I’m not a Gamer, But I’m Super Excited for the Nintendo Switch
I can map parts of my childhood to the different gaming systems my family owned as I was growing up. Introduced three months after I was born, I can’t remember a time when we didn’t have the original Nintendo Entertainment System sitting atop of the huge, rolling CRT television in our living room (except for maybe when it finally gave out and no blowing on cartridges would make it work, whereupon our parents bought us the updated model, where the cartridges stood straight up).
My early elementary school experience was shaped by endless hours of playing Paperboy on the Gameboy, Sonic the Hedgehog and my personal favorite video game ever, Wiz n’ Liz, on the Sega Genesis. While I had a lot of love for each of our other gaming systems, the Sega still stands as my absolute favorite, ever. Maybe it was that slick black casing, or how the logo made a futuristic sound effect in my head whenever I looked at it.
Or maybe it was that it had some of the absolutely best games. Seriously, Wiz n’ Liz, y’all, it’s the best.
The fall of my 6th grade year was a big one: Nintendo 64. Sixty-four bits of processing power! Finding all those stars in Super Mario 64! Killing it in Mario Kart (I still do, a point of pride for me even as an adult)! GoldenEye! I’ve still never seen the movie but feel like I could describe the plot and settings perfectly from playing for more hours than I care to admit. After playing games on the NES and Sega for so long, the graphics and immersive nature of N64 games kept me rapt as a middle schooler first in the Alabama sticks and then as the “new kid” who didn’t know anyone in a Colorado suburb.
I have two younger brothers, so eventually the gaming systems of my heart were replaced by newer, shinier, and higher tech Playstations and Xboxes. As an older middle schooler and then high schooler, my attention fell away from video games in general. When I finally tried playing Halo as a freshman in college, I realized that I wasn’t really missing out. It was way too complicated with too many controls to consider, and, though I was a GoldenEye fan, first-person shooter games are just not my thing.
Fast forward to now: I own my own N64 and have a Sega simulator on my computer so I can play the games that played such a big role in my childhood. But, really, those only get pulled out every few months when I need a nostalgia kick or the apps on my phone and my Apple TV are boring me. I have not acquired or, honestly, been terribly interested in any new gaming systems since 1996.
Nintendo Switch, you were a long time coming, my friend.
Riding on the wave of its Pokemon Go success, Nintendo seems to have hit another home run if their teaser trailer is any indication. Or, at least, it’s hitting lots of the right spots for me. First off, some of the games highlighted in the video look like the games I grew up loving. Zelda. Mario Kart. Super Mario. YES. So much yes.
And have you seen this thing? It’s super cool. You can attach and detach the controllers! The tablet goes in and out of a home console! Man, is it the future or what?
I also love the idea of a multi-use console. Maybe it’s that I’m an adult now and so I am much more conscious of money spent on technology, but getting double bang for your buck is incredibly appealing to me. It works with my TV! It becomes something that I can take on the bus to Boulder with me! MARIO KART EVERYWHERE!
Finally, in addition to the game selection, this feels classic all around. The controller is simpler than many other modern systems’ controllers and more like a classic NES controller (you know, with some extra buttons thrown on there).
The Nintendo Switch comes out in March of 2017. I am certainly looking forward to it.
