Why you shouldn’t buy the Nintendo Switch LITE

When I first started writing for Stoffel I was told in no uncertain terms that I could write honestly and objectively, I continue to do so now.  I am very much convinced that the gaming industry is broken and that gamers “fanboyism” is the biggest current threat. 

Some time ago before I started writing again I wrote a piece entitled 10 reasons why you shouldn’t buy a PS classic.  I was targeted with various hate because of it and in subsequent months as the reviews came in and the cost fell I was right and now I hope to be able to do the same again.  

If I can help 1 person be OBJECTIVE before purchase and not buy into some marketing crap I will. So without further ramblings here is why you should not purchase the Nintendo switch LITE (in my opinion)…

The Nintendo switch lite was announced was officially announced on the 10th of July to worldwide appeal.  Even I was licking my lips in favour of this entry-level switch, considering going back to the Mariokart and Pokemon of my yesteryear when instead of college work we were playing pokemon red instead of studying (but there is a story for another time). 

It appealed to me massively not having enough disposable income to fork out the £250+ of the standard switch this was certainly looking to be for me who after a number of years was considering dipping back into the handheld market and I was genuinely excited.

LITE is a word in gaming I love.  Playing Pro Evo LITE or Final Fantasy Dissidia LITE it allowed me to play some of the titles before committing to purchasing the full title or even buying half a title.  If we take Urban dictionaries definition: LITE

A scaled-down version of a software product, offering only a limited set of features, often free, otherwise much cheaper than the full product.

This is often used as a way of getting buyers who are interested to pay for the full product when they wish to use the features that the lite version does not support.

Sometimes there is a lite version of a product that even has a free version with more features, but not everybody requires these features.

So my excitement was short-lived when I was horrified to discover that the Nintendo Switch LITE was on preorder at GAME for £199.99.  Whereas the current Nintendo Switch is on sale at £279.99 a difference of only *£80  at least it would be except the standard switch includes £30 Eshop credit…This means the Nintendo Switch LITE is only £50 cheaper. 

Ok so there’s a £50 difference, what does it give us? here’s a side by side comparison table so we can discuss the rest objectively….

So from top to bottom; it will be lighter…not significantly if we play with a standard switch with joy-cons attached then the difference is about 120g, a share bar of chocolate you might say, hardly a wrist breaking save. 

The screen is smaller this can be a blessing on some titles and troublesome on others but for now, let us give it the benefit of the doubt on that.  Ram, Processor & storage are all the same. 

No output to TV on the switch LITE and I can not think of one positive for this (maybe it’s fewer places for dust to creep and I’m genuinely looking for positives here) and no USB ports except for the charging port. 

Battery life is one that I’ve had a discussion on but essentially the LITE does have a SMALLER battery than the standard old model but will utilize it more effectively giving it 30mins (based on current estimates) more time than that of a current standard switch.

However, that is defunct soon as the newer model switch that is coming to the market will give 2hours more playtime than that of the switch LITE, so really it loses its grace there and none removable joy cons. 

So for a saving of £50 (counting Credit) you get a handheld console that does not play on TV, is lighter, lasts 30mins more at least for now. Sadly I am still not done.

The Nintendo switch Lite supports tabletop mode but in order to play this, you will need additional joy-cons, a stand, and a joy-con charger.  Titles such as Nintendo LABO, Super Mario Party, 1 2 Switch, Just dance, Fitness boxing, go vacation and others will NOT be playable without additional joy-cons. 

This means that to play these titles we need to reach into our wallet again, but let’s try and be positive here and give underestimates on what costs these are. 

Forgo a real stand and use a homemade mini tepee so that puts nothing on the cost £0.  Then we will use our phone chargers to charge the additional joy-cons so that also costs us £0.  Then the joy-cons themselves?  Let us price them at £30.  Meaning a Switch lite to play Mario Party with extra Joy-cons is £20 less than that of a standard switch.

So we could buy A standard Switch (£279.99) and use the £30 Eshop credit with an extra £10 and buy Mario Party(£40) for £289.99.  Or we could buy a Switch LITE (£199.99), Mario Party (£40), Additional Joy-Cons(£30) and an actual stand (£10)for £279.99.

In conclusion, I can only read this as a money spin by Nintendo.  Because the entry-level price on this lite console is far too high for a LITE variant unless you are going to deliberately exclude yourself from some titles. 

It’s all down to personal choice naturally but I truly can’t see any reason why you would not save the extra £80 to get the standard version…or wait even longer and get the soon to be upgraded version with the hyped-up battery. 

I am going to pass because putting LITE on something when it is not actually what I believe LITE is. This a business model move aimed purely at extracting money from the already put upon gamer, or the parents that do not have a clue.

Thank you for taking the time to read as usual hit me up in all of the usual haunts to argue or disagree with me. Please note the disclaimer below before you do 🙂

Disclaimer: GAME was used as the base for price comparison due to its popularity within the UK as one of the biggest retailers within the UK and offering bundle deals on the comparison.  Stoffel Presents recognizes that there are other fantastic retailers in the UK and prices may fluctuate slightly according to the retailer.  All images are used in accordance with fair use policy and no copyright infringement has occurred to the best of our knowledge. All prices were correct at the time of going to print.  Further information on research is available per request.

JW

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