Disclaimer (Sort of?): Welcome to Part II of my First Impressions of the Nintendo Switch. Part I ended up covering the menus and organizational systems utilized for the Switch, which you can read over here. So let's move onto the next section which (similar to Part I) which has turned out to be longer than I had anticipated, so rather than have the article run long winded, I am just going to cover the controllers today.
Let me start this Part II off by saying that so far, I love the Switch. Like nearly any technology, there are also some issues, many of which I already covered, but for the most part both Conklederp and I are very happy with our purchase.
So let us now talk about semi-specific aspects.
The Joy-Cons
When I first saw the size of the controllers, which are only about 4.2 inches (that's 10.6 cm for you imperials out there) long and my palm is just about four inches wide, so that worry luckily did not come to fruition. However, since the Joy-Cons can be rotated to be used as an SNES style controller, I was also worried about hand cramps because again, I do not have small hands or short fingers. To date, I am happy to announce that I have yet to have hand cramps, even after playing Mario Kart 8 for upwards of an hour. Even with less than an inch between the joystick and the buttons, I have not had my thumbs collide or bump into each other. Coupled with the wedge of plastic that supports the LZ and RZ buttons (under the L and R buttons) which I use and a hand-hold support, the Joy-Con is quite comfortable.
Confession time. The first day we got the Switch, when putting on the strap, I put it on backwards and began to panic that I had accidentally damaged the Joy-Con as I could not for the life of me I could not slide off the strap which seemingly had locked into place. After a fair amount of internet browsing that included using a paper clip (which was not necessary), I found out that by flicking down the small grey tab that is under the "Lock" on the strap and with more force than I was comfortable applying to a brand new $300 piece of gaming hardware, I was able to slide off the strap from the Joy-Con. Day one disaster averted!
As for the Joy-Con Comfort Grip, I really like the size and feel. The weight is maybe just a little bit lighter than the wired 360 controller, and is lighter than the Steam controller, but overall I cannot really complain. My only hang up with this set up, is that there is no traditional directional pad. Yes, buttons on the left Joy-Con are set up to be used like a directional pad, but it just does not have the same feel that I am looking for. I would equate it to the directional pad on the PS1 and PS2 controller, which I was never too happy to have to use. Presently I have not had a game that has required the use of the directional buttons in lieu of the joystick.
Now let us move on to the accelerometer and gyroscope functions of the Joy-Con. Of the games that we currently have, only Mario Kart 8: Deluxe and Little Inferno utilize this type of functionality that replaces the need for an IR bar that was part of the Wii. In MK8, I do not use the Joy-Con like a steering wheel, although I have a few times to give it a try. I did not like it. As I did not notice any feed back, especially when doing power slides, it just was not as engaging as I would have wanted it to be. I also found that using the joystick was more precise and allowed for tighter turns than using the Joy-Con as a steering wheel fashion. In Little Inferno however, the Joy-Con is used more like the Wiimote and I did experience some connectivity issues where I had to re-calibrate the controller more frequently than I would have liked. Now this could have been a combination of both Conklederp and I playing at the same time, or maybe the battery was not fully charged, or maybe the angle was somehow off, or I was ever so slightly too far away from the Switch. I cannot fully say why, but there were definite and frustrating connectivity issues, but not consistent between different times we played. And this morning I gave ARMS a try since they are having a limited free play weekend, and the controls and connectivity seemed to be spot on, but as I only went through the tutorial and then proceeded to loose (and I lost exceedingly well mind you) to two online matches, I feel that is all I can really say about the Joy-Cons and ARMS.
Speaking of connectivity (but not really, I am just horrible with transitions), as someone who has never had much interest in wireless controllers out of fear of the batteries dying mid game, I have been very happy with the battery life in the Joy-Cons. I was initially planning on picking up a wired Joy-Con Charging Grip because of this very fear, but did not as we were already spending $80 for the second set of Joy-Cons, and to date I have not found that the Joy-Cons are running out of battery power like I had anticipated.
The last section for today would normally cover the Switch Pro Controller, which I have heard nothing but good things about, but Conklederp and I agreed to opt for a second set of Joy-Cons instead so that we could have four player co-op with applicable games like MK8, and Snipperclips. Maybe sometime in the future we will acquire a Pro Controller, and then have the possibility of five controllers I guess, but until the time comes when monetary denominations become as plentiful as the amount of solar radiation emanating off of that giant blinding spherical death ball in the ether, we will have to be happy with the one to four controllers that work pretty damn well for the most part.
And since there was no Pro Controller to yammer on about, I would like to lastly add that the screen shot button on the left Joy-Con (as well as the aforementioned Pro Controller), is a brilliant addition. The only criticism I have is that I wish that you could save the pictures to the micro SD card (not included) rather than have to post them to Facebook or Twitter in order to access them at your future leisure. Unless I have missed something completely obvious, which is a very real possibility.
So now it looks like this First Impressions series will stretch on into next week, because why not? I have nowhere else to be.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
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