A Lizard's Closing Thoughts on the Nintendo Switch
Do you remember how exciting the day the Nintendo Switch announcement was? For me, it was absolutely freezing, and I was walking to school, half-distracted by the buffering YouTube video of the reveal trailer. When I finally got a good look, I couldn’t stop talking about it. This felt fresh and grown-up. For the first time in years, Nintendo looked… cool, and I, the “Wii U” kid, finally had something to look forward to.
A History Lesson
For context, 2012-2016 was horrible for Nintendo. At the time, most people viewed Nintendo as a kids’ game company, and the Wii U had become an absolute laughing stock for gamers due to it’s low specs, weird controller, and middling software library. I missed out on a ton of games that my friends were talking about because none of them came to the Wii U. To me, seeing NBA 2K and The Elder Scrolls V in the trailer was a sign that a lot of the PS4 and Xbox One titles I had missed out on would be playable on the system. Obviously I was kinda wrong about that assumption, but I was a gullible 14 year old, and also a Nintendo super-fan.
Launch day couldn’t come soon enough. I traded in almost every game I had a week prior so I could have the in store credit to get the Switch, and the difference was made up by the money I had earned doing yard-work, so I was lucky enough to preorder. When I finally got my hands on the controller for the first time, all of the hype felt so justified. The hybrid nature of the console was such a unique concept at the time, and the graphics were a nice step up from the Wii U I had upgraded from. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was probably the best game I had ever played at that point, and it blew little lizard’s fucking mind.
Launch, and the Years That Followed
So, the launch for the Nintendo Switch was great for me. In the years that followed, many games came out that re-sparked that feeling I had when I first played Breath of the Wild. When life felt overwhelming—either with coming to terms with my self identity or the grind of early adulthood—I’d pick up my Switch and lose myself in its worlds. Whether it was the calm of Animal Crossing or the adrenaline of DOOM, the Switch was my escape from the stress of everyday life. There were so many games that I fell in love with. I don’t think that any other console could have filled those shoes at the time.
I think that part of what made the Switch so special to me was the form-factor. Being able to take all of these console-level games anywhere created so many great memories. I spent my Spanish classes ignoring the teacher to split up the joy-con and play Mortal Kombat 11 with my friends, and I filled long car rides with the snowy lands of Skyrim (and before you ask, I chose to play as an Argonian, none of you should be surprised). It’s something I take for granted these days, but I still can’t help but admit that the hybrid nature of the Switch is badass, and it helped me make friends in school. As someone on the spectrum, connecting with my peers in high-school was really difficult, but the shared love for gaming that my friends and I had made it so much easier to adapt.
Aging Not So Gracefully
Now, over eight years later and with the onset of the Nintendo Switch 2, a lot has changed, and my views on the console have soured a little. I still like the Nintendo Switch, and the games I’ve played on it are still good, but it hasn’t aged gracefully, to say the least. The hardware was underpowered even at launch, and for 2025 standards, they are awful. It’s literally a 2015 tablet processor paired with a measly four gigabytes of ram, and even that’s down-clocked significantly for battery life or heating reasons.
The paltry hardware provided to developers made things difficult, and because of this, a lot of games on the Switch are held together with duck tape and glue. While they’re technically impressive for the hardware they’re running on, they’re also often the worst versions you can buy for a multitude of reasons. Comparing games like Mortal Kombat 1, Fortnite, or Wolfenstein II to their home console counterparts might be an unfair comparison, but it’s a deep reminder that the Switch is severely underpowered in most of the ways that count, and portability becomes a huge sacrifice to achieve that. Extremely low resolutions that could barely be considered as standard HD and performance issues are commonplace in nearly every single modern AAA game on the platform, and even older games have issues. For example, Minecraft, a 2011 indie PC game, runs like crap and has a render distance of approximately the end of my nose. Minecraft somehow runs better on my iPhone 13 mini. That's nuts.
The console feels even more dated when you look at the UI, which is bland and completely lacking in basic features that were available on both previous Nintendo platforms and even the Xbox 360 from 2005. Yikes. Voice chat, themes, a party system, achievements, software sorting, and an activity log or hour tracker are all missing (and no, I don’t count the groups that you have to scroll all the way to the end to access as proper software sorting, they’re harder to get to than just picking the game unless you have an absurd amount of games installed at all times). The UI, even 8 years later, feels unfinished and boring. ON A NINTENDO SYSTEM. I mean, look at the Wii U or the 3DS menus and you’re gonna be charmed, it’s fun and inviting.
Staying Power
It’s weird because the UI is indicative overall to how the console has aged. It felt a little dated before but now it's aged like milk on the counter. Nintendo consoles have historically had a lot of staying power, and there’s a reason to have most of them still, especially if you’re an enthusiast. In fact, my 3DS is still part of my daily tech carry (I’ll make a post about that later maybe), and I still have my original Wii. While the Nintendo Switch did revolutionize handheld gaming, the 2nd one has been confirmed to be backwards compatible, and if it ends up being as powerful as the rumors say it is, there might not be any staying power in the Switch outside of nostalgia or collecting purposes. Even right now, there’s simply no reason to get a Switch. The Switch 1 is overpriced for the specs and value proposition, and every game that isn’t an exclusive or a simple, easy to run title is better played on something else.
That’s bittersweet to me. Like I said before, the Nintendo Switch got me through some difficult times, and outside of that, it’s one of the most important consoles ever released. It revolutionized handheld gaming and basically created a whole new genre of console, after all. It had so many good games and it was cool for a really long time, and while those games are still good, they’ll be so much better on newer hardware. That leaves the Switch with not a lot of purpose once number two comes out. I mean, it'll be super cheap, I guess. That's cool.
Closing Thoughts
I think that looking back at the life cycle of a console that’s still on the market today is a weird farewell, but there’s not much more I can say. There aren’t any games coming out for the system that I’m looking forward to, and my backlog of games for the Switch is getting smaller and smaller. Plus, they’ll all be playable on the successor to the system, so there’s no rush. I’ve experienced the Switch, for the most part. For now, I’ve got a few more months to keep playing. There are still games I own that I have yet to finish, but once those are done, I’m all wrapped up.
The Switch was more than just a console for me growing up— it was a defining part of my teenage years. It proved that Nintendo could still be relevant and popular, and gave us some games that’ll be touted as some of the best games of all time. I love the Nintendo Switch, but it’s about time to move on, so for now, farewell, Nintendo Switch. Thanks for all the good memories.