I am trying to choose between buying a Nintendo Switch or a Nintendo DS.
This may not be the perfect community to ask - but I can't think of any better place.
The reason for my question: I don't want to own obsolete hardware in 10 years. Lately most games seem to depend on a "phone home" feature, which is not really an issue for my pc because it is always connected, but a console is something I want to play always and everywhere.
I already did some searching and found that games can be played offline fine (most of them, some exceptions are there like Multiplayer and Mortal Kombat), but:
- There is something like the paid Nintendo Online Account. I am not planning on having a paid account. How much of the system depends on the account?
- Can I have progression in a game (let's say: one of the Zelda franchise) and will my Wife and Kids all have their own progression, without having to pay for X accounts?
- People who own a Switch, let's take this to extremes, do you feel like in 20 years from now you can still do the same things on your hardware as you can do now? (No multiplayer is fine)
Also, feel free to rant about "paying is not owning", the state of the gaming industry is horrible.
edit: Thank you all for the comments! I don't post a lot, so it was kinda overwhelming :)
For clarity:
- I meant I want to "buy for life" (not really "life", but, if the hardware survives you can play on pre-internet consoles forever - you can even buy more games if you can find them)
- I want to buy a physical copy of the games, not download them
I've decided to go with the Nintendo DS for now (I have a DSi - this week I bought a couple of games, 2nd hand). Reasons:
- I already had it
- Joycons on switch. Multiple people mentioned having problems with them. I don't count on being able to buy them new in 10 years, meaning they will have to last.
Again: thank you all for the useful input!
i still use my super nintendo to play original secret of mana and link to the past, so i don't see why not.
Your SNES doesn't phone home to Nintendo servers.
true but even if you buy physical copies of switch games that shouldn't matter right? (genuine question)
I wouldn't take this for granted. Even if it is true today (I have no idea, I don't own a switch, and wouldn't be surprised if it requires even physical media to authenticate), Nintendo could alter the deal with an update.
If Nintendo breaks physical games I paid for that don’t require online functionality for core gameplay features I would just sail the high seas.
I didn’t rent my game from you, Nintendo.
100% agreed, but it is in the realm of possibility that they would do this. It's somewhat smug of me, but honestly I have never been so happy as during the past few years not to be a gamer. Y'all have to deal with mountains of bullshit.
Owner of multiple switches, from my experience, you can crack open the box, not connect it to shit, and pop in a game cartridge. Hell, you can even update the system and games without an internet connection so long as you have a switch that's gotten those updates already.
Practically? You're probably fine.
Technically? The shtick about buying a license to a game, not a game, still applies to physical media. They couldn't do anything about it in snes days and probably won't without reason now, but they could.
The SNES also doesn't require active cooling. The stress on the components is none existent. It also doesn't have an integrated display, battery etc. And let's be honest, pretty much anything from 20-30 years ago was built way more robust than the finicky stuff you get nowadays.