• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.

Fun Club Do you personally see the Switch as a Home Console you can take with you, or a Handheld you can dock?

Which do you see the Switch as?

  • Total voters
    215
Derachi

Derachi

Fresh Eater
Founder
Pronouns
he/him
“BOTH” IS A COWARD’S ANSWER

Which do you see the Switch as more? Personally I see it as a dockable portable. Yes, one could conceivably dock their Switch permanently and treat it entirely as a home console only device. But I think even in doing that, it is still the next step after 3DS in Nintendo’s lineup of portable consoles that that hypothetical person is simply choosing to play in that one way.

Anyway, how do you feel about the Switch?
 
as a child of Takahashi I have embraced Nintendo Switch as a home console you can take with you on the go (he was so relieved)
 
Home console that you can take on the go is just the marketing angle. It's a portable.

I suppose it helps I've actually taken it to all sorts of places. School, airplanes, restaurants, coffee shops. I've even been made fun of by teenagers because of it.
 
I personally see it as portable console you can dock.

Like i always saw the advertisement being ,, A portable system that can be a home console''.

But overall i think the Switch is a neat system, that has some of the most critically acclaimed Nintendo games.
Like the Switch combining the Handheld Division and the Console one, is in my opinion the greatest thing Nintendo has done, because this has been the first console without a drought, it also has games that can satisfy everyone niche, like Pikmin, Metroid, Mario, Zelda and Animal crossing. All different genres and game styles.

But i'm overall excited seeing the next iteration of the Switch, but despite that... I somehow feel nostalgic of the release and first year of the system.
 


he actually said "accepted" and a "home console that could be taken anywhere"

but I was close and am loyal to Takahashi-sama regardless
 
I've always based the difference between a handheld and a console by the type of games, and the switch has console games.
 
Home console that you can take with you, just like how the GC had the handle so you could take it to other places
 
Handheld you can dock. So much of the library echoes the GB -> DS lineup it’s hard not to see that heritage overpowering the console side. And it’s running an ARM architecture which has been a hallmark of portable systems for decades.

Of course, I might be a bit biased with Super Game Boy and Game Boy Player being some of my favorite console accessories.
 
It’s always just been the next portable to me. The dock is still barely used 7 years later.

This is the advantage of the Switch’s main appeal being that it’s whatever the customer wants it to be. I see a new Nintendo portable with Monster Hunter, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, SMT, 2D Zelda etc. A friend of mine plays mostly online Mario Kart, Smash etc just as he did on the Nintendo home consoles before it.
 
Last edited:
Portable console I can dock. I play it in handheld mode for the most part, and it just happens to be able to fulfill the role of a home console in addition to that when I need it to.

I will watch this poll with great interest.
 
Portable console you can dock. But that's because I use it in portable mode most of the time and only use the dock for a few games or out of curiousity.
 
switch-oled-tabletop.jpg

in my opinion this is what so strongly cements it as a home console you can take with you anywhere
 
I mostly always saw it as a home console you can take on the go, but I've found certain games unlock for me once I start approaching them the other way around, as handheld games I can dock. I couldn't get into Link's Awakening or Mario RPG on the telly, but curled up on the sofa with it in handheld? That's perfect.
 
0
For me it's "Handheld system whose games you can play on big screen too". Just like OG Game Boy and Game Boy Advance. I haven't seen Nintendo as a home console focused company since GameCube times. Since then every home console felt like "complimentary" or "side business" to their "real deal" handheld line. Just like how Pokémon Colosseum was a side attraction to Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.
 
Ultimately I see it as a home console that can be taken on the go — you can thank games like BotW/TotK, Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade for that… but there are some games that are definitely more at home in a portable space. Games like Mario vs DK, Link’s Awakening, Pokémon SwSh.

It’s the best of both worlds :)
 
I see it kinda like a laptop. Yeah, you can take it with you cause it's much smaller than the alternative, but it's a little too big to take everywhere unlike dedicated handhelds, even the Lite. You trade power for convenience of "man, I wanna play this in bed" rather than true portability.

I guess when talking about power I compare it more towards handhelds rather than other consoles though.
 
I see it as an above-average handheld device that can be made even better when docked... I just never dock it. Haven't done so since Mario Golf came out.
 
Raccoon said:
switch-oled-tabletop.jpg

in my opinion this is what so strongly cements it as a home console you can take with you anywhere
Click to expand...
YES. 100%

In a technical sense, it is sort of a handheld you can dock. But in VIBES? It IS a home console you can take anywhere, and that's incredible!

I arrive on a train, it's going to be maybe two to three hours before I get off. I take my Nintendo Switch from its carrying case. No extra wireless controllers needed; they're attached to the side of it. I extend the kickstand, pull off my controllers, pop on my headphones, lean back, and for the next few hours, I'm playing... The latest Legend of Zelda game. The big new 3D Mario. The latest Pikmin. Whatever I like, really!

Oh no, there's a Splatfest on while I'm away camping! The Switch unfolds atop my rucksack, the mobile hotspot turns on, and for a few minutes in the middle of nowhere, I sit there, aiming with my right hand, moving with my left, no extra accessories required.

Tabletop Mode PLAYS like TV Mode. It acts like a home console, plain and simple. Playing Super Smash Bros. with a friend... In the breakroom. Four player Mario Kart... Anywhere. And I've done it! I've gotten four people huddled around a system propped up on a table playing Mario Kart 8 and it was FUN!

Nintendo Switch is a console, pure and simple, because it ACTS like one.
 
A home console that is easy to move between different rooms or hook up to a capture monitor. It has only left the house for a few big trips, otherwise I’d say I play it 85% docked.
 
I still see it somewhat as both, but now at the end of its lifecycle I perceive it more as a handheld. I think this gets reflected by some game releases and even to some degree how Nintendo markets the Switch right now. Personally I‘m using it almost never connected to the TV.
 
0
Sort of echoing what I said in the "Do you see the Switch technical leap from a handheld or console point of view" thread, but it's weird. Because on paper, it's very in line with their handheld approach. All the limited editions and doing revisions like the Lite and OLED just scream "Gameboy/DS lineage". But in practice, I tend to view it as more "they made a WiiU you could take anywhere", and the games that are on Switch broadly feel more "console-y" to me

And like, the Switch hasn't been getting those wholly unique de-makes you'd see on handhelds in the past that are completely different from the console versions. Instead they take the PC/console versions of those games, tweak some settings, and put them out on Switch. Just look at DQ11 for example: On 3DS they had to make a whole different chibi-fied version of that game just so there'd be a handheld version to sell in Japan, but put the Switch and PS4 versions side by side and they're basically the same game at different resolutions

Plus, so much of the marketing has been based around things like taking console-ass games on the go or being able to do split-screen multiplayer anywhere, which imo definitely skews things decidedly towards "it's a console you can take with you"
 
From the POV of somebody who messes around with a ton of different gaming hardware, it's just a handheld. The more interesting conversation is the current handheld market is really trying to blur the lines between home console gaming and handheld gaming, to the point they are basically the same thing these days. I do not, under any circumstances, have to hand it to Nintendo while posting on famiboards dot com, but I will give it to them anyways on being slightly ahead of the curve with the Switch.
 
Both, I use it 50/50 and it serves both sensibilities. Call me a coward if you want.
 
I have played the Switch quite a bit (enough to beat more than 100 games), and I can count in one hand how many hours I've played it in handheld mode. So it's definitely option one for me.
 
Quoted by: Ab
1
I mean, it has games of a home console and not just "portable" like games on the big TV. In essence and in what it plays, it's a home console that is able to be played anywhere
 
Last edited:
0
Earthbounder said:
I have played the Switch quite a bit (enough to beat more than 100 games), and I can count in one hand how many hours I've played it in handheld mode. So it's definitely option one for me.
Click to expand...
This but the opposite for me lol.
 
The software is more similar to a home console. The way I use it is more similar to a home console. Technically, it's probably more of a handheld since all the hardware is there.

Answering this question reminded me how great this system was .... so many high quality console games I've played on it.
 
It’s a home console I can take out the dock and clean whenever it gets all dusty
 
0
Home console you can take on the go.

I assume it's that way for me because I've never bought a Nintendo handheld, so I primarily think of the home consoles when I think of Nintendo (plus an age thing).
 
0
It’s clearly a handheld that can do video out. I do that with a ton of handhelds these days, from the Steam Deck and the Switch all the way down to something tiny like an RG35XX. A handheld is all the Switch ever was. But that doesn’t take away from the massive success of the Switch at all, because if anything, the Switch brought that kind of functionality to the mainstream.
 
BlackthornOrion said:
Plus, so much of the marketing has been based around things like taking console-ass games on the go or being able to do split-screen multiplayer anywhere, which imo definitely skews things decidedly towards "it's a console you can take with you"
Click to expand...
This is a very good point as well. First impressions are everything in marketing, and the very first thing Nintendo opted to show in the reveal trailer was a user playing a game as they would on a home console, then taking it on the go - not the other way around.

 
Last edited:
I see it as a home console that you can take on the go; I rarely even play on handheld.

Most of its games are made as home console titles first;

If the Switch was truly a handheld first, many of the big titles would have a totally different approach to game design to be played on small bursts; I don't feel there's enough of that DS/3DS experience on Switch.
 
Interestingly most people are providing answers focusing either on the underlying hardware tech, or on some of the kind of games you can play.

It makes it really obvious what os Switch's strength - strong hardware / software integration has made it possible to gather the console to difference audiences.

We wouldn't have had this discussion with an hypothetical PlayStation Switch, primarily made to play the same AAA games as the big brother with lower fidelity and without any cool handheld idea.

So the real answer is both... Or "it doesn't matter", as Switch at this point is its own paradigms.
 
0
I don’t find the “console-like games” argument convincing at all. The Steam Deck plays AAA games; does that make it not a handheld? Of course not. The same goes for the Switch. It is, purely and simply, a handheld that comes with a dock in the box.
 
The Switch has been my primary console since launch and I’ve probably played it in docked mode for ~75% of that, so while I value the portablity a ton, I will always see it as a home console first and foremost.

(For what it’s worth, a majority of the first party library screams “console games you can take on the go” to me, rather than “handheld titles that can be played on the TV”)
 
It's not a handheld in the sense of what that would traditionally mean for a game system in the past. As a piece of hardware? It's a handheld.
 
The portability is what limits its hardware potential as a typical home console, so it's definitely more of a handheld. The existence of the Switch Lite pretty much answers this, too.

I don't ever really play handheld, either. But when I'm playing docked, it feels more like I'm playing my "3DS" plugged into a big monitor than it does playing a home console of modern standards.
 
0
Red Monster said:
I don’t find the “console-like games” argument convincing at all. The Steam Deck plays AAA games; does that make it not a handheld? Of course not. The same goes for the Switch. It is, purely and simply, a handheld that comes with a dock in the box.
Click to expand...
Why do you need to be convinced?
 
Red Monster said:
I don’t find the “console-like games” argument convincing at all. The Steam Deck plays AAA games; does that make it not a handheld? Of course not. The same goes for the Switch. It is, purely and simply, a handheld that comes with a dock in the box.
Click to expand...
Counterpoint: the raccon is right:
Raccoon said:
switch-oled-tabletop.jpg

in my opinion this is what so strongly cements it as a home console you can take with you anywhere
Click to expand...
Even when I'm using it on the go, I just don't use it like I used prior handhelds. And based on his opinions previously shared, I think @Raccoon will agree with me when I say the true handheld experience is basically dead (not that there was really another option when the Vita scared Sony out and Nintendo pivoted to the Switch). I was comfortable taking my GBA/DS/3DS anywhere because I could slip it into my pocket when I was done. With the Switch, it's big enough that I refuse to take it anywhere without the case, and now I need to think ahead about whether I'll have a place to put the $300 handheld with a bunch of $60 games in the case when I'm not using it, or I just leave it behind (as a wearer of men's clothing, I generally don't carry a bag around because my pockets do what I need). Using the Switch as a handheld is a planned event.

Now, some of this may be because the Switch released not long after I turned 18, which kinda changed my life habits anyway; but I wasn't really given a choice. Maybe I'd still use something in the DS form factor on lunch breaks given the option, but I'll never really know.

Probably, anyway; the Switch Lite definitely pushes things back towards the handheld side. I recently acquired one from my brother who didn't want it anymore after getting an OLED; maybe I'll try carrying it around and see if it's comfortable.
 
I see it as a device that I get different instructions on how to handle it by TSA, depending on what airport I am at. Some say leave it in my bag. Some say put it in a different tray. Some say take it all the way out of the case.

WTF do you want from me?????
 
The Switch has always been purely a handheld in my eyes, but for the sake of the poll I chose "Portable console you can dock."

Personally I've only docked my system about 3-4 times and those were during holiday gatherings which pretty much ended when covid hit. As for the size of the system, that never bothered me since I always carry my handhelds in my bag and the system is thin enough that it doesn't take up too much space.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top Bottom