In 1983 the video
game industry crashed. In 1985 Nintnedo was practically giving the NES to
retailers. In order to get customers to even consider buying the NES it was
marketed not as a video game console but as a toy. As a result of this
marketing the widely accepted perception was that while yes video games were
making a bit of a comeback they were really only for kids. As the story goes in
1979 Gunpei Yokoi saw a businessman on a train playing with an LCD calculator
to pass the time, this observation birthed the game and watch series of
products. In 1989 the natural evolution of the game and watch came to fruition:
the Gameboy, a handheld portable console with the capability to play
interchangeable cartridges. Suddenly video games were still for kids but with
more and more adults from all walks of life playing they were more for the kid
within us all. The Switch Lite iterates on and better realizes Nintendo's
concept of a home console on the go than its predecessor, despite its reduced
feature set the Switch Lite offers up a handheld experience that is so far
superior to its larger counterpart that it has me and I'm sure thousands of
other people experiencing that reconnection with yesteryear in a way not seen
since 1989.
Welcome welcome
welcome everyone welcome back to LegalSpeak a ColdNorth Production. I'm
TheLawMorris and this is the video essay series in which I get to talk about
the games I've been playing and what I think of the medium as a whole. Earlier
this year I got what is the most Gameboy like successor to the Gameboy that
there has been since the original Gameboy Advance and in a way that I was
absolutely not expecting it's so much better than I ever could have hoped. So
lets talk about the Nintendo Switch Lite.
In the mid aughts
companies that were making personal electronics made a huge leap in industrial
design turning those products we remember as gigantic hunks of plastic into the
sleek aesthetically pleasing handhelds we know today. Granted the transition from
something like the Gamegear to the Galaxy Note 10 didn’t happen over night. The
two products that I personally credit as being the catalyst for the shift in
design are the iPod and the Gameboy Advance SP. These two products changed
portable devices from toys into consumer electronics. The sleek form factor,
high quality build materials, and muted more mature colors proved to be trend
setters that still dictate design choices in the products we use most today.
The Gameboy Advance SP served as a precursor to the DS and more importantly the
DS Lite which is the era in which Nintendo handheld's started to feel more
grown up and adult, a stark contrast to the bright colors and child like wonder
brought on by the software they ran.
In a way the DS
serves as the point of separation for Nintendo handhelds. Design emphasis'
shifted from fun and exciting to focused and refined. To be clear Neither of
these are a bad choice just radically different. Gone were the default fun and
wild colors and in their stead was the standard silver, black, and white. Gone
was the slab design proudly displaying the pinkish buttons and the words
"Nintendo Game Boy" below the screen for everyone to see, Nintendo
instead opting for a sleek clamshell design with a subtle DS logo made up of
two rectangles being the only visible branding when closed. Our world was more
on the move than ever with new technologies allowing people to be constantly
working from anywhere they chose. Times had changed and Nintendo was changing
with them.
So for the last 14
years we've dealt with business Nintendo. The GBA SP and original DS were both
introduced to the world in silver, the standard DS Lite was a bright white very
reminiscent of apple, and since then there have been different more varied colors
presented as the default but nothing even close to the days of the atomic
purple Gameboy Color, Indigo Gameboy Advance, and Spice Orange Gamecube. While
there was a hint of those bright colors at the launch of the original switch
with the neon joycon they were still attached to the drab black system. The
Switch Lite harkens back to the Gameboy in so many ways. A slab design with
controls on either side of the screen reminiscent of the Gameboy Advance,
unapologetically in your face color options like those of the Gameboy Color,
and contrasting bright white buttons and control sticks all make the Switch
Lite almost more of a successor to the original GBA than it is to the Switch.
For a long time now
personal electronics have been about getting work done and have been designed
in a way that communicates that. For an even longer time Nintendo has been a
company focused on making games and creating fun but with the acceleration of mobile
work being done I think they felt pressure to disguise their gaming devices as
something that at a glance could be some sort of productivity tool. Well I am
happy to say the Switch Lite took that design mentality and threw it out the
window. The Switch Lite is shamelessly a toy. It comes it two bright colors and
one more muted boring one, the rugged plastic features a nice matte finish that
is resistant to scratches and scuffs but when it does get them wears them like
a badge of honor rather than a blemish to be hidden away. The Switch Lite is
tough, where I would always put my standard Switch in a case when leaving the
house I didn’t even bother to buy a case for my Switch Lite. And doing away
with the hinge from the DS family makes it feel less sophisticated and
infinitely less delicate than any of those except of course the 2DS.
Hardware wise the
Switch Lite is almost identical to its older brother to a fault. Internally
you'll find the exact silicon, and a similar battery but unfortunately the same
joystick module as the joycon which has already led to reports of joycon drift
in a device without detachable joycon's. You'll also be hard pressed to find
the hardware used to output the image from the Swtich to a TV via a standard
docking unit making this particular iteration of the Switch a handheld only
device. I'm still holding out hope for some sort of pro dock that implements
the docking hardware for the Lite and some sort of upscaler or anti aliasing
hardware for all switch models that can be sold in lieu of a switch pro. So in
handheld mode the Switch lite performs admirably. Actual game performance is
indistinguishable from that of the standard switch and battery life is slightly
better than in the original switch, surely a result of the smaller screen).
Overall the Switch Lite feels so good to play on and is so much more of an
appropriate size for a handheld game system it just makes the form factor of
the standard Switch both look and feel like a prototype that should have never
come to market whereas the Lite feels like a finished product.
For years Nintendo
has had both home console and handheld offerings. In 2017 Nintendo released the
Switch and pitched it as the successor to the Wii U saying they would continue
to support the 3DS. Two years later the 3DS is all but dead and being replaced
by a handheld only Switch. The Switch was never the successor to the Wii U it
was just Nintendo finally achieving what they have been working towards for
literally decades: having a handheld offering with the capability to play it on
the TV.
Since the
introduction of the PlayStation in 1994 Nintendo has struggled with the home
console market. With the exception of the Wii they haven't been able to come
out on top of a home console generation since the SNES but while they've
struggled in the living room they've been the undisputed champ of handhelds. So
it's only natural that Nintendo tries to prune the branches of their business
that are struggling and focus on the one that has always been dominant. First
there was the Super Gameboy, then a similar product for the N64, during the
GameCube era they sold the Gameboy player to wild success, and the Wii U was
arguably a proof of concept for the Switch. Nintendo has slowly been working
towards merging the two branches of their business into one and finally
achieved it with the Switch. But after the introduction of the Switch the
question remained on everyone's mind: is this the start of the ninth generation
of consoles nearly four years early or is it the next generation of handheld?
In my mind the Switch Lite answers that question.
I have always played
my Switch almost exclusively in handheld mode but the complete exclusion of the
docked mode from the Switch Lite says to me that Nintendo thinks of the Switch
first and foremost as a handheld device. Which makes much more sense if you
think about it contextually with regard to the timing of everything else. The
3DS was a massive success selling more than 75 million units worldwide making
it a prime candidate for a successor and being released in 2011 was due for
one. The Wii U was introduced one year earlier than the Xbox One and the PS4
yet was being replaced four years earlier than those? And for two full console
generations now Nintendo has seemed unconcerned with competing in the same way
that Sony and Microsoft do. The transition to being a handheld only company has
been a long time coming and the Switch Lite solidifies that being one of their
best handheld offerings to date.
Switch brought
Nintendo back into everyone's mindshare by offering a handheld secondary gaming
experience that was marketed at adults as opposed to children. Switch Lite
takes the work done by the Switch one step further and not only solidifies
Nintendo's existence as a handheld gaming company but also takes cues from the
Gameboy family and isn't afraid to present itself as what it is: a toy.
Throughout the eighties and nineties and even into the early aughts Nintendo
built a reputation as a whimsical toy company on par with Disney, but as they
moved along with trends they seemed to, at least on a the hardware side, lose
their sense of identity. The Switch Lite is Nintendo in full force embracing
their roots and owning who they are: the best god damn toy company in the
world.
Did you buy a Switch
Lite? If you did let me know what color you chose and why in the comments down
below. If you didn’t I'd like to know what's holding you back. If you liked
what you heard don’t forget to subscribe while you're down there so you don’t miss
any of our video essays or podcasts every week. You can see everything we do
including both of our podcasts all in one spot over at ColdNorthPro.com. I'll
be back next week talking about the Goose that has taken the gaming world by
storm so until then just go play some games.
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