They are a personal device like a gameboy.
There is a TV version for party games.
The games may or may not be shareable, even with the physical games.
Assume the ideal usage is during screen time on a weekend.

I have been avoiding buying one as I don't understand them. Thinking of getting them soon.

I assume one OLED for the family and then a portable per person, then one copy of each game per device.

How is this affordable?

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[–] Aielman15@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Isn't it the same as with every other entertainment system? I grew up with a big brother and a little sister. We only had one PS1, later one X360. We could either play in co-op, or take turns. Sometimes my father would also play on the console, and we'd do something else in the meantime.

What's different about the Switch? It's an entertainment system. You insert the game, you play. I don't have one, but I'm pretty sure it allows for different accounts to be created and each have their own save file, so there's no need to buy multiple consoles/multiple copies of the same game. You can either play on the go, or hook it to the TV and play with the bigger screen. You are not forced to play party games just because you have a bigger screen, and you are not forced to treat it like a "personal device" just because you are playing on the smaller screen (I also despise the idea of "personal device" for kids: learning to share games is a very important lesson for kids).

[–] brap@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah you can have accounts on it but a little different to usual. You launch a game from the home screen then decide who is launching it. For the most part it's then separate games - however Animal Crossing has one main game then the other accounts on the device simply access the same island like playing multiplayer - but in turns. It's fucking weird.

[–] brsrklf@jlai.lu 3 points 1 week ago

Animal Crossing is a special case (and one that made a lot of people angry back when the game released).

One console is tied to one "island", which means all accounts on the same switch play in the same town. Each has got their own house and inventory, and can contribute to the island in some ways...

But only the main account, who started the save, is "resident representative", which means they're the only one who can build or relocate stuff, and who can start community projects needed for the island to progress.

So yeah, all other players have an inferior experience. Which is a bit of a baffling design for a family game such as this.

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