Clearly the wizards at Nintendo know something about optimizing games for the Switch that others don’t.

Could someone share this information with GameFreak? The beats shouldn’t drop as hard as the FPS.

Seems really ridiculous to me that they can write an article like this and still use terms like “deathbed,” “barbones console,” etc.

If anything this shows that hardware matters less and less. The game itself is king and Nintendo is really good at it. Beefier hardware has diminishing returns and people who write articles like this seem to have cut their teeth on the big leaps: 8 to 16 to 64 bit and don’t realize that doesn’t really matter anymore.

I’m a recent Switch convert. I had only Nintendo until the DS and then ended up with an Xbox 360…and then a PS4. With the exception of a handful of games, like Gears of War on the 360 and Street Fighter 6 on PS4, I have never spent as much time playing as I have during these past few weeks on the Switch.

I’m still trying to put my finger on why that is. I don’t even have a Zelda game yet on this machine, but I’ve already bought a few games to play when I’m through with what I’m playing now.

As an almost–40-year-old who had a Game Boy at age 4, the only thing I can come up with that has made sense to my friends is that Nintendo is for playing as opposed to gaming? I don’t know why that rings true.

I’ve also noticed that Switch-owners have very large libraries of games. While I have just a handful, the average among my friends and students is 80 games. Most of them bought the Switch at launch and again when the OLED dropped. Their machines are just chocked full of games ranging from AAA to indie games.

For me, that might explain the lack of Netflix or Discord. They use their space for games to play. And, also, if you have used the Switch eshop you’ll notice that it is pretty busted and slow. Perhaps the have tried to make other apps, but we’re just too janky or not in line with family values.

[…] Nintendo neglecting every expectation of a modern gaming platform while it instead tinkers away on new hits.

Tinker is the word here. Some of their big games are worked on without deadlines. Even Mario Wonder was made without a deadline, and the result is just great (albeit easy, except for that secret last level where I can’t get the f-cking flag). I would wager that Metroid Prime 4 is just tinkering along as well.

Fine with me.

I’m used to buying consoles long after release, so if Switch 2 comes next year I hope I can pick it up in 5 years.

Until then, it’s like being a kid again: playing Mario and Metroid until my thumbs cramp.