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Fun Club Do you actually use Switch’s tabletop mode?

Do you actually use tabletop mode?

  • Never and it’s useless

    Votes: 11 9.3%

  • Rarely, like less than 10 times

    Votes: 34 28.8%

  • I do occasionally and it’s nice to have the option

    Votes: 52 44.1%

  • I do now with OLED Switch! But I didn’t before!

    Votes: 6 5.1%

  • Plenty, I love it

    Votes: 15 12.7%
  • Total voters
    118
Dash Kappei

Dash Kappei

ARCADE FIRE 🕹 🔥
Getting the Oled model a few days ago, tabletop mode is much improved thanks to the better hinge-kickstand and you can even TATE/Portrait mode with it.

I was thinking that maybe now I’ll start to use it more… although my opinion is that if I have to tabletop, then I’ll just play handheld (tho I hate Oled’s ergonomics even more than og NSW, sigh) as usual and prefer to have the screen closer to me and sitting more comfortably.

In the end if I’m honest they could cut this feature and I wouldn’t miss it, I’ve used it less than 10 times since 2017 and all of them were to play shmups/arcade games in TATE while using my arcade stick and didn’t want/coudn’t to use the tv. Never to play multiplayer (I also love to have two one-per hand Joycons/Wii-like controllers instead of a “normal” gamepad but HATE the single Joycon in horizontal grip)

There’s plenty of ‘1 cent cost’ features that get cut or don’t make it in a system’s bom and maybe someone would prefer to have a Dolby license or things like that in place of the kickstand. Or the system could be designed a bit differently without tabletop mode taken into consideration, who knows.

What about you guys? And what’s your experience with it or opinion on cutting the feature for something else similarly “minor” in cost or change to the system’s body.
 
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My Switch's kickstand is a pain to open for whatever reason, and was like that when I got it (this is the second iteration with the better battery, my launch Switch's kickstand is easy to open up from the back), so I do not use tabletop mode. I'm somewhat indifferent on the mode, but appreciate its inclusion all the same. I imagine with the OLED it'd be much nicer and easier indeed to use and play on in that mode.
 
So, granted, I haven't been traveling post end times, but before I did constantly, and I almost exclusively played in tabletop mode when doing so.

So I voted for the middle option.
 
Raccoon said:
It is the killer feature of the Switch. It and the Joy-Con are the reasons for its success.
Click to expand...

Wow this is refreshing, didn’t expect to read this. Why do you feel this feature was so important and fundamental to boost the console’s popularity?

In my mind it’s always been about the introduction of the hybrid feature, with console like gfx/experiences in your hands and killer software with all of Nintendo’s juggernauts in one place to entice the casuals and the fans and great indie support that helped the Switch sneaking its way into the core gamers’ discourse and building from that by constantly improving 3rd parties support.
I know the ads showed the roof parties but was it actually that big and did I complete miss how important tabletop was to give the console its popularity?
 
E.Gadd said:
So, granted, I haven't been traveling post end times, but before I did constantly, and I almost exclusively played in tabletop mode when doing so.

So I voted for the middle option.
Click to expand...

How come you’ve chosen that? It seems you love it and have used it plenty! I’m actually super suprised to read so many of these experiences, might be that @Raccoon is right
 
Dash Kappei said:
Wow this is refreshing, didn’t expect to read this. Why do you feel this feature was so important and fundamental to boost the console’s popularity?

In my mind it’s always been about the introduction of the hybrid feature, with console like gfx/experiences in your hands and killer software with all of Nintendo’s juggernauts in one place to entice the casuals and the fans and great indie support that helped the Switch sneaking its way into the core gamers’ discourse and building from that by constantly improving 3rd parties support.
I know the ads showed the roof parties but was it actually that big and did I complete miss how important tabletop was to give the console its popularity?
Click to expand...
Even if it isn't used universally, tabletop mode and especially the Joy-Con provide versatility to the form of the Nintendo Switch. Functionally it's just a NVIDIA Shield tablet. The unique features of the hardware elevate it from being a simple handheld with TV output. The fact that the same controllers can be used on the handheld, as a traditional or Wii-like controller, or even split between two people very easily is massive.

As for tabletop mode, it's what makes the Nintendo Switch "a home console that can be taken on the go," rather than just a handheld that connects to TVs. You can sit down at a counter in an airport, a table at a café, or a desk at a library and use a detached controller comfortably with a portable display of decent size. On the OLED model this feature is, of course, even better. I'm not trapped holding a relatively large and heavy handheld when I can play it like a console anywhere. This is augmented by multiplayer, but I feel that to lean on it weakens my argument: it simply isn't comfortable to many people. Single-player tabletop is, I feel, universal to anyone who uses Nintendo Switch portably in any situation with a surface. I've yet to use it on public transport with folding tables but I imagine it's a dream.
 
Dash Kappei said:
Dang! I suspect that this and the second options are going to kinda expose the real sentiment users have towards the feature.

…also results are already skewed since you didn’t actually vote 😅🤣
Click to expand...
Well. I didn’t agree that it’s useless lol.

It’s just not something I wanna use
 
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I have a number of uses for it.

When my nephew wanted to see Nemo and Dory in the museum, I would set the Switch up in table top mode for easy viewing.

Sometimes for stretching. I'm not going to go downstairs and faff with the dock and the TV just for stretching when I could just pull out the kick stand and put it on the desk close to where I've been playing handheld.

Closely related bedtop mode is the way I play Ace Attorney games. Console propped up on a fold in the duvet a joy-con in on had (with button remapping) and my hand resting in the other.

I haven't used it personally as it was advertised, ie for couch coop when on the go, but I definitely see that as being useful.

It is obviously going to be much less used than the other modes, but its availability is genius.

NB, why do polls always need sass? It always leads to loaded answers. It's perfectly possible that someone can recognise the value of the feature without having ever needed to use it themselves in their own unique experience.
 
I wish I could. The joystick issues on the joycon made it so that I converted full-time to using HORI Split Pad Pro for handheld gameplay. They only work when connected to the Switch.
 
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Almost never. I'm the opposite of a Nintendo commercial, since I almost exclusively play docked.

I love the Pro controller and find it exponentially more comfortable than the Joycon. I also have an OLED TV and a Non-OLED Switch. I recently started playing a little more handheld since I bought a Hori Pro, but those don't work in tabletop.
 
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The fact the N64 Switch Online app supported it was pretty surprising to me.
It probably doesn't work fully with every game using split joycons, but i was able to easily able to pull out a quick multiplayer session in Mario Kart 64 with that setup.
 
I almost exclusively play docked, I appreciate the option to take my games on the go but I rarely actually do (I'm usually driving/working/erranding when I'm out, so gaming doesn't fit in). A couple times, like literally only a couple, I was deep in Mario Odyssey and when I got a call to go meet up for dinner, I took it, set it up in tabletop mode at the booth (so I could still use the motion-controlled cap fling) and found a couple moons while waiting for my friends. This may or may not have also been partially to deliberately look nerdy in a sports bar just to troll the sports bros. 😅
 
I use tabletop mode waaaaaaay more than handheld mode. Such a nice feature. Honestly, I find the Switch's ergonomics in handheld mode to be not good, so being able to just plop the system down wherever and use whatever controller I want to play is very nice.
 
Sometimes. My Switch is a Lite model, but ocasionally i want to play with a Pro Controller, so i bought a kickstand (which is adjustable and pretty similar to the OLED's) and it works nicely.
 
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I lost my glasses and I hate playing handheld, so lately I've been playing only in table top mode, because playing on the TV gives me a headache without glasses. I actually like it a lot playing table top.
 
Splatoon is my most common tabletop mode game. Handheld isn't great with the motion controls, but gimme a kickstand and a pair of seperated joy-cons and I'll paint turf and nick salmonid eggs until the battery runs dry.
 
I used it for playing Splatoon Salmon Run with my cousin, since he had the TV and the handheld mode motion controls are bad
 
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I almost always play in tabletop mode on my desk! It's the most convenient way for me to play with my setup!
 
I use it more than I use handheld mode.

When I'm travelling anywhere, I usually take my Switch and one or two other handheld consoles - more often than not that means 3DS and one of either PSP and an Anbernic. When I have a table in front of me, I use the Switch with Pro controller. If not, it's one of the others.
 
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To be fair I haven’t even used the dock or the joycons individually either, the Switch is just a giant portable to me. Nice to have the choice in terms of a single pipeline for the games though.
 
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Often when traveling with friends or my gf. Had such a blast playing Bomberman on a 10 hour bus ride with friends or playing Mario Kart with some stranger sitting next to me on a flight.

But now with covid I use it less.
 
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When I'm home I mainly play in table top. Since I use a charger (the little stand from Nintendo) I already played tabletop a lot with the OG switch.
With the Oled I find myself moving around more and using tabletop even when watching TV in the living room, where I had earlier played in portable mode.
 
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pretty often I would say. Mostly for bed co op with my wife but also for when I'm watching TV and I have it run next to me for sim games like Football Manager.
 
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I definitely used to use it reguarly when travelling by train, always nicer to use in tabletop than handheld, but have barely been on a train in the last two years now, so I haven't used tabletop since really!
 
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Sometimes when we go out to eat with family, my daughter and her cousin will put her switch int Abel top mode on the table and play a game.

Now that I have the OLED switch I use tabletop for N64 games with the N64 controller lol
 
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Tabletop mode definitely sold more people on the Switch than you’d think OP. Before Covid hit, I often carried my Switch anywhere I went and you could get multiplayer games going immediately with the Joy Cons in games like Mario Kart, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and Smash Bros. At a prior often quiet job, I beat Kirby Star Allies, Box Boy and Box Girl, and River City Girls together with coworkers. People I’d never expect would ever get a video game console were immediately sold on the Switch when you pulled out a fun game in tabletop mode. I have 40 Switch friends between friends and family and most of them use it frequently. Seriously only one of my close friends/family members doesn’t have a Switch at this point (he’s married and has three children so I sadly hardly ever see him anymore. Not sure if he’s ever really even seen a Switch lol).

Since Covid hit, I sadly leave my house far less and only do outdoor activities with friends so I’m pretty much always docked these days. I occasionally use handheld mode in bed. I have played far more online multiplayer games at least, but it’s definitely not the same.
 
I use Tabletop mode every time I’m laying on my bed after work out before I sleep. It’s fantastic
 
Glom said:
I have a number of uses for it.

When my nephew wanted to see Nemo and Dory in the museum, I would set the Switch up in table top mode for easy viewing.

Sometimes for stretching. I'm not going to go downstairs and faff with the dock and the TV just for stretching when I could just pull out the kick stand and put it on the desk close to where I've been playing handheld.

Closely related bedtop mode is the way I play Ace Attorney games. Console propped up on a fold in the duvet a joy-con in on had (with button remapping) and my hand resting in the other.

I haven't used it personally as it was advertised, ie for couch coop when on the go, but I definitely see that as being useful.

It is obviously going to be much less used than the other modes, but its availability is genius.

NB, why do polls always need sass? It always leads to loaded answers. It's perfectly possible that someone can recognise the value of the feature without having ever needed to use it themselves in their own unique experience.
Click to expand...

Where did you see sass in my poll? That wasn’t intended and I can’t see it honestly, so it’s a genuine question
 
Zellia said:
I voted never, but it's clearly not useless. I just don't really care to use it.
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Useless to you. If you never use a feature, isn’t that feature useless to you and you’d rather have something else in its place if possible?

Maybe I should’ve added “to me”, but to me it was a given… but evidently it isn’t, lol. I can’t edit a poll option after voting has taken place unfortunately (but understandably).
 
Tabletop mode is the main reason I got my girlfriend into having a Switch. She's disabled and has to spend a lot of time in bed resting, and being able to set it up on her lap or a little stand instead of holding it up all the time is a god send.
 
Dash Kappei said:
Where did you see sass in my poll? That wasn’t intended and I can’t see it honestly, so it’s a genuine question
Click to expand...

I've noticed a trend of trying to add more flourish to poll answers by attaching statements that complicate the answer. This was quite common back at resetera and did often get called out in the threads. It attaches an opinion that the person answering may not want to endorse. In this case, appending "and it's useless" adds a value judgement of this sort.

Dash Kappei said:
Useless to you. If you never use a feature, isn’t that feature useless to you and you’d rather have something else in its place if possible?

Maybe I should’ve added “to me”, but to me it was a given… but evidently it isn’t, lol. I can’t edit a poll option after voting has taken place unfortunately (but understandably).
Click to expand...

If never using the feature automatically makes it useless to that person then the inclusion of the statement is redundant anyway. But the wording phrases the answer far more negatively than is necessary. Someone might never use the kickstand, but they don't want throw shade at it because they recognise it is a good feature in general.

This also ignores that just because someone has never used it so far, it doesn't mean they dismiss the possibility they might have use for it in the future.

I've got to say, it kinds of comes across like you're trying to lead Zellia to outright kickstand opposition. I don't think your hostility to this feature is justified. I'm pretty sure we didn't miss out on dolby licences because of it or anything else for that matter.
 
Table top mode gets broken out consistently for Mario Kart in rando places. I went to Japan not long after buying my Switch, and while my partner isn't much of a gamer, we put hours upon hours into Mario Kart on the plane and more on the long train trip into the countryside. Same for random holiday parties.

Quarantine has vastly reduced the opportunities to break it out, but I play handheld 95% of the time, so I almost always have my switch on me. If I'm in a situation where someone asks "what are you playing?" that's an opportunity for a Mario Kart party. Weirdly, it's exactly like that ridiculous scenario from the trailers we all said would never happen. I've literally been on a rooftop deck for brunch, had my switch in my bag, and a couple mimosas in started playing Mario Kart with friends who mostly never game. A blast.

The kickstand is one of those features that might get little use, but if you want it you REALLY want it, and if it didn't exist we'd be bitching about it constantly. Nintendo really went out making sure that the switch didn't feel like a tablet, despite the underlying hardware.
 
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