In case you didn’t know, GameWatcher is entirely focused on the world of PC gaming. No matter what nonsense those Sony and Xbox shlubs get up to, we’re happy to sit back and reap all the benefits without actually buying one of their consoles. Nevertheless there is one company, one console manufacturer, that managing to stay exempt from the Console Wars. No, not SEGA… Nintendo. They are so far removed from the Playstation/Xbox DLC-waving contests that it’s totally acceptable to say your gaming devices are “PC, mobile, and Nintendo 3DS and/or Wii”. I’ve been a diehard PC and computer gamer since I was 8, do not own any Playstation consoles (barring a PSP that I sold a few months later), and yet I have owned every Nintendo console and handheld released since 1998.
Consequently with the release of the Nintendo Switch this week we wondered: from the perspective of a PC gamer who does not own or want to own either an Xbox One or PS4, is the Nintendo Switch exciting enough and different enough to justify an actual console purchase? It certainly looks different with a neat gimmick, but is that Nintendo magic we’ve seen in previous generations all tapped out? And what exactly is the reason why it’s fine to just own a PC and a Nintendo console? So we asked the ultimate question: I’m a PC gamer, should I consider buying the Nintendo Switch?! Read on for 5 Pros and 5 Cons of this argument! And no, it’s not just an excuse to talk about a console we’re excited for on a PC gaming website.
FOR
1. Nintendo First Party Titles
What’s that?: Yes Uncharted is great and all, but with the exception of the most recent PS4 Sony games all their great exclusive titles are available on PC via Playstation Now, and Microsoft’s ever-dwindling first-party catalogue is mostly on PC too up to and including Gears of War 4, Halo Wars 2 and Forza Horizon 3. Only Nintendo holds on to their first-party output with a zealous madness, but even ignoring all the Sony and Microsoft stuff on PC Nintendo have a catalogue that makes Virtual Console release apologists weep. Nintendo have made many of the best games ever, with some of the finest franchises in both single-player and multiplayer. Mario. Smash Bros. Legend of Zelda. Metroid. F-Zero. Mario Kart. Earthbound. Starfox. Donkey Kong. Splatoon. Pikmin. Mario Party. Mario RPG. Mario Tennis. Mario Golf. Other titles starring Mario. They’re all here.
And that’s without considering all the new and utterly unique games Switch will have. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild looks like Skyrim with better story, characters, world, combat, graphics and design. Super Mario Odyssey has a weird Sonic Adventure vibe but there has never been a 3D Mario game that has been less than utterly amazing (shut up, I loved Sunshine). Arms and 1-2 Switch look gimmicky but potentially lots of fun when played with other people, which now doesn’t have to be in your living room anymore (see next point). Splatoon 2 just has to have better online to dominate the world, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is already one of the best kart racing games ever but now has – gasp – a Battle Mode that isn’t bullshit. There are a host of interesting-looking JRPGs, like Project Octopath Traveler which is undoubtedly going to be renamed but it’s a cool-looking 16-Bit-meets-3D RPG, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is expanding a Final Fantasy-rivalling series. And then there’s Super Bomberman R, which looks all kinds of amazing even if it’s just more Bomberman.
And out of all these, only Project Octopath Traveler has any hope of ever being on a non-Nintendo system. I’m drooling just thinking about Super Mario Odyssey.
Is there a downside?: To all these great games? No. But Nintendo’s Virtual Console digital releases of past games have been notoriously half-hearted and the best ones take ages to come out. Furthermore there’s regularly long gaps between releases and some of their best franchises, like Metroid and F-Zero, haven’t had a major release in a long time.
2. The Portability
What’s that?: If there’s something your PC can’t really do, it’s be portable. You might have a very expensive laptop, but it won’t be comfortable for gaming out and about will it? It’s quite big, and you’d have to have a mouse or gamepad separate, and you’d look stupid doing all of that in the park. You can’t take your desktop + monitor or even PS4/XB1 + TV with you like a handheld 3DS then plug them in at home and carry on playing normally can you? With the Nintendo Switch you can, easily and without hassle.
The idea of just playing a bit of Resident Evil 7 or Torment at lunch and then be able to simply plug it in when I get home and start playing again is both joyous and the future of gaming. I played Final Fantasy IX for the first time over Christmas and was addicted to it, and if I could’ve moved my save file to the iOS version and then back when I got home I gladly would’ve bought the game on my iPhone. Being able to do that with ease and on the same system with the same copy of the game? I want that future now, and I don’t care if I have to buy a console to do it.
Yes it’s basically an Nvidia Shield, but with better game support.
Is there a downside?: Two words: battery life. 2.5-6.5 hours is the estimate depending on the game, and it seems to be the lower end if you’re playing a major title like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Yes you can charge it, but that’s still low and it apparently takes just as long to fully charge up again.
3. Playing Classic PC Titles Out and About
What’s that?: Goes hand in hand with the portability aspect I just mentioned, but man: portable Skyrim is a Pro all in itself. I mean yes, there are a couple of good looking (but only okay) AAA games on PS Vita, and Bioshock appeared on iOS (briefly), but for a full proper experience you don’t really have much to go on with underpowered handhelds and phones. The PC gaming likes of Binding of Isaac, World of Goo, Little Inferno, I Am Setsuna, Shovel Knight, FIFA, Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Syberia 3, Rogue Trooper and even Farming Simulator have all been promised for the system. I mean, PC gaming is brilliant (of course), and while I don’t need to a sofa I would still quite like to leave my desk and take the same great games I play on my PC on the go. Y’know, holidays and stuff.
We got part of the way there with the Nvidia Shield but that didn’t really have the support, whereas the Nintendo Switch is exactly the same thing but with better tech and full support from a major console manufacturer. Consequently the extra bonus here is that the Nvidia tech allows practically every PC game to make the jump if the publisher so wanted. Imagine if GOG made the jump for example?! The possibilities are limitless!
Is there a downside?: Imagine if they didn’t. Yes, there’s a good list of games already coming, but what if that was it? What if Half-Life 2, Deus Ex nor any other PC games made the jump to Switch? What if Skyrim is the only Bethesda title? You’d look mighty foolish playing (spits) console games wouldn’t you!
4. More Sociable
What’s that?: There’s been a hideous downturn, even in the console space, of marketing to the couch multiplayer, party and social group crowd. Halo 5: Guardians notoriously cut out local multiplayer, whereas since Wii Sports (also Nintendo) there hasn’t really been a reason to play a game at a party excepting perhaps the Jackbox family of gaming – which are mostly streaming-orientated anyway. The Switch, however, is built not just on portability but also on the idea that other human beings might actually want to play a game with you. The Joy-Con controller splits in two and immediately you can play the likes of Mario Kart with someone else, even if you’re nowhere near your TV or living room.
Then there’s the novelty aspect which is so much fun at parties, something the Wii excelled at. 1-2 Switch doesn’t even require you to look at a screen to play! That’s so neat! Milk a cow competitively, or draw guns just like in the Old West! What larks! You’ll be the life and soul of the party if you bring a Switch along, even if it’s not your party or house! In fact, who are you and what are you doing in my bedroom?!
Is there a downside?: Make sure none of those drunk partygoers lose a Joy-Con or that’s £80 down the drain, and woe betide you if you step on the portable screen while dancing.
5. It’s a New and Intriguing Gadget
What’s that?: Let’s be honest, PC owners are like magpies: we’re only interested in the shiniest, flashiest things. We want the fastest processors, the biggest graphics cards, and the HD-iest monitors. We want to show off, but don’t usually extend that to games consoles because they’re not really “new”. We want the best, but that’s just a PC when it comes to games or digital entertainment. Nintendo Switch is different. Just taking it in and out of the dock is novel, and then disassembling the controller to make two little controllers? Adorable, and flash. It’s a fun thing for anyone to play with, costs show-off money, and you can take it anywhere to do that showing off to people in public. It’s necessary, dammit! How else are we going to prove to other people just how much better we are than them? A “Browncoats Forever” Serenity T-shirt? A drone shaped like the Millennium Falcon? Pfff!
Is there a downside?: That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever written.
Right, you’ve heard the case for getting a shiny new Nintendo Switch if you’re a PC gamer. Now let’s hear the reasons why you should stick to your computer, your darkened bedroom and your desk, you goblin.
AGAINST
1. The Pricing
What’s that?: After the best-selling and relatively cheap Wii, the Nintendo Wii U was more expensive, lacked any pack-in game let alone one with the addictive excellence of Wii Sports, had pricey accessories, and contained a tiny hard drive (8 GB standard, 32 GB for the more expensive version) that immediately required the purchasing of extra storage. It was also a massive flop, Nintendo’s worst console (other than the Virtual Boy), and was immediately forgotten because it was too much of an investment for basically no reward.
Everyone hoped and presumed Nintendo would learn from these mistakes with the Switch. They haven’t. The base console is a ridiculous £280/$300, with no pack-in title once again. The accessories are even worse, with additional Joy-Con pads costing £75/$80. The hard drive is an astonishingly cheeky 32 GB, which the digital download of Dragon Quest Heroes is already bigger than. Nintendo have learned nothing from the disaster that was the Wii U, at least not when it comes to charging for things.
Is there an upside?: Actually yes. This isn’t just a regular sit-under-the-TV console remember, this is also Nintendo’s next portable too. A New 3DS and a Wii U, even now years after their release, will still set you back more than £300, and the Switch is both combined. Plus, it’s brand new. With the technology and usefulness combined, it’s actually a pretty fair price. Just… don’t lose your Joy-Cons, okay?
2. Seriously, how many games?
What’s that?: No matter how good the Nintendo Switch is, no matter how exciting the portable side is, it will all come down to how many games are available on it. And here comes the rub. The Wii U hemorrhaged titles so that after a while publishers simply weren’t bothering to port their games to it, so with the Switch they’re hopeful but even more wary. There’s also the further problem that the Switch isn’t as powerful as the XB1/PS4, so porting titles like Mass Effect: Andromeda, The Witcher 3 or even Fallout 4 probably isn’t going to happen despite the scaling offered by the PC version. At best we’ll get older games like Skyrim, retro-style games like Shovel Knight, and less system intensive indie games like Yooka-Laylee.
There are 21 launch games for the system, most of which are digital indie titles, with only 5 physical games in stores. The Wii U launched with 35, and that didn’t have decent digital store. There are a total of 133 games announced, which sounds impressive but that’s counting every single publisher, AAA or indie, retail and digital, over the total lifespan of the system and any of those can be cancelled. A good 25% of those are indie titles announced in the last week or so. Over 3+ years the Wii U currently stands with 733 games on it. My Steam account has 730 games on it, and I’m a tight bastard. 133? My last Humble Bundle purchase had more games than that on it. This is a real problem for the Switch. I mean, the system sounds cool, but will a PC gamer (or anyone) want to shell out for a gadget with nothing on it? Of course not. That’s why the Nvidia Shield failed too.
Is there an upside?: Consumer awareness of the Switch is far higher than the Wii U, which was so badly marketed most people thought and still think today that it’s just a tablet controller add-on for the original Wii. That’s why every publisher, including Nintendo, dropped it like a stone. If everyone wants a Switch, and buys it, the games will come. Moreover as I was writing this feature the total number of games jumped from 98 to 133, so as the launch approached excitement built up enough to pull in more developers and publishers.
3. Third-Party Support
What’s that?: We’re not just talking about games here. Well, we’re mostly talking about games, but also support from third-party publishers in general. Ever since the Nintendo 64 the company’s consoles have struggled to attract the kind of support from publishers that Sony and Microsoft have. N64, GameCube, Wii (to a lesser extent) and Wii U especially all saw their support dry up and the systems become ghost towns.
The difference with the Switch is that the console’s not even out yet and already the support looks threadbare. Most of the major publishers only have a paltry one game coming to the system. EA have FIFA, which may not even be the most recent version of the game. Activision have Skylanders: Imaginators, a port of the latest game in the nearly completely dead Toys To Life genre. LEGO Dimensions isn’t coming to Switch incidentally, despite having a Wii U version. Bethesda has Skyrim, but that’s it. 2K has NBA 2K18. Capcom has… Street Fighter II? That’s a misprint, right? Surely it’s V? … Their only game on a new Nintendo console is an updated re-release of a SNES game? I can’t imagine any other publisher would do that… oh, hello Konami. Bomberman huh? Neat.
When Tomorrow Corporation (makers of World of Goo) is the fourth biggest publisher on your system - and the joint biggest at launch alongside freakin’ Nintendo - it’s understandable to be worried about a system’s future.
Is there an upside?: Again, if the system sells well and those juicy publisher scraps do money then publishers will start porting more. Even if they just throw a load of old titles on there the portability aspect will make it worthwhile. Maybe.
4. Nintendo Being Nintendo
What’s that?: This is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot regarding Nintendo. Basically it means that this old Japanese company sometimes gets a little arrogant and sure of themselves so they make boneheaded business decisions that make sense to no-one, sabotaging their own interests, just because. Granted Microsoft, Sony, and SEGA have all fallen prey to this arrogance, with SEGA in particular crapping themselves right out of the console market, but Nintendo seems to do it an awful lot and it’s baffling every time. Why call it the “Wii U” instead of the massively more marketable “Wii 2”? Why is the only Metroid game in six years a multiplayer shooter on a handheld with poor online support? Why use Friend Codes, Blocks and Nintendo Points instead of having a single account that you just add games to in exchange for direct money while making friends with simple requests, calculate in “GBs” of data, and just be able to frickin’ play people online already?
The Switch looks in no way like it’s going to change Nintendo. Launch at a price point higher than both Xbox One and PS4. Add yet another Nintendo account for people to sign up to. Not have Virtual Console or even Mario Kart 8 available for launch and then try to pass that off as a “staggered release” as if choice was a bad thing. Have gamers to buy all their digital purchases again. Have peripherals be ridiculous prices, and make a proper D-pad being exclusive to the Pro Controller. Only give 32GB of internal storage, despite several launch games taking up more than that already. Force a paid online service then just offer a smartphone “voice chat app” (as if Skype or phone calls didn’t exist) and a NES or SNES game rental a month, which of course you don’t get to choose. Friend Codes still exist.
That’s all just Nintendo being Nintendo.
Is there an upside?: While this will undoubtedly continue Nintendo does seem to be learning. Having all digital purchases, online activity and friends attached to a single proper Nintendo Account is just the sort of forward thinking every single other publisher, developer, and console manufacturer did on all non-Nintendo platforms years ago. Hopefully they’ll even learn that a new F-Zero game might be a good thing.
And now on to the most important final point against buying a Nintendo Switch if you’re a PC gamer…
5. It’s a still a console, F*** You
What’s that?: I don’t care how you dress it up, it’s still a console, and I’d rather be dead in the cold, cold ground before I buy one. If I want portability I’ll play on my phone, tablet, or laptop. If I want a Zelda game I’ll emulate it, along with literally every other Nintendo game in existence apart from the Wii U but really who cares about that?!!! There is literally no reason to buy any console if you’ve got a decent PC, especially not this one. Just f* off and die you console-loving inbred lower-class c-s**er.
Is there an upside?: It’s a fair cop. F*** you anyway.
So there you have it! Lots of points for and against buying a Nintendo Switch for the die-hard PC gaming enthusiast. Are you tempted to buy one after our stunning and impassioned debate with ourselves? Let us know in the comments! Just don’t buy any of those stupid Amiibos. Well, maybe Ness. Ness is cool.
And no, this wasn’t just an excuse to talk about the Nintendo Switch. Oh, did I say that already? Well… good. It wasn’t.
