Please note, this is a first impression, not a full review.

Nintendo Switch

Nintendo’s new console/handheld hybrid the Switch was released on Friday the 3rd of March with two colours for the Joy-Con controllers, a black/grey one matching the main colour of the machine and the brighter neon colours of blue and red.

The main gimmick is the fact that it works as both a handheld console but also a home console by putting it into the dock.

I can safely say that the performance of the machine is great in both forms.

With the Wii U I was able to pop it on and play games with just the gamepad and have things on at the same time on the tv.  With the Switch I can do that again, but this time I can also take the Switch away from the tv completely (Yes ! the dream of playing console games on the toilet has come true… they actually included that in an advert).

With the console I got Legends of Zelda Breath of the Wild. It should be noted that this game is also out for the Wii U and means I haven’t been able to try out some of the features of the Switch’s Joy-Con as thankfully they don’t seem to have included features just because it’s on the console (often a problem with some brand new Nintendo console games such as early Wii games, throwing in motion controls just because it existed). But I was able to try it out it as a handheld while watching some comedy shows on tv (well more like listening) and I saw no down grade in performance.

The machine was easy to set up first time (hardest part was getting that hdmi cable into my tv) and had a very simple and easy to understand setup – then registered online and popped in Zelda.

The launch titles include the afore mentioned Zelda Breath of the Wild, 1 2 Switch (that a lot of people think should have been given with the console) Bomberman R, Shovel Knight, Just Dance 2017 and a few others. Other than Zelda there aren’t any real big games. There are many good games planned in the coming months so if you’re not interested in Zelda I would recommend waiting until the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Arms or Splatoon 2 are available.

My experience so far has been very positive and I do recommend the console, but as I said you may want to wait a month or two while the library improves. I hope to do a more in depth analysis later after  I get to grips with the console.

Nintendo Switch released Friday 3rd March