Is the Nintendo Switch a Console, Handheld or Both?

[Baron Baldric]

To say that a tablet with HDMI port is a hybrid console is just a marketing strategy.

It's ridiculous that an AMD Athlon 200GE has twice as much graphical power as Switch.

Nintendo made it to continue in a very competitive market, is not good as a home console and is not good as a handheld console. Different would have been if they included an active dock with a GPU.

[isturbo1984]

Kinda. I would almost consider that a true hybrid. But it can do better with dual functionality.

[isturbo1984]

That would be cool to see. I think I'll skip XBCX though. I haven't even started XBX1 yet.

[venraptor]

I like that you are going physical, it's the real way to go

[venraptor]

Yes, the ports are great, I've bought games for switch that I skipped on WiiU just because I thought I wouldn't have any time to play them at home, and on top of that Switch ports are just better at most things. Bayo 2 works much better on Switch IMO. I have Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2 and Mario Kart 8. I would really love to see Xenoblade Chronicles X port too, I never finished it before I sold my Wii U.

[grayfox313]

It's both.
source: Switch addict

[Yoshi]

On the topic, I just wanted to add that while consoles and handhelds right now are mutually exclusive, I think under the right circumstances a true hybrid can be achieved.

You mean like the Sega Nomad in 1995?

[isturbo1984]

It's a point of complaint for a lot of people, but one of my favorite things about my Switch is all the Wii U ports. I think the Wii U console is one of the best Nintendo systems ever going just by the exclusive library. I'm double dipping in almost every game ported to the Wii U. So far, I've re-purchased: Mario Kart 8, Pokken Tournament, Hyrule Warriors, Captain Toad and Donkey Kong. The games were so good. Do not sleep on Pokken Tournament, btw.

[isturbo1984]

It just does everything, minus thing things in my list, right?

[isturbo1984]

Why would the Switch need to be "better" than a Xbox or PlayStation to be a console... if a Xbox and PlayStation are already consoles to begin with?

[isturbo1984]

I use my Switch almost exclusively in docked mode too

[venraptor]

It's hybrid nature became really REALLY clear to me when I bought TWEWY for it - I can't play BoTW well in handheld because everything is so tiny, but I can't play TWEWY on a TV because of cotrols, and both games work amazing when used in another mode. But most games you can just play - my daily commute is over an hour of public transport, so I can just play something in the evening, and then in the morning I would just pick the Switch up from the dock and later play it on the bus from the same place, it is super convenient, and that's probably why my Switch library is already 4 times the size of my WiiU library, and I had WiiU from the launch day.

[RepentantSky]

It's a Hybrid, regardless of how you play on it. That's why it can be docked to connect to a TV, held like a handheld and has a wireless control option while being on a stand. It does everything that a home console and a handheld do.

[Kashimi]

The switch is absolutely a hybrid between a handheld and a console. It doesn't need to do anything better than an xbox or a ps in order to qualify as a console. A video game console in the traditional sense is a boxed unit that is sold as an all-in-one unit that doesn't require upgrades like a pc does, but offers a library of video games. Simply put, the switch does exactly that. There's no caveat to being a console so long as the internal hardware is consistent and offers no variant, and there is an option to play games from a library of many games.

[TwinsUltra64]

I use my switch as a home console, so therefore I voted home console.