Nintendo Switch is 5 Years Old Today

[Moonface]

Today marks five years since the release of Nintendo Switch, the home console and handheld hybrid that has gone on to become Nintendo's best selling home console with 102 million units sold compared to the Wii's 101 million.

What are your memories and experiences with the Switch and what would you like to see for it or its successor in the future?

[Karo]

For me I honestly would just like to see a more powerful version of the switch, but I am also hoping that the switch base games will still be compatible with the newer version!

[Moonface]

For me I honestly would just like to see a more powerful version of the switch, but I am also hoping that the switch base games will still be compatible with the newer version!

Considering how many Switch games still sell well I can see backwards compatibility being a thing so long as the format for the games doesn't change (which I doubt it will).

It'd be neat if the next Switch could come in three varieties: handheld only, handheld/docked, and docked, where the first and last options offer less and more power respectively, similar to a lower-end PC and a higher-end one, while the dual option is basically both where the games are able to run better in docked by having the dock provide more processing power. Probably not feasible and even if it was it probably wouldn't happen, but I'd love to be able to play games like BotW at 60fps without needing to use CEMU to do it because that game looks stunning when it runs at 60fps.

[Karo]

I think that is a neat idea, but one thing that I would be wondering would there be any games that actually take advantage of the docked more powered thing cause they'd have to design games for both options so I do wonder if certain versions might suffer if they cater to one specific style you know?

Though there are definitely some games I would love to see run a lot better Breath of the Wild including!

[ShiraNoMai]

5 years into the Switch and I'm thinking retroactively on how Nintendo really should've waited to finish development on the idea of their "WiiU" concept and just put out the finished "Switch", and skipped that whole process of porting and having to deal with brand confusion. Still, it being a hybrid console really set forth a new expectation on the market for these types of consoles going forward, with the Steam Deck rolling out as the new flagship of the idea, as well as many other regular AA companies like Razer, Nvidia, and so on making their own clones.

[Mr EliteL]

5 years already, huh? And also surpassed the Wii's sales? Damn that's great!

I got mine I believe around Smash Ultimate came out and likely the game I spent most on. However my favourite game out of what I have is hands down Octopath, followed by possibly Xenoblade Chronicles Switch version purely because I missed the Wii, although I didn't know about it back then or paid attention to it. Been neglecting my poor Switch recently though and like many more games in my backlog, still would like to go back to it some point, dang it.

An updated version that's not the OLED would be cool but it might be too late for it now? Who knows how long the Switch will stick around but hopefully a couple more years or so. The successor, yes I would like to see backwards compatibility, but I'm also not sure if I'll even get the next Nintendo console. I did miss Wii U, intentionally. Hm.

[Dragon Lord]

I'm thinking of upgrading to the OLED model sometime, just because OLED screens are absolutely amazing and I only use my Switch in handheld mode anyways. The increased quality of the screen alone would be worth it.

My overall thoughts on the Switch? An alright system. Not too many games on it that I particularly care for, and most of the ones that I do care about end up getting ported to at least Steam. Haven't played the Xenoblade games yet, so maybe I'll end up liking those and they'll give me something else to enjoy my Switch for (if nothing else I'll like the second game for Nia alone).

I'd love the Switch a lot more of Nintendo would pull their heads out of their asses and actually put GBA games up on NSO.