I can’t help it, I am super excited for the Nintendo Switch. I have high hopes for the system even though there are minimal games at launch. Before I jump into the standard games and controller list there are a few things to think about. My recommendations may not be the cheapest option, but are based on trusted brands and positive ratings.
If you haven’t caught up on my thoughts read through my earlier blog on my Nintendo Switch thoughts. Additionally, checkout our Merge Conflict episode:
Storage
Built into the Switch there is only 32GB storage capacity and a bunch of people are complaining about it, but whatever I say. It is NAN flash so the OS “should” be nice and fast compared to other system that just uses a standard hard drive for their OS. Additionally, you can expand the Switch with Micro SDXC which currently ship up to 256GB (currently real expensive), which is crazy. Now those are super expensive so I am picking up a 128GB to start with. Before I ran off to Amazon to pick up the cheapest model I did some research on speeds. Heading to the SD Association you will find this nice guide to the speed class. So you would think what we are looking for is a SDXC with UHS 3 as it has a minimum of 30 MB/s and wouldn’t want anything under that. However, after much research this is actually talking about the write speed and often the read speed (which is what will be happening most of the time) is much much greater and often the write is as well.
If I was going to focus on a UHS 3 there are a few good options:
- Sandisk Extreme $65: Write: 60MB/s - Read: 90MB/s
- Sandisk Extreme Plus $100: Write 90MB/s - Read 95MB/s
- Samsumg Pro Select $75: Write 90MB/s - Read 95MB/s
This means you will get the fastest speeds hands down… assuming the Switch will support speeds that high. Now, that is not to say that a UHS 1 or class 10 couldn’t be as good as UHS 3, but they are rated to have a “minimum” of 10 MB/s. If we compare a few of them we are at:
- Sandisk Ultra SC10 $40: Write: 30MB/s? - Read: 80MB/s
- Samsung Evo Select UHS1 $40: Write 20MB/s - Read 80MB/s
- SP Elite UHS1 $40: Write 20MB/s - Read 75MB/s
So in general you aim to save $25-40 to cut your write speed way down. My pick is the Samsumg Pro Select $75: Write 90MB/s - Read 95MB/s as it features the best storage and best writes.
Travel Case
At this point in time thre are only a few travel cases out there that look alright. I am really hoping that Water Field makes a Switch case as they are the best premium case I have run across. Until we find that out it looks like PDP has the Switch case on lock with some really nice designs for $15:
They also seem to be making a full backpack if wanted for $50, but that seems like overkill:
Charging
Those Joy-Con controllers aren’t going to charge themselves! My favorite by far has to be the “maybe” Gamestop exclusive charging dock as it seems to make the most sense.:
Perhaps you don’t want yet another thing to plug into the wall so you could simply grab additional Joy-Con charging grips that are not only awesome grips, but charge your Joy-Cons too.
Joy-Con
While there are tons of other accessories out there it is clear to me that everyone will need to atleast pick up another Joy-Con controller. This will get you up to two players or 4 if the game supports split controllers. Additionally, you can get them in a bunch of colors:
- Red
- Blue
- Gray
- Red and Blue: Kinda silly, but a mix and match
Now, if you are buying the colored ones, you will probably want matching Joy-Con straps, which will up charge you another $8 each! You can buy them in Blue and Red.
At this point there are more things I could list, but this is all I pre-ordered on Amazon to show up day one of my Switch playing. While this may seem like the ultimate affiliate link post (and yes I will make a tiny commission if you use my Amazon links), but I had a hard time researching SD cards and actually just tracking these things down on the amazon page, so hopefully this helps you out a bit.
