Disclaimer: This is Part III of my First Impressions review of the Nintendo Switch, which I know has already been out 178 days and there are plenty of reviews that were out weeks before the system was even released to the greater public. But those people are not us, so here we are. Part I of this First Impressions Series covered the menus and semi-overall organization of information on the Switch, while Part II covered 66% of the controller options. The final article here will look at the games currently available, those coming out and why I personally am not a great metric for Nintendo Switch games.
The first game that I wanted to pick up after getting the Switch was Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, while common belief would have led you to believe that I would have jumped at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but since the Switch was meant to be a joint console for Conklederp and myself, it did not make a lot of sense to me to purchase a single player game, regardless of how much Conklederp likes to watch me play video games. The next obvious choice was not, in fact, 1-2-Switch (Which I still submit could have cut the cost down to $9.99 had they used Mii's instead of actors and increased sales and cut on the potential cringe factor), but MK8D for a number of reasons. The first, being already mentioned that I thought a multiplayer game would be a better choice so that Conklederp and I could play together (or against each other, depending on which mode we wanted to play). The second reason somewhat piggybacks on the first, in that four person Mario Kart would be a blast as it does not have to be the aggressive shitstorm that 150cc and 200cc racing can lead to. The third reason is that I just really wanted to play a new (new for us since we never had a Wii U) Mario Kart game after having a blast with Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS. And honestly, we have all had a lot of fun with MK8D, even if, to date at least, the most we have had playing at one time was three when my sister and her family were in town and her husband (let's call him Gary) and daughter (we're calling her Flan) and I played a randomized circuit; there is a picture that doesn't so much show us having fun as it does show us focusing intently on out respective karts.
The next game we picked up was Snipperclips: Cut it out, together!, which was a digital download. Conklederp and I played the demo, figuring that the visual aesthetic, emphasis on communication and teamwork, and the low intensity of the game would appeal to Conklederp's typical style of game play. About a week after playing through the demo, we purchased the full game and have had a great time. At the time, we only had the initial Joy-Cons that came with the Switch, but now that we have the neon red/blue Joy-Cons, we can play up to four players, which I feel will have its own set of challenges. I am also very interested to see how the game will be different, if at all with four players instead of the optimal two. I also tried playing it as a single player game, which is possible, but it takes away a lot from the game and it got boring pretty quickly.
The last game we picked up, Little Inferno, again was a digital download, but as I have already given a fairly semi-comprehensive review of the game, "Game EXP: Little Inferno (NS)," I will not go into too many repetitive details. Basically, I liked the look of the game, the music that played during the trailer, and the sense of humor projected in the trailer. It was only while playing did I discover that the game could be played as a multiplayer game, which is how Conklederp and I went through it in just about two days.
We have also downloaded a number of the free demos. . .okay, we have downloaded every available demo, mainly during the two days it took MK8D to be shipped from Amazon (Best Buy was out of MK8D when we first bought the Switch). Probably the best demo was the one for Master Blaster Zero, which is a remake of the original Blaster Master, but since I already have the original on the 3DS, I do not know if I would also pick this one up too. Conklederp and I also had some fun in reconfirming by lack of beats with the Just Dance 2017 by swinging my arms in a very uncoordinated manner to Silentó's - "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)." This last weekend we downloaded the Pokkén Tournament DX and ARMS Global Testpunch, which will most likely not result in purchases although the demos did serve their purpose.
As for the games that are currently out for the Switch, I know that I personally fall within the minority when I say that Splatoon 2 does not really interest me. If I wanted to play a co-op arena shooter, which I do not often, I will go to Team Fortress 2 for a couple of matches before I uninstall the game (again). Likewise, ARMS, does not interest me, but if a Punch-Out! game were to come out for the Switch, I might be more interested; thanks again to the demo for reaffirming this. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is very much going to be acquired if it happens to not be gifted by the end of March. An indie digital game that is currently out that looks pretty great is Bulb Boy, which is a point-and-click game with some kind of Tim Burton-esque meets Lovecraftian flare. Upcoming games that I am very much interested in is the Resident Evil Revelations Collection, and believe it or not, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, both to be released by the end of the year. I am also hoping that Steep will see it's eventual release as confirmed by a Ubisoft employee because Mount Wario can only scratch this particular itch so much. And speaking of itches caused by MK8D, the two F-Zero inspired stages are hopefully hints that a new F-Zero title is coming to the Switch.
That being said, there are a fair amount of third party games that have my interest such as the aforementioned Bulb Boy, but also including Axiom Verge, Kamiko, I Am Setsuna (although published by Square Enix), Perception, RiME, Yooka-Laylee, and Battle Chasers: Nightwar.
Overall though, I'm semi-lukewarm about a few of the more AAA titles coming out soon (or already out), like Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Sonic Mania, and Super Mario Odyssey, although I do seem to be warming up to SMO, but not so much that the $59.99. Oh, and Fire Emblem Warriors, but I have not had much interest in the "Warriors" style of gameplay. And then there is Metroid Prime 4, which I feel that I should be excited for but after not finding a lot of interest after hours spent in Metroid Prime on the Gamecube, my excitement for another first person Metroid title is kind of meh; Metroid: Samus Returns on the other hand, I am excited for. Then there is the question of when Nintendo is going to open up a Virtual Console store for the Switch, which I anticipate will be around the time that their Nintendo Switch Online program goes live sometime in early 2018.
Yes, I know that I have left off games as this is not an all encompassing list of both games that I have interest in and ones that I do not. These are just the games that came to mind while composing this article. So right now, I have enough to keep me preoccupied, especially with my backlog of Steam games, so I am not really hurting for more Switch content, although more will be better when it becomes available.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
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