The Console For Family Time

Yes another Switch 2 post. I am sure you are sick of reading them by now. The new generation of Nintendo consoles hit this week and I really wasn’t going to buy one. But I did on a whim and for once no buyer remorse — all of us have been playing it all weekend.

There’s no review here. You can find specs and professional opinions everywhere on the web by now. My good friend Daryl posted his on his newsletter Springboard if you want to read some early thoughts but I digress. The best thing about Nintendo consoles has always been the playability for all of our family and the Switch 2 improves on that.

Of course my teenage son has an Xbox and a Playstation, because like streaming services god forbid you couldn’t play all the games. Whilst they are both excellent, and have unimaginably great graphics etc (don’t @ me PC gamers), for me they lack the approachability suitable for family gaming. Stadia got close, and then Xbox tried (don’t forget a Steamdeck too) but it never stuck like Nintendo does.

More Than Nostalgia

Some of this no doubt nostalgia. Mario and Luigi filled much of my childhood, so the cartoon plumbers and assorted friends will always have a special place in my heart. However I think it is more to do with approachability. Nintendo position themselves as a family friendly gaming company, providing wholesome games that are easy to pick up and put down.

Whereas, purely from my perspective, if I had a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X (I think thats the current one?) I’d be more include to buy and play a raft of games that ‘real gamers’ play and struggle to fit them in to my life. I can pick up and put down Zelda and Mario Kart in a much easier way than I could Horizon Zero Dawn or red Dead Redemption without loosing the muscle memory of playing.

Combine this with the fact that I can play it on the couch and not tucked away in a different room due to the Switches portability makes it an ideal console for me. What it has lacked is the occasional full features game that I wanted to also play. Hopefully with the Switch 2 there will be a ‘proper’ EA FC, not the stripped down version that plagued the first version. I have my fingers crossed for September. Until then I am enjoying smashing my family on Mario Kart in the front room with the occasional trip to Hyrule in between.