I’m a big Nintendo fan. Zelda, Pokemon, and Mario were some of my constant companions from my childhood through today. I’ve taken chances on Nintendo hardware in the past, such as buying Wii U relatively early, and I’ve owned at least 5 DS and 3DS devices since they came out. Nevertheless, I haven’t purchased a Switch, and I’m pretty sure it will be a long while before I do. Here are a few of my reasons why:
- I bought into the Wii U early, and I feel I did not get my money’s worth. The majority of games I enjoyed on the Wii U were remakes or remasters of earlier titles, plus games that were also available on the 3DS, like Smash. Windwaker HD was amazing, and I got a lot of use out of Wii Fit U. New titles like Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 were a lot of fun, especially when friends were over to play locally, but besides those games the individual user experience was lacking.
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The lack of user access to save data is a new low, even for a company like Nintendo, which has always been technologically backwards. If I dropped my Playstation Vita off a boat today, I could purchase a new Vita and be back up and running in hours due to the ability to back data up in the cloud with Playstation Plus. I wouldn’t even need to re-download the games because Sony gives you the ability to back up data onto a computer (encrypted, but still a local backup). If I had a similar situation with the Switch, or even if the Switch were somehow bricked but still in my possession, there is no such recovery available. At least on the 3DS you could make a copy of your SD card, including save files. No such luck on the Switch. It’s 2017. Nintendo needs to get their act together on user data.
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The lack of software is a little surprising for a launch. I don’t honestly understand why Nintendo rushed to launch when they did, but the entire rollout has seemed half-baked and lacking.
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I have way too many other games to play on platforms I already own. I also have gotten quite invested in FFXIV and recently Overwatch. I’m not very good, but at least I’m not a Hanzo main.
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There’s just not enough software yet. The biggest draws are the Zelda game (which is also available for my Wii U if I want to dust it off), the 1-2-Switch local multiplayer game (I live alone), and a Lego game I could play just as easily on the PS4… with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (I already own the Wii U version) and Skyrim (lol) coming soon… Things are looking relatively bleak to me for at least the first year.
I suppose it’s still quite likely I will buy a Switch at some point in the future, but it will probably be long in the future. The earliest possible time I might buy one is early next year for my annual convention circuit, in case we can get some local 8-on-8 Splatoon 2 action or Mario Kart 8 games over an ad-hoc connection. Until at least then, I’ll pass.
