Such a weird article from Nintendo Life trying to defend the Switch 2 over the Steam Deck. And it’s so cringe.
First let’s talk about the contention that the Switch 2 has better value because it’s comes with a dock.
Look, I can hook my Steam Deck up to my TV using a USB-C to HDMI adapter and use the Steam Deck itself as a controller. As for a dock itself, sure the official Steam Deck Docking Station costs C$109. However, I can buy a 3rd party docking station off Amazon for C$40. So that’s not much of an argument.
The Switch 2 has a bigger screen that runs at 1080P. That great. But the Steam Deck has an OLED panel which the Switch 2 does not.
In terms of performance, the Switch 2 probably has a better GPU. However, it lacks the Steam Deck’s CPU power. And it only has 12GB of RAM compared to the Steam Deck’s 16GB of RAM. Will games look better on Switch 2? Only if CPU and RAM don’t serve as bottlenecks.
The next thing: Switch 2 is supposedly better because a joy-con can act as a mouse. But they’re really grasping at straws here because I can use an actual Bluetooth mouse with the Steam Deck—one which is more ergonomic too. Oh, and unlike the Switch 2, I can also use a Bluetooth keyboard too with a Steam Deck.
Apparently, the Steam Deck’s touchpad so “too awkward” compared to the Switch 2’s mouse. But you don’t use a mouse in handheld mode—no one does. Touchpads, on the other hand, do work in handheld mode. And I find them much more suitable for FPS and RTS games than an analog joystick.
Now for the article’s final point: the Steam Deck can’t play Switch 2 games. This is actually the most legitimate point. However, it cuts both ways too. Switch 2 can’t play decades of PC games, all which are accessible on Steam Deck. And I should know because I’m able to run literally thousands of games on my Steam Deck—many which don’t even run on Windows anymore without lots of modding.
Can Switch 2 play F.E.A.R. without needing to jailbreak and emulate it? Nope—so in terms of game library, Steam Deck has the win.
But ultimately, this is a silly comparison because the Steam Deck is already three years old at the moment. Of course the Switch 2 will be able to do some things better than Steam Deck. It should—it’s the newer piece of hardware.
However, when the Steam Deck 2 comes out—probably next year—how will the Switch 2 compare? I don’t know, but it will likely have all the advantages that the Steam Deck still has but with giant generational leap in terms of performance.
Right now, if I wanted to, I could get a Lenovo Legion Go S. And it would be leagues better than a Switch 2. It has a AMD Ryzen Z2 Go APU, 32GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storage—which absolutely wrecks the Switch 2 in terms of raw performance.
But the reason I’m holding off is because I think the Steam Deck 2 will be even better.
This doesn’t even touch about many points that makes the Steam Deck just plain better. The games are cheaper. You don’t have to pay for online multiplayer. You have access to multiple storefronts like GOG or itch.io. You can use it as a PC in desktop mode. I can go on.
Now do I think the Switch 2 is totally lacking in value? No. If I had a young child, I’d probably get them a Switch 2 simply because it’s more kid friendly.
However, I’m a full grown man. As for my kid? She’s turning 12-years-old in a few weeks so I think she’ll do just fine with a Steam Deck.
I literally purchased Rog Ally X as a response to how shitty switch 2 felt. I then installed Bazzite os on it.
I feel like all these “Switch 2 is bad” articles are missing the point. I’m not gonna buy Switch 2 for its superior hardware. If I buy it, I’ll buy it for the next generation of Mario Kart, Zelda and Pokémon. You won’t get that on a Steam deck. I probably won’t, dough.
You certainly will get all that on a Steam Deck, if you give it a little time.
Maybe in the Deck 2 pal.
Even if/when Switch 2 emulation is possible, there’s not a chance in hell it could run on Deck hardware.
I’m not sure that’s true, if I understand correctly, Steam Deck has more RAM and a better CPU. It’d only be true for graphics card constrained games.
I don’t think you understand how emulation works
If You mean emulation, you’re probably right. But giving it time is also a point. What if I don’t want to wait?
When is the video game community going to understand there’s no such thing as “better”. The whole “this vs that” or “us vs them” just needs to stop.
I mean, I also never take a gaming article seriously if it has the word “obliterate” in it.
Yes, we all know handhelds peaked with the DS (I am totally biased).
Before Steam Deck maybe.
Nothing beats the DS Lite’s 15 hour battery life
Outstanding even in today’s days!
Based*
Biased, but absolutely right.
Valve is definitely a more ethical company but all the console crusading also gets tiresome
Honestly, with the Presentation of Switch 2, i guess they will again have a unsuccessful Generation (Like Wii U, N64 etc) of console ahead of them. That is why i Sold some of my Nintendo Stocks now while the hypetrain is still going. From my Point of View, the Controller-Mouse is a Gimmick at best - i want to Play a Handheld while on the move, Not by sitting at a desk. Not including a Touchpad is a failure. The price Point of both the Games and the console are the other Thing - Sure for the young Generation the usability of a Switch 2 IS good - but all other successful consoles of Nintendo were compelling to other chunks of dthe democraphic too, thats what made them successful - Nintendo DS was popular among students, Wii with families and elderly, NES with everyone below 30. And those demographics certainly care about price,and the Steam BigPicture UI is as good as the the Switch one.
If on the other Hand valve will Take some of the Features of Switch/Switch 2 to Heart with their next SteamDeck Generation i think, it will be widely successful (at least as Long as Gabe will stay with US and No enshittification Happens). Like the detachable Controllers on a SteamDeck2 with integrated Mouse functionality would Work really Well - because, and that is the deciding usability Factor Here - SteamDeck can also bei used as a Workstation. The Switch 2 can’t, so the utility of a Mouse is much larger for a SteamDeck.
About that RAM argument, Steam includes Chromium that can consume up to 1.5 or even 2 GB for some people depending on circumstances (I checked myself when I had the Deck, it used 1.5 in desktop mode). I assume the OS on Switch is much more optimized. I wish Valve switched to something else, something more native.
you can install whatever browser you want though? on the swith I have never even thought of browsing the internet even if it had a usable browser
Chromium as CFE I mean, not the browser. It consumes RAM and even CPU at all times, and Steam doesn’t work without it.
Not relying on CFE should been considered even more critical for handheld devices, as switching to more native solutions will save the battery time.
They are talking about the browser the steam client itself uses
The bigger trend is that enshitification of consoles have made steam a juggernaut.
$80 a game is a non starter for most people. Switch was a golden goose that revolutionized mobile handheld gaming. It was like a gameboy reboot. I doubt Switch 2 gets even close to half of the success
Nintendo life is just being a bit insecure due to constantly hearing about it being deck measuring contest.
They want a review unit / codes from Nintendo
They can play by play all the they want but at the end of the day. I can play games I brought back in 1997 on my steam deck they can barely handle going back one generation to the switch and have to use emulation and a subscription service for a handful of their older systems.
I went from CD of star fleet academy i had in a storage box to a SD card to the steam deck. Installed and running the longest part was setting the key binds in steam input.
They can play by play all the they want but at the end of the day. I can play games I brought back in 1997 on my steam deck they can barely handle going back one generation to the switch and have to use emulation and a subscription service for a handful of their older systems.
I get your point, but to be honest Nintendo couldn’t care less about making it easy or cheap for us to play 1997, it doesn’t happen now, and I don’t think it will ever happen, the only reason why they gave some efforts to make Switch 1 games retrocompatible I think is because it would be riots if they didn’t lol.
It is a good argument, but companies don’t care about this, which is sad.
I mean they don’t make it very hard to play their first party Games. Just pay the online free. The main issue is that not all of those games from 1997 are their games. They are just made for their system.
Well one does and it’s valve and they make a lot of money by selling those games at good prices.
You know what has been great? Being on a vacation and bringing my steam deck and playing tears of the kingdom off of it with better performance than the original switch had. I paid for it and ripped it myself because I still believed it was the right thing to do, but with Nintendo’s increased focus year after year against emulation enthusiasts like we’re fucking criminals, I’m gonna give them something to bitch about. I’m never paying another dime to Nintendo for as long as I live, and that is coming from someone who grew up with a super Nintendo and an N64. Fuck yourself Nintendo. Yo ho and a bottle of get fucked.
How many FPS and resolution do you get with TOTK in the Steam Deck?
How about the battery life while emulating it?
I usually keep it limited at 40 fps for battery and it doesn’t have any trouble there. Tbh haven’t tried for anymore than that but based on the stability I’d guess I could bump it up. Battery life at native resolution tends to be pretty decent; anecdotally I ran down about 35% in a 2 hour flight a couple days ago. My deck’s battery ain’t what it used to be though; I signed up for the presale on the first day the deck was announced.
That’s better FPS than the 15-30(max) it gets on the switch.
I borrowed BotW when it came out for a day and gave it back, then emulated it on my computer at 120FPS… I refused to pay for something that performs so poorly if I have a better option hahaha
Yea I got TOTK and played it for a day on my switch and the aliasing on the trees as I was running around was so awful and distracting that I started setting up emulation on my PC. I don’t run it at 120 but I have played it at 4k/60fps on my living room TV via my gaming PC and it looks absolutely stunning that way. Every time I start it up I’m almost pissed that most people won’t experience Zelda that way. That’s most of the reason I don’t push the performance when emulating on my deck; I’ve got the PC already for the hi fidelity experience.
That’s better FPS than the 15-30(max) it gets on the switch.
That is why the best way to play the Zelda games in original hardware is with a Switch hacked and overclocked, I get close to 60 FPS in many areas (60 in closed areas) and even 40 is a big improvement over 30 lol.
If I had a beefy PC I’d definitely check them out at 120 FPS though.
I won’t lie, I have a mega beefy computer and TotK caps out at 60fps so if you can hit close to that on a switch, that’s dope! Since BotW is on WiiU, that’s much easier to emulate!
Oh, so it does get more than 40 FPS while emulating it on the Deck, that is good to hear, I do get higher FPS (closer to 60 FPS) in my original Switch 1 overclocked in BOTW (I heard it is not very different with TOTK), and I don’t get to do the quirks and workarounds that comes with emulation (I do it with the hack itself lol) because well, the game runs natively.
The battery backup you get is definitely better than mine undocked though (although when I do this I play docked), so it is good to hear Switch 1 games aren’t that demanding then.
Lol I didn’t bother setting up citron on my deck literally this week because I looked at a couple of videos online and the FPS seemed sub par. I’d no idea the original switch was worse 😂 does this hold true across the board? It might save me setting up some kind of sunshine/moonlight contraption for a bit.
The main draw of Switch 2 is Nintendo software. That’s about the end of the discussion for me that makes me need one. Nintendo has always made my favorite games since I started playing in 1988. They still make many of my favorite games today.
I was mad at the pricing at first but then I put it in perspective. I really only buy 3-4 retail games per year on the Switch, and at $10-20 more each, that’s $30-80 more per year at most. Not a happy thing but it is what it is. That’s literally one night out with friends having drinks and food.
Still going to love my Steam Deck and still going to play plenty of games on it too… likely more than Switch 2 because of Steam deals and the fact that I trust Valve more with my digital library than Nintendo honestly. They’ve never let me down whereas Nintendo has.
The high price for first Party Nintendo exclude games doest matter that much even. I buy the physical versions and the have good resale value.
But it’s impossible for a human on the internet to like more than 1 thing at a time!
Steam Deck’s touchpad so “too awkward”…
The Steam Deck touchpads are literally the ONLY modern touchpads I like. Every other mother touchpad is absolutely atrocious because they don’t give you anything like a vibration to tell you your mouse is moving and you actually get some level of confirmation you clicked. It feels like every other touchpad out there now, I swear, requires you to attempt to click on the left/right mouse button (completely integrated into the touchpad) about a billion times before it registers that you clicked once.
Also, if the joycons for switch 2 are anywhere near as uncomfortable to hold for extended periods of time like they are for me with regular switch, I guarantee my hand would start hurting after a couple minutes of the, probably gonna be as responsive as a dead man to a cannonball to the face, mouse mode. The premise of turning what could be one of the worst controller designs I’ve ever seen into a mouse makes my hands bleed in pain without having to ever hold one.
Yeah that’s crazy, the touchpads on the Steam Deck are really good…
Switch 2 can’t play decades of PC games, all which are accessible on Switch.
I think you meant “which are accessible on Steam Deck”
You very politely missed the #1 point… I can already play every single nintendo game I’ve ever bought on my steamdeck. Right now. With no subscription, just simply uploading from my GBA/DS/3DS/Switch to my Steamdeck… Nintendo for reasons completely lost to me refuses to allow that. Like, wth are they even doing over there to not have solved that issue day 1 on the switch.
With no subscription, just simply uploading from my GBA/DS/3DS/Switch to my Steamdeck… Nintendo for reasons completely lost to me refuses to allow that. Like, wth are they even doing over there to not have solved that issue day 1 on the switch.
Are you honestly asking why Nintendo doesn’t allow you to simply bypass purchasing their console? Really? Why do you think?
Ofc not, I’m asking why they didn’t just release a collection like Sega did, or like Nintendo has done in the past.
Releasing a “classics” collection in the first few months of the switch would have been such an easy move.Though, contextually (and more importantly), pointing out that the switch 2 doesn’t just have to compete against a similar device with a mammoth array of games… but one with all of nintendo’s games, too.
Can you play online with your friends?
It varies from game to game, as you’d expect. I can play pokemon multi-player without requiring a link cable, for example, but I can’t speak to other games I haven’t played much (like smash brothers or mariokart). If you mean games in general on the steamdeck, I find gog games and randos like Doom and Diablo multiplayer works just fine.
The trade-off of losing online features when emulating Nintendo games has never really felt that bad mostly because Nintendo’s online capabilities have always been total ass.
Nintendo’s online capabilities have always been total ass.
I hope this sentiment changes with Mario Kart World… I mean, I wouldn’t still pay for NSO anyway, but they should really focus in improving this.
Nintendo for reasons completely lost to me refuses to allow that.
Because consoles are a net loss in terms of R&D, production, shipping, warranty claims for when they almost always fucked something on the first or second version, etc etc etc. Locking people into the platform means you make all your money on game sales, even 3rd party, indie, and asset flip shovelware makes Nintendo money. It’s the “Walled Garden” method, Apple is shit hot at this. They make an everloving fuck tonne of money from their app store. Even free apps have to pay to have the app hosted on the store servers, and in app purchases are subject to a percentage cut for Apple.
The fact that having digital backups of games/music/media you have purchased is perfectly legal in more than a couple countries, as is emulating, is a thorn in these sociopathic cancers of megacorpic greed’s paw. That’s why Ubisoft is pushing for widespread legal acknowledgement of “game purchases are actually just paying to be granted a revokable for any reason or no reason at all licence.” That’s (partly) why Nintendo is so very aggressive in their litigation of anyone who attempts to make a highly functioning emulator for one of their systems, often with games running better with higher resolution and more options for QoL things. Because instead of trying to sell to as many different systems as possible, they want literally all the money, and they refuse the idea that the little money sacks who buy their shit might actually be legally allowed to run back up copies of their purchases on hardware that wasn’t sold by them. Refuse the idea that the money sacks have rights or deserve to pay for something and actually own it.
You will own nothing, and you will be happy.
You will own nothing, and you will be happy.
I can imagine a dystopian future, where only few hardcopies/offline copies of literature survive. All art/media is only available on the cloud, which is constantly changed as per the agenda of the day. All communication has to go through the cloud for authenticated. The police state is constantly scanning people if they have any sort of external storage device. USB ports are banned from being manufactured. Radio is banned. Few people, the rebels, hoard the last bit of art and music in the form of LPs/cassettes,/canvas but it’s shared among people like contraband.
This can be an awesome movie :P
Yeah… that’s… depressingly accurate for the way things are going.
Hey, hey? Hey.
Two things can be good at the same time.
Stop it.
Unless you’re ten and in a backyard and you can’t get the other thing because you haven’t mowed enough lawns or whatever and your frontal lobe is too squishy to cope with the FOMO.
But if you’re “a grown man”? Stop it.
If you believe the average person can afford both a Steam Deck and a Switch 2, you’re a person with profound financial privilege who’s missing the point.
That’s not what that says.
It says “if you can’t get the other thing (…) AND your frontal lobe is too squishy to cope with the FOMO”.
I’m not saying you need to buy both, I’m saying if you’re an adult you can live with a cool thing existing and you not needing to have it immediately without resorting to taking sides based on marketing bullet points like a toddler.
Most people need to choose one or the other, so they should be cognizant of what provides the most value for them.
I happen to think Nintendo Life was misrepresenting the actual value of a Switch 2 over a Steam Deck.
If you’re an actual adult, you should appreciate that other adults often have to make financial decisions regarding what they will buy. Especially in this current economy.
Well, let me solve that for you right away.
You need neither of these things. Games and entertainment are not a priority if you’re in a “this current economy” type of situation.
If you already have one, that’s the right one for the money, probably.
Was Nintendo Life “misrepresenting the value of a Switch 2 over a Deck”? Myeeeeh, not sure. I’ll say I agree with their premise that "Steam Deck fans Seriously Underestimating the Switch 2. In somewhat petty, immature ways, as demonstrated very well here. Does the Steam Deck “obliterate the Switch 2”? Probably not, no. I’ll tell you for sure in the summer, I suppose. That said, their listicle is brand shilling as much as this post is.
Are these two things different and have different sets of pros and cons? Yeah, for sure. It’s even a very interesting exercise to look at the weird-ass current handheld landscape, because it’s never been wider, more diverse or move overpopulated. The Switch 2 and the Deck will probably remain the two leading platforms until whatever Sony is considering materializes, but they’re far from alone, from dirt cheap Linux handhelds to ridiculously niche high end laptop-in-a-candybar Windows PCs.
If you want to have a fun thread about that I’m game, but fanboyism from grown men is a pet peeve of mine, and even if I didn’t find it infuriating I’d find it really boring.
For the record, between these two? Tied for price, Switch 2 will be a little more powerful and take advantage of specifically catered software from both first and third parties, has better default inputs, a better screen and support for physical games. Current Deck is flexible, hugely backwards compatible, can be upgraded to a decent OLED screen and has fewer built-in upsells.
And as a bonus round, Windows handhelds scale up to better performance than either, have better compatibility than the Deck and some superior screen and form factor alternatives… but are typically much more expensive and most (but not all) struggle with the Windows interface and lack hardware HDR support.
We good? Because that’s that’s the long and short of it.
Their words:
Those same Joy-Con can also be used for super-accurate, independent motion control, opening up far more possibilities than the Deck’s simple gyro. And in games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Civilization VII, plonking them down on a surface (or thigh!) turns each of them into a fully-functioning computer mouse, far less awkward and clunky than the Deck’s integrated touchpad.
The versatility, modularity, and ease-of-use of the Joy-Con is something that we’ve come to take for granted, but it’s really hard to beat. When they’re not drifting.
You:
The next thing: Switch 2 is supposedly better because a joy-con can act as a mouse.
If that was your whole takeaway from that paragraph, I don’t think you’ll ever see the appeal. Different strokes and all that.
