Nintendo Switch Hands-On: A Console Brimming With Fun Ideas

Details on the hotly anticipated Game Boy-style system, which was first teased in October, will be live streamed from the Nintendo Switch event in Tokyo at 11 p.m. ET Thursday night.

The Switch arrives at one of the most tumultuous moments in Nintendo’s long and storied history.

The major launch title for the Nintendo Switch is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which both looks and plays spectacularly.

Nintendo will follow those games on April 28 with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a DLC-loaded, full-priced port of the Wii U racing game. “We will consider new games for Nintendo Switch, and we will present them soon”.

The console’s online service offers multiplayer gaming, but it also appeals to those with a smartphone or a tablet, where they can use their smart device to chat, make appointments for games and other features, bringing the Switch into an ecosystem that has more than 2 billion devices and counting. 1-2 Switch in particular feels like a next-gen Wii game.

Nintendo’s USA shares were down 6%, near 26, in afternoon trading on the stock market today.

CNN received an early look at the new console on Friday in NY and was impressed how seamlessly it mixes Nintendo nostalgia with modern technology. When it’s docked and connected to a TV, it acts like a regular game console along the lines of the Xbox One or Nintendo’s own Wii U. But then, with very little effort, you can pull a small screen out from the dock and “switch” (aha!) to a portable gaming device with two “Joy Con” controllers attached to the sides. That flexibility of being able to switch from the TV to a handheld experience is there.

Super Mario Odyssey was the Japanese giant’s first revelation, and left fans wondering if the friendly Italian plumber could be heading to uncharted territories. On the other hand, it is coming out at a more affordable price than either Sony or Microsoft will with their future consoles. It’s about the same size of the Wii U controller too, though a bit less bulky overall.

In the GIF below, two players can be seen going head to head in tabletop mode.

In “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” launch game – sold separately – players are introduced to stunning landscapes and characters are incredibly detailed (take Link’s ragged clothes, for example).

That said, outside of a single video showcasing the console, Nintendo’s said next to nothing about the Switch.

In 2012, the Wii U was shipped with two measly versions featuring 8GB or 32GB of storage.

“Well, it looks like I’m only getting a Switch in a year”, I said. There is solid third-party support right out the gate, with publishers including Electronic Arts and Bethesda Softworks, confirming its epic game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will launch for Switch.

Investors’ initial response to Friday’s announcements was negative.

Nintendo’s Tokyo-listed stock dived after it released a three-minute video about the product on its YouTube channel. It should even get a more robust line up of games as the year rolls on, and by Christmas 2017 I’m hoping we’ll see some decent bundles at a lower, more reasonable price.