No one noticed: Nindendo Switch 2nd anniversary on March 2nd

Even while this board is quite compared to boards like System Wars, no one posted a thread that the Nintendo Switch is now two years into its existence when it launched on March 2, 2017.

No one has expected how successful the Switch is and currently it has outsold the Nintendo 64 and approaching the worldwide sales of the SNES. If it has legs, it will eventually bypass the Wii.

Any thoughts on the Switch right now and for its future?

Still a great console, and looking very promising for the future... this year alone looks mega!

I hated it when they revealed the concept. Still not happy that it's effectively a handheld that you can hook up to a TV. It's way too underpowered for a game like BotW. The other games I have played run well enough though.

As it stands, the Switch is the only non-PC system which has games coming out that I am excited for. And that's what counts, the games.

Okay I really hate the hardware design though. I hate how it feels in handheld mode. The only way I am comfortable playing it is docked with the pro controller. And I hate that certain areas in BotW are so laggy that I just avoid them.

Still... I'm looking forward to Mario Maker 2, Links Awakening, Metroid games; and I respect that it's getting a ton of awesome games from smaller devs on PC like Slay The Spire and CrossCode.

Future is bright, and I've almost grown to the point of apathy about the hardware.

Time flies. This year will be a great one though.

Yeah, I rarely play it in handheld mode (even though I have a Satisfye grip for it)... 95% of the time I'm playing docked with a Pro controller too.

For me, it also comes down to eyestrain. I just can't play on small screens for extended periods. I'm hoping with Switch 2 (or updated Switch), the screen is bigger.

I'm kind of shocked that it's only been out for two years. I've never had a console that released so many really good games in that period of time. Many of them were ports, but I haven't had a Nintendo since the Gamecube, so I'm okay with that.

Happy birthday! Hopefully we get a pro version soon.

How so? The only area I have encountered a noticeable performance degradation is in korok forest. Other than that I've felt it performed well.

Nah it happens all over the place in docked mode depending on what's going on. Areas with lots of trees or when it starts raining, exploding lots of barrels, etc... Korok forest is just consistently this way.

BotW is the only game I've played that seems to push the limits of the Switch this much. And I stand by my statement that the system is underpowered for what the devs wanted to achieve. You can tell by the way the scenery pops in they had to scale the draw distance way back on things like grass and rocks to get it to run at all.

Not a huge deal.... you can tell a lot of effort went into creating the epic scale of being able to look all the way across the map and see the divine beasts on the static terrain. The game looks great and it's a testament to the devs ability and creativity.

I thought doubling down on one handheld/portable hybrid platform was the right call for Nintendo, but I never believed it would be as successful as it is. Here's to hoping that momentum continues for years to come. Happy Birthday Switch!

It's definitely my favorite console right now. Rather play anything on it than another console if I could. Sadly that's often not true (exclusives, power limitations, etc) but it's just damn fun to use and I can use it any time I want in anyway

I'm really happy I decided to rejoin the ranks of Switch owners this year. I missed out on about a year and a third, but I've been making up for it.

Do you own the digital version? Maybe you should try to redownload it, idk. I'll be on the lookout for hiccups when I sit down and start a new save file now, but I really don't remember any technical issues with BotW.

I really like handheld mode, but I've noticed that I haven't played in handheld mode much at all on my current Switch. I can go online in my house with the ethernet adapter in docked mode, and I rearranged my place and bought a TV stand that makes using it as a console work out better. I also just bought a pro controller for the first time ever tonight and, yeah, I get why people prefer that now! lol.

I think battery life is also a big factor. If I could sit up on my night off and spend hours in handheld mode without having to stop and switch to docked mode once my battery runs low, it would be more convenient. But it's still a nice feature. I may make it a point to sit and play some stuff in handheld mode tonight, maybe Smash Bros. so I'm not distracted by online matches while I try to slog through the single-player mode.

It's hard to believe it's been two years, but I guess a lot has happened in that time. I've been playing catch-up, getting games I used to have, as well as newer releases. I think the system has a decent library, will probably be pretty solid after this year.

I really like the system, and I am personally pleased with the game library so far. I think it'll have even bigger hits in the coming years than many existing games.

The Switch is, imo, a much better system than the Wii and Wii-U. I think it'll be worthy of being called better than the long-lived 3DS soon, if it isn't yet. It's not without its flaws and shortcomings, but for the most part I think it plays to the company's strengths well.

Nintendo is in a better spot than they have been in some time. I think their relationships with other developers is much stronger now, and we see more cooperation with Platinum Games, Ubisoft, Atlus, Square Enix, and even Microsoft among others. I think a lot of bigger Western third-party devs are also really taking notice and realizing the Switch is a console they don't want to overlook, but they're conflicted over how to deliver games on a system that isn't focused on power as its primary selling-point.

I hope the system will have more newer games going forward. There really are getting to be a lot of ports, and updated ports, and remakes.

And now there will be a remake of Link's Awakening. I'll likely buy it since it is one of my top-three favorite Zelda games, but I can't help feeling that creative team would have been better-utilized making an all-new game for the Switch instead.

But as long as it isn't JUST ports - as long as plenty of new games are being produced for the Switch, too - then it doesn't matter too much if the Switch has a ton of ports. In a way, then, it becomes kind of like the ultimate library of games on a Nintendo console.

@pyro1245: There's no lag in BotW, there use to be in Korok Forest but that was patched out. That is the place with the most trees and shrubbery in the game and it doesn't lag there anymore, so it doesn't lag in less forested areas.

That may be true for handheld mode, but not for docked mode.

Playing in docked mode on the most recent version you will see occasional fps drops. It happens consistently in Korok forest.

Not a huge deal, just a bit annoying. Forcing 720p in docked mode fixes most of it, but is not worth it IMO because the image quality is noticeably worse on my 65" TV.