Caring for your Nintendo Switch out in the wild

My girlfriend and I put our Switch on layaway last night (along with Puyo Puyo Tetris and Cave Story+), so this thread is very useful for the personal recs on screen protectors, cases, and memory cards. I was fully prepared to go for a 32GB card because it’s cheap and we plan on primarily getting physical copies of stuff when possible, but $37 for 128GB sounds pretty good for future-proofing, especially if good sales or Switch Humble Bundles like the 3DS/Wii U bundles of the past come our way.

Hello my twin interest friend! (Fist bump) :)

Yes, Mario + Rabbids is the one Nintendo $60 property that I have really enjoyed. For me, eShop is where it’s at. Has Been Heroes, Ironcast, NeroVoider, Steam World Dig, etc are all so good and so good on a hybrid device like the Switch. Battle Chasers, Hollow Knight, and Darkest Dungeon (as a double dip) can’t come soon enough!

I debated buying one for a long time because I was afraid it would be like the Vita was for me, something I liked well enough but didn’t go out of my way to play. I can safely say that’s not the case after using it for a week.

What a great piece of hardware. Feels solid. Great screen. I really like the joycon flexibility (I’ve mostly been playing with them split). The ability to go from handheld mode to docked and pick up right where I left off on the tv feels great. Perhaps best of all, the ease and speed of getting in and out of sleep mode is fantastic.

Minor quibbles:

I did have some trouble with joycon desync last night while playing Zelda, but I hadn’t had that before and have played a lot over the last week, so hope it isn’t an ongoing concern.

Thumbstick on left joycon is being a bit squeaky when pushing upward.

I wish the system were a couple of millimeters thinner so I could use it with my tablift stand.

The e-shop functionality is incredibly barebones. Not sure why Nintendo can’t figure that out. They did add a tab for sale items, which is a nice addition. How about one for game demos? How about being able to choose the genre I want to see without having to go into the search menu?

Dock should have an Ethernet port (I would happily pay 100 bucks more for a pro version with this, a thinner design, and gorilla glass)

It’s a lovely toy; for some reason I really love the feedback sound and rumble from the joy-cons when you slide one back onto the unit. And all the little noises it makes. Nice

I was looking at a lot of cool tablet and phone stands that are all much nicer than Switch stands. However the Switch runs hot on some games and it has two vents on the back that are blocked by every stand not a specific Switch stand that I have seen. As more folks figure this out, I expect to see some cooler (no pun intended) stands come to market.

The stand/case thing Cathcart linked above seems cool. I was looking at something similar at Target the other day. There are a lot of interesting cases and peripherals there to look through.

I’ve been using this (it’s my iPad travel stand), which I think probably leaves enough of the vents open to not be too concerned.

https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Playstand-Multi-Angle-Accessories-Universal/dp/B01LXP8Q29/

But you make a good point. I hadn’t realized it had vents there. If it did fit in the tablift slots, those vents would be blocked

You must have matching joy-con straps. It’s required… by law.

I also had to have 4 different colored joy-cons, because 3 kids.

I finally installed this a couple weeks ago. I think it’s worth it and wish I had put it on sooner. It can be difficult to avoid air bubbles as with any screen protection. I saw where it’s suggested to install it in the bathroom after running water. Knocks down any dust particulates in the air with the moisture. Who knew?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N3ASPNV/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also if you own a switch and you don’t own this I am very disappointed in you as a person.

https://www.amazon.com/Puppy-Mouth-Sticker-Nintendo-Switch/dp/B06XSTC1JH

Ha! Those are great. I’ve never thought it looked like a face (too lopsided, and I can’t see really see it even after it’s been pointed out to me), but the grips/ears make it work.

The one thing I wish someone had told me before I unboxed the switch:

Put your damn SD memory card in first!

I ended up downloading games and updates to the built-in memory (only 26GB to work with) and had to “archive” all of them and redownload them once the 128GB SD memory card was inserted… because there’s no way to move games from internal to external storage. Archive (effectively delete everything but savegames) and re-download is the only way.

$5.50 for a tiny sticker? Damn.

People use those things?

Ha, I did the same thing.

That Amazon listing is great though, on account of the last image, which I won’t spoil.

Hmm… I still need to get an SD memory card. What’s the best bang for the buck these days?

Amazon has wirecutters pick for 128 GB micro SD for $45, which is about right.

Saw this bag in Amazon’s Cyber Monday deals. Looks like a great option if you want to be able to take the whole thing with you. I’m tempted…

https://www.amazon.com/PowerA-Switch-Everywhere-Messenger-Bag-nintendo/dp/B01N22YAIP/ref=lp_17451079011_1_9?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1511798072&sr=1-9

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XP2NMYY/

In case anyone is interested, I picked up this mount and I’m happy to report it is quite nice. Pricey, but seems well made. The clamp is spring-loaded and has a little too much force to easily pop the Switch in and out, but I assume that will relax a bit with use and better a hair too much than for it to not be secure. This is actually quite versatile. I’m not using it in the car at all, but have it attached to one of the legs of my tablet stand, so I can now use the Switch standing up, like I do with my iPad most of the time.