Four years ago today, the Nintendo Switch was released worldwide to much excitement and a little bit of – oh god, don’t mess this up, Nintendo.
Nintendo has had a hit with the Switch. We’ve finally got that crossover of console and handheld some of us had been dreaming about for years. We’ve got outstanding third party support with tonnes of game series that would have been seen the light of day on the Nintendo console being released.
As of December 31st, 2020, the Nintendo Switch has now sold through almost 80 million units. As well, 532 million games have been sold for the system. We’re almost at Wii levels, and we won’t rub it in and mention the other one.
The top-selling game on the system is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Despite being a port, the game continues to sell in numbers only some developers can dream of. And why shouldn’t it? It’s still amazing.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe won’t be the best selling game long (it probably has already been overtaken), Animal Crossing: New Horizons is nipping at its heels. Released at the “start” of the pandemic, just when everyone was being told to stay at home, we got a little slice of the holidays and friendship we’ve all been missing.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has lived up to its namesake. Despite being nearly two years old, a game is still getting content updates that keep (almost) everyone happy. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, more than a game; it’s been an inspiration and rejuvenation to the entire industry. Rounding up the top five is Pokemon Sword and Shield, a game with a whole load of controversy that, in the end – didn’t matter because, hey, we all still love Pokemon.
I could continue to list Switch games, Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Mario + Rabbids, Tetris 99, Hades, Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, Golf Story – but you can see where this is going. If it’s good, the Switch has it – if it doesn’t? Someone is trying to shoehorn it on.
And with that reference, the shoe on the other foot. Four years in the Nintendo Switch still has a lot of room to grow and improve. Nintendo’s seemingly made no attempts to fixed Joy-Con drift, Nintendo’s online service has barely grown in what it offers for the price. Nintendo sits on its back catalogue, and when they do release it – it’s only for six months at a time, and it’s Thanos snapped away.
The Switch has no folders or better way to browse the games we have; there are no themes. There are not even themes to match the Nintendo Switch lite colours. The eShop remains a slow, janky mess that was never designed and will never function well with the volumes of games the console now has.
Four years in the Switch is doing great; we’ve all had a lot of fun. But halfway through the system’s life, it’s time to push things even higher. A lot is going on right now, so not everything might be running at full capacity, but it’s time to put the foot to the floor Nintendo and see how far the Switch can go.
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