Gadgetory

- The Switch will be turning two years old very soon, and time has flown by so fast. There have been so many games, accessories, updates, and changes. And, it's just all happened so quickly, and yet, I can still so clearly remember that first day I picked up my Switch. (playful guitar) ♪ Go to sleep ♪ Fast forward two years later, and the Switch has been doing phenomenally well. It already had a great first year, thanks to games like Breath of the Wild, and Super Mario Odyssey, and the whole concept to the Switch itself, but the second year has really kept up that momentum. In fact, Nintendo reported that, at the end of 2018, they have sold 32.27 million Switches total. And, that is a lot for a two-year timeframe. In fact the Switch is the fastest selling console ever in a lot of the regions its been made available. It's been selling so fast, that it's already passed up the GameCube and its well on its way, and if it hasn't already passed with sales we haven't recorded yet, probably gonna pass up the N64. To put that further in perspective, Nintendo set a pretty lofty goal for themselves of selling 20 million Switches in their second fiscal year, which actually isn't over yet. That's at the end of March, but already so far, it's at 15 million for that year, so they don't have too much more to go. And, even if they don't quite reach it, it's gonna be so close, that honestly, still an amazing sales year. So, that's how it's been selling, but let's actually talk about what's changed over the last year, starting with the system software itself. There's basically been three major updates, at least numerically. The first of which was the 5.0 update, which happened shortly after the first year anniversary. Now, this update was kind of big, kind of not. It was mostly a lot of quality-of-life updates, for things like adding friend suggestions, if you tied your Nintendo account to a Facebook or Twitter. Improved functionality for buying games online and downloading them to your Switch, and some more icons to choose from. The real big update, though, came later in September, with the big 6.0, that brought us Nintendo Switch Online. This is the update that brought a lot of functions we were waiting a long time for to come to the Switch, including cloud saves, so you could actually have a safe place to store your save data, aside from the Switch itself, if it ever gets damaged, the ability to link a Nintendo account with multiple Switches, not just one. So, you could play games on one, and then keep playing another, especially if you're sharing with family members, where there's just multiple ones going around, and also adding, of course, a number of retro games that has been building library over time, including a lot of awesome classics, and some interesting remixes on them, as well, like a version of Legend of Zelda that just gives you all the items and upgrades right at the start. This was definitely the most significant big change and update that has happened over the last year. There was one more, the 7.0, which happened in December, and basically added new profile pictures from Super Mario Bros. That's about it, not a lot. One other big change that happened earlier this year is that we finally got one big media update to the system, YouTube made its way to the Switch, opening up a lot more options of what you can do with the system as far as being able to watch content and not just play games, but the system is still lacking a little bit in this area, as we still don't have any kind of dedicated music app, or even Netflix. It's basically Hulu and YouTube. Good step, just need a little more. ♪ May you dream ♪ ♪ Of lovely things ♪ ♪ And awake to find them real ♪ Well, Nintendo made lot of software updates to the Switch, they weren't really able to address any of the hardware issues that people have slowly been more and more complaining about on the system. So, lots of third party companies and Kickstarter stepped in this year to really try and address these issues. While the first year of Switch accessories were a whole lot of carrying cases and cover grips, this last year was straight hardware improvements. And, one of the biggest was Bluetooth. During the first year, the Switch was a huge Kickstarter for the GENKI Bluetooth adapter, and after numerous copycats starting coming out during this last year, we've finally got the GENKI itself adding Bluetooth support on the Switch. You can use your favorite bit of wireless headphones, and even AirPods. Another big thing was D-Pads. While it makes a lot of sense why Nintendo doesn't have a D-Pad on the stock, standard joy con, 'cause it defeats the whole purpose of using it sideways, that hasn't stopped a lot of people from missing having that control option, especially when you're using your Switch in handheld mode. So, a lot of companies started offering alternative ways to fix that, including adding your own D-Pad, using a shell exchange. A D-Pad that just attaches to the top of the buttons, and even HORI released their own third party joy con that doesn't really have any of the normal functions, and isn't wireless, but hey, it gives you that D-Pad that everyone has been wanting. And, of course, with the release of Super Smash Bros. last year, a big focus to the holiday season was GameCube-themed accessories. The Nintendo Switch already started supporting GameCube adapters leftover from the Wii U, with a software update during its first year, but over this last year, we saw Nintendo re-release the adapter for Switch, releasing new GameCube controllers, and all the major third party companies offered their own Switch-compatible GameCube-style controllers from HORI, PDP, PowerA, and even 8Bitdo got into the mix, adding their own GameCube wireless adapter. And, while the Switch has been selling really strong, we haven't seen any kind of major price drop on the system itself. This year did see a lot of new bundles coming out, with different games included. And, even starting to see a big uptick in special edition designs, that are still a little rough around the edges, but are getting better and better. The special editions for Super Smash Bros., Diablo, and probably my personal favorite, the Pokemon edition. One thing that we haven't got in the US, though, that Japan got, that's really interesting, I'm surprised we haven't seen yet, is a dockless Switch option, where, yeah, it still works with the dock, but if you already own one Switch, and you want to get one for someone else, you don't necessarily need a whole new dock for it, there's one at a discounted rate, that I really hope we see here, sometime soon. (playful guitar) ♪ Close your eyes ♪ ♪ Little one, this is ♪ Accessories, special edition bundles, sales, that's all well and good, but the most important thing is, of course, the games, and while this last year had a lot of great games on all platforms, the Switch, in particular, had a lot of awesome, amazing first party exclusives and to top it off, a lot of games that were ported from the Wii U that were great for their time, but just, sadly, didn't get the chance they deserved because the system died so soon. We got Kirby Star Allies, which maintained the classic gameplay of the series, but putting it all in this co-op adventure that was just so much fun, and admittedly, also really cute at the same time. Nintendo introduced us to Nintendo Labo, which, honestly, for adults, wasn't necessarily the biggest hit, but was this amazing concept or idea for families that was not only a lot of fun, but really educational. Mario Tennis brought us another really fun Mario-themed sports game, although I can't help but feel like it may have deprived us of another strike or a Switch, I'm a little bitter about. Octopath Traveler brought us an amazing retro RPG experience that had this intense visual style blending old school, 16-bit style graphics with this 3D effect. And, while it was technically a multi-platform game, Starlink: Battle for Atlas had so much amazing Star Fox exclusive content for Switch, it basically made it the go-to version. And, of course, you can't talk about great Switch games without mentioning two hits that came out at the end of last year, two games that are already amongst the top five selling Nintendo Switch games, period, Pokemon Let's Go, which revisits and reinvented the classic Pokemon-style mechanics, but with a fresh coat of paint, and of course, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which brings back all the characters from past games with some great new additions. And, of course, those Wii U ports that got a second chance at life. We got Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, Hyrule Warriors, Captain Toad, Treasure Tracker, Monster Hunter Generations, and Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. While all of those games made for a great last year, there is still so much more on the horizon. There are a lot of games that they've announced for the Switch that are either coming up really soon, like Yoshi's Crafted World. Not too long after that, Fire Emblem: Three Houses. There's also a ton of games that we've gotten hyped up for, but we don't have an exact date for just yet, that will hopefully be coming within the next year. Games like Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4, Super Mario Maker 2, a new Animal Crossing, a new actual, full-blown Pokemon game, and a Link's Awakening remake they just revealed that looks really cool. And, all these games are not the only thing we have to look forward to this coming year. While Nintendo's remained very tight-lipped and constantly refused to acknowledge any possibility of a new version of the Switch, it has been heavily rumored that a new model Switch is on its way within the next year. But, what form that'll take, we just don't know yet. The two popular theories that a lot of people are debating are either a Switch Pro, something that's gonna offer things like a better battery life, better graphics, more functionality. Or, maybe a slimmed down, cheaper version. A Switch mini that is smaller with joy cons you can't remove, but be something that's much more accessible to kids. And, those aren't the only changes that might be coming to Nintendo within the next year. A lot of stuff is going on right now. There's been a lot of rumors about possible close relationships with Xbox, bringing Xbox-published games like Ori and Cuphead over to the system, and even adding things like Xbox Game Pass and cloud streaming to it. And then, of course, we have to mention the biggest change that's happened recently, Reggie is leaving us. We're gonna miss you, man. - What's wrong with you?