History of the Nintendo Switch: 2017
Handheld? Home console? History in the making
Can you believe the Nintendo Switch has been out for 7 years already? It feels like yesterday that I saw the reveal trailer and while I initially had mixed feelings after coming off the Wii U, I was hopeful since they showed Skyrim and a host of other third party games and for a brief moment I thought that Nintendo might get back to their Super Nintendo supremacy days - and the next 7 years proved that this was way more than a fleeting thought. The purpose of these articles is to look back at the Switch year by year and see what games did well, what the OS looked like over time, as well as seeing the evolution of Nintendo Directs and other things at the time. I want to create a kind of timeline that is easily followed so that we can see the evolution of this incredible console over time. The Switch grew to be one of my favorite consoles of all time, despite it's lower power in a time we were seeing advancements from Microsoft and Sony to really push graphical horsepower, however the Switch still came out with a lot of interesting game projects and third party offerings despite it's limitations.
To start with, the Nintendo Switch reveal came in October 2016 and I remember at the time not knowing how to take what I was being shown. It looked truly revolutionary with the ability to not only play it at home with the dock but also take it on the go with handheld mode. The Joy-cons looked like an interesting way to play game with the motion controls built into the Joy-cons and they really drove home the idea of the new HD-Rumble which will be mentioned a lot throughout this retrospective.
Starting at the beginning of the year there were two Nintendo Directs leading up to the release of the Nintendo Switch:
January 18th, 2017
Nintendo Direct - Fire Emblem (discusses Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia(Nintendo 3DS, Fire Emblem Warriors (Nintendo Switch) , and Fire Emblem Heroes (Mobile))
February 28th, 2017
Nindies Showcase - Reveal of some Indie titles coming to Nintendo Switch (Highlights include: SteamWorld Dig 2, Yooka-Laylee, Overcooked!, Shakedown: Hawaii, WarGroove, and Stardew Valley)
March 3rd, 2017
On this date, the Nintendo Switch was released. Some of the games that were released on this day were:
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Also available on Wii U)
While those were the marquee titles that were released to help show off the capabilities of the Switch, there were a few games that came out at this time to show other aspects:
Snipperclips
Super Bomberman R
I am Setsuna (Square Enix’s first release)
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
There was also a day one update that included:
Ver 2.0.0 Update
eShop access
Online Play
Friends Lists
News
Ability to claim My Nintendo Points
April 12th, 2017
Nintendo Direct - Highlights include: Ever Oasis (3DS), Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (3DS), ARMS (Switch), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch), Minecraft (Switch), Sonic Mania/Sonic Forces (Switch), Splatoon 2 (Switch)
April 28th, 2017
The biggest event for this month is the long awaited release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
May 12, 2017
Minecraft is released on the Nintendo Switch platform.
May 17th, 2017
Nintendo Direct - ARMS
June 6th, 2017
Pokemon Direct - Pokken Tournament DX on Nintendo Switch, Ultra Sun and Moon & Gold/Silver on 3DS
June 13th - June 15th, 2017
E3 was held
June 13th, 2017
Nintendo Spotlight E3 2017 - Highlights include: ARMS, Rocket League, Pokken Tournment DX, Splatoon 2, FIFA 18, Kirby Star Allies, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
June 16th, 2017
Arms is released to the Nintendo Switch.
June 19th, 2017
Ver 3.0.0 Update
Find Controllers Function
Change System Volume via Quick Menu
Controller Updates
July 6th, 2017
Nintendo Direct - Splatoon 2
July 21st, 2017
Splatoon 2 is released
August 15th, 2017
Sonic Mania is released
August 29th, 2017
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is released
August 30th, 2017
Nindies Showcase - Highlights include: Super Meat Boy Forever, Shovel Knight: King of Cards, Golf Story, and Travis Strikes Again
September 13th, 2017
Nintendo Direct - Highlights include: Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (3DS), Layton's Mystery Journey (3DS), Mario Party: The Top 100 (3DS), Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS), ATLUS RPGs (The Alliance Alive, Etrian Odyssey V, Strange Journey Redux, Radiant Historia) (3DS), Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Special Edition Version & Pro Controller (Switch), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Switch), DOOM & Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Switch), Dragon Quest Builders (Switch), Kirby Star Allies (Switch), and Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
September 22nd, 2017
Pokken Tournament DX is released
September 28th, 2017
The highly anticipated indie title, Golf Story is released
Picross S is released
October 5th, 2017
Stardew Valley is released
October 18th, 2017
Ver 4.0.0 Update
Video Capture
Preordering opens on eShop
Wii U GameCube Adapter Support
USB Headset Support
October 20th, 2017
Fire Emblem Warriors is released
October 24th, 2017
Mobile Direct - Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (Editor note: This is being discontinued on November 28th, 2024 - so this existed during the entire Switch life cycle)
October 27th, 2017
Super Mario Odyssey is released
November 7th, 2017
Sonic Forces is released and fails to reach the success of previously released Sonic Mania just two months earlier
Nintendo Direct - Xenoblade Chronicles 2
November 10th, 2017
Doom (2017) is released and begins ZeniMax’s partnership with Nintendo that continues to this day
November 17th, 2017
Bethesda releases the anticipated title Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
December 1st, 2017
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is released
December 15th, 2017
Romancing SaGa 2 is released - marking the first time that Square Enix has brought a previously Japanese only retro game to Western markets fully translated.
Final Tallies for 2017:
Total number of Western releases: 323
Total number of OS updates: 11
Total number of Nintendo Directs: 12
A lot happened the first year the Nintendo Switch was out that we take for granted. We can see in full display that third parties started giving the Switch and as time went on that would be more and more true as third parties start porting their games from other systems over en masse. We also see that the Nintendo 3DS wasn’t actually removed from the game at this point and so Nintendo kind of had two handheld systems working in tandem to provide two different styles of games to consumers at once before they eventually went all in on the Nintendo Switch as their main home and handheld console.
In 2018, we see a lot of huge releases as some of the biggest indie games get released, it’s also a huge year for retro titles on the Nintendo Switch and towards the end of the year we get quite possibly the biggest game to release on the platform - so stay tuned for part 2 as we examine the timeline for the Switch in 2018!