It’s 5 p.m. on a Thursday night, and I’m starting to feel antsy. I run over the plan in my head: get to GameStop before 8 p.m., secure my spot in line, then profit.
It was a foolproof plan to get to my hands on the Nintendo Switch — which I stupidly had not preordered as soon as it became available. But it was nearing 6:30 p.m., and I had no idea that the GameStop stores in this area had already been serving people for the Switch since 6 p.m. — I also had no idea that each one was only stocked with around four extra Switches.
After panicking and calling all the GameStops in Knoxville participating in the midnight Switch event and calling the Best Buy in Johnson City, which I was fully prepared to drive to, I remembered old faithful: Walmart.
Speeding and driving recklessly to the Chapman Highway Walmart, I had tunnel vision and only one thing on my mind. But, I was rewarded with fourth place in a line that guaranteed justice.
So all I had to do was wait, in this Walmart … for five hours.
Tired and bored, 12 a.m. rolled around, and my (and everyone else’s) prayers were answered.
“I’d like a Switch with neon joy-cons, ‘Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ and ‘1-2-Switch,’ please,” I said.
In the car, I was suddenly filled with energy whilst opening the box, and I couldn’t help but giggle with glee as the system snapped, signifying it had turned on.
Not once did I question this purchase. and now two days later, I still would rather sit around in a Walmart forever if it meant I would still possess this beautiful machine.
The graphics look crisp, running at 720p undocked and 900p docked to the television. There were some minor frame-rate issues when playing “Breath of the Wild,” but that seems to be the extent of some visual issues.
The console itself seems to be well designed, but there are also some small nuances that were a little hard to get used to. Like detaching the joy-cons felt a bit awkward the first couple of times, and the kickstand feels like it was meant to be broken, then reattached. (At least Nintendo had children in mind when engineering this).
But gamers should be warned. The Switch only comes with 32GB, including the system storage. So, effectively the system has 26GB. So players should invest in a few micro-SD memory cards.
As far as gameplay goes, the Switch has blown my mind. When playing “1-2-Switch,” which is equivalent to “Wii Sports,” but was not included with the system, the HD rumble technology makes playing feel much more realistic.
There’s a game that involves shaking a bottle of soda, and the joy-cons really feel like they are fizzing. It makes for a greater experience than just random vibrations, and I’m excited to see how it can be implemented in other games.
To be able to “switch” from playing a game on your television to the portable screen without even pausing is revolutionary, and the Switch can really change gameplay for the future.
The Nintendo Switch console also acts as a screen when it is not connected to a TV.
