Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Now that we’re approaching the end of the OG Switch’s run (and because there’s obviously not a ton to talk about in this stretch between Christmas and New Year’s), I thought it might be interesting to look back at how the Switch ultimately stacked up against its real predecessor, the Nintendo 3DS. Obviously, the Switch smashed everything in terms of sales, but in terms of the hardware and the games, did we move in the right direction?
My take: while I’m excited for the Switch 2 (halfway decent hardware permitting), I felt like the Switch was ultimately a disappointment compared to the 3DS. I’d hoped that the Switch, being a hybrid, would basically carry forward the design ethos that guided games on Nintendo’s portables, meaning they’d be focused, lean towards more Japanese-centric genres, and have exclusive content tailored to the hardware’s specs. That wasn’t what we got. I felt like Nintendo’s emphasis this gen skewed far too heavily towards bloat. Mario, Zelda – hell, even Fire Emblem – it felt like almost everything Nintendo put out had to either be open-world or padded to the gills with extraneous nonsense that, for me, took away from the core experience. This wasn’t the case with the 3DS – games like Mario 3D Land, Kid Icarus, Zelda: ALBW, and Fire Emblem: Awakening were absolutely laser-focused. They didn’t overstay their welcome and were well-suited for just sitting down and immediately having fun. This was always what Nintendo did best, so the shift we saw with the Switch was a huge step back for me. The Switch did have a bit more genre variety - notably character action games - but not nearly enough to turn the tides (doubly so when those were often the worst-performing titles on the hardware).
Switch was also the first Nintendo console where interesting exclusives outside of Ninty dried up altogether. I got burned a few times on half-assed Switch releases that got ported to other consoles 6 months later where they actually ran well before I realized I should just stop buying anything other than Nintendo games on there. I realize it’s more a symptom of the modern development climate than anything, but the 3DS was absolutely the better system in that regard, too. Games like Bravely Default and its sequel, Dragon Quest VII, a ton of Atlus RPGs, and a hell of a lot of hidden gems made for a damn solid lineup. Admittedly, the 3DS was still a step back from the DS in terms of sheer variety and just isn’t as fun to go back and discover new games from, but it still boasts a huge amount of high-quality content that - critically - you still won't find anywhere else.
Obviously, if we’re talking sheer quantity – the Switch’s lineup is absolutely out of fucking control. There’s a ton of content on there. There's definitely something palpable about having thousands of indie games at your disposal, particularly for those who prefer their games portable. But, pretty much all of that is multiplatform and limiting it to just stuff that’s better on Switch, 3rd party support quickly becomes a weak spot. I guess there’s Groove Coaster and the best versions of No More Heroes 1 and 2, at least. But watching stuff like Shin Megami Tensei V come out exclusively on Switch and struggle to hit 30fps while looking like it's running at sub-540p? That got real old, real quick. As an enjoyer of all platforms, 3rd party support on the Switch might actually have been the system's biggest letdown for me.
In terms of hardware? I mean… yeah, neither of them was great. The 3DS had screens that were too low-rez for their own good at times, and the form factor was really uncomfortable to hold for manly hands, especially if you were using the analog nub. And does anyone remember that attachment that added a second stick? An absolute Frankeinstein's monster. 3D was a dumb gimmick from the start – so much so that I forget that it was even a feature. But for all intents and purposes? It worked. It ran most games just fine and instances where the system felt woefully inadequate were relatively uncommon. The Switch hardware, though, was so bad that I just stopped buying games for it in anticipation of the new hardware, because why ruin a potentially good game? The build quality is trash, especially for the joy-cons, but at least you can plug it into your TV and use a normal controller. I would kill for that option with a 3DS. Maybe when Analogue makes a clone system someday. The other thing is that, now that we're a solid 8 years removed from the 3DS, I kind of miss the touch screen. It really did open up a lot of gameplay possibilities that you just lost when we moved to the Switch. The 3DS was also the last piece of Nintendo hardware where physical copies were actually useful - as much as I wanted to collect them on Switch, patches and DLC basically invalidated their value for me almost entirely. Even ignoring those benefits, though, I'd still have to give the nod to 3DS given how inadequate the Switch has been for its own lineup from day 1.
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So for me… yeah, it’s not even close. I liked the 3DS better due to it having a killer lineup of games that felt unique relative to anything else out there, and having hardware that was more up to the task of actually running the games properly. I don’t particularly expect Switch 2 to bring a new design mentality with it, but I hope that Nintendo remembers that bigger isn’t always better, and that the souped up hardware helps iron out some of the kinks we kept running into on Switch. In any case, though, I’m optimistic. And we need one of the big 3 to step up with a new system that really gives us something to be excited about.
So... which is it for you?
My take: while I’m excited for the Switch 2 (halfway decent hardware permitting), I felt like the Switch was ultimately a disappointment compared to the 3DS. I’d hoped that the Switch, being a hybrid, would basically carry forward the design ethos that guided games on Nintendo’s portables, meaning they’d be focused, lean towards more Japanese-centric genres, and have exclusive content tailored to the hardware’s specs. That wasn’t what we got. I felt like Nintendo’s emphasis this gen skewed far too heavily towards bloat. Mario, Zelda – hell, even Fire Emblem – it felt like almost everything Nintendo put out had to either be open-world or padded to the gills with extraneous nonsense that, for me, took away from the core experience. This wasn’t the case with the 3DS – games like Mario 3D Land, Kid Icarus, Zelda: ALBW, and Fire Emblem: Awakening were absolutely laser-focused. They didn’t overstay their welcome and were well-suited for just sitting down and immediately having fun. This was always what Nintendo did best, so the shift we saw with the Switch was a huge step back for me. The Switch did have a bit more genre variety - notably character action games - but not nearly enough to turn the tides (doubly so when those were often the worst-performing titles on the hardware).
Switch was also the first Nintendo console where interesting exclusives outside of Ninty dried up altogether. I got burned a few times on half-assed Switch releases that got ported to other consoles 6 months later where they actually ran well before I realized I should just stop buying anything other than Nintendo games on there. I realize it’s more a symptom of the modern development climate than anything, but the 3DS was absolutely the better system in that regard, too. Games like Bravely Default and its sequel, Dragon Quest VII, a ton of Atlus RPGs, and a hell of a lot of hidden gems made for a damn solid lineup. Admittedly, the 3DS was still a step back from the DS in terms of sheer variety and just isn’t as fun to go back and discover new games from, but it still boasts a huge amount of high-quality content that - critically - you still won't find anywhere else.
Obviously, if we’re talking sheer quantity – the Switch’s lineup is absolutely out of fucking control. There’s a ton of content on there. There's definitely something palpable about having thousands of indie games at your disposal, particularly for those who prefer their games portable. But, pretty much all of that is multiplatform and limiting it to just stuff that’s better on Switch, 3rd party support quickly becomes a weak spot. I guess there’s Groove Coaster and the best versions of No More Heroes 1 and 2, at least. But watching stuff like Shin Megami Tensei V come out exclusively on Switch and struggle to hit 30fps while looking like it's running at sub-540p? That got real old, real quick. As an enjoyer of all platforms, 3rd party support on the Switch might actually have been the system's biggest letdown for me.
In terms of hardware? I mean… yeah, neither of them was great. The 3DS had screens that were too low-rez for their own good at times, and the form factor was really uncomfortable to hold for manly hands, especially if you were using the analog nub. And does anyone remember that attachment that added a second stick? An absolute Frankeinstein's monster. 3D was a dumb gimmick from the start – so much so that I forget that it was even a feature. But for all intents and purposes? It worked. It ran most games just fine and instances where the system felt woefully inadequate were relatively uncommon. The Switch hardware, though, was so bad that I just stopped buying games for it in anticipation of the new hardware, because why ruin a potentially good game? The build quality is trash, especially for the joy-cons, but at least you can plug it into your TV and use a normal controller. I would kill for that option with a 3DS. Maybe when Analogue makes a clone system someday. The other thing is that, now that we're a solid 8 years removed from the 3DS, I kind of miss the touch screen. It really did open up a lot of gameplay possibilities that you just lost when we moved to the Switch. The 3DS was also the last piece of Nintendo hardware where physical copies were actually useful - as much as I wanted to collect them on Switch, patches and DLC basically invalidated their value for me almost entirely. Even ignoring those benefits, though, I'd still have to give the nod to 3DS given how inadequate the Switch has been for its own lineup from day 1.
So for me… yeah, it’s not even close. I liked the 3DS better due to it having a killer lineup of games that felt unique relative to anything else out there, and having hardware that was more up to the task of actually running the games properly. I don’t particularly expect Switch 2 to bring a new design mentality with it, but I hope that Nintendo remembers that bigger isn’t always better, and that the souped up hardware helps iron out some of the kinks we kept running into on Switch. In any case, though, I’m optimistic. And we need one of the big 3 to step up with a new system that really gives us something to be excited about.
So... which is it for you?
