So I was lucky enough to be selected to attend the Nintendo Switch UK Premier event in Hammersmith in London. I already live in London, so it was a simple tube journey there.
We had to queue for approximately 30 mins past the supposed starting time, outside in the rain. Lots of people had their 3DSes out. I got mine out with Pokémon Moon.
... in previous gatherings of Nintendo fans, I would get out OmegaRuby and see how many Pokémon-playing passersby there were in the game's PSS. I tried to do the same in Moon with Festival Plaza... but I really couldn't work out how to use the damn thing just see who was nearby. ................. Gen 7 Pokémon is kind of bad. :(
Eventually I managed to get inside after a lot of queueing in the rain.
There was a corridor with the history of previous Nintendo gaming devices on display, in chronological order from Game & Watch to Wii U. I thought it was cute. (There was no Virtual Boy).
I was handed a few things at the door:
I got a lanyard to hang around my neck, but oddly enough, nobody at the event was given any name tag or anything to attach to it, so we all just wore this lanyard with nothing on it around the venue.
I got a card telling me about free Wi-Fi, the name being NINTENDO SWITCH with no password. Unfortunately, there was no such Wi-Fi spot with that name at all. I don't understand it.
I was given a card with a place to write my name and email address to be entered into a prize draw to win a Switch.
I was given a stamp card, with 12 spaces. The idea was that I'd get a stamp for trying each of the games, and if I filled it all out, I'd get a pin badge.
The main showroom floor had various setups for the games. There was a large number of Breath of the Wild setups against the back wall. A setup of 8 Switches for Splatoon 2 nearby, a few 1,2 Switch and Arms setups, a Snipperclips setup, some Mario Kart, and a few single setups for Sonic Mania, Street Fighter 2, Super Bomberman, Skylanders Imaginators and probably another thing I forgot.
Anyway. First game I queued for was Splatoon 2. You could either use the Pro controller looking at a TV, or the Joycons attached to the side of the Switch, playing looking at the device's own screen. I chose Pro controller.
I selected the Charger weapon, and began to play Splatoon! The motion controls on the Pro Controller felt natural to me, exactly as I was used to from having played the first Splatoon game a lot. I didn't quite understand how to use the new Special weapon, but the moving, jumping, swimming, aiming and shooting felt exactly as it should have. It was pretty good.
Next I got to try Breath of the Wild. I had a 20 min session, where I got to try the Joycon Grip. This way of playing actually felt really nice. Even though the Joycons are small, the way they feel in the Grip actually turns it into a really nice feeling controller. The only issue I can see with the Grip is that there's no D-pad in this mode, but that's not a problem with games like Zelda.
The demo seemed to be the same demo we saw played extensively at E3. I woke up, grabbed some tree branches, grabbed the Woodcutters Axe, went for a swim, climbed some cliffs, cut some trees, collected some apples, all that good stuff. I found a Korok Leaf, which is an item I hadn't seen before. I realised that it had the same puff of wind effect as the Deku Leaf from Wind Waker. I experimented with it, trying to blow some Bokoblins off a cliff. It worked. :D
Zelda is going to be a must-buy. I wish I could have played it for longer.
I wanted to fill my stamp card some more. There was a space for Super Mario Odyssey, but the game wasn't actually there. Instead, you got the stamp by watching the game's trailer, which was being shown off in a corner repeatedly on loop.
The shortest line was for Street Fighter 2, so I gave that a try. They had the Pro Controller there - it's the only option with a D-pad, so for a classic fighting game, it seems like it'd be a necessity. I picked Guile and tried to remember how to do any of the special moves. I lost to Chun-li. This game's matches last for such a short time, it's no wonder this was the fastest moving line. The game wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. It's basically just Street Fighter 2 as normal. Playing with the Pro Controller was great, but I'd hate to try this game using the non-existant Dpad of the Joycons. If you like Street Fighter, you're basically going to have to get an additional controller or a fightstick to play this on Switch, no doubt.
I find it kind of funny how, even after Street Fighter 3, 4 and 5 are out, they still made another new version of Street Fighter 2. It's the game with a billion different versions.
I wanted to try Arms, so after waiting in another long queue, I managed to give it a go. It used the two Joycons with the wrist strap attachment, held in each fist.
The wrist strap attachment itself felt good and sturdy on the Joycons, but I really didn't like the controls of Arms. Tilting to move is imprecise enough, but having to do that while also thrusting forward meant that I never really felt like I was in control of my character.
When I asked, the Nintendo rep running the setup told me that there are plans for a mode that uses proper button controls. I hope he's right, 'cause I won't really want to play with the awkward motion gestures that much.
He also told me that he felt like the green ninja character was currently overpowered, and that he'd send feedback to Japan to try and balance it. That was kind of funny actually.
I had been in the venue for three hours at this point, and the queues were still as long as ever.
Sonic Mania had a massive queue. I'm already overly-familliar with the classic Sonic games, due to an obsene amount of childhood time spent playing S3&K. I didn't feel the need to try it myself, since I know how it feels to play classic Sonic already.
I didn't want to play Mario Kart 8 for the same reason.
The only other games there were Snipperclips and 1,2 Switch, but I was getting kind of fed up at this point and my desire to play them did not outweigh my desire to not queue any more. These are the two Switch launch games I know the least about, but I'm not all that bothered to be honest. I'll maybe get them when they come out if they get good reviews.
When I left, I wrote my name and email on the prize draw card I got earlier, and the lady behind the desk told me "I hope you win. I really, do.". ...she seemed to be saying that to everybody though.
I tried to see if my five stamps were enough to get anything, but it turns out, nope. I needed all twelve to get the pin badge. Oh well.
.........when I left the venue, the lady behind the desk quickly followed me, handed me a pin badge anyway and said, "don't tell anyone".
Hey, thanks!
Here's all the stuff I was given!
My opinion of the event was that it was kind of disorganised. There were just too many people there, the venue couldn't handle it. This may have had something to do with why it started late too - the previous group was still being ushered out when it was our time.
The way the setups were placed meant that queues for different games kind of criss-crossed into each other and became confusing. I couldn't really tell where the Splatoon queue started, and I think I may have accidentally cut into the middle of the line without anybody noticing.
Despite all this, it was good enough. It was worth it to see the Switch. Plus they were serving free food - there was a stall for bacon cheeseburgers and a stall for fish and chips. They even had a larger-than-necessary assortment of condiments, ranging from ketchup, mustard, brown sauce, branston pickle, a pile of pickled onions, and some sauces I couldn't identify. And free Pepsi!
My burger was okay.....I just realised that the only vegetarian option would have been to just ask for a plate of chips.
My general opinion of the Switch is that the hardware itself is excellent. The different controller configurations are all useful and all feel great to hold.
I love how this thing is a portable system with the games of a proper home console: I can just imagine, in future Nintendo events, instead of getting out Pokémon while queueing, I'd instead get out a Switch with Splatoon and try to join a match with others in the queue. :D
The software I saw, though, was mostly stuff seen before on Wii U, or stuff that doesn't look all that interesting.
Mario Kart, Splatoon and Zelda BotW are all Wii U games. Snipperclips and 1, 2 Switch didn't really seem all that enticing at first glance.
Arms was the only real truly brand new and interesting thing there, but I didn't really like my experience playing it with its dodgy controls at all.
My main problems with the Switch as I know it so far is its pricing. The thing basically requires you to be waaayyy more well-off than most of the gaming population is right now. Extra controllers and docks are just flat-out overpriced in my opinion. And it doesn't help that online is now a paid service. It's an expensive time to be a Nintendo fan.
The quality of the hardware is definitely there. This thing is a great machine.
The games aren't really there yet, though.
I'll get it at launch because I'm a die-hard Nintendo AND Zelda fan, of course. But I'm not too convinced about their overall strategy.
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