Obligatory Post About The Nintendo Switch Presentations

Last night, Nintendo held their Switch presentation in Tokyo (last night being here on the West Coast in the US, 1pm Tokyo time), and I was pretty excited, in that Conklederp and I put off watching the most recent episode of Vikings until after Nintendo's presentation had finished.  Additionally, the Nintendo Tree House folks had their own hands on presentation where they showcased a number of games, although I noticed no mention which games would receive a physical release and which ones would be sold only via the eShop.

Now, I am not going to be going into speculations about the system, the specifications of the hardware or what frame rate it looked like games were running at, this article is basically stating my impressions of the system, the presentation itself, and probably what games I would like to see based on the developers who were advertised as working on games for the Switch.

All of the main information about the Switch can be found on Nintendo's website, so if you are in fact looking for concise information, it would probably behoove you to go over there and take what you can, a lot of which I will talk about in my own rambling sort of way over here.

Overall, I thought that the presentation was very well handled, in that it was more of an announcement about the product than an event that was more about the speakers, music, and noise than the Switch itself.  If there hadn't been any wide shots of the audience, you might have thought that the presenters were on a stage talking to an empty room or a blank wall.  I actually preferred this to the typical presentations that you would find at E3.  Basically the presentation was mainly information and less hype, at least from my perspective.

You know what, there is so much more out there that will have a better consolidation of this information, especially from the first presentation, the Tree House event, and from Nintendo's own site, so I will just briefly ramble about what about everything that I liked.

The Price: $299
I find this price to be about on par with what I was expecting and so much more reasonable than either the PS4 or the XBox One, which retailed at $399 and $499 respectively.  With this in mind, you could surmise that the Switch is a less powerful gaming machine, and you could be correct, mainly because I have not put together a spreadsheet comparing and contrasting each feature.  By comparison, the Wii U first sold for $299 for the basic unit and $349 for the deluxe system.

The System

The system only comes with one set of controllers, either grey, or neon blue/red.

Because of my cynical approach to businesses, I had figured that the Switch would only be sold with the console, dock, the two Joy-Cons, adapter, and HDMI cable, even though the Joy-Con Grip was pictured in the advertisement, so were games and I just assumed that the grip would be sold separately.  I was equally surprised to find that the Joy-Con Straps were a thing and that they too would be included.  The Switch Pro Controller though is sold separately.  Still, for $299, I find this price to be very reasonable, if only there were games of sorts included?  No word on included or pre-loaded games.

The Games
The games showcased during the initial presentation on Thursday night (Friday afternoon in Tokyo), I had mixed feelings about, possibly because I never owned a Wii or a Wii U and therefore have no invested interest in a new 3D Super Mario Bros. game (I also recognize that I am probably in the minority that did not like Super Mario 64, which also turned me off to all 3D Mario games), or a Splatoon game.  I however fully recognize the market is there for a 3D open world Mario game and a non-violet team shooter, those just aren't my cup of coffee.

The games that did pique my interest was a new Shin Megami Tensei title from Atlus (seeing as how I loved SMT: Strange Journey, but never really got into Persona or Devil Survivor); The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (partly because I love The Elder Scrolls series, but also for the opportunity for Bethesda and their like-properties and subsidiaries to develop games for Nintendo); Project Octopath Traveler from Square Enix, which is a mouthful and a title that could only come from Japan or a Finnish black metal band, but I really like the art style which reminds of a mix between Final Fantasy Tactics with a more traditional JRPG battle system; and of course The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild, which looks so much like an Elder Scrolls game with a Legend of Zelda skin.

Since last night presentation, there have been a number of other games announced, some of which sound interesting which include: Puyo Puyo Tetris, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Snipper Clips: Cut It Out Together, 1,2,Switch, Has Been Heroes,  Super Bomberman R, I Am Setsuna, and Steep.  Again, no word though on which games will receive a physical release and which ones will be digital downloads, some of which definitely feel like they should be digital only (Snipper Clips, 1,2,Switch, Has Been Heroes to name a few).

During the presentation, Nintendo officially announced the companies currently developing games, along with 80 games currently in development.

There are a handful of independent developers that I would like to see Switch games from, ATOOI, Infitizmo, Playtonic Games, Frictional Games, The Chinese Room, DrinkBox Studios, and Shiro Games, to name a handful, although I understand listing primarily AAA title developers during the official product announcement and presentation.  I am still hoping for a Castlevania game from Konami seeing as how they have been named as a developer, but I am not holding my breath since they announced back in 2015 that they will be focusing on mobile games, but the Switch could be viewed as the perfect in-between?  A Mega Man or Resident Evil (Just not Resident Evil 4 all over again) game from Capcom would also be nice too.  

Basically, I think I just want to relive my '80s and '90s childhood through this system, what looks and feels like a great blend of DS portability with Wii U capabilities (kind of).



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
We Bleed For Ancient Gods



P.S.  Yes, I know that my article made no mention of a Super Smash Bros., game, or of the online properties as far a co-op gaming goes, but since those do not interest me, and since we do not have any sponsors, we do not have to appease anyone but ourselves.