This iteration of the Switch also puts more effort into colour coordination, and comes in a variety of tasteful colours. Well, you can get Teal, Yellow, Grey, and soon Pokemon. Again, though, if you\u2019d rather be flexible with your style (I\u2019m of the opinion that very few colours besides black and very very very very very dark grey should ever be used in technology), you\u2019re gonna be locked in until Switch Lite skins become a thing. The Lite looks good, but it\u2019s static.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That goes beyond appearances too. The Nintendo Switch is so amazing because of the unparallelled flexibility that came with it. Changing colours of Joy-Cons, playing on the couch and frantically docking while it screams about low battery, or setting it up on a table for a game of Overcooked with your American buddy; all of these are hallmarks of the console. The Switch Lite allows for none of this. It\u2019s a handheld, an almost replacement for the 3DS, and while it\u2019s damn good at what it does, I want to stress that that is all it does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK look, I mean I’ve spent well over 500 hours with my Switch and I don’t think I’ve spent more than 20 of them with the Switch on TV mode (aside from a particularly intense Stardew Valley binge over a certain Christmas period). If you\u2019re the kind of person that sits on a couch and plays Switch, then this is probably going to be cool for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lite and Sound<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Switch Lite, at its heart, is still a Switch, and that thing is a glorious console. It\u2019s smaller, lighter, and the battery lasts notably longer. It’s still not as nice to hold as you would like, so dedicated Nintendo are to the pseudo-tablet thing, and I still think you might get carpal tunnel after a while, but it\u2019s definitely easier on the wrists than the original recipe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that you can\u2019t connect Bluetooth headphones makes even less sense now, as a purely portable console should have a simple way to connect to audio output, and we\u2019re all moving away from wires. You can always dongle something in to connect your headphones, like we\u2019ve been doing on the proper Switch, but it would have been nice to have this as a single package, ya know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just add Bluetooth headphone support, Nintendo. For real. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance-wise, I tested this out with Pok\u00e9mon, Fire Emblem, Breath of the Wild, DOOM, and Killer Queen Black. They all worked fine, except DOOM, which I still think feels really weird in handheld mode. Text was readable, and the graphics almost looked more crisp due to the smaller screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Lite Side<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As much as I love the Switch, the Lite just isn\u2019t for me. It doesn\u2019t offer enough wow-factor to justify having it alongside a proper Switch. But I know who it is for. If you have kids, you can hand this child and not feel like you’re having them a full on console. It feels more like a handheld game console than the Switch ever did\u2026 which I guess is the point. If you\u2019re Professor Moneybags the Fourth then I GUESS you could have this in addition to your main Switch, and swap save files when you\u2019re using it, but that sounds like a ton of effort for a fairly mediocre payoff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the issues with the original Switch are still here; native Bluetooth headphone support is bafflingly absent, and while it\u2019s marginally more ergonomic than the OG, it\u2019s still about as comfortable to hold for long periods of time as a toaster. Sure, there\u2019s a more efficient battery, a D-pad, and it\u2019s a fair bit cheaper, but that\u2019s sort of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third parties have solved most of these problems long ago. I\u2019ve got a Bluetooth adapter for my headphones, and my GripCase has made playing on the go feel like actual gaming. I\u2019ve got a mini dock and powerbank for travel, and even a little clip-on D-pad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lite in the Darkness<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This all sounds like I don’t like the Switch Lite; I do. I really do. But it just doesn’t compare for me. The Switch Lite is the 2DS to the Switch\u2019s 3DS XL. The core functionality is there, but if you\u2019ve got the better version, you don\u2019t need this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t have a Switch yet, are purely into the idea of portability and increased battery life, and don\u2019t ever (ever) want to play it on a bigger screen, the Switch Lite is for you. Like, seriously, go buy one now. But if you already own a Switch, there hasn\u2019t been enough of a change in the right direction to warrant replacing your OG Switch or adding to your collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So the Nintendo Switch Lite is pretty good, but I wouldn\u2019t take it home to meet the parents. OK, yeah, that\u2019s a weird thing to say. But I am actually travelling to see my parents in about a month, so it\u2019s almost relevant. They\u2019ve met (or bought) most of my handheld consoles over the last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Should you get a Nintendo Switch? Yes. Should you get a Nintendo Switch Lite? Maybe. Read Brian's review here.","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[225,215,207],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n