[Let’s Talk] What’s your current Switch icon?
When you think about where Switch was for its launch compared to now in terms of user icons, it’s a pretty big difference. For awhile, certain system updates would slowly add new designs over time. Then at the very end of 2022, a new benefit was added for Nintendo Switch Online in which members could spend My Nintendo Points on icons. We now get new ones pretty regularly, often tying in to new game launches.
User icons are ultimately a pretty small thing, but allow fans to express themselves in different ways. Which are you using at the moment? Let us know in the comments.
Highlights from last week’s topic: Where does Switch rank among other Nintendo systems?
Shmuel McConen
I said it once, and I’ll say it again: The Nintendo Switch is a Nintendo fan’s dream console. The first to herald the age of handheld AAA gaming, giving us amazing experiences on the go, and it got so many great games – arguably one of the best software line-ups in gaming history (rivals the PS2 and SNES):
Two of the very best open-world games in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, the best 3D platformer in Super Mario Odyssey, a new and amazing Pikmin game, the most successful Animal Crossing game, the biggest Mario Kart ever existed, the greatest collaboration project in gaming history in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the first actually new and refreshing mainline Pokemon game in Legends Arceus, a new 2D Metorid game that became my game of the year for 2021, two amazing Fire Emblem games, not one but two(!) new Splatoon games, each one-upping it’s previous iteration, a return to the Luigi’s Mansion series, remasters for older games and so much more.
What the Switch did in its soon to be 9 years in existence will be simply impossible to replicate. I’m just glad I got to be a reviewer and a gaming journalist in one of Nintendo’s biggest golden eras in history.
theFooFighter
The older consoles have history and nostalgia behind them but the switch library is really hard to beat. The N64 doesn’t have 3d Zelda and Pokemon, the Wii doesn’t have 2d and 3d Metroid. That combined dev environment plus a massive install base, decent enough tech and being around for 8 years is something the other Nintendo consoles just can’t match.
RoomWithAMoose
NES owned the market. SNES defined gaming conventions. N64 REdefined gaming conventions.
it’s hard for me to say any console is on the level of these legends. Even if the Switch can be argued as the objective best Nintendo console ever (given support and intrinsic design). Still, I’ll have to rank it at #4, followed by the Gameboy.
47drift
Setting nostalgia aside, it’s undeniably the best. Even ignoring shovelware, it feels next to impossible to finish all the must-play titles available on the Switch in a single lifetime. It was bolstered by incredible third party support, as well. One of the best consoles of all time with one hell of a run.
Stephen Yap
1) Super Nintendo Entertainment System (A)
2) Nintendo 3DS (A)
3) Nintendo 64 (B+)
4) Nintendo GameCube (B)
5) Nintendo Wii U (B)
6) Nintendo Entertainment System (B-)
7) Game Boy Advance (B-)
8) Nintendo Switch (C+)
9) Nintendo Wii (C+)
10) Game Boy (C)
11) Game Boy Color (C-)
12) Nintendo DS (D+)
Personally, the Switch is…kind of in the lower middle of the rankings list for me. I still enjoyed owning the system and I do not regret it at all, but it is far from one of the best Nintendo systems I’ve ever experienced, despite “saving” Nintendo from the Wii U’s failure.
The third-party and indie support are definitely at their best here, plus the hybrid portability console idea is quite the gimmick to praise highly for…but on the flipside, I do feel that the Switch still has plenty of room for improvement in some key areas (barebones menu and eShop UI, Play Activity Log being a huge stepdown from the 3DS’s Activity Log, “drifting” analog sticks, etc.) and while I’m glad to have plenty of ports (and remakes) on the system, I do feel that the Switch relied a bit too much on them to the point that I found myself enjoying more of them than newer games (Super Neptunia RPG vs Megadimension Neptunia VII? NOT BY A LONG SHOT…), not to mention that I felt that Nintendo got a little too comfortable with the Mario IP this generation; sure, I enjoyed Super Mario Odyssey and Luigi’s Mansion 3, but I also expected better from Super Mario Party and Paper Mario: The Origami King.
Now, the last part may seem like I’m solely focusing on Mario games on each Nintendo system, but I have played numerous other games from Nintendo’s hands since the SNES days and on the Switch, I liked playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (despite being a Wii U game at first), Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Kirby Star Allies, Pikmin 4, F-Zero 99, BoxBoy! + BoxGirl!, Good Job!, and Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics. The Switch’s overall first-party quality still doesn’t reach to the heights of the SNES or GameCube for me and I expected better from 1-2-Switch and Flip Wars, but all-in-all the good outweighs the bad for me in the end and I’ll give the Switch a medal regardless.
And in case if anybody wonders, the Nintendo DS is at the bottom of my list because while I’m glad to see a smorgasbord of games available for it, there just wasn’t much that caught my eye and even then many of the games I played on it didn’t leave me all that impressed; sure, there’s some games I enjoyed like WarioWare: D.I.Y. and Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver, but I also expected better in Wario: Master of Disguise and Animal Crossing: Wild World. There’s plenty for me to unearth when it comes to my strong(est) feelings for the Nintendo DS, but all-in-all I’m glad to have experienced it when I still enjoyed it and the Nintendo 3DS (probably) wouldn’t have happened without it.
