Nintendo Switch arrives on Friday, March 3. While waiting for the $300 hybrid video game console to hit the market, we've heard about the first impressions of experts, seen a list of expected game titles, and even found out about WWE star John Cena's thoughts about the Switch.
Roughly a day or so before gamers get hold of the Nintendo Switch, we have compiled the best and worst things critics say about the newest game console on the block:
GameSpot
The Best: "The Nintendo Switch feels like the culmination of years of hardware growing pains from both Nintendo and Nvidia. Unlike the Wii U GamePad, you no longer have to worry about being tethered to your TV."
The Worst: "The console also offers two small speakers below its touchscreen. The speakers get the job done, but didn't blow me away. They lack a little punch and were actually drowned out a bit by my Nexus 6P phone speakers when I had them blasting audio at full volume side by side."
Polygon
The Best: "It feels unique, wholly unlike the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Switch is fully its own thing. Compared to the Wii U on its merits, the Switch is a slam dunk. It takes the basic concept of the Wii U, of a tablet-based console, and fulfills the promise of it in a way Nintendo simply wasn't capable of realizing in 2012."
The Worst: "The Joy-Cons, when connected to the Switch, are ... fine. They're an improvement over the New Nintendo 3DS' 'analog disc.' They're not quite what you would demand of a dedicated console controller, but they're mostly close enough."
Kotaku
The Best: "Here's one thing I really like: The screenshot button. Nintendo has followed Sony's lead and added a dedicated screenshot button to the Switch. It's responsive and easy to reach on the left Joy-Con; the onscreen notification pops up much faster than the PS4."
The Worst: "It also has a number of irritating flaws and hidden costs, and there are so many things about it that Nintendo still hasn't explained."
CNET
The Best: "The Nintendo Switch is a versatile hybrid game console that easily pivots between a big-screen TV and on-the-go portable. Its modular Joy-Con controllers are inventive. The entire hardware feels substantial and refined."
The Worst: "Besides Zelda, there are only a handful of games and no Virtual Console. Online features are currently a mystery. Screen feels small during tabletop sessions. Joy-Con layout is cramped and crowded, and the left one can have connection issues when wireless."
The Verge
The Best: "The most shocking thing about the Switch might be how many obvious pitfalls Nintendo has managed to elegantly avoid. Going from playing on the tablet to the TV is completely effortless, and there's no sense of compromise whichever way you choose to play. Once you hold and use the Switch, it just makes sense."
The Worst: "Nintendo's track record with online functionality is pretty bad, and having that large an unknown just before the Switch launches is peculiar at best and distressing at worst."
Tech Crunch
The Best: "I own a PS4, Wii U, 3DS, smartphone, PC, Famiclone, and numerous other gaming platforms. But the Switch almost immediately felt like something that was missing until now — something midway between a 'real' console and a 'real' handheld."
The Worst: "Problem is: there's just not much to play, and there won't be for some time to come ... The Switch is not by any means a day-one purchase, and you can feel perfectly secure holding off for a bit. In a couple months you're going to see game bundles, deals on accessories, additional info on things like the online services and virtual console, and more."
Wired
The Best: "From what I've seen, I have high hopes: The user interface currently installed on the device is clean, fast, responsive, well-designed. You can tap the Power button to send the unit into sleep mode immediately during gameplay, and pick up your game of Zelda right where you left off. It seems like it's a thousand times better than Wii U's slow, clunky interface."
The Worst: "When I want to seriously put in some play time with Zelda on the television at home, free from the constraints of battery life, I can't. The left half of the Joy-Con controller simply won't stay synced to the console. Either it's connected but severely laggy, so button presses either register late or not at all, or it simply drops the connection. It's a total showstopper."
Ars Technica
The Best: "It's something of a quixotic ambition, considering that smartphones and tablets seem to already dominate everyone's free on-the-go gaming minutes (and considering that larger, more powerful, price-competitive home consoles can obviously do more in the living room). But through that ambition, Nintendo has created an interesting hybrid that seems to pull portable gaming upward more than it drags home console gaming downward."
The Worst: "Make no mistake, while the Switch's Nvidia Tegra X1-based system-on-a-chip easily makes it the most powerful portable console ever made, its polygon-pushing power isn't going to give the PS4 or Xbox One a run for their money."
Engadget
The Best: "Nintendo doubled down on the Wii U's best feature: being able to play games entirely away from your TV. But unlike that console, which relied on a clunky Fisher Price-esque gamepad, the Switch is a lot more refined."
The Worst: "As you'd expect, battery life is the Switch's biggest portable problem. I was able to play Zelda for only around two and a half hours before I needed to recharge ... Clearly, it's not the sort of device you'd want to take on a long trip without a power adapter or backup battery."
Eurogamer
The Best: "Switch rightly takes the crown as the most powerful dedicated gaming handheld right now, but the bonus is its effective, and seamless home console mode."
The Worst: "Don't expect top-of-the-line third party games to reach Switch, and if they do, expect a degree of compromise in visual quality or performance."
PCMag
The Best: "The Nintendo Switch is a remarkably ambitious, clever game system concept that manages to live up to its promise of convenient switching between home console and gaming handheld. The Joy-Cons are clever, modular controllers that let the system work in a variety of ways, and the Switch itself has enough graphical power to run the best-looking Zelda game yet."
The Worst: "Short battery life. Flimsy kickstand ... We'll have to see how the Switch library develops, and just how much power developers can wrangle out of the tablet."
The reviews are still in progress with everyone waiting for the essential launch-day patch. The Nintendo Switch hardware, in general, impresses critics. However, the big question yet to be answered is if there will be enough games in the long run to make this hybrid game console worthy of your hard-earned money.
