My Cybertavern
patrons I have a serious problem right now. No matter where I went
during my busy day, no matter how many appointments I had to attend
and no matter what time of day it was, I was never far away from
escapism and enjoyment as of Friday.
Yes... I am addicted
to my recently acquired Nintendo Switch. There will be more thoughts
on the machine, its launch and all future games coming to the system
but for now this week's Saturday Sidequest will be a purely emotional
and cursory observation of the Switch from its purchase to its set up
and to how it has become natural to use.
First and foremost,
yes I did lick the cartridge I had, it was genuinely disgusting and
the taste lingered in my mouth for like five minutes. Absolutely
gross.
Moving on, I picked
up my Nintendo Switch from my usual go-to provider for consoles, Play
N Trade. I got my PS4 from them, got my Wii U from them, got my New
3DS from them, they are reliable. Because screw Gamestop and their
nonsense. I don't care if they continuously provide me with the
plastic heroine that is my Amiibo collection, they can go die in a
fire!
Either way, I set up
the machine, took some photos for scale for a console overview at The
Game Fanatics, slotted the surprisingly small Joy-Con controllers
into the grip to make it feel more like a real controller, inserted
my copy of Zelda: Breath of the Wild into the machine and started
playing. I also downloaded Snipperclips and Shovel Knight. The former
because I wanted a cheaper way to test the co-op that wasn't a fifty
dollar investment like 1-2 Switch, and the latter because I
absolutely love the game and am totally okay with basically
triple-dipping.
So I started playing
Breath of the Wild and I really found myself enjoying it. I enjoyed
getting wrapped up in Link's latest adventure through Hyrule, I loved
the focus on exploring and scavenging. Cooking food to heal. Taking
my sweet time and being clever with combat. I even found amusement in
falling off a tower to my death. No salt to be had in a failure
state, truly Nintendo magic at work.
And then life got in
the way. I had to get out and run errands, take my car into the shop
to get it fixed, and got to meet some old friends together for the
first time. Which is why this installment of Saturday Sidequest is
basically rushed to get out before midnight so I don't have to commit
seppuku on myself with a sharpened pencil.
So I thought to
myself: take the Switch with me. Take advantage of its portability
and use it to test the thing's battery, see how versatile this
machine really is. So I took the machine in a carrying case and got
on with my day.
It was minor at
first. I played some Shovel Knight while waiting for my car to get
fixed, otherwise the machine sat covered with a rag in my car. It's a
brand new machine that's hard to find, I'm not crazy.
Then I met my
friends. Things started off normally with a lot of food and a lot of
catching up. A particular friend was one I really don't have a lot of
time to know better but he mentioned he had a great amount of
fondness for the old Super NES days. And that was all the incentive I
needed to take out the Switch from my car, pop off the Joy Cons, and
prop the tablet up on a kickstand and show him the co-op mode of
Shovel Knight.
From the second the
title screen came up he was ecstatic and the entire meeting turned
into an impromptu gaming session. It was like we were five years old
again enjoying video games for the first time in its purest form
instead of a bunch of adults huddled together in a car looking at a
tablet screen.
And that is the
biggest thing I wanted to express when it came to Nintendo's newest
machine. For all of the reports of the machine's hardware specs, the
odd design decisions, the bare but functioning UI and OS, the small
amount of titles at launch and some odd glitches here and there, all
stuff I have to report on and criticize by the way, I really do think
the Nintendo Switch is something truly special. It helped make what
was an otherwise busy day into something a little more special and
innocent again while still also being a solid addition to a console
line-up.
So yes, I am the
head of the Cybertavern, and I am addicted to the Nintendo Switch.
And I regret nothing.
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