[nsaslideface]

The Switch has a huge amount of potential, but it lacks the games still. None of the big releases so far use the platform to its fullest: they're really good video games, not necessarily good _Switch_ games. BOTW, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8, and Mario Odyssey all seem like they are just Wii U games with better internal quality, only sparsely interfacing with new Switch features.

Nintendo also shed beloved handheld features like Streetpass, didn't include obvious features like Bluetooth audio, and are really messing up their online services ... the internet Splatoon fanbase seems to roundly regard the Switch online experience a failure for the context of 2017

[currymj]

i have a really weird and contrarian opinion, which is that Splatoon online is good because it's bad. I swear I actually believe this, though, not just trolling.

voice chat is difficult and terrible, so nobody really uses it! that's a major plus in my book. most people will never run into more vile people than when gaming online.

the multiplayer is unbalanced, issues with lag and disconnection often mean that the outcomes of matches just aren't fair. this is good, because it sort of limits how seriously you can take the game. just relax and have fun instead of a hypercompetitive 3-hours-a-day online sport.

the inconvenience of parties/team up is good, it means it's hard for people to get an us-vs-them mentality or want to just dominate weaker players.

i'd be really shocked if this is all intentional on Nintendo's part; it's probably just hubris and not-invented-here syndrome.

but in practice it feels almost like all the online inadequacies are a kind of traffic calming -- like putting trees and islands in the middle of a busy road to get people to slow down. it makes things more welcoming for people like me who normally loathe online games.

[nsaslideface]

I totally get that. That theory's interesting and I agree the game shouldn't aspire to have the same sort of player experience/base as those of CoD or PUBG.

The lack of voice chat is no problem for me, though the app is terrible at what it tries to do (voice chat with your own team) which is something I'd want to do with casual friend players. Instead I just end up using Skype.

[saturdaysaint]

What unique Switch features need to be exploited, exactly? In a sense, the Switch really is a portable Wii U. The most amazing feature, IMO, is how they've managed to make a portable system with local multiplayer (without requiring multiple systems), which plenty of games support.

[nsaslideface]

I've played four or five different multiplayer games on it and it's indeed great. But they're leaving a lot of potential innovation on the backburner:

The touch screen and the the Joycon accelorometers/advanced rumble aren't used at all in many games, or if they are, it isn't anything innovative. ARMS is an exception, though, but I really don't think many people bought the game.

The Mii avatar you create can't do much of anything. On the Wii U, Wii and DS there was a bit more you could do with those.

Amiibo aren't really useful except for small in-game bonuses

The companion app is currently lackluster. They could have made a Mario Kart 8 section where you compare your scores to your friends, a BotW section that would interface with your game... for now it's just a Splatoon app with a few nice features, with only one main feature actually communicating back to the game.

I guess those middle two aren't Switch-specific, but there are a lot of Nintendo-specific things that they should really considers spending time cultivating.

[saturdaysaint]

These are essentially all legacy features. I see the Switch as something of a retreat from the highly proprietary hardware features that attracted spotty-at-best 3rd party support and even Nintendo sometimes struggled to shoehorn in (see the gimmicky motion controls in Zelda/Metroid games on Wii). It's simply a great classic console experience you can play anywhere.

[Fej]

The "advanced rumble" is hardly so. It's a gimmick. The accelerometer/gyroscope was present on the Wii and Wii U. What the Switch has going for it is its portability, not any particular feature (although the touch screen is good for a few games).

[jamesgeck0]

I think that HD rumble is actually pretty great. It's not essential, but games are better for having it. In Mario Kart 8, it conveys the "texture" of the road. TumbleSeed does a fantastic job mimicking the feel of something rolling across a board between your hands.

It's especially nice in handheld mode, where the user doesn't have a decent speaker system to emphasize things (and may not even have the sound turned on at all). In those situations, the user may not be able to hear the sound effect when they get hit by a shell or drive off the road. But with the rumble, the punch of it is still there.

[jamesgeck0]

Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 2, and ARMS make good use of the controller gyroscope, HD rumble, ad-hoc multiplayer, multitude of control options, and portable mode. What other console features should they be using?

[b_ttercup]

ARMs is solid. First time I have preferred motion controls over traditional inputs (for entertainment, not efficacy).