Nintendo Switch OLED. What is the deal?

Nintendo and their OLED Switch?! What’s the deal?

12/7/2021

Guest Blog post by Adam Foster @AngelicWiganer / @snoopfozziefozz

Meet the Nintendo Switch (OLED Model)

Cast your minds back to just a few months ago. All the hype regarding E3 and the upcoming Nintendo Direct we was about to see. The rumour mill going wild. Would we see Metroid Prime 4? Would we see Bayonetta 3? However, the main one swirling around the gaming community was would we see a revision of the Switch? Would Nintendo finally dip their toes into providing a Switch which would provide 4K visuals when in docked mode, and an overall more powerful version? Sadly, the answer to all of these three questions was No.

Was I disappointed? I would have to say No, for me I have a PS5 and an Xbox One which can provide those ultra-smooth visuals and processing power for the bigger badder games which are out now and the future ones which will be released. The Switch and Nintendo in general for me has always been about software. Nintendo we have seen over time, never follow the norm, they always want to be innovative rather than just follow the normal trend which is out there. Side Note, I would LOVE Nintendo to do a Stars gimmick for their in game achievements similar to Trophies and Gamerscore. Again don’t hold your breath.

So back to the present day, it’s a few weeks after E3, we’re happy in the knowledge that we’re getting a new Metroid in the form of Metroid Dread. We saw updates for Breath of the Wild 2 and there is so much more games to be looking forward to such as Shin Megami Tensei V. Then suddenly we get an announcement from Nintendo, a revision to the Switch. But not the revision we hoped for.

The New Switch is now the OLED version. It comes with a brand new, bigger screen of seven inches, which will provide sharper visuals when in handheld mode. It has a bigger stand and it has a LAN port. That’s It. Oh and for the privilege of having this model it will set you a pretty £349.99. That’s a £70.00 increase on the standard base model.

Nintendo Switch Oled

Am I surprised by this revision? Not in the slightest. If you look back through time Nintendo have always made revisions of their consoles without actually increasing anything to the hardware. I can only think of four consoles where they have never made an actual revision of the console. They are as follows. The GameCube, the N64, the Wii U and the Virtual Boy. Just four consoles over a near forty year period. That’s a lot.

We had two versions of the NES. We had two versions of the SNES. God knows how many variations of the Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, DS, and 3DS, Three Versions of the Wii and now Three Versions of the Switch Family. You know why they do it, because they know people will buy it. Why change a business formula which has worked for nearly four decades.

I’m not angry about it nor does the OLED Switch excite me. I just think its standard practice that Nintendo always do to increase the life cycle of the current hardware that’s out there. I do find the price point a bit cheeky though. Maybe I’d be happier if they reduced the base model to say £229 and then have the OLED model come in at say £289-£299. As a consumer I’d be happy with that.

No doubt the OLED will fly off the shelves come October upon its release. I won’t be buying it, I just can’t justify playing that amount of money for an improvement just in handheld mode. I prefer to play my current Switch in docked mode. I always have. I prefer my handheld gaming to be taken up by my 3DS XL which I have a wonderful library of games for.

What intrigues me most about Nintendo is the future. Clearly the Switch cannot go on forever, it’s a wonderful system and you cannot doubt for one second that it’s been a huge success for Nintendo. It’s their next foray into a new piece of hardware which I want to see. How can they compete with Sony and Microsoft going forward? Can they compete? Can they make something truly innovative for the years ahead? And can they bloody finally make a new F-Zero!

Thanks for reading and until next time. Keep Gaming.

Guest Blog post by Adam Foster @AngelicWiganer / @snoopfozziefozz