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Nintendo Switch: Home Console/Handheld Hybrid (Updated)


Poe Dameron
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I was able to snag a GameStop switch bundle that came with an extra controller and Breath of Wild. Been sitting in my closet in a suitcase since middle of march. Fitbit for my sons birthday, which is June 23rd. A long wait, because I wanted the switch as bad as my son does.

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Has anyone's melted like reports have said? Supposedly in dock mode it can overheat and start melting. It sounds like overreaction to me but was curious...

Well, an overreaction to the "melting" part anyway. Basically, one guy on Reddit reported a small bend over the weekend and that sent a host of people to check their Switches against a straightedge.

 

Not the best news. It hasn't caused any actual problems and it's minor enough that even the people who have reported the issues literally didn't notice until someone pointed it out, but it is worrisome for a console that's going to last the next five years. Overheating concerns were always going to be a problem we'd be worrying about on a console this small. Still too early to say that it will actually play out that way, but it is a mark of concern.

 

That said, it's pretty far below the thing melting.

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Okay, Nintendo's released the NPD sales numbers for the United States.

  • Switch: 906,000
  • Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch): 925,000

So, you'll notice two things there. First, the Switch is doing awesome, which we pretty much already knew.

 

The second, downright crazy thing to notice there is that Zelda: Breath of the Wild has a system attachment rate of 102%. There have been 19,000 more Breath of the Wild cartridges and downloads sold than there have been Switches sold. I guess this is due to those limited editions that sold out 10 minutes after the Switch presentation ended.

 

We also got a release date for Arms (6/16) and Splatoon 2 (7/21).

 

Mario Kart is coming in about a week, so that should keep the gravy train rolling. Mario Kart has been Nintendo's highest selling console franchise the last few generations.

 

The odd play of launching in March instead of the holidays (and only weeks after it was first showcased) appears to have been the right call. Without a holiday to back it up and obscure bad sales figures, if the Switch had been rejected by consumers it would have been exposed and left for dead almost immediately and made it onto a thousand "dumbest mistakes in video games" videos.

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For what it's worth, I've seen them in stores twice now. They were gone the next day both times I saw them, but if you're hunting for them, it's not impossible.

 

Not sure why you'd feel the need to buy Breath of the Wild though. It's been at every retailer that I've run across.

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But who shops at brick and mortar stores anymore? I am never just in stores - like, ever. Plus, Prime members got BotW at a reduced price so I was jumping on that when it was in stock, and just banking on getting a Switch whenever I got one. To avoid the risk of ending up with the console but without a game for even a day or two.

 

Online inventory is still in and out of stock.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...

Well guys, we're officially one year later on this. And the Nintendo resurgence has become the success story of 2017 in video games. The latest data point that Nintendo managed to account for 2/3 of all hardware sales last month. Add in Mario Odyssey coming next week, which looks set to become the Breath of the Wild of Mario games and the year couldn't have gone much better for them. They've pretty much singlehandedly produced one of the best 1st year lineups ever.

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My son and I play the switch often. We love it. One of the games we enjoy the most is Arms. Fun, simple game. We have Zelda, Sonic, Lego City, Bomberman, Mario Kart and last but not least, stardew valley. Great game.

 

Im trying to not bring too much attention to Mario Odyssey. Its a game we want badly, but Im going to get it for Christmas for the kiddo. So were gonna have to wait. The next game Im really looking forward to investing a lot of time in, personally, is xenoblade 2. Cant wait.

 

This system is screaming for retro gaming thats not NEO GEO SNK. Please, bring on the classics.

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I'm hopeful that the game support can turn around.

I've got Zelda and Mario Kart, but haven't been compelled to get anything else. Splatoon looks fun, but I haven't been able to pull the trigger on it. Mario Odyssey looks promising, I'll probably get it if the reviews look good.

Other than that, there's just not a lot out there. At least nothing comparable to what the PS4 / XBox has available.

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I'm hopeful that the game support can turn around.

 

Funny, I was just thinking about how remarkable the Switch's software support has been for a first year. Arguably the best ever. If anything, I'm worried that Nintendo's set a pace they can't possibly match. How do you follow up a year where Zelda and Mario fight over the Game of the Year title, Mario Kart is the year's biggest seller, Splatoon cements itself as a top-tier franchise, and another half dozen Nintendo franchise games are released on top of that? Years like this just don't happen all that often.

 

It'll be tough to match that. The only IPs that Nintendo has that can compete with those games in terms of sales are Pokemon, Smash Bros., and 2D Mario. I get where you're just looking at what games you want personally right now, and naturally systems that have been out for many years will have a deeper library, but I think once you get some distance and hindsight, this has been a golden year for the company.

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To be honest I think Sony and Microsoft have a lot of catch up to do. Since I've had the Switch, I've barely been excited about anything coming out on Xbox and Playstation. In fact, I'm more excited to see ports of older games come out on Switch (Doom, LA Noire and Wolfenstein) than anything coming out on the others. Nintendo have made playing games fun again, I don't feel like they're a chore which sometimes it feels like playing on the other consoles.

 

And massive respect to Nintendo for going back to cartridges. I remember picking up Mario Kart on Switch and Prey on PS4 for the same day. I waited a couple of hours for some ridiculous update on the PS4 to play Prey, whereas I was playing Mario Kart in 2 mins of putting it in the console.

 

And playing Stardew Valley on the go is amazing.

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  • 3 months later...

So, the Switch is basically a sales beast. Their shipped units number is just shy of 15 million, which already puts it ahead of the Wii U's lifetime total and makes it the fastest selling console ever in its first year. On top of that Mario Odyssey has already sold 9 million, so its attachment rate is just stupid high.

 

Oh, and Illumination (Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing) is going to be making a Mario animated film.

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