• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

I'm playing Nintendo Switch tomorrow at PAX, what unanswered questions do you have?

Thoraxes

Member
Thanks for the impressions. One question: How are the buttons in terms of feedback? Are they mushy like a DS Lite, or more responsive/clicky like a 3DS?
 
Couldn't play Zelda. And even if I could, they were only demoing it on TVs.



I remember them being clicky, but I can't remember exactly. I can say they felt good and I'm prone to notice mushy buttons and be bothered by them (I actually love my iPhone 7 plus because my previous one had a mushy home button and now with the haptic feedback fake button, I don't have to worry about mushy buttons). Them not standing out to me is a good thing.

Awesome, thank you!
 
UPDATE! Here's a direct link to my answers / impressions!


ORIGINAL POST:

Tomorrow, I'll be traveling to PAX South to cover it for FloKO. But what I'm most excited about is trying out Nintendo Switch for the first time. I'm going to try everything they've got, but I'm especially looking forward to ARMS.

What unanswered questions do you have that I can try and answer while I'm there?

For example: first thing I'm gonna do is try and hit the home button and share button to see what happens, and see if I can mess around in the UI.

Hey, wants the WORST thing about it?
 
Nice impressions! Can you tell us what was the Mario Kart track you played?

Also I'm a bit confused about the hd rumble impressions we have gotten from various people. Can you tell wich games seems to use that and how?
 

Rodolink

Member
SUPER satisfying.

1. I did not test this, sorry.
2. No Wii U version was there.
3. The L and R buttons on the joycons felt clicky to me. Nothing really felt mushy joycons at all to me. And I hate mushy buttons.

Hey thanks a lot for your impressions, really interesting stuff! So face buttons are clicky also? like the GBA SP or NDS classic? wow never expected that...
 

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
Are the Pro controller buttons also clicky? How comparable are they to the buttons on the Wii U controller?
 

Flintty

Member
I have a question about something that has been bugging me for a while.

How sturdy are the connectors holding the Joycons onto the Switch? In my head they're flimsy and at risk of snapping backwards or forwards. Is there any play backwards or forwards? Do they feel like you might break them?
 

Cuburt

Member
Thanks for some more impressions.

Interesting to hear but not surprising that Nintendo had so much locked down. It was pretty obvious a ton of questions wouldn't be able to be answered.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Thanks for the impressions //ARCANUM - and im not jealous at all that you got to play the Switch already... xD
 
Splatoon 2 switch weapon between matches - yes, in the setup they gave us (turf war local ad hoc multiplayer 4v4), we were able to change weapons between matches.

benblissrok53.gif
 
When I was at London premiere I was lucky enough to speak to Nintendo but they where informed that in no certain terms could they answer any questions about online, or anything that was not already covered /shown.

So I answer to you all loads of questions where asked but nothing given away. I think it's all for the month of February that we will get more answers.

I fully believe we will get a total blowout for e3.
 

hwy_61

Banned
Thanks for the impressions arcanum!! I'm happy to hear about the quality of the Switch. The clicky buttons, how the unit wasn't hot despite the heavy use. The grip cheapness is disappointing! Like you said, I hope the charging grip has a better build.

Also, reading about how your girl liked ARMS a lot was cool, being that she's actually boxes haha.

I'm very excited for this thing.

33 DAYS TO GOOOOO
 
I have a question about something that has been bugging me for a while.

How sturdy are the connectors holding the Joycons onto the Switch? In my head they're flimsy and at risk of snapping backwards or forwards. Is there any play backwards or forwards? Do they feel like you might break them?
This is Arcanum's thread, but I played Switch at the Nintendo event in Toronto yesterday. I had this same question, so I applied force on the points that the joycon connect to the Switch. I can confirm it feels solid and there is almost zero play or creak when attached to the console.
 

hwy_61

Banned
This is Arcanum's thread, but I played Switch at the Nintendo event in Toronto yesterday. I had this same question, so I applied force on the points that ten joycon connect to the Switch. I can confirm it feels solid and there is almost zero play or creak when attached to the console.

That's so great to hear. Nintendo quality baby
 
Thanks for the impressions OP. I'm glad that most people who try this are coming away super impressed, that bodes well for this console. I don't recall that being the case for the Wii U.
 

Fireblend

Banned
Very thorough and well put impressions OP, thanks! Can't wait to get my unit with Zelda. Such a shame Mario Kart (or Splatoon) isn't launch :(
 

Xdrive05

Member
Thanks, OP! Amazing impressions.

It's interesting that the fan doesn't appear to be being used right now. I wonder if Nintendo is planning to overclock the system with a future update?

That would actually dovetail with the Foxcon reports of higher clocks being tested at the factory. Maybe they want every unit to be capable of high clocks so they can safely bump it up with a system update a little later down the line? Wild speculation!!! :-D
 
The only control scheme that was surprisingly not my favorite was the joycons in the grip. This was the basic (non charging) grip. Now, just putting my hands on it felt great. But of all the control schemes and hardware there, the grip itself felt *very* cheap. It's a very thin, and way too flexible piece of plastic. I felt like it wouldn't take too much force to break it. When I was squeezing my hands a bit, I could absolutely feel flex and subtle movement in the whole setup. This is a shame to me, because this was the setup I was most looking forward to. It's by no means BAD. It's just that all the other setups felt so great that compared to them, this setup felt a *little* cheap. Hopefully the "charging grip" feels more solid. Who knows (they didn't have one there).

Awesome write-up!

Too bad about the included grip. The charging grip is definitely different (with translucent plastic), so hopefully it improves in terms of quality. Looking forward to hearing impressions on it.

Regular grip:


Charging grip:

 
Thanks. Bigben among others are selling tempered glass for the Switch, which i'm going to get. I thought only glass screens could be used with tempered glass. Is this right?

I'm curious about this, if the screen does have Gorilla Glass or something similar, would there really be a need to use another protector on top of it? My cellphones with Gorilla glass never get a scratch, but maybe I'm just lucky.
 
Thanks, OP! Amazing impressions.

It's interesting that the fan doesn't appear to be being used right now. I wonder if Nintendo is planning to overclock the system with a future update?

That would actually dovetail with the Foxcon reports of higher clocks being tested at the factory. Maybe they want every unit to be capable of high clocks so they can safely bump it up with a system update a little later down the line? Wild speculation!!! :-D

Honestly a lot of things are starting to mesh with that report. The amount produced per day lines up perfectly with Japan Display's quoted 3 million screens being produced by the end of March, the Japanese developers' comments about the value for the price (when they know exactly what's in these units) seems to suggest some cutting edge tech, and Aonuma's comments about not being able to use all of the Switch hardware for BotW...

We could definitely see a clock raise (over the Eurogamer report) not too long after launch.
 

Rodin

Member
Thanks for the write up, glad to see you and your wife enjoyed it.

About the JoyCon grip, did you just think it felt cheap or uncomfortable as well? Because that's how i'm initially going to play Zelda.

How are the jaggies and shimmering in Zelda on the Switch Screen?
I know it looks pretty horrible on tv, but how does it look on the Switch itself?

You know that?

Honestly a lot of things are starting to mesh with that report. The amount produced per day lines up perfectly with Japan Display's quoted 3 million screens being produced by the end of March, the Japanese developers' comments about the value for the price (when they know exactly what's in these units) seems to suggest some cutting edge tech, and Aonuma's comments about not being able to use all of the Switch hardware for BotW...

We could definitely see a clock raise (over the Eurogamer report) not too long after launch.
I think the clock raise will be done before D1 or with a D1 update (that possibly brings compatibility with SDXC and USB 3.0 from the start). The battery life figures given by Nintendo would have to be with these clocks if the leak is real, because otherwise it would be too short.

I played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in their "bus" setup too. The system feels great in my hands, and not too heavy. My sense of weight was a little thrown off since it had a metal protector on it, but even so, not bad.
Thanks for the impressions. About weight, an italian guy tried the console in London in a more private area of the showfloor and he said that without the metal protector it does feel lighter. He compared it to the Gamepad, maybe a bit lighter.
 
Since I'm an exhibitor at South, I got to try the Switch before hours a couple of times.

Zelda feels like a great game, and I'm excited to play more in a month. They started me off with a pro controller, and once I got to a certain point, they let me undock the switch.

When you pull the switch out of the dock after having used an alternate controller, it prompts you to press L and R on the controller you plan to continue using. It's a nice solution, and it seems OS based, so that'll save developer the hassle of trying to figure that out.

The dock just has a USB-C connector sticking up, in it, with a couple of pieces of plastic that guide it into the dock. I think we'll see some inexpensive, third party docks coming soon.

The transition time from switch mode and back is pretty quick. I'm uploading a video that the Nintendo helper helped me record, but it's quick.

I played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in their "bus" setup too. The system feels great in my hands, and not too heavy. My sense of weight was a little thrown off since it had a metal protector on it, but even so, not bad. There wasn't much perceptible aliasing, which was nice. The screen was gorgeous, and had a solid viewing angle. I think folks buying it as a handheld will be very pleased.

The JoyCon are way, way tinier than you're thinking they are. And in sideways mode, it's ludicrous how close together your fingers are. That said, it was still somehow comfortable.

The L1/R1 equivalents on the JoyCon are suprisingly thin. They have less travel than chicklet keys on laptops. They feel fine, but I worry about the longevity of them.


How are the jaggies and shimmering in Zelda on the Switch Screen?
I know it looks pretty horrible on tv, but how does it look on the Switch itself?

I don't think it looks horrible on TV, but they did have all the sharpening filters and whatnot on that you'd want to turn off. It looked nice on the Switch, but that has to do more with the pixel density than the number of pixels.




Unrelated to my impressions, a developer I spoke to mentioned that optimization on the system is currently difficult, but it's a good machine. He said my game shouldn't have any problem running on it, but that's unsurprising.
 

Flintty

Member
This is Arcanum's thread, but I played Switch at the Nintendo event in Toronto yesterday. I had this same question, so I applied force on the points that the joycon connect to the Switch. I can confirm it feels solid and there is almost zero play or creak when attached to the console.

Exactly what I wanted to hear, thanks 👍🏻
Seems like a bit of engineering genius going on there.
 
Unrelated to my impressions, a developer I spoke to mentioned that optimization on the system is currently difficult, but it's a good machine. He said my game shouldn't have any problem running on it, but that's unsurprising.

I know it's off-topic, but holy shit you're making a sequel to LOVE?!

Instantly one of my most anticipated indies.
 

Polygonal_Sprite

Gold Member
I'd love to know what it feels like in the hands with the joycons attached. It looks a bit long at times from the videos I've seen. Does it feel much longer than the Vita ?
 

Hattori

Banned
thanks for the impressions arcanum 👍

I'm relieved it has a glass screen, I'm glad Nintendo is not cutting corners where it matters
 
I think the clock raise will be done before D1 or with a D1 update (that possibly brings compatibility with SDXC and USB 3.0 from the start). The battery life figures given by Nintendo would have to be with these clocks if the leak is real, because otherwise it would be too short.

Yeah that makes sense, although if these demo units are old (20nm) the (hypothetical) newer 16nm retail units would be consuming roughly the same amount of power in portable mode, so I don't think the battery life would be any indicator. But yeah, it would likely be a day 1 clock speed raise because otherwise the (again, hypothetical) newer 16nm units would have a longer battery life before the clock speed raise. Then again, if the fan isn't being used then the demo units likely aren't 20nm.

This is all fairly off topic, but super interesting to me nonetheless.
 
Top Bottom