Flipping the Switch

So, almost two weeks, and still enjoying the Switch. That’s a plus.

It doesn’t mean there aren’t some serious issues with it, though. Allow me to don my cynical, pessimistic hat for a moment here, and list a few of the grievances.

One: 32 Gigs is not enough. Yes, I know, you can buy memory cards for it… but I thought we were past this point by now. Roll the cost into the machine for bigger internal memory or including a memory card; it’ll still be worth it. Or at least make it clear on the system’s box that a memory card is recommended, as the system itself will only handle 3-4 games at most (and won’t handle some games at all; I’m looking at you, WWE 2k18 and L.A. Noire) and that’s being generous and not including DLC.

Two: Get rid of the damned friend codes already.

Three: It would be nice to have some form of Achievement/Trophy analog. It wouldn’t mean a whole lot until Nintendo gets their game together for unified online and non-friend code friendships, but a satisfying “ding” when you do something awesome (or stupid…) would please me and quite a few others, I’m sure.

Four: Where’s Virtual Console? I don’t care if we’re waiting on GameCube or 3DS or something; can we at least get the NES, SNES, Master System, Genesis, C64 or TG-16 games up? Maybe? I would totally give you my money all over again to get Devil’s Crush, Dragon’s Trap (and yes, I know they’ve reissued it for everything in a “new and improved” version, but I still like the TG-16 one), Ninja Spirit or Super Metroid up in there.

Five: Give us the option to swap the buttons for Western confirm/cancel. I know the Japanese have used the bottom button for cancel and the right one for confirm forever (and I was quite used to it during the SNES era), but for those of us hopping back and forth between systems here in the West, it causes all kinds of mistaken “yes” selections and menu cancellations.

Six: Give us streaming options. I know Nintendo has historically been against using their footage, but they seem to be correcting their course in all kinds of other ways with the Switch, so why not this one? You’ve already got the screenshot/share function… would it be that much more threatening or difficult to add video streaming?

That’s it. Not such a long list – at least so far. But beyond those minor gripes, it’s a great system. It’s not going to dethrone my PS4, but it’ll certainly get plenty of use. Unlike my Wii and my utter disinterest in WiiU.

What about you out there? Tried the Switch yet? What are your thoughts? Let us know down below!