The Nintendo Switch

I have a pi 3 with retropie installed. There's a fan-made skin to make the interface look like the NES Classic, with differentiating colors for the other systems you can load on. Also, you can scrape to get the box art, game description etc. Loading games on to it takes a few seconds when you've got it hooked up to your network.

I love having it. It's just as much fun to curate as it is to play the games on there.

Oh and you can get a little retro NES case for it as well.

is this a pretty good representation of how you'd go about doing that?
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/04/one-upping-the-nes-classic-edition-with-the-raspberry-pi-3-and-retropie/

Yeah, that's a pretty decent write up of the main steps. If nothing goes wrong, you'll be all set. As that article says, though, using a Pi for a retro console is quite common, so when I hit any stumbling blocks I just googled them and found solutions easy enough. I've done a couple - newer Pi's are easier than older ones (thanks to built in wifi, Bluetooth, etc)

cool thx!

My partner is away for two weeks and I'm tempted to buy a switch and play Zelda for a fortnight. She also really wants mario kart. I heard a few iffy things about the console. Is there any reason why I shouldn't?

Er if I can find one obvs

I am loving zelda after two days of play. The control scheme isnt very intuitive but its amazing fun nonetheless

the switch is rad, buy one xp

yeah buy it

what iffy things have you heard? i think it's nintendo's best hardware to date. the only iffy thing i've seen is the dock can potentially scratch the screen if you don't get a screen protector, which you should do anyway

Does anyone have a recommendation for a screen protector?

any of the tempered glass ones, i got the Orzly but i think they are all pretty much the same. such an upgrade on the old plastic ones!

Awesome, thanks! I picked one up just before leaving on a month-long study abroad thing but as soon as I'm back I'm hoping to jump into Splatoon 2

most of the early 'OMG THE HARDWARE IS BROKEN' reports were shit clickbait based off a few people's very rare issues. a couple of docks bent in transit turns into 'the switch dock will inevitably scratch your screen forever!' panic bullshit. if you want some piece of mind, the amFilm tempered Glass protectors are really nice and cheap, then just get one of the nice soft cases to carry it in if you're moving around a lot.

splatoon 2 test at the weekend was a ton of fun. so far physical stuff i've bought = zelda, mario kart 8, arms, next splatoon, then mario rabids, then mario odyssey. what an awesome run of fun-ness.

zelda is just SO good, it really is a game changer and system seller.
i imagine i'll do arms/splatoon/mario kart next but i gotta get another pair of "joycons" i suppose

The new splatoon looks really good, my son had a lot of fun with it this weekend. I played one round and got crushed. I think the switch controls are not senior citizen friendly.

i like using the joycons without being latched together; it feels very minority report to have independent controls in each hand... weirdly freeing, my neighbor said "this is how joysticks should have always been!"

but yes, the learning curve with a new set of controllers is always a bitch. i keep fucking up my jumps with link and sending him off a cliff. hopefully i'll have this together before mario comes out

Splatoon makes me nauseous, for whatever reason, so I won't be picking that up :/

you can play split screen mario kart and a ton of other multi games with only the attached joycon, which is great for work sessions of King Of Fighters / Mario Kart / Bomberman etc. i did grab a yellow pair for Arms multiplayer though.

just now realizing the dearth of big, new AAA games on the schedule after mario. gonna be a long time before metroid and pokemon.

Well Kirby and Yoshi should be out before those two, those may be more niche tho

yeah those two never seem to be near the top of the property pile (which is baffling bc kirby is so great)

ideally nintendo would actually try to invest in creating more than one big new IP per console lifespan but beggars choosers etc

kirby's adventure still the best video game of all time

do i actually want to throw down $500 for one of those obnoxious gamestop bundles
tempted to get in on the neon one with splatoon 2, zelda + dlc, mario kart

My cat just had a tooth out for $621 so I am going to hold out until the worst possible time to buy one of these. Blargh

can u actually find these anywhere?

i just got one p easy from argos (uk)
there was a site i used that showed where had them in stock, think this was just for the uk tho...

you can buy them online, as long as you're willing to an extra $100 margin on it from most resellers. :( gamestop made a bunch available this morning online, but only through these bundles with 3 games or extra useless crap

you can just walk in and get them from big box stores in a lot of places now afaik. depends on city/region though. i think there's a gamestop bundle available online if you're willing to also buy zelda + mariokart + an overpriced extra ac adapter or w/e, that's what I ended up doing.

supply still seems to be pinched enough though that i'd expect them to become impossible to find again from the october mario release thru holidays

Hasn't it been more or less confirmed that Platinum will be porting the Bayonetta games and Wonderful 101 to the Switch? Bayonetta is old new, especially with the recent PC port, but the other two are underplayed Wii U exclusives being brought forward, which is nice...

I don't see getting a Switch w/o Zelda and MK8D. So why not bundle?

plenty of people have no use for mario kart

to the fuckin gulag with them

I preferred Diddy Kong Racing.

Oh me too, it was cuter, but Mario kart is still the shit

to me it'll always be a local MP game and i haven't regularly done local MP in years

I love Nintendo for being the light in the local multiplayer darkness, local multiplayer is one of the two things that is good about video games

the other being local single player?

No, the other good thing about video games is gravity

Mario Kart 8 has gravity and anti-gravity

Splatoon 2 is out, played an hour of multi and had no disconnects so far. The Salmon Run mode is pretty fun. Looking forward to trying the single player. Really missing the minigames during matchmaking tho and the map implementation/fly to teammates feels a bit clumsy.

splatoon has done the impossible - made me enjoy a multiplayer shooter

my friend code is sw-3945-2059-5597 if anyone wants a deeply mediocre teammate

man i adore splatoon 2. didn't get to play the first one, i can't stop thinking about this one and best thing is i can play a round or two at my desk at work.
actually find myself almost holding my breath in the final 30 seconds or so, that shit is intense! but tons of fun and minus all the stupid military bullshit of most shooters.

my friend code for anyone who wants it (useful for salmon run) = SW-2875-5463-5306

goddamn splatoon just keeps getting better - the interplay between all the systems of movement and shooting make it way deeper and more strategic than it initially appears, but no matter what your skill level is, it never feels anything other than welcoming and fun.

i think i've racked up more multiplayer hours in this than every other multiplayer game i've ever played combined

(i voted mayo in the mayo vs ketchup competition btw, come at me bros)

im also team mayo

yesssss