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Fun Club Do you personally see the Switch as a Home Console you can take with you, or a Handheld you can dock?

Which do you see the Switch as?

  • Total voters
    215
Serif said:
Both, I use it 50/50 and it serves both sensibilities. Call me a coward if you want.
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COWARD

Josh5890 said:
Some say leave it in my bag. Some say put it in a different tray. Some say take it all the way out of the case.
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Damn, that resonated with me... I went through an airport in Los Angeles and those guards looked ready to bust my ass for daring to keep my Switch in the case.

But uh yeah on topic, I play the Switch as a handheld like 97% of the time, so it's a handheld to me. Hell it took a couple of years for my mom to stop calling it a Gameboy.
 
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I only remember the Switch is a handheld when there's a power outage and the screen lights up inside the dock. Depending the time I'll be waiting for the electricity to return, the Switch becomes the ol' reliable in this situation.
 
Jersh said:
Counterpoint: the raccon is right:

Even when I'm using it on the go, I just don't use it like I used prior handhelds. And based on his opinions previously shared, I think @Raccoon will agree with me when I say the true handheld experience is basically dead (not that there was really another option when the Vita scared Sony out and Nintendo pivoted to the Switch). I was comfortable taking my GBA/DS/3DS anywhere because I could slip it into my pocket when I was done. With the Switch, it's big enough that I refuse to take it anywhere without the case, and now I need to think ahead about whether I'll have a place to put the $300 handheld with a bunch of $60 games in the case when I'm not using it, or I just leave it behind (as a wearer of men's clothing, I generally don't carry a bag around because my pockets do what I need). Using the Switch as a handheld is a planned event.

Now, some of this may be because the Switch released not long after I turned 18, which kinda changed my life habits anyway; but I wasn't really given a choice. Maybe I'd still use something in the DS form factor on lunch breaks given the option, but I'll never really know.

Probably, anyway; the Switch Lite definitely pushes things back towards the handheld side. I recently acquired one from my brother who didn't want it anymore after getting an OLED; maybe I'll try carrying it around and see if it's comfortable.
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Just on the ‘men’s clothing’ point, when I started commuting 25 years ago I pretty much always had a small bag with me, just to slip a book in. So even when I got a slim DS Lite, it largely lived in a case in my work bag- I don’t think I ever carried it in a pocket. But I still travelled fairly light. I’m rarely without a book even now.

These days though, with hot-desking at work, I’m dragging a laptop into the office every day I go in, plus a notebook and various other cables and stuff I need. Which means I’m taking a bigger backpack. Which, weirdly, means the size of the Switch doesnt bother me when it’s still relatively small compared to having to drag around all the work stuff I used to leave on my desk everyday :)
 
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It's the natural successor to the 3DS, the follow up system that gets the new Pokémon games, the latest child in the legacy of the Gameboy

There's always been snobbery about the handhelds from stationary console Nintendo fans, and so a lot of them are reluctant to call the switch a handheld because to them that word is synonymous with lesser, downgraded experiences. But I grew up on handhelds so I'm happy to call switch what it is
 
To me, it's mainly a "home console to take on the go".

When I bought the Switch in 2017, I was still in uni and while I had been on a gaming laptop for a while now, I wanted something that was more mobile for my gaming needs compared to a home console that could also deliver more in terms of games available compared to the handhelds that had been my daily gaming drivers since 2009 (mainly compared to the 3DS and Vita which - in my opinion - have some of the weakest handheld libraries ever). The Switch delivered on that front and to this day, the only times I take it out of the dock at home is when I'm playing "on the side", i.e. playing a game with something else going on, most of the time, it's docked and I don't want to bother changing it. My commute is too short for playing games (and also I'm commuting by bike in the warmer months of the year, so I can't play during that time anyway;)) and so it's usually only coming with me on longer trips (1h+ sans interchanges for a day trip and even then I'd much rather check out the view from the train than play video games) or when I'm planning on staying somewhere overnight - and in the latter case, it's locked away wherever I'm staying and only comes out when I want to play.
 
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I like playing it in handheld but for me handhelds need to be smaller for being comfortable. So I voted home console. Techwise it is more on the handheld side
 
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It's a portable console you can take on the go, but the way I really think about it is just as "a console that I can play anywhere". I know that really sounds like the description for a handheld, but my point is that I don't really picture in the same way as I picture other handhelds. This one has "my actual library", so to speak, instead of a separate library that's missing most of the games I play at home.
 
I feel it depends on how you use it the most. When it released and I needed to go to and from work everyday, I would play it on portable mode 9/10 times. So in my head it was definitely a portable console I could play on the TV.
Then COVID hit and now I work from home, my mindset has completely shifted. I haven't played the Switch undocked in ages, even when I took it on a recent trip, so I voted home console I can take on the go.

Deep down though, I honestly believe the Switch was always a portable console, thought as such in every piece of design. "Adding" (for a lack of a better word) TV output was an inventive and efficient way for Nintendo to save a lot of money and refocus their workforce on their biggest strengths.

I seriously need to know who was the person who came up one morning at the office and went "why not both?"...
 
The technology inside the Switch very much makes it a mobile / portable device first and foremost, no matter what the marketing side of things tries to tell you. Of course they would angle it so that it was perceived as a home console, because taking these experiences with you on the go sounds much nicer than „you can now play your handheld games on the big screen, too!“
Though generally the distinction becomes less and less clear, so neither „side“ is really wrong per se. Which means „both“ is the only correct answer when being nuanced.



Fuck that though, it’s a handheld. All who say otherwise are doomed in my eyes.
 
Portable in my eyes, everything feels geared up to that being the main way of play (Removable joycon that can each be its own controller, kickstand on back of console, big OLED screen) whilst docked mode seems more of a feature in my mind.
 
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Handheld that I seldom hook to the TV to play Smash
 
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I view it as a portable console you can dock even though I use it like a home console you can occasionally take on the go.

The rationale holds in my mind because the split between playing while in bed or outside (20%) and playing on the couch (80%) is about the same for Switch as it was for 3DS and DS.
 
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It has a screen and can be used entirely independently of any other hardware, external power source, or peripherals. It was built with a mobile chipset.

That shit's a handheld.
 
what I find most fun and interesting about this question is what it conveys about the responders

to a technically-minded person the switch is of course a handheld. it is a portable device with a screen and battery that can be held like a game gear with the tv output of the nomad, spitshined by cynical marketing executives to make nintendo not seem like it's crawling away from home video games tail between legs

to a more, for lack of a better term coming to mind, intuitive person the switch feels very naturally like a new type of home console. regardless of mode it has wireless controllers with support for multiple players, with easy swapping between TVs, or multiple systems to one TV, being just as appealing a use case as switching to handheld

the "home console you can take anywhere" crowd is definitely my people. I should get to know you all better in the future
 
CyberWolfBia said:
I see it as a home console that you can take on the go; I rarely even play on handheld.

Most of its games are made as home console titles first;

If the Switch was truly a handheld first, many of the big titles would have a totally different approach to game design to be played on small bursts; I don't feel there's enough of that DS/3DS experience on Switch.
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I disagree with this. There's numerous (hundreds at least) games with a small scope, pick up and play, that are ideal for handheld gaming.
 
I personally consider Switch a Home Console you can take on the go. The quality of Switch games is exactly that of a Nintendo home console. When I think of Super Mario Odyssey, Zelda BOTW, TOTK, MK8D and so many others, I feel the effort and ambition that Nintendo has historically put into its previous home consoles. For me, this discussion also falls within the definition of a home console. 🙂
 
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Raccoon said:
what I find most fun and interesting about this question is what it conveys about the responders

to a technically-minded person the switch is of course a handheld. it is a portable device with a screen and battery that can be held like a game gear with the tv output of the nomad, spitshined by cynical marketing executives to make nintendo not seem like it's crawling away from home video games tail between legs

to a more, for lack of a better term coming to mind, intuitive person the switch feels very naturally like a new type of home console. regardless of mode it has wireless controllers with support for multiple players, with easy swapping between TVs, or multiple systems to one TV, being just as appealing a use case as switching to handheld

the "home console you can take anywhere" crowd is definitely my people. I should get to know you all better in the future
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Common Raccoon W
 
In my mind, the real differentiation between home and portable consoles lies in the types of games each receives. Portable experiences were classically smaller, more bite sized, less expansive.

With Switch, you didn't have to choose. Switch got everything. So, to me, it feels to me more like a home console you can take with you than a portable you can dock.
 
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Bit surprised by the results of this poll.

The form factor is clearly a handheld.
I can dock it as a bonus.
Which I do most of the time, but I would never view it as a console that I can take on the go.


Home consoles are usually not autonomous and don't have a screen or a battery (with some weird exceptions, I know).
 
I mean, they clearly marketed it as a home console you could take on the go, so I don't think there should be any doubt.
 
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Home console. Whenever I use it in handheld mode I always think to myself "can't wait to get home to play this on my tv".
 
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Lifestyle most likely dictates the answers to this question. I am a dad with a full time job, so the only time I get to game is usually before bed after the kid is down for the night. I have my dock hooked up to my main TV in the livingroom, but its so much easier to just play in handheld mode before bed.

However, for AAA titles like Zelda or Metroid, I will make time for the big screen.
 
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You won’t convince me to play tears of the kingdom handheld.

But you also won’t convince me to play etrian odyssey on the tv.

So I guess it doesn’t matter what people see it as. Just matters what it is.
 
it’s absolutely a home console that you can take on the go in my mind. it’s designed to be such, with games that are meant to shine as such.

they made it play games at home first. then made sure there was fallback for taking it on the go. look at the software profiles. it tends to be give us your game, then tweak it for those one the go.

it really is an incredible achievement, and I think it begging this question at all demonstrates part of why it’s so successful.

I think one way to think about it, if you’re having trouble with why some would see it as a home console…

It’s more powerful than the Wii U, which was the last Nintendo home console. if it came out less powerful “but the trade-off is true portability,” then I might be more inclined to think handheld first.

but this is a home console. it’s the home console. and it removes the need to distinguish something as a home console or handheld.

the Switch Lite is totally a handheld though
 
Red Monster said:
I don’t find the “console-like games” argument convincing at all. The Steam Deck plays AAA games; does that make it not a handheld? Of course not. The same goes for the Switch. It is, purely and simply, a handheld that comes with a dock in the box.
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I think the early slate of games also belies the handheld moniker too. The design for BotW and Odyssey are hyper focused on small bite-sized challenges that you can do in small sessions and still feel a sense of forward progression. Thats a hallmark of portable game design that reaches all the way back to the Game Boy or even Game & Watch.


VegiHam said:
There's always been snobbery about the handhelds from stationary console Nintendo fans, and so a lot of them are reluctant to call the switch a handheld because to them that word is synonymous with lesser, downgraded experiences. But I grew up on handhelds so I'm happy to call switch what it is
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💯

This whole snobbery should’ve died the minute Super Mario Land 2, Link’s Awakening, DK ‘94, Dream Land 2, Wario Land, and Pokemon dropped. It hasn’t so here we are. Again.
 
PixelKnight said:
Just on the ‘men’s clothing’ point, when I started commuting 25 years ago I pretty much always had a small bag with me, just to slip a book in. So even when I got a slim DS Lite, it largely lived in a case in my work bag- I don’t think I ever carried it in a pocket. But I still travelled fairly light. I’m rarely without a book even now.

These days though, with hot-desking at work, I’m dragging a laptop into the office every day I go in, plus a notebook and various other cables and stuff I need. Which means I’m taking a bigger backpack. Which, weirdly, means the size of the Switch doesnt bother me when it’s still relatively small compared to having to drag around all the work stuff I used to leave on my desk everyday :)
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Yup, I can totally see that! I opted for a desktop at work though, so I don't have much to carry. The Switch is convenient enough if you have a backpack or purse or something, but I don't.

Maybe I just should 🤔
 
I'm way more of a handheld gamer vs console gamer, so the Switch by default is a dockable handheld console. It's also one of my fav systems ever and feels like it was made specifically for me :,) Going from the 3DS -> Switch was such an insane upgrade (and I say that as someone who loved the DS/3DS to death).
 
bixente said:
I disagree with this. There's numerous (hundreds at least) games with a small scope, pick up and play, that are ideal for handheld gaming.
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You could find plenty of those games anywhere, including Steam, the PS5 and Xbox. But when comes to Nintendo's own 1st Party games, the Switch is often associated with Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Smash Ultimate, Xenoblade, and the many Wii U ports like Mario Kart 8, which, you know.. are big boy games made to be played on a TV with a controller.

games designed for handheld play definetly do exist on Switch, but they are either ports, remakes or multiplat Indie games that, for pure fluke, can fit perfectly on that category like Stardew Valley.

Just look at how Luigi's Mansion 3 was designed for the Switch, compared of how Luigi's Mansion 2 for the 3DS (which is also now coming to Switch, so now you have both options).
 
The dock to me is just a place I can charge it when its not in use. The TV is mostly for watching shows/Youtube. I barely even use my PS5/Series X on big screen and would rather remote play in.

In a way I consider it the same way as an iPad/Laptop/Portable PC. A device that can do mostly everything a stationary device can do, but its tradeoff to allow it to be allowed to be played on the go is its internal specs aren't capable of what a stationary device can achieve.
 
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CyberWolfBia said:
You could find plenty of those games anywhere, including Steam, the PS5 and Xbox. But when comes to Nintendo's own 1st Party games, the Switch is often associated with Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Smash Ultimate, Xenoblade, and the many Wii U ports like Mario Kart 8, which, you know.. are big boy games made to be played on a TV with a controller.

games designed for handheld play definetly do exist on Switch, but they are either ports, remakes or multiplat Indie games that, for pure fluke, can fit perfectly on that category like Stardew Valley.

Just look at how Luigi's Mansion 3 was designed for the Switch, compared of how Luigi's Mansion 2 for the 3DS (which is also now coming to Switch, so now you have both options).
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All of that's subjective; I've played all those "big boy" games solely in handheld mode and at no point did I think it lessened the experience. It's all moot anyway since features like suspending your game and cloud saves makes every title handheld-friendly on the Switch.

The only reason why handheld games were leaner, more focused experiences in the old days was due to hardware limitations. I'm sure if companies were capable of developing home console games on the Game Boy they would have and it's no surprise that once handhelds like the DS, PSP, 3DS, and Vita were released we began to see more home console-like games come to those platforms.
 
For me it has always been a home console that i can take on the go, the game design at least first party wise is more traditional than portable in my opinion. I cant do much in half an hour, while on my 3ds i can go trough streetpass games or do a couple of 3dland levels, the switch for me requires at least an hour of play with it
 
Based on how I mostly use my Switch, I'd call it a home console I can take on the go
 
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CyberWolfBia said:
games designed for handheld play definetly do exist on Switch, but they are either ports, remakes or multiplat Indie games that, for pure fluke, can fit perfectly on that category like Stardew Valley.
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…or Monster Hunter Rise, Capcom’s second-best-selling game ever and one of their biggest AAA IP, that’s a continuation of the MH portable line of games. For some reason MH always gets forgotten in these discussions, perhaps because it’s an AAA game you’re either deep into or manage to just ignore :)

Sleep mode makes everything a portable game to me. Some of the series you list above, whether it’s Mario Kart or Zelda, I’ve also poured hundreds of hours into as portable games. Let alone all the rpgs. The sheer number of rpgs/tactics games I’ve played on the Switch, a good chunk of which are continuations of ones either built for portables or that largely existed on portables for years. Bravely Default. Dragon Quest. Fire Emblem, MH Stories, Advance Wars, SMT, almost any tactics/turn based game etc.

The idea that portable games are smaller or the ‘pick up and play for a few minutes’ short gameplay loop games was true 20 years ago, but died with sleep mode on the DS and it’s huge rpg catalogue, then died again when all the puzzle games went to mobile only, leaving the 3DS library focused on rpgs (and monster hunter).

The idea of games ‘built specifically for home console’ only really exists anymore in terms of the games you need peripherals/joycons for (Wii Sports, Ring Fit) when you can play online anywhere, or use sleep mode. The main games I play where I think ‘this wasn’t built for portable’ are literally ports of old games built specifically for home console where they haven’t adjusted the interface too well and so the text is tiny or illegible.
 
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I see it as a home thingy that you can take with you. The number of times I have used the Switch in portable mode over the last three years is like no more than ten, I swear, and the majority of them should've happened when I was in chemotherapy; which is funny considering that I gave it an opposite use in the initial years of the system's life, almost always as a handheld.

My preference of usage began to change when I started acquiring better displays. Also, I'm never in the mood to bring the console out with me.
 
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For me it's a portable console with a charging dock. I cannot remember the last time I played something docked.
 
After 7 years, the only year when I had it docked was 2020 COVID working at home. Every other year, handheld. It's design needs/constraints are within the handheld computing realm. Switch Lite exists
 
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I find the Switch too uncomfortable to play in handheld mode as a default, especially for games that require precise controls. The system is way too big, buttons are too small, and the directionals being the way they are makes them barely passable. I also can't comfortably reach the triggers without having to move my hand.

I'll do it at home sometimes when I want to play relaxing in bed before sleeping, but otherwise I play on the TV most of the time. However, it's fantastic that I can go on trips and simply take it with me. I don't really care if it's not ideal playing in handheld, I'd rather play it like that than going 7 days without access to my games when visiting my in-laws. It's a dream come true
 
The handheld games vs home console games discussion is definitely an interesting topic and could probably be its own thread. Home console games definitely seem to get more of an infinity towards them in gamer circles than handheld entries, and while it's very tempting to say it's just a gaming bubble I'm not entirely convinced considering the demand for remasters / remakes seems to very rarely be centered around handheld entries in the same way as home consoles (with some exceptions, Link's Awakening being the big one, Pokemon being another but the mainline series is only on handhelds).

Honestly though .... I'm not entirely sure that it's inflammatory or entirely a bad thing. I thought the 3DS was a great console and the only 8th gen console that carried momentum for the first few years of that generation, and even then my favorite 3DS game, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, is a game that I remember thinking about how much it reminded me of a home console game. The same is true for the Zelda remakes, which are just home console games on the 3DS. The same is not true, however, for something like Fire Emblem Awakening, which I never thought lesser of.
 
Seven said:
All of that's subjective; I've played all those "big boy" games solely in handheld mode and at no point did I think it lessened the experience. It's all moot anyway since features like suspending your game and cloud saves makes every title handheld-friendly on the Switch.

The only reason why handheld games were leaner, more focused experiences in the old days was due to hardware limitations. I'm sure if companies were capable of developing home console games on the Game Boy they would have and it's no surprise that once handhelds like the DS, PSP, 3DS, and Vita were released we began to see more home console-like games come to those platforms.
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PixelKnight said:
The idea that portable games are smaller or the ‘pick up and play for a few minutes’ short gameplay loop games was true 20 years ago, but died with sleep mode on the DS and it’s huge rpg catalogue, then died again when all the puzzle games went to mobile only, leaving the 3DS library focused on rpgs (and monster hunter).

The idea of games ‘built specifically for home console’ only really exists anymore in terms of the games you need peripherals/joycons for (Wii Sports, Ring Fit) when you can play online anywhere, or use sleep mode. The main games I play where I think ‘this wasn’t built for portable’ are literally ports of old games built specifically for home console where they haven’t adjusted the interface too well and so the text is tiny or illegible.
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I don't know.. games made specifically for the 3DS were still distinctly different in terms of structure than your traditional home console title and that wasn't that long ago; I mentioned Luigi's Mansion 2, but even Super Mario 3D Land and New Super Mario Bros. 2 had much shorter levels than Super Mario 3D World and New Super Mario Bros. U; -- and sometimes when home console games ended on the 3DS like Metal Gear Solid 3, they wouldn't be as comfortable to play and criticized for that. I also had similar issues with Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, despite being a game built for the system.

I also want to add that I never said (or never even considered) a handheld entry in a series to be a lesser experience. My comment was just about how game design changes depending on the environment and audiance.
 
When the Switch first launched it was basically a portable system for me, all my strongest memories of binging BotW are almost entirely playing in bed, at work, showing it off to people around me in various places. I would rarely ever make use of the dock, maybe briefly on weekends at my desk monitor. I remember it taking a while adjusting my muscle memory to even use the joycon grip, even harder with the pro controller I didn't get til much later. Yet it seemed like the big novelty of the device for the general public was that it was doing console-grade games on a portable device.

These days it seems like the relationship has flipped. It's currently my primary home console for comfy couch tv gaming when I'm feeling like something more casual than what's on my PC, and I've grown tired of its overall physical form and build quality, the creaks and seams, the shortcomings of joycons grow intolerably noticable. If the Lite were capable of tv output I probably would've long traded it in for one but sadly there's no ideal here. And now that the Steam Deck exists it seems like people have started to view the Switch as a cheaper, less capable option of that style of gaming.
 
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