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Retro-GAF unite!

dubc35

Member
It looks great. I wish I had more time for gaming these days. That said, I'll either not pick one up or wait until it's late in the cycle. DS lite was the last Nintendo hardware I purchased, SNES being the last console. Now, if a 2d Metroid was shown in that trailer I would be screaming at Nintendo to take my money. I think it is a good market for them in that it differentiates itself a little from PS4/xbone/PC.
 

entremet

Member
I just hope the Switch is moderately successful and find a decent audience.

I like Nintendo making its own hardware because they're just so different from what Sony/MS are chasing. We need that diversity in the gaming space.

Look what happened to SEGA when they went 3rd party. Their software variety plummeted since they were not making money of hardware and licensing to offset their lost revenue.
 
I actually think this is as small as I want to see it for local multiplayer portable gaming. Personally, I'd take a larger model if given the choice.

Can't wait to get more details and preorder this thing.
I would happily sacrifice portable single screen multiplayer for a better single player portable experience.
 
I actually think this is as small as I want to see it for local multiplayer portable gaming. Personally, I'd take a larger model if given the choice.

Can't wait to get more details and preorder this thing.

I'm sure they'll eventually drop a Switch XL, lol
 

Peltz

Member
Switch sounds like an interesting name. I feel like they really wanted to be as obvious as possible with their branding after the Wii U's reception, but maybe went a little overboard into the "unremarkable" territory with the name.
 

IrishNinja

Member
Look what happened to SEGA when they went 3rd party. Their software variety plummeted since they were not making money of hardware and licensing to offset their lost revenue.

yeah, been saying this - i still love sega but their output took such an obvious hit. losing nintendo as a platform would mean the zany experimental stuff goes away, and it's all just the marios & such that people who don't pay attention complain about. not gonna lie - i pulled out of gaming for a bit when sega left, would prolly do the same here.
 

D.Lo

Member
There will definitely be a cheaper handheld only version at some point.

There has to be to sell Pokémon to kids.
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Glad to read all the thoughts on the NX here. I know you fellow retro gamers are the gaffers with taste the most similar to me, so its nice you are mostly positive.

Play more indie games, maybe?

I could argue some of platinum's releases rely on old-school sensibilities too (but with such an arcade head like Kamiya, I would like to see him make an actual arcade game).

As for the NX, I'm excited. Pretty much the only modern games I play are on either Nintendo platforms and PC.

Yeah, my post was a bit hyperbole :) I love a lot of indies, Platinum, From Software and more modern games.

There will definitely be a cheaper handheld only version at some point.

There has to be to sell Pokémon to kids.

What is stopping them of doing that from day 1? They could sell a normal and pro-version of the console. Pro with handheld and the dock, normal with only the handheld.
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
So, here are my thoughts:

1. Personally I am superexcited since I love Nintendo and this will finally unify their software output, meaning they will no longer waste resources developing two versions of Smash Bros. Basically, Nintendo will become a more effective software developer (which will be slightly offset by the increased specs), and that in itself is exciting to me.

2. I also really like the idea of removable controllers. I actually suggested this back when the Project Cafe-rumours were rampant, on a norwegian forum before i got activated on gaf. Check it out, you probably wont be able to read it, but just look at the pictures http://www.diskusjon.no/index.php?showtopic=1337440&p=17636929
and http://www.diskusjon.no/index.php?showtopic=1337440&p=17642875.

The benefit with this is that you get a very flexible solution, supporting motion controls, 2d-games, 3d-games and multiplayer, which is simply a very good way to rationalise all the stuff nintendo usually want to do with their consoles, and also without the costumers having to buy a lot of new accessorizes, which was a problem for both the Wii and Wii U.

3. The thirdparty list looks really promising - but i honestly have my doubts about how many of them are fully committed outside of Sega/Capcom/Squenix.

4. I am very saddened by the loss of a d-pad.

5. They have not confirmed touch - which is mostly fine with me, but will make porting DS/3DS-games harder.

6. Graphics looks more than good enough, however, i am concerned about the battery life. The huge vents on top of the tablet means it will have to remove a lot of heat - which will use a lot of battery.

7. While I personally love it, and think it does have a clear message, I am not sure exactly who it will be able to target in this age of free games on mobile. The hook is imo nowhere near as good as with the original Wii, and the balance in the library will never be able to touch the PS4/Scorpio, meaning the Switch will once again be in a difficult middle position. Leading into...

8. The risk of this bombing. I very much agree with what you guys already have written, that Nintendo are a very interesting and important part of the console business since they are different, and the fact that they are still a plattform holder means they feel obliged to fill out their library with experimental and quirky games in addition to the blockbusters. As we saw with Sega, those will go away pretty fast if Nintendo leaves the consoles business.

So yeah, personally I am very, very excited. When it comes to Nintendos performance in the market however, I am more skeptical.
 

D.Lo

Member
1. Personally I am superexcited since I love Nintendo and this will finally unify their software output, meaning they will no longer waste resources developing two versions of Smash Bros. Basically, Nintendo will become a more effective software developer (which will be slightly offset by the increased specs), and that in itself is exciting to me.
Agree 100%. I'm not really a handheld guy, and go to great lengths to play my GBA games on the TV perfectly, for example (Gamecube + component cables + GB Player + GB Interface + Framemeister + GC to SNES controller adapter) so this means everything is always a console game for me, with a free handheld for long trips!

The benefit with this is that you get a very flexible solution, supporting motion controls, 2d-games, 3d-games and multiplayer, which is simply a very good way to rationalise all the stuff nintendo usually want to do with their consoles, and also without the costumers having to buy a lot of new accessorizes, which was a problem for both the Wii and Wii U.
Yeah it's super flexible. Wii Remote was a fantastic controller for pointing, and we lost that, now it can be back but 'hidden'.

6. Graphics looks more than good enough, however, i am concerned about the battery life. The huge vents on top of the tablet means it will have to remove a lot of heat - which will use a lot of battery.
It surely scales down the graphics when not docked. how much battery do ipads use these days with top games?

8. The risk of this bombing. I very much agree with what you guys already have written, that Nintendo are a very interesting and important part of the console business since they are different, and the fact that they are still a plattform holder means they feel obliged to fill out their library with experimental and quirky games in addition to the blockbusters. As we saw with Sega, those will go away pretty fast if Nintendo leaves the consoles business.
I think it will do very very well. If the absolutely appallingly positioned and designed Wii U can do what it did, and this folds in handhelds, they're not going away anytime this decade with this plan.
 
4. I am very saddened by the loss of a d-pad.
One possible benefit of these controllers is that you could have alternative configurations released separately.
5. They have not confirmed touch - which is mostly fine with me, but will make porting DS/3DS-games harder.
Definitely touch. it would be completely daft not to be.
6. Graphics looks more than good enough, however, i am concerned about the battery life. The huge vents on top of the tablet means it will have to remove a lot of heat - which will use a lot of battery.
This worried me, too, but actually I think Digital Foundry's video on the subject was right that the vent could be used only in docked mode. The vent is on top, which is the obvious place to put it if it's used when docked. We'll see about battery life, regardless. I'm hoping for 5-7 hours.
 
Agree with the thoughts and overall positive comments on the Switch here. I'm interested. Haven't bought a Nintendo console since GC, and I really only played a 2 or 3 games on that platform. I love old Nintendo, but it's been a while. I'm very glad to see they have more or less gone with the standardized dual-stick, diamond button layout controller design. But -- surprise -- it can turn into a Wiimote or classic NES-style controller if you want. They pulled it off much more elegantly than I had imagined (at least judging from the the little we've been shown so far).
 

D.Lo

Member
that would be cheesy if that's acting as the dpad =/
Not really cheesy, it basically is a dpad. N64 c-buttons were a right hand dpad, Nintendo realised the right hand needed a directional input for fully 3D games so put it on the controller. They evolved to become a right stick.

Dpads are just four buttons technically anyway. Heck Sony dpads are even segmented to four buttons (though a single piece of plastic underneath).
 

Danchi

Member
Cp2jJrXVYAAj6wN.jpg

Source.

I actually think this is a pretty cool idea, and, when you remember that Nintendo released the Circle Pad Pro, they are probably weird enough to release a left-sided controller attachment with a revised D-pad.
 

purdobol

Member
Well it looks like good elegant design. Lots of flexibility witch is a plus. And we've got new Zelda release date :p

Now my worries about the switch.
1. I really hope front of the screen is gorilla glass.
2. Controlling Wii style (by holding two separate"parts") does not look comfy at all. Especially the right side. Looks like analog stick is getting in the way.
3. Its a bummer for me they went with diagonal analog for all controllers. Hate that scheme. So I'm really hoping there'll be Wii U Pro controller support.
4. Battery life will suck. No question about it.

I'm kind of sad that we won't see "proper" home console from Nintendo. They trying to market it like it's some kind of a hybrid between the two. But quite frankly it's a handhenld system with a dock that has TV out. Maybe there's some boost in speed when switch detects steady supply of energy (when docked) but other than that... don't know. Feels like missed opportunity to be honest.

With all that said. Dedicated piggybank for Nintendo Switch (eh that name) is in full operational mode.
 

D.Lo

Member
So, I have PSVR... and this is the second time I've ever felt the "Super Mario 64" moment in my entire life. WOW.

My mind is completely blown. I know this is off topic... but posted it here because I feel like this is how gaming used to be at the start of every new generation back in the retro days.

It feels completely new and is the first "next gen" feeling I've had in probably 10 years.
I played 1-2 hours of Batman VR today, with move controllers, as we got one at work.

It may not be representative because I only played one game, but I'd have to say it's cool but no Mario 64 moment for me.

It works great but ultimately felt a lot like just the right stick being replaced by head movements. Obviously that's very cool and it's also better than that description, and unlike normal FPS you can control your hands separately from your head, but really I'm still just looking around a predefined space. Moving around in the space also works very well, but then of course you can't move very far that way because there's no room (and a cable).

I actually got huge Metroid Prime 3 vibes. Grabbing things like levers and keys and turning them and moving them was like 100% lifted from that game, and looking around felt quite similar to the pointer aiming.

I'll see if we can get more games on it so I can try some others.
 

Khaz

Member
The Switch feels more like a concurrent to the ipad, with optional real controls and TV link. They want to grab all the kids who left to play on their parents devices. If they do it right, it could be a massive success. The user interface and appstore offering will have to be done right though.
 

Khaz

Member
Oh.. well this is concerning, after running into trouble with the hama 100s scart selector feeding back power to consoles that were switched off it looks like my rgb n64 no longer provides video to the TV even when plugged directly, I'll still get sound, but no video.. D :

I went and ordered a new scart cable, but god I hope that's the issue here, it would suck to loose a console over a shitty scart switch. : /

I lost video out on a Master System when I fed input into the video processor output by mistake. I was using a continuity tester and forgot that the console was still on. Sending current to an output when its live isn't a good idea. In your case the chipset should be protected though, with all the extra circuitry like capacitors that only allows current to flow in one direction.

I'm surprised it happened with a Hama though, as it's a manual switch. Why would it send either power or data back to a console? I can see it happen when using a splitter as a switch, but this is surprising.
 

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
Excited about the Switch, though I'm bummed about the size of the hardware. As someone that takes their 3DS out of the house daily I've gotten spoiled by the ability to easily pocket it. Hopefully 3DS software support continues for a few years.

I'm also concerned that we'll be getting less software total in the future since they'll only have one platform to develop for, but that just me being petty and selfish.

Either way I definitely need to wrap up my Wii U library before retailers stop carrying Wii U product.
 

Galdelico

Member
Oh, that could indeed be the cause, I may have goofed and plugged one of the scart cables from the consoles into the switches tv output without realising it, how did you fix your master system?

That said the issue of my snes powering up partially when I turn on my connected dreamcast or MD is still an issue, has anyone else ran into such an issue with a hama scart switch?

What do you mean by 'partially turning on'? Is there a post where you explain what happens more in detail?
I own a Hama switcher too, and never noticed anything weird with it.
 

KC-Slater

Member
Excited about the Switch, though I'm bummed about the size of the hardware. As someone that takes their 3DS out of the house daily I've gotten spoiled by the ability to easily pocket it. Hopefully 3DS software support continues for a few years.

I never understood the criticism of portable gaming hardware getting too big to fit in a pocket. Current phones barely fit in my jean pockets. The original Gameboy was a brick, whose pocket was that fitting in? No disrespect intended, but the 3DS is still too big to comfortably put in most people's pockets, so I don't think a deviation from that form-factor is going to dissuade people from gaming on the go. It'll easily fit in a bag/backpack.

I'm also concerned that we'll be getting less software total in the future since they'll only have one platform to develop for, but that just me being petty and selfish.

Hopefully we'll see more first and second party software since they will be working on a unified platform. Less Nintendo software droughts.
 

D.Lo

Member
That said the issue of my snes powering up partially when I turn on my connected dreamcast or MD is still an issue, has anyone else ran into such an issue with a hama scart switch?
It means they are sharing lines, so voltage output from one console is being fed to another.

Basically it means it is not a switch at all, but essentially a double adapter, and wires the connections in series.

That said while not good for them it probably won't kill a console, the current output from consoles is usually very low. The N64 would at worst most likely only have the RGB mod part killed, not any of the chips. Try it via composite, assuming composite remained wired up by whoever did the mod.
 

D.Lo

Member
I don't have composite cables, but running via the hama with the RGB button set to off I do get a black and white image, would this point to the mod needing to be switched out?
ha, that means composite is working fine. Your TV can't handle the NTSC image. So the console is fine.

It's possibly blown the amp in the mod, no way to say without testing it really.
 

Galdelico

Member
I mean if I have for example a mega drive and a super famicom connected to the hama and turn on my mega drive, the power led on the famicom will light up, along with power being supplied to the controller ports, but not enough for the console to be fully functional it seems.

So odd, never heard of such an issue with the Hama. I'll check it out as soon as I get back home tonight, just to give you a solid confirmation (I keep all my consoles under a dust cover, when I don't use them, so right now I can't be 100% sure I ever thought to look at what was going on with my Saturn, when the MD was on).
 

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
I never understood the criticism of portable gaming hardware getting too big to fit in a pocket. Current phones barely fit in my jean pockets. The original Gameboy was a brick, whose pocket was that fitting in? No disrespect intended, but the 3DS is still too big to comfortably put in most people's pockets, so I don't think a deviation from that form-factor is going to dissuade people from gaming on the go. It'll easily fit in a bag/backpack.

I use an iPhone 5C, which fits comfortably in my pocket. The N3DS isn't a whole lot bigger than that, and it too fits nicely in my pocket.

I don't really want to carry around a bag or backpack just to play games on the go. It seems terribly inconvenient.
 

KC-Slater

Member
I use an iPhone 5C, which fits comfortably in my pocket. The N3DS isn't a whole lot bigger than that, and it too fits nicely in my pocket.

I don't really want to carry around a bag or backpack just to play games on the go. It seems terribly inconvenient.

Not to split hairs, but the N3DS is over twice as thick, with a significantly larger footprint than the iPhone 5C. It's also worth mentioning that the 5C is the second smallest iPhone currently available. I respect that it's your preference, but with the trend in phablets, I don't think a pocket-sized form-factor is as much of a priority as straight up portability.
 

Khaz

Member
Oh, that could indeed be the cause, I may have goofed and plugged one of the scart cables from the consoles into the switches tv output without realising it, how did you fix your master system?

I didn't. It's in a closet waiting to be dismantled for parts. Once the chip is fried, there's not much you can do, apart from changing it.
 
Actually the Joy-Cons detaching for two players to use reminded me of those Game & Watches that have tiny controllers for two. D.Lo, don't you own one of those?
 
I forgot Nomad had video out and a 2P controller port.

Switch is the logical conclusion of Nomad's prototype, lol.
it was such a cool device when i first heard about it.

switch gives me the same excitement as nomad and turbo express


i do!
wait i don't want the switch to be that though, yeah

what's a nomad worth these days? i saw one on craigslist. i was kinda interested in e-mailing the ad.
 

D.Lo

Member
Actually the Joy-Cons detaching for two players to use reminded me of those Game & Watches that have tiny controllers for two. D.Lo, don't you own one of those?
Yep


I think of that more like a 'mini Famicom' thing though, they're attached by cords and are just stored in the unit. Which of course has now come full circle with:

mminifamiconmock8.jpg
 

IrishNinja

Member
what's a nomad worth these days? i saw one on craigslist. i was kinda interested in e-mailing the ad.

i'm honestly not sure, a buddy out here at a retro shop offered me one last year for just over $100 but the screen was gonna need work - honestly, to me it'd barely be worth having without a proper LCD replacement, which would bring it up to well over $200 i wanna say. so no time soon!
 

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
Even RetroGAF's gabbing about the Switch?

Good. It's basically made for weirdos like us, from the looks of it.

Not really sold but I was really disappointed with my Wii U though. I'd need to at least see a full handful of games I want before I buy this time but this goes for any console in general after this current line up.
 
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