Nintendo has had quite a merry go round history when it comes to the gaming industry. The Nintendo Wii was its claim to fame; it outsold the Sony Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 by a huge margin. This could be credited to the fact that the company caters for the casual player which is a market that covers a wider audience than that of hardcore gamers that Playstation and Sony targets. Nintendo’s luck ended when it launched the successor to the Wii, the Nintendo Wii U. It performed poorly in the market and was no match to the great PS4 and Xbox One. The company went back to the drawing board and came up with a new solution, the Nintendo Switch.
The switch is a very unique console; it is a handheld gaming device that can instantly be transformed into an in-house console. The system includes the actual switch console with comes with a 6.2 inch screen. To turn the system into an in-house console, you simply dock the Switch console into a docking station which instantly displays the game on the TV. The dock is connected to the TV via HDMI.
The console has J –Con controllers that can either be attached on either side of the Switch display (making it look like a PS Vita) to play on the go or can be snapped to a grip device that would create a traditional looking gaming controller. This latter mode is perfect when playing on the TV. The button arrangement is similar to that of the Xbox console.
The Nintendo Switch has a battery that can be used 2.5 -6.5 hours depending on the game being played while the J con’s batter can last up to 20 hours. Speaking of games, the system uses small cartridges that can be slotted into the device. Moreover, users can simply buy games online via the eShop. To keep kids from putting the cartridges in their mouth, a bitter coating was put on them which is quite a neat touch. Another neat move is the act that Fifa, from EA sports, is making a comeback to the Nintendo platform.
In the box you find the Switch console, the J-con controllers, the grip device, the dock, a HDMI cable and a power adapter, no games are included. The Nintendo Switch will retail for $299 or KES 29,999, while the games cost around KES 1,500 ($15). That makes it cost the same as the standard PS4 and Xbox or even a bit higher now that discounts on those two are available everywhere. Despite this fact, the Switch keeps getting sold out, so much so that it has become the company’s fastest selling console from Nintendo. It will be interesting to see if it breaks the sales records made by the Wii.