 Before I get into the crux of this video, I do want to note that I'm aware that no matter what I say There are people that will not like Nintendo switch There are Nintendo fans who don't like Nintendo switch because they prefer other platforms or prior games and other platforms And there's also people who prefer PlayStation Xbox PC even mobile phones over gaming on switch. Maybe you're even looking forward to Google Stadia So yes, this will not speak to everyone But I do think that this piece is going to speak to a lot of Nintendo switch owners, especially those who watch my channel. I Think we have reached a point in Nintendo Switch's life Where we could start to get a pretty good idea of what exactly the switches platform reputation and long-term goals are We are in the midst of its third year on the market And there are two revisions releasing this year with one seemingly being targeted as a direct 3ds replacement and more and more Exclusive games continue to flood store shelves. We have a pretty decent idea of what Nintendo thinks a good online service looks like Well, it's very clear at this juncture about the library of the platform from indies and first and second-party games to major AAA third-party titles. It's crystal clear what the switch is Simply put it's Nintendo's best home console platform since the Super Nintendo While arguably being their best platform ever if you look at it as strictly a handheld But why is that? How can such a bold statement be said? Let's break that down. First up is the hardware itself. It's sleek It's attractive and it's an easy to understand design Also, it has multiple ways of play that are easily understood It's a tablet with detachable controllers that can be docked with your TV in the world of technology We live in today. This is an easily understood concept play your games anywhere easily Without the need of an extra application and streaming service. Don't care about playing on the TV at all That's cool. Nintendo will knock a hundred bucks off and sell you a more durable light version All it's really missing is a version that is solely intended for just TV play Still it can't be undersold how important this whole ordeal is from a design perspective See even before getting into the games the switch was able to successfully do something They used to take add-ons to accomplish and that is combine home console and handheld fun into one system This has been done before with add-ons like the Super Game Boy on the Super Nintendo But again that required an additional purchase rather than being standard out of the box Besides this sole design choice led Nintendo to do something it has never done before Put all their game creation effort into one platform The Famicom landed in Japan on July 15th, 1983 Six years later the Game Boy released on April 21st, 1989 The Super Nintendo launched on November 21st, 1990 These dates are important to remember because while the Famicom later rebranded to the Nintendo entertainment system for its Western launch Essentially had a full console cycle on the market before the Game Boy ever existed But reality is that for over a year before the Super Nintendo existed Nintendo was creating games for two separate platforms the Famicom slash NES and the Game Boy So not even the Famicom slash NES era could go its entire life Cycle without a generation of hardware taking away some manpower Since then every major Nintendo home console had a companion handheld platform that split Nintendo's development teams seemingly in half Well, that's true until switch This changeover actually started years ago when Nintendo moved into a new building combining their handheld and home console development teams together Under one roof in hindsight. This was a preemptive move for the switch itself It's arguable of course that the Nintendo 3DS that launched in 2011 Crossed over into the Nintendo Switch's domain just like the Game Boy did with the NES I mean Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon landed on 3DS in 2017 as the games like the Wigis Mansion Well switch grew in popularity But I think the key difference here is that back in 1989 the NES was still being plastered with game releases Well Game Boy was launching and 3DS's time around was actually rapidly losing momentum and support leading up to the launch of the switch One switch was on the market games like the ones mentioned before were releasing far and fewer in between With 3DS mostly holding on because it was simply cheaper than a Nintendo switch Internally it was clear Nintendo's teams were moving on to switch Dark Moon was the second game in the Luigi's Mansion franchise and was exclusive to 3DS But the next game launching this Halloween is coming exclusively to switch We may have saw Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon on 3DS in 2017 But in 2018 we got Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee and now this year We're getting the first new generation of Pokemon games ever playable from day one in a home console form and sword and shield on Switch it's clear from those examples alone Games not even made by Nintendo's own first-party studios that switch is simply different This only became more obvious when you consider games like Super Mario Odyssey and Astral chain Heck games like Breath of the Wild and Octopath Traveler Switch is getting Nintendo published exclusives at a rate that no prior Nintendo platform ever really got to enjoy We may remember fondly all the amazing games Nintendo put out on their classic systems But it was the third-party offerings that really helped make those systems shine Offerings that slowly vanished over the years as third parties moved on to more developer and publisher friendly platforms Nintendo made it now so that they needed those games even less so to be successful by ensuring that they would be publishing more Exclusive content than ever before on Nintendo switch But that's not the end of the game story on switch. Is it? Nintendo has quickly risen to become the preferred platform for indie games Indie game sales on switch are dwarfing essentially every platform on the market massively Including PC which has traditionally been the go-to spot for indie greatness the convenience of playing those indie games Anywhere has trumped the more traditional gaming approach It's the Vita when it became an indie godsend except this time around the platform is actually popular AAA third-party support is better too even if the years of Nintendo getting everything appear to be gone Some big games are giving switch equal treatment as well World of Combat 11 and NBA 2k being a couple great examples Even the latest Wolfenstein was day-in-date But beyond that switch does get a lot of AAA third-party content from the current generation Even if many of the games come years later Whether it was Doom or Wolfenstein 2 the Witcher 3 Diablo 3 Fortnite Warframe Civilization 6 and many more even older generation reboots and remasters make the cut like Dark Souls were Masters Skyrim LA noir and many more almost too many games to name while this may not be as Exciting as say some of the largest games each year skipping switch like Madden Call of Duty Assassin's Creed Kingdom Hearts 3 Apex Legends the Division 2 and many others What it does provide is a wide breath of content options that Nintendo has been lacking for many years No, it's not like the SNES days when Nintendo literally got everything But it's far better than Nintendo has gotten basically ever since and the support itself seems to only be Improving each year the system is out time will tell what happens after PlayStation 5 and the next Xbox land But for now the future of this kind of support does look bright It's slowly looking more and more foolish for a third-party company to not consider switch for their next big game Lastly of course is the online service. This is probably the weakest thing about switch And when Nintendo using some outdated and just playing bad tactics, whether it's making us use smartphones to enjoy voice chat like Yuck not giving us any ability to communicate with friends or returning to friend codes one generation after Nintendo Insured us they were done with them with Wii U. It's been a pretty rough go of it This is before considering that for nearly two years. We could play online for free Only to be strong armed in the spending $20 a year to keep playing games online like Splatoon and Smash Nintendo is offering a decent-sized library of NES games with that paid subscription But Nintendo has retreaded many of those offerings over the years with various virtual console releases And even an entire NES classic standalone system that the value proposition of those additions feels less than stellar Even as they add online components to them with a few games having new gameplay modes In fact for something to feel fresh Nintendo would have to finally start offering something they haven't offered in a long time You know like GameCube titles since Nintendo hasn't revisited that library of games basically ever in their recent history The online service indeed shows or switch and Nintendo still have much learning to do Well, Nintendo has successfully mastered the art of not needing the latest and greatest tech to create a super compelling for the gamers Platform that most are getting behind Nintendo doesn't fully understand our grasp online Still in 2019 we're still storing Splatoon to online competitive data locally on our switch as one example Because yeah, that's not easy to manipulate Still today switch stands as arguably Nintendo's best platform since the Super Nintendo Many will choose other platforms. They prefer more of course Everything does come down to personal preference after all and the Switch's story still might not even be half told yet To me SNES is the gold standard to others. It may be the DS or we For some the GameCube and maybe even Wii U Maybe it's the Game Boy itself that is the top tier standard for some of you My opinions and statements in this video are just that Mine you're not wrong for disagreeing and having your own thoughts But I think it is undeniable that the switch is finally doing something Nintendo has never done before And with that I want to hear your thoughts on the life of the Nintendo switch up to this point Has it met your expectations and then what do you expect from the platform moving forward? Where does switch have the potential to rank for you in the pantheon of gaming history? There are so many unknowns right now, but one thing is clear to me I love Nintendo Switch and I can't wait to clock in thousands upon thousands Of more gaming hours across dozens of future game releases on the platform I am Nathaniel Rebel Jance from Nintendo Prime I want to thank you so much for tuning into this video if you enjoyed it Please drop a like comment down below share it with your friends Subscribe for more content and I'll catch all of you in the next video