Switch Part 2 (Gaming)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Thursday, March 19, 2020, 14:59 (1496 days ago)

So I got another switch and I like it now. Especially during these times of social distancing.

The real problem was the joycons. Playing with them detached was and still is miserable. That was enough to make me return it when I first picked it up a while ago, since there isn't really another out of the box way to play on a TV. After trying a pro controller a few months ago, I realized the system was actually playable while docked. So I picked one up again.

It's not a good look when it costs an extra 60 dollars to make the system playable on a TV. But oh well, at least it is!

Portable mode with the Joycons attached took getting used to, but is not too bad.

So yeah, really digging it now that I can play it properly. Made it through Mario Odyssey and Link's Awakening, and on to Breath of the Wild.

Mario Odyssey is probably a solid 7 all the through. No highs, but no real lows. There's a lot that's fun, but the collectathon bullshit gets in the way a lot of the time. After finishing the Darker Side Gauntlet, I feel like I'm pretty much done and have no desire to hunt for moons or purple coins.

Link's Awakening is probably in its best form. The game boy only had two buttons, so you could equip two things at once. The switch has many more, so you can have your shield, pegasus boots, power bracelet, sword, and two other items all available at once. While it eliminates a ton of the inventory management and swapping which slowed things down, it makes it waaaaaay easier. You can have your sword, shield, roc's feather, and boomerang all equipped at once. Yeah. There's a hard mode thankfully which I may try soon. That's probably the best of both worlds: maintaining a challenge yet streamlining the inventory swapping. The other thing that's ever so slightly negative is the art style and the continuous scrolling make the game feel… smaller on the overworld map. There's something about going from screen to screen that made everything feel bigger than when it's all continuously connected. Like each screen was its own little destination with its own little character. Lost now. But a minor thing. I recommend this, especially since it's on my 101 games list.