The Switch is a marvel
The OLED Nintendo Switch is the complete package
It’s true that there is now a Switch 2. The release of that console came right around the time that I’d decided to leave my job in games unsure when I’d return so that seemed like the wrong time to be dropping £400 on a new console which only had one launch title, even if it is the hardware and software combination I’ve been asking my favourite platform holder to release for at least 2 years.
For the last 3 weeks I’ve been on my way to, from and around Australia, and have hauled my beloved OLED Switch around with me everywhere we went without actually playing it. Full time dadding and a lot of photography left no time to play, but today, as we began the journey home it was worth every gram of extra weight, every pointless check on charge levels or top up, and I’ll tell you why.
In the last week my youngest son has discovered the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was by accident really, we were meeting Alice near the office she’d been working in and we were early. We’d noticed a place called King Comics earlier in the week and I figured with a flight upcoming, we could justify the spend on some comics. Lewis chose Zootopia, and Ben, out of nowhere, chose a Turtles anthology. To say he devoured it would be an understatement. He was impossible to separate from the book for about three days, reading it over and over again, only stopped by an incident none of us noticed where food has somehow got onto some pages and stuck them together, in parts it’s now pretty wrecked but it has ignited a flame. It contains a couple of styles of story, one in the early 80s comic style with wonky colour printing and dot patterns, the other in the newer style that’s now on TV. Donnie wears more of a headscarf than the traditional bandana, Raphael appears to be in charge, it’s a whole thing although I imagine Rob Paulson is still at least one voice in there. Here’s what has been explained to me by my youngest.
1. Old Ninja Turtles is better than the new Ninja Turtles.
2. It’s better when Leonardo is the leader.
3. This goes for the old cartoons too, we’ve sampled 1987, 2003 and 2024. 1987 is the best.
4. On the videogame front, The Cowabunga Collection is ok, they’re all old games from the 90s, but Shredder’s Revenge on Switch is the high point so far.
Which brings us nicely around to the Switch. I had Shredder’s Revenge on PC when it first came out and finished it on Steam but I bought it again later in a sale on Switch, partly because I loved it and it was a way to give more money to the developer, and partly because I figured it would be nice to travel with and today, that game delivered in spades! I sat on a couch with my two boys and we showed Shredder and the Foot Clan what for! As a team. Ben was Raphael, Lewis was Leo and I was Mikey. We spent the best part of an hour waiting for our flight passing the time this way and it was glorious. Not only was the system small and light with a really great OLED screen, but controller pairing from another Switch is a doddle too. Clip it on and off and you’re paired! We were playing together in no time. It made me see the system through fresh eyes. Yes, the second console is more powerful and uses all the same tricks, is the same thickness, but the first system is actually really small compared to just about everything else we carry about with us when we travel, and the OLED system has that killer screen with a great battery life, early reports of the system suggest that we’ve made the same trade we made with iPads in the last 8 years, performance that means we have to charge an iPad almost daily as opposed to the once or twice a week that used to make them such handy second devices. We’ve had each version of the original Switch in our household and the OLED really is a bit of a GOAT system. So many games, so many sales, and the new virtual cartridge system makes sharing amongst the family much easier.
So, do I wish I could be playing Mario Kart World on Switch 2? Of course I do, I think it looks rad, but when it comes down to it, the system I’m playing on right now, with the library of games I’ve collected over 8 years is pretty incredible. I am not in a hurry to change up based on the fun we had today. If you don’t already have a Switch, there’s really never been a better time.