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As much as I like the Nintendo Switch, I am still disappointed in it's menu design.

-Zelda-

-Zelda-

Banned
Maybe it is because I miss the quirky uniqueness of the Wii and Wii U television channels design and the menu music themes that came with each one. Coming off of that charming theme(s) they had there into the switch home screen is just a very sterile and unfriendly feeling for lack of a better term. Even if many of those channels on the Wii were pointless in the end, I still miss the presentation behind them that would make me pop into them for a few minutes each time I started the console up.

Do you think that there is room for improvement in the menu design and presentation of the Switch home screen and do you ever miss the design of the wii and wii u home screens and their odd quirky features and menu music?

The Switch, sadly, could not even be bothered to implete proper folders a good while ago. To also mention there previous Eshop game options were (IMO) better than what we have now by needed online only NSO in order to play retro Nintendo, Snes, and N64 games.

I do like the switch, but these areas are a let down for me personally.
 
RCU005

RCU005

Member
Yeah, I think it's mostly the lack of presentation and charm. Nintendo should have stuck with a redesigned Wii U menu. It's weird how the Wii U had so many great things, and they dismissed them for the Switch, when its the console that is selling millions.

Just like they made many ports of Wii U games to let people play them, they should've done the same with the Menu.
 
Danjin44

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Hoppa said:
I don’t spend enough time in the home menu to care honestly
Click to expand...
This, I personally dont care much about console's UI, as soon as I turn on my console, I just fire up the game I rarely spend time going through menus in my console.
 
SiahWester

SiahWester

Member
I can't believe Nintendo got away with doing the absolute bare minimum with the Switch UI. Everyone has been waiting for themes since the release of the console.

At this point Nintendo's next console should already be here. They shouldn't be putting anymore resources into the Switch UI. The Switch just put a bad taste in my mouth though. I'm not even excited if this is a level of effort they're gonna put into things.
 
64bitmodels

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Goddess Zelda said:
Do you think that there is room for improvement in the menu design and presentation of the Switch home screen and do you ever miss the design of the wii and wii u home screens and their odd quirky features and menu music?
Click to expand...
oh FUCK yeah. the lack of chat features, voice chat, themes, folders, etc is a major downgrade from the wii u design wise. You'd think this late into the switch's lifecycle they'd make it better but not much has changed since 2017. Not to mention the menu is just very unappealing and ugly design wise, a lack of gradients or any real color depth makes it so boring and uninteresting to look at. Light mode too is fucking disgusting, #FFFFFF being blasted in your face.

Gaming consoles are no longer just gaming devices, that is what they are primarily but they do other stuff such as internet browsing, streaming, music playing and all that other pizazz. Seeing Nintendo regress like this when they used to be with the times when it came to console functionality is such a shame.

if they werent gonna put that much effort into the UI they should have done what Microsoft did and just keep the Wii U UI.
 
Last edited:
Kataploom

Kataploom

Gold Member
I prefer minimalistic and just good enough UI design so I like Nintendo approach with the Switch, but yeah there are some options lacking, one that I feel a lot of the lack of Purchased games library section... Why in the world isn't there a section with all my purchases games to just downloaded again instead of having to remember which games I purchased to go find them in the eShop to download them? Yes, the most basic feature in any online store is lacking in Nintendo Switch
eShop.
 
Last edited:
RCU005

RCU005

Member
sloppyjoe_gamer said:
The lack of themes of any kind in Switch and also PS5 just baffles my mind
Click to expand...

The PS5 can't have themes because it has a full screen menu for games. However there's so much wrong in the UI, that they should just start from scratch with something completely new. Also, with some changes that they've made, it's now inconsistent.

Switch it's the literal definition of basic. There's just nothing in it. It's practically just a gateway to play a game. (Seems like they would even choose to boot directly to games if they could). However, it's actually tight and very consistent across the entire UI and even follow some design language of the menu into some Nintendo games (like Mario Party, Super Mario Odyssey, etc.
 
Kataploom

Kataploom

Gold Member
64bitmodels said:
oh FUCK yeah. the lack of chat features, voice chat, themes, folders, etc is a major downgrade from the wii u design wise. You'd think this late into the switch's lifecycle they'd make it better but not much has changed since 2017. Not to mention the menu is just very unappealing and ugly design wise, a lack of gradients or any real color depth makes it so boring and uninteresting to look at. Light mode too is fucking disgusting, #FFFFFF being blasted in your face.

Gaming consoles are no longer just gaming devices, that is what they are primarily but they do other stuff such as internet browsing, streaming, music playing and all that other pizazz. Seeing Nintendo regress like this when they used to be with the times when it came to console functionality is such a shame.

if they werent gonna put that much effort into the UI they should have done what Microsoft did and just keep the Wii U UI.
Click to expand...
I don't think Nintendo will ever put direct messaging in any of their consoles ever again, they have a big family friendly image to protect and pedos were messing around some 3DS app to contact children which is the reason why they removed it
 
SlimeGooGoo

SlimeGooGoo

Party Gooper
I think they made it to be pretty lightweight and snappy or something.

Cute waifu

840859.jpg
 
Kacho

Kacho

Gold Member
fart town usa said:
The switch is a piece of shit, full stop.

It has a killer software library for sure but the menu design and everything about it is truly awful. Joycon is hands down the worst controller of any successful console.

Sorry Gaf. Come at me bros!
Click to expand...
Pretty much. Good games help cover the warts but only to an extent.

The joycons are indeed terrible. It cripples the hands and anything that requires precise aiming are unplayable with them.
 
Banjo64

Banjo64

cumsessed
The menu is fine, we’ll, just serviceable really.

This experience would be so elevated if they implemented backgrounds, true files/organisation/sorting options for tiles, and streaming service apps like iplayer, Now TV, Disney + etc. Those apps literally only make sense on the Switch (in terms of consoles) due to the insanely low power draw, tablet functionality etc.
 
EDMIX

EDMIX

Member
Hoppa said:
I don’t spend enough time in the home menu to care honestly
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Its pretty trash, but thats how I feel about the whole Steam vs Epic store thing, I don't even spend enough time in there to give a fuck lol

My Switch is out here collecting dust lol
 
Last edited:
ProgenitorCastle

ProgenitorCastle

Banned
I miss the Wii and Wii U era, or rather the Iwata era in general. That's when the quirkiness was still around. Not just in the UI, which I love, but in games like Tomodachi Life and others. I'm not as passionate about Nintendo as I used to be once they moved away from that.
 
EDMIX

EDMIX

Member
Danjin44 said:
This, I personally dont care much about console's UI, as soon as I turn on my console, I just fire up the game I rarely spend time going through menus in my console.
Click to expand...

lol I'm saying.

Using PS3, PS4 etc as media players, I care more about the UI as it has more to offer, where as the Switch I've only used to just play games as it doesn't do most of those other things well enough to care about the UI, same with Steam or Epic store etc, so for most systems I buy, its a non-issue.

I've looked at like storage and playtime and shit......thats it lol
 
Mr Branding

Mr Branding

Member
Kataploom said:
I prefer minimalistic and just good enough UI design so I like Nintendo approach with the Switch, but yeah there are some options lacking, one that I feel a lot of the lack of Purchased games. Why in the world isn't there a section with all my purchases games to just downloaded again instead of having to remember which games I purchased to go find them in the eShop to download them? Yes, the most basic feature in any online store is lacking in Nintendo Switch
eShop.
Click to expand...
Excuse me. What?!
There is a redownload tab if your game icons fill up the entire home menu.

Also, in the eshop, in your profile, there is a redownload tab also.
 
RickMasters

RickMasters

Member
Im disappointed that I have not bought one yet. Its one of those things I keep putting off, and now im weary we might get new hardware from them this year so Im inclined to wait and see till summer time. Seems like a treasure trove of quality...the nintendo stuff. and all the retro goodies. I need to slap myself then go buy one, already.
 
MP!

MP!

Member
Hoppa said:
I don’t spend enough time in the home menu to care honestly
Click to expand...
the problem is that there isn't anything to do ... as opposed to something like the 3DS for example which eventually had a slew of customization features and themes and such.
Also built in features like pictures AR and street pass...

Switch has literally nothing to do but tap an icon.
 
gaming_again

gaming_again

Member
Goddess Zelda said:
Maybe it is because I miss the quirky uniqueness of the Wii and Wii U television channels design and the menu music themes that came with each one. Coming off of that charming theme(s) they had there into the switch home screen is just a very sterile and unfriendly feeling for lack of a better term. Even if many of those channels on the Wii were pointless in the end, I still miss the presentation behind them that would make me pop into them for a few minutes each time I started the console up.

Do you think that there is room for improvement in the menu design and presentation of the Switch home screen and do you ever miss the design of the wii and wii u home screens and their odd quirky features and menu music?

The Switch, sadly, could not even be bothered to implete proper folders a good while ago. To also mention there previous Eshop game options were (IMO) better than what we have now by needed online only NSO in order to play retro Nintendo, Snes, and N64 games.

I do like the switch, but these areas are a let down for me personally.
Click to expand...

Every dashboard in the latest gen has been super boring.

The last decent one was the PS4. The XSX is dire.
 
-Zelda-

-Zelda-

Banned
Yeah I miss my PS4 themes. The final fantasy 12 one has that amazing Forest theme playing. Sometimes I would leave it on if I am not in the room just vibing to the music.

Best song in the game, IMO.


 
F

FloopCookiefix

Member
I thoroughly miss the charm and presentation of the Wii/U/3DS era. I plugged in my Wii U just recently, and it's still just a whole different level. I get partially why and what they were going for with Switch, but man if it isn't a shame
 
kunonabi

kunonabi

Member
The switch is one of those consoles I own because I have to but I honestly hate everything about the hardware, UI, etc.
 
G

Gamerfan81

Member
I pretty much agree with the minority here that loves the basic simplistic nature of it. I use it to play games. I don't care that it cannot stream HBO Max or Netflix movies or browse the internet. There are a lot of devices that do that already. The menu is simple, basic, and to the point. No unnecessary fluff and clutter.

There are countless articles and analysis reports out there on why MySpace died or lost its significant market share and Facebook dominated its market. One of the main reasons was the simplistic and minimalist nature of Facebook. Remember when people could customize Myspace however they want? Yeah, those Myspace profiles was cluttered with unnecessary crap, hard to navigate through and was an eyesore.
 
Doom85

Doom85

Member
Goddess Zelda said:
Yeah I miss my PS4 themes. The final fantasy 12 one has that amazing Forest theme playing. Sometimes I would leave it on if I am not in the room just vibing to the music.

Best song in the game, IMO.


Click to expand...


Indeed, some PS4 themes rocked. Firewatch was my favorite, the detail of the time presented matching the actual time was so cool, and the music was so calming:



As much as I enjoy my PS5, this is a sorely lacking feature. :(
Some of my other favorites:


















https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwoEPkepXus



Bring themes back, damn it!
 
Last edited:
ReBurn

ReBurn

Gold Member
The game/library/settings UI is fast overall. I much prefer it to Wii and WiiU. The store is terribly slow and they should be ashamed of it.
 
Rambone

Rambone

Member
The menu certainly doesn't have any charm but it gets the job done. The Nintendo Shop app on the other hand, so slow and sluggish.
 
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