I don't get much enjoyment out of the Switch

The hottest selling console (50 million and counting) is going to have some who don't appreciate it. That's to be expected. And certainly there were things done much better on the 3DS (like the home menu) than on Switch. But when you say both "I don't get much enjoyment out of the Switch" and " I've had for the Switch even after it's been out for about 3 years" it's hard to believe both statements could be true, especially coming from a Nintendo fanboy. It's hard to see where Nintendo goes from here. They've surprised us before and they may do so again, but if you're not enjoying the run the Switch is having right now... It may be time for you to look into Steam or the PS5. The heady days of the Wii and then the 3DS innovations are gone.

Well, Steam and PS5 don't have first-party games. I can always play the older Nintendo games.

I just got the Switch a week ago. I agree it has lost a bit of the Nintendo Touch (Miiverse, the stock apps that you found with the original Wii and Wii u like Mii Plaza and Wii Chat). Though I have to say it feels awesome that the actually concept is that you can play on the go and then enjoy the game on the TV @ 1080p after. As for the menu, I think they tried to keep it simple as they can for the sake of it not using a lot of hardware resources (ram ect).

Anyways, maybe give it a another chance, maybe it will grow on to you. And if its not your system, well it is what it is. Who knows what the year will bring for new games ect.

Happy Gaming.

I'll admit that nintendo consoles have high expectations to them. I am disappointed we have bland boring menus with no music or themes on the switch. STILL! The lack of anything feature rich on previous consoles is basically restricted to the highest degree (probably cause of hacking concerns even if that has failed) Basic fundamentals of what makes nintendo system a appealing thing presentabley is discarded. Basically as it's been said. "It's just a game system meant to play games" Not a multimedia system like 3DS that can least play music on the SD card, take pictures, or browse the internet... i mean this thing doesn't even have a street pass system or pedometer.

Most people wouldn't complain about this stuff but they should. You never realize how much you miss something until is missing. I think people would appreciate the little stuff. There is easter egg hunters out there who like finding those kinds of things. A loading screen you can mess around with, a menu screen that has secrets. Nes classic has stuff like that. Makes it seem like it has a personality of its own. I mean it's why a system like playstation is remember for the system boot up music or the memory card manager screen.

Still the best you can do to "Personalize" the system is different color joycons or some decals or stickers on the thing. (Or some special edition) otherwise, is just as boring and honest as the trailer that revealed the system.

I think I get more enjoyment out of HB programs and breaking games, rather than playing them.

My advice to you:
play games you don't normally play. Sounds crazy, but when you think about it, you're most likely subconsciously hating the game based on fundamental factors.
I had to stop playing RPGs for a bit because it felt like, "Push "A", read, walk, grind, push, "A", read, walk, grind, find, assist, read, push "A", repeat."
So, I boiled it down: I'm just reading and everything else is a hindrance to me reading....so I started playing visual novels--try Raging Loop, then Metro LO, then Death Mark....some would say, "Play Sword Art Online", but....clapping your asscheeks is probably better.....the animoomoo is better.

So, pretty much, hack your Switch and try titles you'd never play. Or, hack your Switch and play titles you used to like, find out you actually don't like those titles, try new Switch games (I dare you), and wages&salary.

Here's some fun for you:
"The Switch HOME Menu is garbage" -- UlaunchN'w8.

"The Switch has no backwards compatibility....you have to use the Joy-Cons"-- hackN'w8/sys-con.

"Apparently I only played the Switch for around 50 hours last year. "--sue Nintendo.

" I want something like Pushmo on the Switch, WarioWare, Paper Mario,"--um....riiaow, meow, miaow.

"an Internet browser"--nxbrowser/hackNw8.

"HD remakes of N64 and GameCube games maybe (I haven't played N64 & GC games much"--WTAF? HackN'w8.

"something like Super Mario 3D World"--Okay, you got it. Super Mario 3d Switch World, summer 2020...But it's getting delayed.

"Another random idea that I got from Amazon Alexa"--The fuck? https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article229121874.html


"I hope Nintendo makes at least some of those ideas come to life. "--HackN'b8

"The last complaint I have is that the Switch doesn't seem to let you interact with the community as much as I would like to."--Thank fucking Hekate. Here: https://uiiverse.xyz/

"I'll end off this rant saying that the Nintendo Labo is a very creative idea"--My cat has been playing with cardboard since boxes were invented.

Mai du, how do you have a launch Switch and not want to hack it? Go hack it. I mean, you're on GBAtemp.net, not "I bought a Switch, don't really like it, but won't sell it and buy a cardboardbox.com"


My bad, but you seem to not even read what most of us are doing with our Switch consoles. If you had the time to write this, you have the time to see if your "issues" are "issues".
I totally had the time to tell you--cooking a pizza....and playing in the box.

Sounds like you're just getting older, my dude. Happens with all of us.


Realistically, a lot of people play games as a form of escape. If you have a rich and fulfilling personal life outside of gaming, you are less likely to spend a lot of time and effort in a virtual environment that doesn't really effect much beyond the screen you're looking at.


Not saying gaming is awful or a drug or anything like that, but as you say in your blog, when you have other hobbies you enjoy and get fulfillment out of, most of the more grindy aspects of games end up feeling like a very obvious chore. It will make you much more picky when it comes to the experiences you choose to invest your time in.

I felt the same about the Wii and the 3ds.

The Wii might have been slightly different but the 3ds just saw all those that made the DS and GBA what they were bugger off and not do a lot. Hence the 3ds has no games (or gaems if we are to follow standards around here).

General dearth of experimental games, general lack of mid tier games (if I look at my 360 library then most of it was not the forgettable dross that EA and Ubisoft pump out year on year but mid budget devs doing interesting things, though the PS4 and xbone also seem afflicted with this), Nintendo first party/captive dev stuff being somewhat underwhelming (other than Advance Wars and Starfy I have no particular attachment to any of it but that is me), no bleeding edge stuff to see where things are heading, few ports of things I suppose but given classics now land us squarely in the N64 era with everything else being emulated years earlier...
Beyond that I also like it when consoles can showcase the general state of gaming -- I am not a fan of the concept of exclusives but if you had a PS3 only you would miss out on say Halo and 360 only then Forza and other things but you would still have most of the same games and be able to play the general trends of the day (or console versions anyway -- as ever the PC does its own thing). I don't see picking up a Switch in 10 years as being able to demonstrate what gaming was about at this point, unless you count a sense of mediocrity as that but I would aspire to have a more fleshed out example.

Inb4 fanboys passively aggressively insult you. Oh, too late.

Yeah the second I learned the switch was gonna just be a tablet, I knew it would be the first Nintendo console I didn't own. I think I'm done with Nintendo in general tbh. They've just made too many mistakes, didn't expand in the directions I would've liked, and their best games are aimed toward audiences younger than me. Still like their retro titles, though.

@IncredulousP
"Inb4 fanboys passively aggressively insult you." I did it with my dick out. and these aren't insults. This isn't passive-aggressive, THIS IS GBATEMP.NET1111!11.

had2maidu.

BTW, you say that, but you'll be back.....they always come back(shots).

Consoles in general just seem so pointless to me now tbh.
My switch has seen very little use other than some Mario here and there.
Breath of the Wild was a big disappointment.
My PS4 gets some playtime, but only because my cousin plays Monster Hunter on PS4 rather than PC.
So what are we paying for? Devices that unlock the ability to play certain games and perhaps some exclusive content ahead of time? These games could run fine on any other platform.
The innovation factor is dead. Not because they're not trying, but because simply everything has already been done one way or another.
None of the big three are bringing something truly new to the table, so they cling to their precious exclusives to sell their units.
It's no longer a new to way to play or about pushing the envelope. All you're paying for is to break a barrier that shouldn't exist in the first place.

@H1B1Esquire

I think I get more enjoyment out of HB programs and breaking games, rather than playing them.

My advice to you:
play games you don't normally play. Sounds crazy, but when you think about it, you're most likely subconsciously hating the game based on fundamental factors.

Click to expand...

Agree!!
I was getting bored of the 3DS a while ago and I decided to just take a look down the list of best games according to metacritic - I gave Virtue's Last Reward a go and discovered a game that's now in my favourite top 5 of all time. Before that I only played 3D and 2D platformers basically. Discovered I quite like the visual novel genre. I might do the same with Switch once I am less busy and hopefully discover something totally new that I end up loving.

same tbh my switch has been sitting on my desk, dead for the past few months

I think rather than Wii/3DS, a better comparison for Switch is Gamecube. Strictly a gaming machine with no real "gimmicks" that brings console-length/console-quality games to a portable form factor. Depending on your particular use case, that can be either a good or a bad thing. Personally I don't see a need for stuff like streaming apps and internet browsers on my game consoles, as these are already covered by $20 HDMI sticks and/or smartphones. Same deal with "bite-sized" entertainment meant to fill 5-10 minutes of downtime.

Minus the shovelware, my Switch library is already just as large as my Wii library was at any given point, and it's provided just as much entertainment, if not more so.

I'm going to add on to what @Xzi and @PityOnU said: the Switch is a gaming-first device, and not a "look how we changed the way you can play Resident Evil with your friends" proof-of-concept that a lot of games on Nintendo consoles ultimately ended up becoming from 2006-the end of the Wii U after 2014 (seriously, that year was when that disaster peaked, and that was only because of the games that released in that year). It can play the same games with only downgrades in framerate, resolution, etc. when comparing the experience portably and on the TV.

It may not be your cup of tea, and honestly, like what @DarkKaine said, consoles are starting to become more like keys to be able play certain games who's exclusivity is questionable at best when you factor in emulators on Windows, re-releases on Steam (the EGS can suck my dick before I'll support those assholes' arrogant and customer-unfriendly attitude with that Ooblets disaster) or other services on PC. The only exception to this rule has been Nintendo's exclusives, but with CemU getting constant Patreon money for better or for worse, Dolphin being the badass emulator that it is, and now Yuzu and RyujiNX (is this emulator even still in active development? It's always about Yuzu. Not that I plan on using either anytime soon given what I'm about to say about the Switch, but still) are making crazy strides with the hacking scene that goes on here and the documentation on how the Tegra X1 works that makes development go more smoothly. Sure, Orbital and Spine for PS4 haven't exactly hit their "OMG! YOU CAN PLAY BOTW WITHOUT OWNING THE ACTUAL SYSTEM!" moment, and I honestly suspect it'll be some time before that becomes a reality, but as long as your patient, you will always be able to play all of these games on a computer in one form or another as long as your PC is powerful enough and doesn't eventually bite the dust. Which is part of the reason why I think these systems have lost their touch and purpose these days. No matter how many flops or whatever spec they try to sell, the upcoming next generation systems will always somehow fall short of expectations because gaming computer hardware is always improving at a rate faster than what consoles can. Hence, why it comes down to the games to sell a system, and this is where even I lately have been kind of feeling "Meh" about even the Switch.

Back when I was finishing up elementary school, one of my older brothers was picking me up from school. On the way, he told me about Nintendo's next console, the Revolution. He told me that it used a remote control for a controller. I distinctly remember thinking that it was a stupid idea for a control scheme, saying how there wouldn't be enough buttons to support most games, but particularly fighting games, as those were what he and I bonded over growing before he got his current job. And that opinion really hasn't changed at all about all of the stylus, Wiimote pointing/shaking/tilting/thrusting/biting/stomping/whatever the fuck Nintendo tried to do to ram their Wiimotes down consumers' throats.



Sexual Wiimote jokes aside, a lot of the games were essentially made to accommodate this control scheme. The ones that did it well were the good games everyone who's an actual gamer and not a Karen remembers well: Metroid Prime Trilogy (I'd still rather use that Mouselook mod thing that I still have yet to give a shot, need time to get the logistics of that sorted out), the Resident Evil Chronicles Duology, both Super Mario Galaxies, from what I've heard, Zelda Skyward Sword's motion controls were good due to the MotionPlus being required (I guess the game suffered from lots of backtracking?), No More Heroes, I'd be here all night if I listed them all out. Given that the Switch joy-cons can apparently do some sort of pointing and other motion control gimmickiness, don't you think some of these would be good ideas for ports to the Switch given what it can potentially do better than the Wii without having to set up a fucking receiver who's cord is far longer than necessary for your typical entertainment center, you don't necessarily have to be standing perfectly in the middle to get good reception, or worry about going outside of whatever boundary that will get your character stuck aiming up at the edges of the screen? Wii U ports I get, absolutely. Honestly, the Switch may as well be the Gamepad idea done correctly as opposed to, "You're out of range of our glorified DVD player of a dock. Btw, how do you like missing out on all of the better versions of games coming out on the Switch in addition to sequels and other features?" I legitimately hope that Nintendo manages to port everything from the Wii U over to the Switch within reason so that people won't feel the need to get a failed console to experience Nintendo's Knuckle's Chaotix, if I had to compare Nintendo and Sega in some regards. But still, given what the Switch can do, it feels like Nintendo is not doing enough to really execute the idea to its fullest potential. And it's a damn shame because I actually really like the library for the Switch.

Because the Switch is focused on a standard control scheme (RIP d-pad, tho), there's not as many, if any at all, gimmicks for Nintendo to force onto developers that they have to follow if they want to develop/port games to the system. This has allowed for games that normally wouldn't be on a Nintendo system to actually make it there. And unlike with the systems with portable features in mind, these are the full versions of said games with no missing animations, characters, stages, etc. that plagued, say, the port of MK1 on Game Boy (the only thing that saves this port is the badass music that I wish there was a higher quality MIDI version of) that has plagued portable gaming for years. Blazblue: Centralfiction? Comes with the latest version with all characters. GGXXAC+R? Not only is just about everything that's not the gallery and the gold/shadow/EX characters unlocked from the start, but you have access to the Korean OST that not even the Steam version has without modding the game. The only game that suffers the usual portable gaming curse is, ironically, Mortal Kombat 11. Not because it's missing anything per se, but the graphics are downgraded, and in spite of the porting team's impressive efforts to maintain 60fps during gameplay, it just can't quite always stay at 60fps. Still impressive that they managed it at all, though!

The 3rd party support is there, but the problem is that said 3rd party support mostly consists of games that one can theoretically play by themselves. If you're hoping for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare...Modern Warfare (Not Modern Warfare 4. I know the campaign is a spiritual reboot/prequel of MW1, but for fuck's sake...) or Battlefield on the Switch, the best you're gonna get is hacking it, installing Moonlight and hoping for the best. Sure, there's Splatoon 2, but last I heard, thanks to the Switch being hackable via the use of such uncommon and highly sought after items as a fucking paperclip if you know what you're doing, you run the risk of getting your account banned, which can especially suck if you're doing the "Clean Switch for official gaming, dirty Switch for hacking, emulation, homebrew, etc." method of using a Switch given how ban happy Nintendo has apparently become. Not to mention, ports of last generation games. Sure, a lot of these games are stuff I haven't played yet mostly because I didn't have a job until four years ago, had to rebuild my PC 2-4 times either because I got a far better case, one computer biting the dust, or another one's motherboard giving yours truly the middle finger until I got my current one (FYI, fuck ASUS and their overprices POS mobos), but given how seldom I bring my Switch to work given that I share a locker with someone because that's how it is, how not-portable it is given its size regardless if you have the standard or Lite, and the potential problems it can bring (no joke, one of my co-workers literally had his shit vandalized by someone else in the break room, and I literally said that's why I don't bring my Switch to work. Well, that, and also that an hour lunch passes by real quickly when you have to not only eat, but focus on using the bathroom, talking to other people, etc., but that's not what was ultimately important) given its valuable nature.

At least with something like the PSP Go, you may not be playing the latest games by a long shot, but one can comfortably slide it into their pocket and ensure that it's on their person at all times as opposed to risking losing $350+ just because you might want to play BOTW or Smash Ultimate with someone else (I've noticed that not many of my co-workers have brought their Switches to work lately, and even then, it's usually only for them to either play Pokemon, Fire Emblem, or one guy who's usually playing Smash with someone). Kind of a lot of trouble carrying something back and forth that you may not even feel like using, you know?

tl;dr - The Switch, like many of Nintendo's consoles before it, suffers from the problem of practicality. The main difference between it and the Wii and the WiiABU is that it's gimmick is the most practical of them all, but said system's practicality comes with its own set of drawbacks that are a result of them trying to fit so much hardware into an impressively small size form factor that does what's advertised, and it's lead to success for Nintendo that isn't just them hoping for a viral lightning in the bottle like with the Wii and expecting most people to think a name like "Wii U" meant a whole new console and not just another peripheral, but just isn't good enough to last a full console generation, especially if those rumors about the Switch Pro have any merit to them!

I can definitely agree on the front that the Switch is lacking that specific Nintendo energy. The DS and Wii era made up my childhood, and even though I never had a Wii U, I sunk many, many hours into my 3DS. Both consoles give me this relaxed, happy feeling while going through the menus, seeing the splash screens, checking messages, let alone actually playing the games on it.

The Switch just feels sterile and bland, like I'm wasting time if I'm not just actively in a game, which makes me feel pressured to just start something.. Which is difficult, because although I originally got my Switch for Splatoon 2 (And sunk about 400 hours into it), after the last Splatfest, it felt like the charm of the game sort of faded away. Like there just wasn't much of a reason to play it anymore. The main thing I played was Salmon Run, which doesn't get new content anymore, sort of dropping the incentive to pick it up.

Even though I'm a lifelong Pokemon fan, I didn't pick up Sword or Shield. There were just too many things that bugged me about the game. I will, however, be picking up the upcoming Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX, as Red Rescue Team was one of my favorite games as a kid, and the demo was very, very promising.

The main two things I use it for anymore is playing Death Road to Canada, and Puyo Puyo Tetris. I play Smash Brawl more than I play Ultimate.

And as of taking it with me places, it's usually just too much of a liability, in my opinion. I wear a leather trenchcoat 99% of the time, with super deep pockets (Deep enough to sneak 4 cans of soda and some chips into a movie theater), but the tablet takes up an entire pocket, then one pair of joycons will sit in the other, because if I stick something in with the joycons, they'll get scuffed up and dust gets on the thumbsticks. Not to mention how much that weighs my coat down, when I could much more easily just take my DSi with me, and play Pokemon Platinum, or Puzzle League, or somethin'.

While I think it's worth it for anyone to get a Switch, I totally understand what you mean.
I feel like in a way it's a good thing how Nintendo is suddenly being so open to more ports from games they weren't allowing before, but it's true that there aren't enough unique titles on it and something about having a Switch isn't as fun to me as a PS4, 3DS, DS or Wii.

I think that the DS and 3DS have much better game slibraries where I'll still go back and play DS games. I'm currently playing 3 of the unique RPGs that they put on 3DS that I've always wanted to finish. That includes The Alliance Alive, which they just ported to Switch. Yet I found myself wanting to play it on 3DS more. Something about playing it on a chunkier and bigger console doesn't make it look good to me.

And I always disliked the fact that it took away the internet browser; I mean honestly, what excuse is there for that. Did they want to delay hackers or something? The Switch doesn't feel as much like a hub of tons of different activities the way a 3DS does.

I can understand your frustration, if you have a ps4 and a gaming pc, nintendo switch is totally underpowered compared to both of them, not to mention, the games are usually the inferior port of the ones on the home console. I haven't bought switch because I probably will only play super mario odyssey as the rest of the library is not that interesting.