The Nintendo Switch is one of the hottest products in the gaming industry since its launch in spring of 2017. It🐭 is a unique hybrid console that can also act as a handheld system and can be played anywhere you go. The Nintendo Switch has come out so far as a pretty good success for Nintendo with how well the system has sold. So far it has sold over 20 million hardware units, as well as nearly 90 million software sales. In just 1.5 years the Switch has already sold more units than its predecessor, the Nintendo Wii U.
Like many Nintendo systems that came before it, The Nintendo Switch boosts a rather impressive library of exclusives with games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The 2018 release lineup looks bright with the upcoming release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee, as well as what we already know about potential 2019 games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Bayonetta 3, and Metroid Prime 4.
Despite the promising success of Nintendo’s newest hardware, there are quite a few concerns about the system. Some of these could be major concerns that could affect future sales; others may be smaller, yet head-scratching flaღws that make you wonder what on earth is Nintendo thinking. Here we will cover 25 problems with the Switch that shows Nintendo is still behind the times in certain areas despite the overall good quality of the system.
24 STILL No GameCube Supp🌄ort
While on the topic of the Virtual Console, it was pretty amazing to be able to have access t꧋o classic games from the NES to the N64.💎 Since the Wii U launched in 2012, fans have been hoping for Nintendo GameCube games to be included into the Virtual Console library. However, there has yet to be a single GameCube game available on the Virtual Console.
There are plenty of classics that fans would love to dive back into such as Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario Sunshine, and F-Zero GX.
The GameCube support would greatly bolster Nintendo’s legacy content library and some games could further benefit from added features such as online play. With the recent st♑rike of ROMs, GameCube games are becoming more difficult to have access to. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance was recently seen being available on Amazon for over $300. GameCube support on Switch should be a very easy decision, especially since the system can support the controllers.
23 Nintendo’s Voice Chat Functionality Makes 🅷No Sense
Nintendo’s approach to voice chat has always been some kind of crazy adventure. The company’s first method of voice chat was done with the Wii Speak accessory that conducted voice chat throughout the entire room and was really only used for Animal Crossing: City Folk. The Nintendo Switch does have voice acting, but Nintendo is opting to utilize it through the N🤪intendo Switch Online app. It can be a hassle to use another device just for voice chatting.
It’s hard to believe Nintendo can’t get something so simple right.
What is even more confusing is that the Switch actually can use voice chat by plugging in a microphone into the headphone jack of the Switch. The only game that supports this right now is Fortnite. What is silly about it is t💧hat the headphones have to be wired, so if you are playing docked you would have to be sitting real close to your docked Switch.
22 ♑ Nintendo’s Online Is Still A Joke 🌳
If there is one thing Nintendo has never really done well is having a good online service for their systems. The Gamecube only had one online game, and the Wii used those dreaded friend codes for every individual game. At the very least the experience was free, which minimized complaints for a little bit. However, now Nintendo is jum🎐ping into offering a paid online service that will likely have started by the publishing of this article.
It may only be $20 per year, but its features are extremely lacking.
The biggest pull is that you could stream NES games as part of your subscription and play online with others. That may sound great, but some of these NES games are ones that have been redistributed over and over again. The idea of playing Super Mario Bros. 3 again, even if it is online, doesn’t exa𓃲ctly sound excitingꦕ.
21 Seriously? You Can’t Even Message Your Friendsꦅ?
One of the most perplexing omissions from the functionality of the Nintendo Switch is one of the most basic features you could implement in a system. For some odd rea𓂃son, the Nintendo Switch doesn’t even have the ability to send message between friends on your friend list. Why would Nintendo not include such a basic feature? One could hazard a guess that it has something to do with user experience and interacting between random users, but it really doesn’t make much sense to not include messaging between Switch users.
20 ▨ The eShop Feels Like It Was Made In 2007
As it stands right now, the current eShop on the Nintendo Switch is honestly a mess. It lacks any kind of visual appeal for the biggest and most popular games and it doesn’t even have background music playing♛.
What is really sad is that the Wii U’s eShop is a far greater design and a more consumer friendly experience.
Many of the game entries get lost in the flood of indie titles, and when you select a game to view it only shows off a few screenshots and sometimes a trailer or two. The flooding issue is a major cꦰoncern for games that don’t receive a whole lot of marketing support or games from 🅘very small indie developers.
19 ﷺ Most Of The Good Games Are Just Ports ꩵ
Nintendo has done an excellent job of managing the release schedule of their software for the Nintendo Switch. 2017 had at least one noticeable game released each month after launch and it continued in 2018. However, while there are great exclusives, there are many other great games that are ports. Some of these ports are fairly recent games such as DOOM and Wolfenstein 2, others are ports of games that have been out for multiple years like Skyrim and Rocket League. Then there are the cluster of Wii U ports like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Bayonetta 2, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. This isn’t a problem for those who hav♎e missed out on these games, but for many dedicated gamers, there have been a few drought𒁏s here and there within the Switch’s game lineup.
18 720p Just Isn’t Acceptable When Docked 🐻
It’s no secret that Nintendo elects to focus more on innovative ways to play games as opposed to building powerful consoles that are similar to Xbox and PlayStation. While it certainly has given them an advantage at times, the reality of having an underpowered system can be hard to commit more time to if you own more than one platform. There are a few Switch games that can play at the 1080p, 60 FPS standard, and those games do look fantastic. However, there are plenty of games, specifically multiplatform games, that can suffer in performance. While it is very impressive for porting companies like Panic Button to somehow work a game like DOOM on Switch, for many players, playing that game at 30 FPS compared to the s🦩mooth 60 FPS on other systems just isn’t good enough.
17 The Joy-Cons𝓡 Can Still Be Dysfunctional 🐽
Like most consoles, the Switch had many technical i🥀ssues when it 🏅launched in March of 2017. One of those issues was related to the Joy-Con controllers that are used for the system. Occasionally, there will be times where they simply lose connection or fail to respond to any inputs.
Another issue that these controllers will have is a drifting problඣem where movement of the analog stick is input without actually moving the stick. This can cause characters to walk on their own without moving. All of these problems occurred within the launch units, so if you purchased your Switch when it launched, you will likely have to get your Joy-Cons repaired by Nintendo at some point or buy brand new ones.
16 You Won’t Be Able To Play Zelda Undocked Fo🌱r Very Long
With a system like the Nintendo Switch that can be a console in a handheld system, one of the more obvious drawbacks will be the battery life of the system when played in handheld mode. When playing certain heavy games like Breath of The Wild, the Switch’s battery life will only last for a few hours, even with adjusted bri♊ghtness settings.
You only have enough of a charge to play during one road trip to another city or a somewhat short flight.
It doesn’t help that you’ll need a ﷽stronger portable battery if you want to charge it, but there are ways to work around it and get the most out of your time away. Either way, even if it is just a few hours, there is still a great satisfaction owners can have in playing console games an💧ywhere.
15 ꦛ The Nintendo Switch Online App Is Still Worthless
The Nintendo Switch Online App was released alongside Splatoon 2 during the summer of last year. The app’s main purpose was to connect players together for various multiplayer games. After a year of its release, the only game to utilize this app as of the time of writing is still Splatoon 2. Within the Splatoon 2 tab it does track some statistics and such, but other tha🌟n that, the app is largely useless. If there was more of a community link involved with the app then maybe it could be something worth checking out.