The Nintendo Switch console will be out very soon and there are a lot of things that make it better than the Wii U console. Here’s several reasons why the Switch will not suffer the same fate as the Wii U.
A Proper Portable Console: One of the things Nintendo tried to convince people to buy the Wii U is that you can play entire games on the Gamepad. This was cool at the time, although it was only useful if you live in a home where someone hogs your TV all of the time.
It wasn’t really a portable device mainly because you still needed to have the Wii U console in close proximity to the Gamepad. You couldn’t use the Gamepad outside or anything like that.
The Nintendo Switch changes all of that because the device is the console itself. You can seamlessly transition between TV mode to portable in mere seconds. I’ve tried it myself and the ads aren’t lying. It’s super easy to switch between the modes.
The Switch Is More Comfortable Than The Gamepad: Another thing I noticed is just how much lighter and comfortable the Switch is compared to the Wii Gamepad. Despite both devices having 6.2 inch screens, the Switch is sleeker and and far more lighter. When I went back home to hold my Wii U Gamepad, I could tell the Gamepad is bulkier and way more heavier.
The design of the Switch is just perfect for my hands. It fits nicely and doesn’t feel so bulky. It’s around the size of a tablet so it could easily fit into your bag. The table top mode is pretty cool too as you can play games resting on a flat table.
Nintendo is promising more third party support: One thing that killed the momentum of the Wii U was that third party developers starting to abandon the console pretty early in its life. Since the Wii U had weak hardware, most developers decided to make games on PS4 and Xbox One instead.
Nintendo is promising the same mistake is not going to happen with the Switch. There are many third party games coming later this year including FIFA, Skyrim, NBA 2K18 and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 just to name a few.
Switch encouraging offline multiplayer again: Over the years developers have been supporting online multiplayer in favor of offline/splitscreen multiplayer. This is pretty annoying for me because I like to play games with my brothers. Aside from sports and fighting games, offline multiplayer seems to be dying out in other genres.
However, the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons can be split into two different controllers so that people can play multiplayer games on the same system. The launch trailer for the Switch showed us that we can play games like Mario Kart 8 and NBA 2K18 this way. Not to mention I got to play 1-2-Switch and ARMS and those two games were fun multiplayer experiences.
Switch Has Better Marketing And Buzz: The Wii U reveal trailer was kind of misleading when you go back and watch it. If you see the trailer below, you can see that Nintendo kept talking about the Gamepad being a new controller.
The reason some think the Wii U failed is because several people thought the Wii U was an add-on for the original Wii console. You cannot blame people for thinking about this. Nintendo failed to market the Wii U as an entirely new console.
Thankfully, the marketing for the Nintendo Switch has been better. The reveal trailer has been seen by millions of people worldwide and is the most watched video on Nintendo’s YouTube channel. Nintendo also spent money to add a commercial during the Super Bowl.
The buzz for the Switch is more positive and higher than the Wii U. The more people that order the system, the better the future will be because it will entice more developers to make games for it.
As aforementioned, the Wii U died out pretty quickly because not a lot of casual gamers bought it while others opted to save money towards a PS4 or Xbox One at the time. The Switch on the other hand has high pre-order numbers and its launch on March 3rd could be huge!
