Being able to play on the big screen was just not a priority for the DS or 3DS I suppose… but I really made a lot of use of the GB Player and Super Gameboy to play their prior handheld titles.
TVout without a mod would have been really cool for the DS.
It’s interesting that Nintendo quotes the system at playing BotW for 4 hours when the original Switch would last 3 hours in presumably the same conditions. As we know, Switch game battery life is more impacted by load on the SoC than brightness or WiFi, so I bet less taxing games could last upwards of 10 hours on this new model. The original Switch would turn in something like 6-8 hours on games like Puyo Puyo Tetris, Disagea 5 and Romancing SaGa 2.
That’s exciting stuff - though some of the cuts are just too much for me to want to get one. Losing the ambient light sensor is the most surprising cut to handheld mode functionality considering even New 3DS had the functionality (it used the IR camera for automatic brightness).
I’m interested in how portable it is. When travelling in Winter I would rarely stick the Switch in my bag, instead detaching the Joy-Con controllers to store in my outer coat pocket and while putting the tablet in my inside jacket/coat pocket. I think the whole unit could probably fit in an inside coat pocket, but I’d be worried about the durability of the analogue sticks doing that.
I don’t own a Switch, but I might buy this. I buy Nintendo handhelds, but usually don’t buy their consoles. I might go for the turquoise one.
I agree with others who think this sort of deflates the Switch’s main feature; flexibility. The greatness of the Switch is the fact that it’s a home console you can take on the go. This is just a nice handheld (which is fine), basically a Nintendo Vita. The appeal of the Switch isn’t necessarily the ‘console-quality power/graphics on the go’ nonsense, but the fact that you have great games you can seamlessly play wherever and however you want. If the DS was marketed this way (or at least had a TV-out) it would have been way more appealing to me.
I mean, why not just release this new form factor and still have it dockable? I just wonder if the production expense is that much lower.
Right now my friends and I are playing mostly Smash when we get together on weekends. It’s great because with one Switch and a GC adapter we can all play with almost no additional investment, and the thing is easy to pack up at the en of the night. That’s the type of experience you lose with this device.
There are just a lot of people who don’t want the flexibility. They see it all as a “gimmick” like any other Nintendo machine always has in their eyes so they have to have the gimmick removed to buy in. They think that $100 savings over an actual Switch is totally worth losing all the important stuff the Switch itself enabled, because they don’t buy Nintendo consoles. They only buy Nintendo handhelds.
It’s total bullshit IMO, but that’s a lot of what I’m seeing people saying all over the Intarwebs. They’re usually not quite as blunt about it, but you can tell this is just another example of the long prejudices held against Nintendo as some kind of secondary console and game maker compared to the “real” machines from Sony and Microsoft.
We can probably thank Sega for creating this mentality many years ago in the 16-bit era.
I recognize that most people appreciate that about the Switch, and how there are a lot of people that are into the Switch for the mobile nature of it, but the main feature of the switch to me is; Nintendo.
I like the stuff Nintendo makes, not by virtue of it being Nintendo, but because I can rely on a certain quality level. Beyond that I typically find myself putting up with the “gimmicks” of their modern systems to play their games. For the Switch it’s dealing with the shitty joycons made for a gimmick that I have no interest in, using each as it’s own controller, and the sacrifices they had to make to have it “switch” between docked and handheld.
So already the Switch Lite wouldn’t be for me, but I do find amusement in it still being named after a thing it can’t do. Like if they didn’t rename the 2ds and called it the 3ds - or something.
I’m not against options. I prefer the flagship unit, but I don’t see anything wrong with people wanting to save some money in exchange for features they don’t deem important.
I think any concerns of them gutting features in future games is premature - only a few games required Joycons anyway like Labo, 12Switch, and Mario Party. Most other games that used them deeply, like Mario Odyssey and ARMS already made them completely optional. Switch Lite is basically the same layout and functionality as the widely supported pro controller, minus the vibration functions, and nearly every game supports that controller anyway.
And users will still have that option to pair their Switch Light with Joycons for the rare times it’s necessary. But really, Nintendo has been going down this route ever since the Switch debuted. People engaged with the product using the features they wanted and developers gave them options on how they wanted to play.
Yeah, I’m not saying it won’t be successful or shouldn’t exist, just that it seemingly gives up so much of what makes the Switch great, when it seems like it would be easy to have the Lite features (smaller size, baked-in Joy-Cons, Longer Battery Life) while allowing it to be docked if someone chose. Not ideal or the primary way most people would use it (needing additional hardware), but an option.
Also, are their still expectations for a “Switch Pro” soon? That sort of revision my skew a lot closer to the tastes most of us probably have.
Why would you sell it with a dock if you can’t detatch the controllers to play it docked? That makes no sense.
The reason it can’t dock is because to do so requires a whole other purchase of controllers so they sell the $300 model for people who want that option now.
Nope. Looks like they will quietly update the main console with a new processor without rebranding it if I had to guess.
“Switch Pro” may just be the normal later console variation with nothing new/really changed just different parts used. More like the 10 different revisions of the PS2 fat, and less like the difference between a PS4/PS4 Pro.
Sadly.
In performance terms, it’s probably going to be like Xbox One S with it’s ever so slight boost over OG Xbox One. But without an official rebrand if I had to guess.
I would love a new small handheld but I guess it’s no longer possible with such high resolutions. Sure you can make an iPhone 5 screen type thing in 720p but most people’s eyesight isn’t good enough for the detail on that.
So real pocketable handhelds kind of die with the sub-SD era.
That’s a really good way to put it. In the era of write/design once and port everywhere a high resolution is often just an excuse to port over things verbatim.
I was playing the Dragon Quest Builders 2 yesterday and I’m amazed no one thought the text size in this game was unacceptable on anything but massive TVs. Just look at how small it is relative to even the Switch’s tiny speaker holes!
I was getting eye strain when holding the thing up to my face to read it, and it will be even smaller on the Lite. A far cry from older large screen handhelds. When the DSi XL came along the idea was that you could comfortably view and share your game from a distance.
Going back to your post then, the only way to deliver a good user experience is to go up with the screen size, or at least keep it at around 6” or higher (16:9 aspect ratio).
Welp, the announcement of a standard Switch model with a huge battery increase just complicated the Lite purchase. Smaller form factor or longer playtime…
There it is! Looks like I was correct after all. Surprised to see they formally announced it without changing the marketing. Usually, upgrades like this aren’t really announced, and if they are, there’s a redesign to go with it.
I kind of like this. If nothing changes and there are no performance increases, I think I’ll “upgrade” to this model when the Switch reaches end of life so that I have the best possible version for when it becomes a “retro” console.
If it has better performance in terms of resolution or framerate for titles with dynamic settings, (I’m expecting a very small marginal boost) I’ll likely grab it the moment there is another hardware bundle with Joycons in a color I don’t already have is announced (already have the original neon and a pair of grays).
Plus we got some new joycon colors today! That orange is sexy.
Given the CPU is exactly the same, just on a smaller process node, this is a much better route to take. If they went for a performance boost the battery life trade-off wouldn’t be worth the tiny boost to performance (30%).
A revised Switch with a brand new Tegra built from the ground up for gaming would be a much better choice, and I’m sure it’ll be on an even smaller process node than the 12nm or 16nm revised Tegra that’s in the Switch revision and Switch Lite.
Those new battery life estimates are seriously impressive given the 4310mAh battery is still the same. 5.5 hours playing BotW means almost double the running time, and I’m sure the 9 hour ceiling will be broken by many less demanding games.
The original Switch runs longer than 6.5 hours playing games like Romancing SaGa 2 (8 hours with brightness on minimum), though it’s clear Nintendo is offering real-life battery estimates - i.e. what you get playing a range of games with the brightness on high and WiFi switched on. Good on them.
Still secretly hoping the Lite can be docked in some way but Nintendo is just not talking about it or ever going to promote it.
For those that are into this sort of thing (I usually keep my hardware/firmware stock), a USB-C extension cable from a Switch dock to a Switch Lite with hacked firmware on the Lite would probably do the trick.
I’d be shocked if it weren’t the same SOC under the hood as the new flagship Switch units.
These are sure to be less hackable for a while however.
I tend to keep them on the actual firmware but that’s an interesting option
