The only game I was able to test was a physical version of
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It felt a bit odd plugging a cartridge into a flagship Nintendo console once again -- I thought I was done with that in the '90s. I got over that initial weirdness when I remembered why solid-state media can be so great.
Zelda launched in around five seconds, and there wasn't any lengthy install process to sit through. Yes, that's technically the same experience we had decades ago, but it seems almost utopian after the long installations and loading screens I'm used to from the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
I can't say much about
Breath of the Wild yet, but I can confirm that it is very much a
Zelda game, though it doesn't look like anything you've seen before. Notably, it also performed a lot better than it did at preview events, where I noticed stuttering and occasional slowdown while it was connected to the dock. I wasn't expecting much from the Switch's graphical capabilities, but there are plenty of moments where
Breath of the Wild is just strikingly beautiful.
The game worked equally well in TV and portable modes, and I never had any issues switching between them. And if you were wondering how much portable
Zelda you'll be able to play at once, I have a disappointing answer: two and a half hours. That's not a huge deal if you're gaming around the house, but if you're going on a long trip you'll want to consider some backup power options (luckily the Switch can charge over any USB-C cable).
I typically relied on the Joy-Con Grip, which comes with the Switch, while gaming on my TV. It's basically a plastic shell that the Joy-Con controllers slide into, and it transforms them into a something resembling a normal gamepad. I had my reservations about how well it would work, but the Joy-Con Grip ended up being a solid way to enjoy
Zelda. The analog sticks were smooth and responsive, and even though the face buttons are a bit small, they feel good when you actually press them down. The only downside is that you don't get a true directional pad when using the Joy-Con Grip.
48 hours with the Nintendo Switch