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Discussion Do you see the Switch technical leap from a handheld or console point of view.

Steve

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Like, we have always heard the talk of the Switch being similar to the Wii U power level, but over the years i have started seeing it as a leap to the 3DS - Switch.

Like let's compares games from both consoles/handheld.

Like the Switch version of Botw has a more stable framerate, slightly higher resolution and is portable, but at the end both product looks quite similar.

Wii U
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Meanwhile if we compare a 3DS game to a Switch game the difference is quite staggering, with Fidelity, resolution and FPS and the best comparison would be 2D Zelda.
Like the difference is night and day.

3DS

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So my question is, when you think of the leap to the Switch, do you see it as a handheld point of view or from a console one, because i always thought the leap from Wii U to Switch to be fine enough, but if we consider the 3DS, then it's quite large.
 
From 3DS, the Switch is a monumental leap forward.

From Wii U, it’s still an impressive jump, just sideways. It is, from a purely power perspective, not much different. However when you realize you’re getting that power on a handheld device a mere four and a half years later, that’s pretty impressive.
 
it's weird because if you look at how Nintendo's handled the Switch, it definitely feels like they're more following their handheld playbook (all the limited editions, and the Lite and OLED revisions for example are exactly what you'd expect from a Nintendo handheld)

but when I think about the Switch, I do definitely tend to think about it as more "their second attempt at a WiiU" rather than "the follow-up to the 3DS" and view it as more of a lateral move graphically
 
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Not just 3DS but Switch was huge step forward from PS Vita as well. The tech difference between those two handheld gens felt so liberating. Also the massive third party support for Switch once again proved that once the tech is there, third party is there too.
 
For Nintendo consoles, it's a decent leap.

For handhelds? It's an unbelievable jump.
 
9-Volt said:
Not just 3DS but Switch was huge step forward from PS Vita as well. The tech difference between those two handheld gens felt so liberating. Also the massive third party support for Switch once again proved that once the tech is there, third party is there too.
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The way I see it the Switch was not only the successor to Nintendo's handheld legacy, but Sony's short-lived one as well. It's strange, but great to see games like Danganronpa, Persona, and Vanillaware titles on a Nintendo handheld.
 
JorgenRaft said:
At the end of the day, it’s a handheld console with an HDMI port slapped on to it.
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Actually it's not HDMI, it's DisplayPort (there's no USB-C standard for HDMI). The Switch dock converts the DP signal into HDMI.

It also means you can use a third party USB-C DP to HDMI converter with the Switch. Just make sure you get it from a reputable vendor; there's some cheap vendors out there with bad power distributors in the converters that can fry your switch.
 
The Switch is when Nintendo finally stopped making comprises on hardware capabilities and power. While also making a hybrid system.
Because of the latter, I often see people throwing the "Nintendo doesn't go for power" argument about the Switch but this is absolutely wrong.
The fact that it's clearly aging since its 2017 release is another issue, but at the time of release it was crazy which is my point :)
 
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I found it a fine while not overwhelming leap from wiiu, but a huge from 3DS.

It is aging, but it for sure delivered compared to everything in 2017.

Now switch2... I'm not sure if the portable jump will be as obvious, of if docked/console experience will benefit more. Generally I expect the power bump to help with resolution, one of the biggest problems on modern big 4k screens.
 
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I see it as a huge technical leap for handheld gaming. Even though I know spec wise it is more powerful than the Wii U, I see it as a technical decline compared to Wii U; I know this makes no sense but it is what it is.
 
Scrawnton said:
I see it as a huge technical leap for handheld gaming. Even though I know spec wise it is more powerful than the Wii U, I see it as a technical decline compared to Wii U; I know this makes no sense but it is what it is.
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For me it is the realisation what the Wii U should have been...

Which also explains why it feels sooo over by now as a console.
Counting from Wii U (from what a third of switches best selling games come from I guess), then we're in the 12th year on that plateau. Switch is stronger, but not leaps, both mostly looks comparable on wiiu to switch, not like a new console, more like the switch is the pro variant to the Wii U.

It's time for Nintendo games on a new level.
 
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Its a massive technical leap from previous handhelds like 3DS or PSVita.

Its also a good jump vs WiiU, capable of running its titles up to 2.25 times more resolution in docked mode. And with better RAM, CPU, modern architecture, etc it got infinity times better third party support with titles that would be impossible to port to WiiU (like Witcher 3, Doom 2016/Eternal, Dying Light, No Mans Sky, Nier Automata, etc…)
 
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BlackthornOrion said:
it's weird because if you look at how Nintendo's handled the Switch, it definitely feels like they're more following their handheld playbook (all the limited editions, and the Lite and OLED revisions for example are exactly what you'd expect from a Nintendo handheld)

but when I think about the Switch, I do definitely tend to think about it as more "their second attempt at a WiiU" rather than "the follow-up to the 3DS" and view it as more of a lateral move graphically
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It's "their second attempt at the Wii U" as much as the gba was "their second attempt at the SNES", Nintendo porting previous home console hardware to their handhelds is nothing new, they've just finally cut out the middle man and make the big titles directly for the handheld to begin with.
 
I see it as an evolution of both. You have to admit, the portable-ization of home console experience, with a seamless transition between the TV and handheld panel, with the need of an accessory, is a technological evolution akin to the desktop > laptop days.

It’s also a portable console evolution because you need to develop a handheld console powerful to make these types of things happen
 
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Linkstrikesback said:
It's "their second attempt at the Wii U" as much as the gba was "their second attempt at the SNES", Nintendo porting previous home console hardware to their handhelds is nothing new, they've just finally cut out the middle man and make the big titles directly for the handheld to begin with.
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I don't mean in terms of library but rather on a conceptual level; Switch feels like what the WiiU should have been (had the technology been practical for such a thing in 2012). Namely, a home console that lets you play your games anywhere, unbound from the TV. By contrast, the GBA does not imo feel like "what the SNES should have been" by any means

In that sense the Switch feels much more "a revised Wii U" rather than "an evolved 3DS" to me
 
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Switch feels like a monumental handheld jump forward and a short console hop sideways. The Switch's improvements over Wii U are notable but I do wish it had just a little more juice from the jump. It didn't need much.

I'm very excited for what Switch 2 games will look like handheld. I feel like Nintendo has a goal in mind for handheld performance that docked will only benefit from.
 
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Razgriz said:
Actually it's not HDMI, it's DisplayPort (there's no USB-C standard for HDMI). The Switch dock converts the DP signal into HDMI.

It also means you can use a third party USB-C DP to HDMI converter with the Switch. Just make sure you get it from a reputable vendor; there's some cheap vendors out there with bad power distributors in the converters that can fry your switch.
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There actually is an HDMI Alt Mode for USB-C from 2016 or so, supporting the full feature set of HDMI 1.4b. But it's less flexible than DP Alt Mode, which allows for only one of the two USB lanes to get reassigned to video so you can have half-bandwidth DisplayPort (still enough for 1080p60hz) and a lane of USB 3 Gen 1 (what the Switch supports... at a hardware level, anyway) at the same time.
 
Last portable I had was a GBA. As one of the few Wii U owners I see as console point of view.
Though I played some portable games(especially Zelda) on my brother's DS and 3DS.
 
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Famicrono said:
Wii U because Nintendo doesn't really focus on power since the Wii, which was just a bumped up GameCube
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This is only true of the GameCube to Wii and Wii U to switch transitions.

But if you look at their handhelds, that's simply not true. While they're not cutting edge necessarily because of cost concerns, there's a straight line of consistently making sure each new handheld is a meaningful upgrade over the previous one, from the game boy to GBA to DS to 3DS to Switch. Heck, the DS and DSi even had mid life upgrades with significant new hardware features, with the DSi now having onboard storage, a digital store and games on it, and the n3DS outright having the ability to make later games in the 3DS life run better.
 
Linkstrikesback said:
This is only true of the GameCube to Wii and Wii U to switch transitions.

But if you look at their handhelds, that's simply not true. While they're not cutting edge necessarily because of cost concerns, there's a straight line of consistently making sure each new handheld is a meaningful upgrade over the previous one, from the game boy to GBA to DS to 3DS to Switch. Heck, the DS and DSi even had mid life upgrades with significant new hardware features, with the DSi now having onboard storage, a digital store and games on it, and the n3DS outright having the ability to make later games in the 3DS life run better.
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Yep that's why I see it as a home console graphical jump
 
Linkstrikesback said:
It's completely in line with the continued progression of the handhelds, and not so much with the home consoles, therefore you see it as a home console.

What?
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Because with the exception of the Wii to Wii U jump, which was kind of more than needed for it to enter the HD era properly, they are not focused on graphics since the blue ocean strategy took place. So as a hybrid console and releasing only 4 and a half years after the Wii U that was what I expected.
 
It feels more like a natural evolution after the DS/3DS, even though the skeletal framework is clearly ingrained in the Wii U's DNA. So I guess I see it as a larger leap from the handheld perspective.

As someone who had a Wii U almost exclusively until 2015 it just doesn't feel like a big step up. Sidestepped, more like.
 
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It is a significant leap forward from a handheld point of view - which is natural considering they used one of the best available mobile GPUs available on the market in 2016 - and it is a leap forward from a console point of view through the lens of power efficiency, capable of running modern console game engines and features while consuming a few watts, outperforming the previous generation in portable mode alone.
 
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