HARDWARE REVIEW: Nintendo Switch Lite (Hyrule Edition)
Nintendo has a rich, reliable and long history of selling off a bunch of excess plastic sitting around by way of “special edition” consoles. You’d see this much more frequently with the portables (endless iterations of the DS and 3DS in particular) and every so often with the home systems. Typically these essentially just repaints would hit store shelves during sales slumps or toward the end of a product’s life cycle. So it’s no surprise that as we near the Nintendo Switch’s 8th (!) birthday and have a successor looming on the horizon, it’s happened again. Only not with some fancy new System Dock or colorful Joy Cons, this time it’s a “Hyrule Edition” of the portable only Lite variant. Never could I have predicted the day where I’d be singing the praises of an in name only “Switch,” but here we are.
I love it.
So when the Lite line of Nintendo Switch systems hit the scene about 5 years ago I didn’t bat an eyelash at it. A portable only version!? What exactly was the point of a “switch” that doesn’t “switch” y’know? I suppose you could argue that this was a more ideal option with a lower price point for kid’s whose parents didn’t want them taking up all of the television time. Or to maybe just have as a second system in the house? Not sure. But it certainly wasn’t a demographic I felt associated with: The color schemes on offer all gave off Easter egg vibes, the screen was smaller than my Iphone, motion control was out the window for some games and of course that pesky whole inability to connect to the TV thing. So what changed? What made me pick up a new console right near the tale end of the Switch’s already legendary sales run? Well, Nintendo went and made a Zelda one.
C’mon, just look at it.
Allow me to get the very few quibbles I have for this thing out of the way first before heaping on the praise: Yes, this thing should have been called something else but I totally get the strength of the Switch branding. The screen is indeed a bit on the small side which makes reading text a little tough (*cough* Balatro *cough*) but the compactness of it also turns out to be a massive attribute. It is indeed lite, which somehow manages to make it feel like a true luxury. That’s about it, I have no further complaints. It totally feels like having this as a second go to system to compliment the primary one you already have attached to the television is the whole point. I did not anticipate that Nintendo would allow you to connect your existing user data so that you could download all of your preexisting purchases and have them readily available on both consoles. The downside of that? You can only have one of them turned on at a time in order to access those titles. I mean, I will take that!
And speaking of taking that, there is actually one thing the Switch Lite has going for it that the standard Switch doesn’t offer with the joy con setup. Something that completely flew over my head when the console was announced. A quality where this has absolutely become my preferred way to play portably and will be finding itself nestled inside of my suitcase for every trip away from now on: The D-pad, my God that D-pad! This cannot be overstated, that little crosspad alone makes up for any and all shortcomings one could complain about. It has made playing platformers, shooters and fighting games feel the way that they should and this little guy is officially now my ideal platform for retro gaming.
So yes as you can see from these photos, the Hyrule Edition Lite is nothing more than a repaint (albeit one with much cooler black buttons). But I like that it isn’t tethered to any one Zelda game where it could have easily been an Echoes of Wisdom Edition having launched aside that recent release. And it turns out that aesthetics aside, this is an elegant upgrade to a console that already had a lot going for it. Plus, that ability to tie your existing account/games and simply redownload everything you already own is a true cherry on top. They’re even nice enough to throw in a free year of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack allowing instant access to all of the previous entries in the series that you see below.
As a “Switch,” I dunno how you can even score this thing at all given that that system selling feature isn’t even on offer. But as a convenient portable console with a great control setup, ease of comfort, beautiful color scheme/design, not to mention that staggering library of classic Nintendo games readily available, this could be in the conversation for greatest handheld ever made.
Nintendo Switch Lite Hyrule Edition Final Score :
9.5/10
Package includes:
Nintendo Switch Lite: Hyrule Edition
Stylish gold-colored design with Hylian Crest
Designed for handheld play, Nintendo Switch Lite is a compact, lightweight Nintendo Switch system
Features a sleek, unibody design with fully integrated controls and a built-in Control Pad
Compatible with all physical and digital Nintendo Switch games that support Handheld mode
12-month Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack Individual Membership
Play online** with friends and family
Discover (or rediscover) classic NES™, Super NES™, Game Boy™, Nintendo 64™, Game Boy Advance, and SEGA Genesis™ games—including ten from the Legend of Zelda series, like The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time™ and more!
Save on games with Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers***
Get access to select DLC****, like Mario Kart™ 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass, Animal Crossing™: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise, and Splatoon™ 2: Octo Expansion
