The Switch is nearly two years old at this point.

And while it's absolutely smashed sales records

and given Nintendo a very important win

after the disaster that was the Wii U,

it's now going on sale for the holidays.

Which, of course begs the question:

is now the time to buy?

You can't talk about the Switch

without being impressed with

the flexibility of the hardware.

Drop it in the dock

and you have a proper dedicated console.

It's kind of even better as a portable

especially when you compare this to the 3DS,

it is a way better experience.

Detach the Joycons

and you can see one of the many, many

ways of playing the Switch.

So, now that you have a stand

that you can play it in tabletop mode.

But you can also sync other controllers

including the pro controller

or even if you're docked you can use the USB controller.

There's a lot of different options

of playing the Switch.

This is clearly what Nintendo wanted the Wii U to be;

a tablet-sized console that's actually portable.

The Wii U is a good comparison here.

A lot of titles from it have imported over to the Switch,

including Mario Kart, Splatoon, Toad

and, of course, the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

There's a great selection of indie games as well,

such as Overcooked 2, as well as Dead Cells

and this is a little bit of a trend for the console.

Lots of games have found their home on the Switch,

especially the ones that aren't super graphically intensive

that run really, really nicely here.

This is also the spiritual successor

to the 3DS which means that we're finally getting games

such as Pokemon, moving over to a full,

proper Nintendo console.

For a portable it's also got some serious power.

Take one look at a game such as Wolfenstein II

and it is hard not to be impressed.

Now sure, it's way lower resolution than the PS4,

Xbox One but it does look reasonably close

and it is incredible impressive

that this is running in a handheld console.

Fortnight is a great example.

This is a game that runs on basically

every device out there but this

is the best mobile version on the Switch,

mostly thanks to the physical controls.

The thing is though, the Switch really doesn't make sense

if it's your only dedicated console.

Most big AAA games take months to make it to the Switch

and that's if they make it at all.

And on top of that they generally

don't perform as well as other consoles

and they cost full price.

This is totally fine if you wanna play

the excellent Nintendo exclusives.

But if you wanna play other games

such as Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed

or Gran Turismo, this is not the console for you.

The thing is, both the base PS4 and X Box One

are cheaper than the Switch and with those consoles

you are getting a better dedicated gaming experience.

If you don't care about the portable stuff,

they make a lot of sense.

You also don't have any kind of backwards

compatibility or virtual console here.

This is bizarre considering that it was

Nintendo who kind of pioneered

the whole idea of doing a virtual console.

Both the Wii and the Wii U could play a lot of older games

via the virtual console.

And on top of that they could also, you know,

work with a disc that you just

pop in from your last generation system.

Instead, on the Switch, I'm buying Mario Kart

for the third time on the second different platform

in the last couple years.

Is that just me?

I guess Nintendo just has to keep selling

those mini consoles, right?

Sure, you've got access to some NES games

if you pay for Nintendo's online service

but well, let's get into that.

Both PSN and Xbox Live include

current generation games for free every month

as opposed to a couple of old NES titles.

And on top of that you actually

don't even need to necessarily

pay for the Switch online service to play online.

Now yes, if you wanna play Smash, for example,

online you have to pay.

But if you wanna play something like Fortnight

you actually don't have to pay anything

because that makes sense.

There's also no proper party system,

you can't do voice chat on the console itself.

While it does support cloud saves

it doesn't work for all games.

The entire online system does just feel

a little bit half-baked.

I will give them credit,

at 20 dollars a year at least

the Nintendo Switch online service

is less expensive than PSN or Xbox Live.

But, well, that makes sense because

it's not as good.

Probably the biggest reason to hold off

on buying a Nintendo Switch right now

are the rumors that there's

an upcoming Switch Pro due out next year.

Supposedly, the Switch will have an upgraded screen

as well as potentially a little bit more power.

Now, that's all fine and good

but if you take one look at the 3DS

you'll know that there is very little chance

that the Switch is going anywhere anytime soon.

Even though there are upgraded versions

of the 3DS available,

pretty much all games do support the older version.

I expect that to be the exact same case

for the Switch.

I really do enjoy the Switch.

It feels like a glimpse of the future

of where consoles are headed over the next few years.

Now, of course, with an upgraded version on the horizon,

it might not be a crazy idea to hold off and wait.

But you could also just not do that,

buy a Switch right now

and come play Pokemon Smash with the rest of us.

Your call.