Things That The Nintendo Switch Can Do That Xbox And PlayStation Can't

The Nintendo Switch is in a class of its own. While the system is considered a generation behind both Microsoft's Xbox Series X/S consoles and Sony's PlayStation 5, it has held its own as another unique Nintendo platform, much like the DS or Wii before it. It isn't the graphical powerhouse that either of its competitors are, but it doesn't need to be — this is a system lauded for its portability, its ease of use, and its affordability, while still offering three different versions of the console — basic, lite, and a nicely upgraded OLED console. It also happens to be the third best-selling console of all time, recently passing the Game Boy's lifetime sales of 118.69 units, per VGChartz. At 118.99 million units sold as of December of 2022, Nintendo's little console has only the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 ahead of it.

How did this strange hybrid manage to do so well, and how is it still considered direct competition for both Sony and Microsoft's cutting-edge consoles? The answer doesn't lie in what it can't do as well as its competitors, but what it can do that they cannot. The singular design of the Switch, as well as Nintendo's philosophy as a company, gives it several advantages over its powerful, but more traditional, rivals.

Every generation has its exclusives, and Sony and Microsoft always have at least one or two series that they can tout another iteration of for an upcoming console release. Sony has names like "God of War," "Gran Turismo," and "The Last of Us." Microsoft responds with "Halo," "Gears of War," and "Forza," along with its ever-expanding catalog of games from Microsoft-owned third-party studios like Bethesda. While those are strong titles, if there's one thing the Switch features that the Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5 don't, it's Nintendo's lineup of the most iconic gaming franchises of all time.

A company that could easily continue to be successful without ever launching another console, the big N has so many iconic characters and series that, according to a 2020 survey by GamesIndustry.biz, 60% of PS4 owners also had a Switch, and 51% of Xbox One owners had one as well. While portable gaming is one likely reason for those numbers, another is the sheer volume of games only accessible on Nintendo's console. Iconic franchises featuring beloved heroes like Link, Mario, and Samus call the Switch home, and new exclusives "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" and the long-anticipated fourth "Metroid Prime" keep gamers coming back to Nintendo. In fact, Nintendo is so good at building around those heroes that even spinoffs become bestsellers. Toad, once a consolation prize for finishing a castle in 1985's "Super Mario Brothers," is now featured in nearly every Mario-branded release, and even has his own "Treasure Tracker" games. Put simply, while Microsoft and Sony make series, Nintendo creates legacies.

The idea of motion controls has been around for years, but it was Nintendo's Wii that revolutionized the concept. Over 100 million Wii units were sold during that console's lifetime, with a quarter of those sales happening in 2009 alone. News stories aired featuring the Wii in retirement homes and hospitals, and families all over the world were reintroduced to gaming by way of their little "Mii" avatars and bowling simulators. Sony and Microsoft dipped their toes into the motion gaming market with the Move controllers and the Kinect, respectively. While those peripherals showed some promise, they never really caught on the way the Wiimote did. Current generation motion controls are even more limited. The PS5's DualSense wireless controller has built-in motion controls, but the games that use them are few and far between. "Horizon: Forbidden West" and "Fortnite" are examples, both using the feature for alternate camera and aiming options. Microsoft has all but abandoned motion controls.

It's the Switch that still brings innovation to the table, featuring motion control in a variety of ways. "Breath of the Wild" features a unique gyroscopic aiming system when the console is used in handheld mode, accurate but not intrusive. The Joy-Cons' small size makes them perfect for the unique fighting game "Arms," but they also work well for driving in "Mario Kart 8" and for countless activities in games like "Super Mario Party," "1-2-Switch," and "Nintendo Switch Sports." Nintendo even encourages players to get off the couch with fitness-focused games "Ring Fit Adventure," "Just Dance," and "Fitness Boxing," all of which use the handheld Joy-Cons to track users' movements as they move along with the on-screen action.

Back in the fifth console generation, games like "Command and Conquer: Red" made the jump from PC to the PlayStation. While it was a clunky setup, it was possible to run a two-player game — all one needed was two PlayStations, two televisions, a PlayStation Link Cable, and the two discs included with the game. It was the console version of a LAN party, the local area network setup PC gamers of a certain age remember fondly. With the advent of online gaming, these multiplayer sessions became increasingly rare.

Admittedly, Nintendo has never had the best reputation when it comes to online gaming. However, the Nintendo Switch offers a wireless setup that mirrors the communal atmosphere of LAN parties. With the handheld console able to locally connect with up to seven other Switches, the opportunity to have marathon gaming sessions without having to swap players in and out allows for some great times with friends, as well as opportunities to connect with folks at cafés or other public settings. It's not exactly a LAN party, but the lack of a tripping risk from miles of cables between PCs is reason enough to celebrate.

There are countless times a gamer doesn't have access to the main TV in their home. Maybe the Xbox Series X is hooked up in the living room, and your partner is knee-deep in a rewatch of "The Great British Baking Show." Perhaps the den where the PS5 lives has been taken over by Dad and his buddies watching the NCAA tournament. Either way, when the best monitors in the house are taken over, the gamers in the home are usually the ones to get the short end of the stick.

With the Switch, transitioning to another room is as easy as removing the system from its dock. The sacrifice in screen size is balanced out by the freedom to keep the game going anywhere. The Switch isn't giving you a pared-down version of the game if you aren't playing on a full sized screen, and once that TV has become available again resuming gameplay is simply a matter of popping that Switch back into its dock. If there's a spare TV in the house, hooking up a second dock as a backup is far easier than rewiring your entire console setup for the Xbox or PlayStation. In a 2021 financial briefing, Nintendo reported that roughly 20% of its Switch sales were to households that already owned a Switch, meaning many homes already have access to an extra dock — just keep it hooked up to that spare screen and you're good to go!

Now more than ever, internal storage is a concern with any gaming console. As game size increased, platform manufacturers Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo were forced to choose between eating the costs to provide ample storage, or offering expansion at the customers' expense. All three of those companies chose to make the addition of extra memory an option, but only Nintendo didn't require installation of games in the first place.

A Blu-ray based option was never in the cards for the Switch, given its nature as a portable console, but the decision to go with cartridges over discs for physical media gave Nintendo less of a need to include large amounts of internal storage as well. Games run just fine with only a small amount of console memory dedicated to them, due to faster access from a cart than a disc. Both the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 require large amounts of hard drive space for game installation, which adds up after installing three or four AAA titles. Expansion for those systems requires either the addition of a bulky external hard drive or, in the case of the PS5, removal of the system's case to install an internal solid state drive. For the Switch, if memory becomes an issue, expansion simply requires a small microSD card to be inserted into the expansion slot of the system. This is definitely an advantage for tech-averse folks, or the parents of young gamers.