I have a Switch but have bought maybe 3 games for it tops. Where Steam has user reviews, a super simple refund policy, and frequent deep discounts, Nintendo’s purchasing experience is clearly lacking in a customer-friendly approach.
Anyone asking for recommendations for their next gaming device, it’s Steam Deck every time.
And Nintendo insists on never discounting certain games. It’s hard to swallow paying $60 for a 5 year old game that I’m only somewhat interested in. Meanwhile steam will let you buy a game like that for $15 bucks. Half the time you buy it and never play it, but just wanted to get it on sale just in case you do find time to give it a go.
Plus most people will already a pretty stacked library day 1 when they get a steam deck. I wouldn’t have to buy another game for years or even a decade if I were to get a steam deck just based on what I still have on my backlog.
And if I buy a game for the steam deck I can still play it on my pc whenever
Super Mario Run on iOS is 4+ years old and still $9.99 to unlock all of the worlds.
No thanks, Nintendo. Learn from Steam and have some sales.
In my region, a full price switch game costs over $90 including taxes. A measly SIX games would cost more than a steam deck.
Steam Deck plays the games I bought in 2008. That’s a 15 year old library.
Where all my old Xbox/ps games just sit there.
it also plays Nintendo games too
Don’t forget a more user friendly digital download SHARING system as well… We tried “SHARING” a digital download switch game a few times… Steam is far more forgiving. Switch wins on swapping carts however, if you stick to physical purchases for sharing.
Switch has Zelda. It’s the only reason we own a switch and the only game we play on it
Except you can play that same Zelda game on a Steam Deck 60fps with no frame drops, I never play my Switch anymore now that I have my Switch library on my Steam Deck
Ok, so ignoring the legality of emulating switch games (it’s not exactly simple to dump a switch game without owning your own switch), are you seriously going to claim that someone who wants to play Zelda and Mario legally should get a deck? I own both, I love the steam deck, it doesn’t play switch games 60fps, no fuss, it plays an emulated version of cemu breath of the wild at 60 fps and I would tell anyone who wants to play Nintendo games to get a Nintendo console. Heck, PC games which are verified on deck aren’t always great to play on the hardware, especially older games that weren’t made in mind for consoles. The second thing I bring up is how freaking large the steam deck and other pc handhelds are versus something like the switch. If you’re on a couch or hotel room, no big deal, but on the train? In a coach seat on a plane? That size does matter. I pretty much the deck the same places I’d bring a laptop, while the switch is much more a portable bring anywhere type toy. Regardless, this isn’t a battle, I own a console too (gaming pc’s in my opinion are dying out due to cost and lack of exclusives), but buy a steam deck because you want to play pc games, not because you want to play other consoles games - unless you’re someone with the inclination to want to tweak and configure emulators.
Yeah. Nintendo’s lack of refund policies is why I made the switch to SteamDeck.
It’s a computer, so yes. There are more computer games than switch games.
There are more playable/verified games on the Steam Deck than there are switch games.
Both are computers.
One is PC game compatible Linux
The switch runs on a chip that’s used in Android TVs and really old tablets. It could theoretically run way more if Nintendo weren’t so difficult.
The Switch can dual (tri?) boot Linux and Android beside itself
That’s really cool I didn’t know that, thank you
It’s not something they want you to do
Yeah, so is my phone. You know what I mean
The SD had the Switch’s entire library the day it came out, no fucking shit it has thousands more games from the day it came out even ignoring that
How does a deck perform for Steam games though?
Edit - oh fuck me, I was sleepy - I meant Switch games.
Really good! However, battery management is indeed a thing.
Graphically demanding games, such as Phoenix Point, run well but drain battery fast.
Other games that look good, but somehow aren’t as demanding, last much longer.
Battery lasts the longest, of course, with 2D games.
Anyway, here’s my experience with the Steam Deck (not OLED):
- Phoenix Point lasts just 2 hours.
- Civ 6 lasts about 3 hours, more on smaller maps with less NPCs.
- Emulated Breath of the Wild lasts for 4 to 5 hours.
- Hollow Knight nearly 7 hours.
I’m so sorry, I was sleepy when typing out my question. I meant to ask how well it ran Switch games! But thank you for this, I have recently ordered mine and I’ll keep this in mind!
Also have you tried any other games apart from BotW?
Yes I have.
-
Mario Wonder runs pretty bad. Frequent stuttering and microfreezing. I’m pretty sure that’ll be fixed in Yuzu at some point but right now it’s “meh”.
-
Rayman Legends Definitive Edition runs perfectly. Absolutely flawless. Also very kind on the battery life, lasting nearly as long as Hollow Knight.
-
Mariokart 8 Delux runs really smooth as well. Haven’t encountered any real issues, but it’s more demanding on battery life, so expect it to last around like Breath of the Wild.
-
Are you using the switch (Yuzu) or Wii U (cemu) version of BOTW? Wondering if I should make the “switch”
Yuzu, but I’ve been told that the Wii U version would’ve been a better option.
Any x86 handheld console always has more games than the Switch including the Switch games
Especially given the fact that Switch emulation is running full speed on x86. So it is literally impossible for the Switch to ever have more games than Steam Deck.
Including *cough* switch games *cough*
The Switch has worse specs than most phones these days, literally a phone is better. And don’t get me started on the eShop, it’s so bad.
I bought a switch just to play with some simple games with my nephew. The last time i had anything to do with nintendo was the gamecube, and that was more of a joke purchase, but i still liked the quirkyness of it a lot.
It has some cool features, like the controllers are fun (fun, not good) but holy hell, the e-shop… Also i was kinda shocked that they want full price for mario kart, a game from 2014! And the dlc is absolutely predetory. I asked in a Nintendo sub about that and if that is normal for nintendo games, because i genuinely didn’t know. And i caught so much shit for that. People told me that the game is just worth that much becase all the maps and stuff. And the dlc is cheap enough and yada yada. I even felt bad because they all called me a troll who only wants to stirr some shit up.
The other day i was listening to the jimqisition podcast and she talked about marvel’s midnight suns and she absolutely loved the game, except that they put dlc costumes right next to your normal costumes to kinda trick you into buying pixel clothing, and that it’s so gross that she wouldn’t even recommend the game. Nintendo does exactly that, but in a game for children, but still they are somehow the wholesome vidio game company, with one of the most toxic fanboys i have ever seen. The console has trouble running disco Elysium for fucks sake. I absolutely regret giving them money, and that was right before other waaaaay better handheld consoles hit the market.Nintendo (adult) fanboys are so bad. It reminds me of Xbox/PS fanboys a decade ago, only that seems to have thankfully shrunk in prominence because I assume most have grown up. Whereas Nintendo’s has only seemed to grow.
Criticism of any Nintendo game is met with some serious wrath in Nintendo communities. Especially if it’s Zelda.
I like a decent bit of Nintendo stuff. Donkey Kong, Metroid, whatever are fine.
But they’re 2D platformers that aren’t notably better than at least dozens of others that are $20-30 full price and get discounts close to Nintendo’s in terms of dollars off. Ignoring dark vs not, Mario Wonder and Metroid Dread are charging the same as stuff like Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, BG3, etc that are massively larger in scope and investment. Until those things get discounted and Nintendo’s 2D games don’t.
The same people who scoff at filthy xbox peasants playing at less than 4K @240fps with maxed out graphics are the first to say “graphics aren’t that important” whenever I mention how long in the tooth the switch is.
Never understood why so many people supported the closing of eShop for 3DS, I get the feeling all Nintendo consoles are on a timer at this point. Never had the same feeling with the Deck, which can be easily modified to not be chained to the Steam storefront regardless. You’d have to jailbreak Nintendo consoles to gain any semblance of independent functionality, possibly bricking the darn thing in the process.
Owned both 3DS and Switch to play Pokemon, but I sure as hell ain’t getting whatever’s next.
It always did. 🔫
In a bad way because some are scams and others are so inappropriate that I could get banned in this group for talking about it.
This statement is whack, you’re claiming that the deck, which functions as a glorified handheld laptop, only has more games than a Nintendo handheld because of… scams and inappropriate methods??? Couldn’t be that PC games have existed since 1970s, right?
The ‘steam deck verified’ list the article quotes barely scratches the surface of the amount of games which work, games outside of the steam store function flawlessly 75% of the time with another 15% after 10 minutes of tweaks.
Tell me how this isn’t Valve fault for promoting Trump’s and Alex jones game.
https://litter.catbox.moe/ld52do.png
The games are scams, the games promote nazi propaganda, Valve is corrupt.
Whoa Switch games + non-Switch games = more games than Switch??
steam deck can play switch games?
ohhh okay so its the same as xbox series x can play ps2 games lol
Not really. It’s considerably easier on the steam deck.
Nintendo has always had competition with superior hardware in the handheld department. The Sega Nomad, WonderSwan, and Playstation Vita were all good examples of that. Nintendo products being much cheaper are always what keeps them ahead with handheld consoles.
It doesn’t hurt that they also have a plethora of decent fist party franchises to put on their system. Other companies just get generic third party games that you can also play on PC
The biggest difference between then and now is that the switch was the first handheld that could reasonably play (some) full scale open world console games. Any handheld trying to compete before that effectively needed games specifically developed for it with limited scope. There wasn’t really the vibrant PC indie scene for easy ports to low spec hardware either, and the Switch was also the first to really court those.
These handheld PCs are pretty much the first time there’s competition with a big library to be a real alternative. Before now, it would have also taken partnering with studios to convince them to port games to your device.
Nintendo products always being much cheaper
Ehhhh define “much”
I’ve have a switch but steam deck is one of the best purchases I have ever made. It’s such a beautiful device. Not to mention you can change the internal storage and add expandable storage. The biggest advantage steam deck has is its community.
Storage expansion is great. I got a 2tb SSD form AliExpress for ~160CAD and put in a 1tb SD card. I can just install whatever I want and never worry about shaders or games using to much space.
but which platform has more shovelware to sift through? Using the Nintendo store feels like swimming through a literal shit hole that someone dumped a tiny bag of gemstones into.
And non of the games on Steam are Nintendo games. Sure you’d could use an emulator but the average mainstream casual gamer can’t be bothered to learn how to do that. And Nintendo is a much better known brand than Steam with the casual crowd. Nintendo is not really competing with Steam. Smart phones, which most people already have and the games are free, are a much bigger threat to Nintendo than the Steam Deck.
At this point, anyone with the tech knowledge to have purchased a steam deck can install and run emudeck in like 15 minutes. You just go over to desktop, download and install the single package, put roms in the correct folders, then run the program and everything is already sorted into collections with you can find in the game mode library.
Ok but hypothetically, where would someone go for switch roms?
Arrrr, but of course only from the switch games that you have legally purchased and dumped for archival reasons, you scallywag.
I only have a Switch and want a Steam Deck, I’m not gonna lie, emulation is one of the biggest selling points to me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you only want to emulate older consoles on-the-go, you can get a hackable switch on eBay for $150, or an Anbernic handheld for less.
I’ve got an anbernic RG351 and it runs everything from early N64 an older flawlessly, good battery life, decent screen and fairly good buttons, really good if you’re out and about because it’s nice and compact. I’ve also got a Steam Deck that does everything else and as a home console.
Even better just get a cheap smartphone and one of those controllers that snap on the back like the kishi or whatever. My very mid range phone runs anything up to 3DS smoothly.
Still only 24 hours in a day
My steam library is massive and I’ve got tons of games I’ll never play.
plus way more nintendo, super nintendo, genesis, and n64 games then you can get on switch online
