I am trying to choose between buying a Nintendo Switch or a Nintendo DS.
This may not be the perfect community to ask - but I can’t think of any better place.
The reason for my question: I don’t want to own obsolete hardware in 10 years. Lately most games seem to depend on a “phone home” feature, which is not really an issue for my pc because it is always connected, but a console is something I want to play always and everywhere.
I already did some searching and found that games can be played offline fine (most of them, some exceptions are there like Multiplayer and Mortal Kombat), but:
- There is something like the paid Nintendo Online Account. I am not planning on having a paid account. How much of the system depends on the account?
- Can I have progression in a game (let’s say: one of the Zelda franchise) and will my Wife and Kids all have their own progression, without having to pay for X accounts?
- People who own a Switch, let’s take this to extremes, do you feel like in 20 years from now you can still do the same things on your hardware as you can do now? (No multiplayer is fine)
Also, feel free to rant about “paying is not owning”, the state of the gaming industry is horrible.
I’d get both, I have both 🙂
Strangely enough, I only play online with the DS, since long before having the Switch and even today lol.
i have a switch too and 9 times out of 10 im booting it up to play light games with friends. it gets me a lot of use but hardly for real gaming. main exceptions are the zelda games, the mario sunshine reboot, and the ace attorney reboot, plus some of nintendos unique titles. the main upside to people is that you can get it pretty cheap compared to a nice gaming computer or a console so for casual gamers it gets you access to a lot on the online store, but if you are looking for pure longevity the ds is not a bad choice.
i still use my super nintendo to play original secret of mana and link to the past, so i don’t see why not.
Your SNES doesn’t phone home to Nintendo servers.
true but even if you buy physical copies of switch games that shouldn’t matter right? (genuine question)
I wouldn’t take this for granted. Even if it is true today (I have no idea, I don’t own a switch, and wouldn’t be surprised if it requires even physical media to authenticate), Nintendo could alter the deal with an update.
and wouldn’t be surprised if it requires even physical media to authenticate
Owner of multiple switches, from my experience, you can crack open the box, not connect it to shit, and pop in a game cartridge. Hell, you can even update the system and games without an internet connection so long as you have a switch that’s gotten those updates already.
If Nintendo breaks physical games I paid for that don’t require online functionality for core gameplay features I would just sail the high seas.
I didn’t rent my game from you, Nintendo.
Practically? You’re probably fine.
Technically? The shtick about buying a license to a game, not a game, still applies to physical media. They couldn’t do anything about it in snes days and probably won’t without reason now, but they could.
There are games like “Control” that are guaranteed to be dead in 5 years max as they’re glorified remote play solutions. The game is playing on someone else’s computer and streamed to the switch. So the bill for that computer is paid by new sales like a Ponzi scheme. No more sales = the dev turns off their servers = no more playing
control is streamed? for switch or in general?
It was news to me as well. Here is a Verge article talking about it but it says the following
In order to play the game, you’ll need a Nintendo Account to access cloud service and “a persistent high-speed internet connection to play the game.” (It includes similar technology to Stadia and Luna, but Control’s cloud game will be handled by Ubitus.) Any interruption in the connection will cause it to disconnect in minutes. In order to buy the game, players will be required to use a launcher application to test that their connection can handle its requirements for five minutes. It will also require buying an Access Pass, priced at $39.99.
I really hope it doesn’t go the same way as other game streaming services but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Nintendo online will go away at some point just like every other online serve they’ve had.
This isn’t Nintendo Online this is a third party service I’m worried about caving within a year or two.
I don’t expect it to last indefinitely I’m just hoping it lasts longer than things like Stadia.
For future reference, consider !buyitforlife@slrpnk.net
You can have different profiles to play Zelda but for animal. Crossing for example you’ll have to share an island.
None of this requires a subscription. Only online games do
Even with the best care I wouldn’t expect it to last 20 years. The switch is nowhere near a well built machine as the DS was. The controllers will be lucky to last a year. They used arbitration to avoid a lawsuit over how crappy the switch is knowingly built. We’ve been through three since their inception. That being said they’re still a lot of fun. They are trying to integrate the sub more, but it’s still avoidable on some games. If you buy one get a hard case or at least a somewhat solid case to help support the console with the controllers connected if you decide to play it that way. The way that they’re connected with what destroyed them faster for us because you put too much pressure on the controllers and their connection when holding it. Using a case like this for reinforce the controllers and make them last much longer in my experience.
My switch died after about 4 years. A capacitor burned, tried to replace it, but still nothing happens… dont know if Ill get it to work again
I am trying to choose between buying a Nintendo Switch or a Nintendo DS.
Last time I checked a Nintendo DS is nowhere near as expensive as a Nintendo Switch, you could probably get both unless you only have $300 in your bank account.
A 3DS with a flashcart goes very far.
Can’t OP just use an SD card with their 3DS to play DS games?
You’re probably right. I mainly got into on the original DS.
Not going to comment on the software ecosystems because that is pure speculation and anyone claiming otherwise is talking out of their ass.
What I will instead point out is: your hardware is likely to fail in that time period. “Planned obsolesce” or whatever, I don’t care how you justify it. The reality is that these contain batteries that will degrade, and eventually fail. That is why anyone with a PSP or a Vita should check if it is bulging and dispose of it accordingly. And I think it is the xbox 360 that has a capacitor that people should cut before it leaks? Or basically any PC from 20 or so years ago where you need to repair the system clock on the mobo.
Hell, people love to talk about how unbreakable and amazing the NES is. Except… just look at GDQ where they have had multiple (?) instances of consoles failing during runs and the runners even talk about needing to source functioning consoles and scrap them for parts. This is why the speed running community went from gatekeeping “Rawr, only original hardware” to “So… those FPGAs are fucking cool, right?”
Much like with PC gaming: having the hardware or even the license does not mean you can play it in ten years without jumping through some hoops that often involve emulation and/or cracks.
My DS Lite battery still works. If it doesn’t, it can be replaced.
What’s stopping you from replacing the battery?
Good news is it’s really easy to replace the Nintendo Switch battery. Bad news is if the LCD goes bad or you get the blue screen you’re fucked. You can replace the LCD but the digitizer will give issues after messing with it 9/10 times. Reflowing is only a temporary solution to blue screen. I guarantee one or the other will happen within 20 years.
Digitizer issues are usually from getting the wrong digitizer. They are programmed differently for the HAC-001(-01) (v2 classic switch) vs the HAC-001 (v1 classic switch).
More specifically the game card reader board that the digitizer plugs into needs to match. So make sure you buy your digitizer to match the game card reader version, or buy a game card reader to go with it (you can get them for ~$14). Unfortunately many digitizer sellers on eBay don’t say which model it is designed for.
Alternatively you can mix and match those versions if you have an unpatched/modded switch. Just launch Hekate, go to tools and run the digitizer calibration.
I haven’t repaired too many switches but the first time it happened to me I had a spare v2 game card reader and that fixed it immediately. Second time I used the Hekate method and that worked just as well
I used to work at a tech repair company. I’ve probably repaired close to 50 switches. Even without replacing the digitizer just replacing the LCD and not even messing with the smaller PCB for the digitizer just unplugging the ribbon cable and plugging it back in would sometimes mess with the digitizer. I didn’t realize that Hekate had a digitizer calibration but if I ever feel like picking up my modded switch again, I’ll keep it in mind. Personally I’m not a fan of the console.
That assumes there are good quality batteries and displays and whatever other parts you need. I think the (launch?) switch uses the same batteries as the wii u tablet? But there is no guarantee the switch 2 will us that and just look at how companies like apple lock down access to replacement parts.
In ten years (honestly? if the switch 2 really is 2024/2025 then I would give it less than five years) the issue will be finding old switches on ebay and hoping they were well maintained and have parts you can salvage. Because buying a compatible battery pack or display or radio or whatever will be a shitshow because those parts won’t be accessible unless you are buying in bulk from electronics companies… who will probably want to sell you newer components anyway.
Nintendo doesn’t have always-online DRM. Some games won’t work 20 years from now of course, but your cartridge of BOTW or Pikmin 4 will still work as long as the hardware is in good repair. The Switch is a fine system and should last for years and years of quality game time.
Off topic but does the game cartridge slot have a known amount of cycles until failure?
I’m thinking about how phone’s charging/data ports are stress tested by simulating hundreds of connections.
The cartridges are just SD cards. So however long SD cards last for is thier life span.
I’m talking about the cartridge system not the cards themselves
If you’re gonna buy a switch look for a used one old enough to be software hackable and pirate all your games
You can buy a flashcart for the DS and run pirated games on it. So as long as those ROM site stay alive you can play games on the DS. The 3DS can also run custom firmware to run roms so you might want to get a 3DS instead of a DS. Installing the custom firmware is really easy https://3ds.hacks.guide/
I already did some searching and found that games can be played offline fine (most of them, some exceptions are there like Multiplayer and Mortal Kombat)
Yes, most games will work offline just fine even with a multiplayer mode. (You just won’t be able to access multiplayer.) I believe you can still play Mortal Kombat 11 offline but it locks you out of a lot of content IIRC.
There is something like the paid Nintendo Online Account. I am not planning on having a paid account. How much of the system depends on the account?
The account creation is completely free. You can even make a local account but you won’t be able to play games online or use the eshop without making a Nintendo account. The only thing you “need” to pay for is a $20 annual Nintendo Switch Online subscription to play your games online. (Note that all games don’t require the Nintendo Switch Online subscription, but most do. This includes all of Nintendo’s first party IP’s.)
Can I have progression in a game (let’s say: one of the Zelda franchise) and will my Wife and Kids all have their own progression, without having to pay for X accounts?
All of your games will have separate saves with different profiles. Note that all of the accounts you make don’t need a Nintendo Account, so you can make a Nintendo Account for yourself (which is free) if you want the features it comes with, and local accounts for your wife and kids, and any game they play will have different saves that won’t conflict with your saves. The only exception to this that I know of is Animal Crossing New Horizons. You can have different accounts and players on one Switch but you are limited to only one island per console.
People who own a Switch, let’s take this to extremes, do you feel like in 20 years from now you can still do the same things on your hardware as you can do now? (No multiplayer is fine)
Personally, I’m not sure how long the Switch’s hardware will last. If the durability and longevity of Nintendo’s other consoles are anything to go by, I’d say it has a fair shot of lasting a while; with the exception of maybe a battery replacement and/or new thermal paste. I have both the OG model and an OLED model, and I can say for certain that the OLED model runs cooler and quieter than my OG model. Even if the Switch’s hardware fails I will always have my games and saves backed up on my PC so I can always play my games through an emulator on more powerful hardware.
Edit: I completely forgot to mention joycons. I think these will be the first things that get replaced with any amount of long-term use. I’ve already gone through 4 pairs on my OG switch because of joycon drift. My OLED is holding up fine though (thankfully), but I think the cheaper option would be to just replace the joycon’s thumb-sticks with hall-sense sticks, and they should (in theory) last quite a bit longer.
or, better yet, get a pro controller and forget joy cons entirely
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Nintendo online is a lot like Xbox live. You can play single player without it (generally) but have to pay to get online/multiplayer
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yes, you can have multiple accounts on the switch each with their own save, without paying for online for all/any of them.
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I don’t know if I’d guarantee that. Who knows what dumb services things rely on. If you want something that’ll work maybe consider a more open ecosystem like that of the steam deck or its competitors
I don’t know if Steam counts as an “open” ecosystem though. You still kinda need to be online to play Steam games, and you can only launch said game with Steam. DRM free option would be GOG games, which doesn’t require online and the GOG launcher to play games afaik.
You still kinda need to be online to play Steam games
It depends really, I’ve personally never been prevented from opening a Steam game with or without a connection.
Some other games are less clear - I’ll use Palworld as an example: this can be played offline, on a dedicated server on the same network, but it needs to fetch your username from Steam first, and perform some checks using Epic Online Services. As long as it’s started by the Steam client it’s OK, and the errors regarding EOS servers can be dismissed.
Some people have managed to join official online multiplayer servers using pirated Palworld copies, so I would not expect the current graceful network error handling to be so lenient in future updates.
you can only launch said game with Steam.
Pirated steam games can be started using an open source steam emulator - protection is basically non existent compared to intrusive DRM like Denuvo. Although I do get where you’re coming from in regards to the platform & accompanying client software being a closed ecosystem.
Steam’s hardware on the other hand, that’s open all day long 👌
DRM free option would be GOG games, which doesn’t require online and the GOG launcher to play games afaik.
I fully agree.
I’m going to be controversial here with the launcher requirement though: I use Steam because it is a launcher, games store, save file sync client, online social platform, modding client (Workshop) and games library all in one. Any device I pick up - my deck, linux laptop, or windows desktop - will continue from where I left off, without fail.
For that reason the only DRM I’ll turn a blind eye to is Steam’s own: it never gets in the way of me accessing what I purchased. With Proton/SteamPlay, games originally targeted for Windows work seamlessly on my preferred platform, Linux. If a game is unsupported, it will still set up the compatibility layer for you at your choice, for further investigation at your leisure.
Their policies also prevent developers from revoking games from users’ libraries, unless it’s a Free To Play title (most of these will have an EULA orange warning box stating such).
DRM should not have to exist at all to be honest, but in the current reality where publishers want some “protection” on their games, I’ll either accept the single, most unrestricted one, or head to the open seas 🏴☠️
I am told that if you are offline w/ steam for more than 30 days or so it kind of requires you to go online. I am unsure exactly how true this is because I’ve never had that much of a cap in my internet availability.
They said the Steam Deck and it’s competitors. They are talking about handheld gaming computers which can be used to play whatever; including Switch games. Not Steam specifically.
He said steam deck, not steam. You can install games from all stores (eg gog) and any operating system you want on the deck
Yeah but you can install whatever OS you want and pirate the games. That’s its as open as you will ever find.
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