for you (instead of just the waypoints you could set yourself, when the game was first shown off). I hope the majority of the hand-holding is just at the start of the game, and the game throws you in the deep end once you’re familiar with the world and how it works. We’ll just have to wait to see!

The last 2 games I played aren’t big ones, so I’ll just cover them in a sentence or two each. Ultra Street Fighter II felt much like the original, though I will admit I am not an avid player of Street Fighter. The new graphics suit the game perfectly, and I’m told you can even swap it out for the original SNES style, though I didn’t get to see that myself. I also played Super Bomberman R, which I also suck at, never really playing the originals much. All I can really say is that it feels like classic Bomberman, with a lot of small aesthetic changes here and there.

Overall, I am definitely excited by the experiences shown with the games I played at the event, but also with the potential this console and its Joy Cons have. Which does make me nervous, with the Wii U never truly taking full advantage of the gamepad for most of its games. The much stronger third party support this time does have me hopeful for somebody really cracking the Nintendo Switch, and coming up with some innovating ideas that nobody else had. Maybe I’m just approaching the age of cynicism toward everything, but I still did leave this event excited and hopeful of where Nintendo can steer it. Now, time to rob a bank so I can buy one- I know how to crack a safe now.