As far as personal timing goes, this was a pretty great weekend for the Nintendo Switch Lite to come out. Between riding the train to take my girlfriend to the LSAT, being on a long conference call, and lying sick in bed, I had a lot of down time where having a portable gaming system was even more convenient than usual. But none of those situations are all that unusual. A portable gaming system is just that universally convenient.
I’m a big fan of the original Nintendo Switch. Overall I think the compromises necessary to make it both a handheld and a console were more than worth it for the novel versatility. Detachable controllers each with their own face buttons for local multiplayer anywhere are way cooler than attached controllers with a D-pad. And a mediocre battery is way easier to forgive with console-quality visuals, as opposed to, say, a gimmick like glasses-free 3D.
But those were compromises, compromises that the portable-only Nintendo Switch Lite doesn’t have. And after using the revised hardware for a few days, it almost feels fake, but in a good way.
You feel this almost immediately. When I first went hands-on with the Switch Lite, I mostly focused on the new machine and didn’t whip out my old Switch for comparison. This time though, I frequently went back a forth between both systems. And within seconds the original Switch tablet felt bulky and awkward and heavy. It was wild.
The Switch Lite’s matte finish occasionally feels like it’ll leave something behind on your hands. But aside from that just as a sturdy but light and comfortable device to use and hold it’s miles ahead of its predecessor. The only thing keeping me from putting it in my pocket isn’t size but that I’m afraid the analog sticks will get snagged on the inner lining. And the threat of Joy-Con drift is even scarier since the sticks are permanently attached.
So when I say the Switch Lite feels fake, I mean it’s even more unreal to play the kinds of games Switch gets on hardware that more resembles Nintendo’s past, toy-like handhelds (especially with the full-body colors) than the relatively sleek and modern original Switch. I played Mortal Kombat 11, one of the biggest fighting games of the moment, on a device that I could drop on the floor without worry. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s graphics benefited from the sharper pixel density of the smaller screen, and I bet that will be the same case with Pokemon Sword and Shield, the true killer apps for this handheld.
I also played a handful of new Switch games, and this is as good a place as any for brief reviews of them.
Untitled Goose Game
They made Hitman but with a horrible goose, he even carries a knife, and although it’s pretty short, Untitled Goose Game is oh so sweet. A stealth game about bothering people with no real consequences, you terrorize a quaint countryside by flapping, honking, and straight-up stealing stuff. You have a list of tasks but can complete them however you see fit. Sometimes what the game wants you to do is so vague it’s a little frustrating actually. But it does leave room for curious, laughing onlookers to offer up their own goose tips. Obviously the way to trap the little boy in the booth is to honk at him so much that he runs away and traps himself.
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a synesthesia synthesis of visuals and music that render word-based descriptions almost useless. It’s a vaporwave blur pop art album of a video game that’s like Saint Pepsi made Rhythm Heaven or if Thumper didn’t hate you or Persona 5 was made in the West but was also Tetris Effect or that Daft Punk animated movie. Does that make any sense? Who care. Queen Latifah is in this. If you don’t get this on Switch, it’s also available on Apple Arcade.
Overland
Another Apple Arcade game, Overland is a pretty brutal turn-based strategy roguelike. It’s a bit like Into the Breach but whereas that game gives you powerful mechs to cancel the apocalypse, here you are just a handful of people (and dogs) trying to survive the apocalypse. Scrappy, desperate situations lead to pretty satisfying victories. I purposefully let monsters attack my car so the explosion would kill them, giving me time to walk to the next screen and gas up another car. But even the earliest encounters are so cartoonishly overwhelming for your limited options it just feels cheap.
Northgard
Northgard is a pretty old-school real-time strategy game, the kind of game where it’ll take you a while to really get a sense of the different systems. And that’s after getting comfortable with the console controls. As a fan of the genre, I liked certain touches like the emphasis on surviving and conquering the changing land itself with your growing base and army, even if all the language about Vikings “colonizing” the wilderness was a little gross. Along with micro strategy like setting up different battalions to clear our different enemy strongholds, you’ll have macro goals like maintaining a big enough foot supply to get through the coming winter. But it’s a lot to ask players who haven’t already bought in. And strategy game fans like me won’t see that much here they haven’t seen better done before elsewhere.
Now back to the Switch Lite.
As a new head of a two-Switch household, I’ll also say that maintaining my library across both system wasn’t quite as awkward as I would expect when it comes to the low bar of Nintendo’s online services. With a Switch Online subscription you can easily upload and download current save files from the Cloud. And with the Switch Lite set as your primary system, you redownload games and play them anywhere without having to authenticate online. I hear this is a more complex issues for families, but for me my old Switch now lives in the dock, constantly connected and never low on battery, while the Switch Lite travels with me.
So yeah, the Nintendo Switch Lite is still exactly what we thought it was. A cheaper Switch that goes all in on handheld mode for a better, if more limited, experience. That already sounded cool in theory, and it’s even nicer in practice. But if you want to play Switch games on your TV or easily play weirder games like Nintendo Labo and Ring Fit Adventure, which are still also pretty cool, either skip the Lite, shell out for two systems like I’m sure Nintendo wants, or wait for the Switch Pro we have to imagine launches next year.
For more on Nintendo Switch Lite here are some other cool games to play right now and check out the newly added Super Nintendo games on the online subscription.
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