Category: Nintendo News

It could be argued that the Splatoon 2 Splatfests have been a little hit and miss in terms of themes, but we’d suggest the next in line is rather from the bottom of the barrel – or the bowl, to be more precise.

Next weekend’s Splatfest is all about Toilet Roll positioning, at least in Europe (we’re waiting for Nintendo of America to confirm its theme, but it’ll likely be the same). No, really, it is.

Amazingly, some are pointing out an illustration from in the game that may have inspired it.

Is this whimsical and quirky or just a bit of a sh… bad idea? Let us know what you think in the comments.

SteamWorld Dig 2 is an excellent game on the Switch eShop, meeting expectations and also delivering the IP’s most successful launch. It’s certainly among the ‘must-have’ downloads, but the ever-demanding Switch audience has had one complaint – its HOME screen icon.

To be fair, the launch logo was a bit rubbish.

You’ve no doubt spotted the past tense there; Image & Form has pushed out a little update to change the logo, as it had promised. 

HOME menu logos can be a bit of a hot topic when they’re underwhelming. TT Games changed the dodgy launch logo for LEGO Worlds, and Sumo Digital has finally relented and promised to change the Snake Pass icon back to the original following the poor reception to the newer iteration.

Nice one, Image & Form.

The SNES Classic has finally hit stores, and along with it Hori has released the Wireless Fighting Commander, a pad that seeks to remind players of a bygone era of turbo buttons, slow motion functions and other features designed to give players the edge they needed in the days when home consoles were practice for days spent in arcades.

We’ll be blunt: we love this controller. At first glance it may seem like any other wireless controller, albeit with some bells and whistles, but for those of us that were gaming during the SNES era the attention to detail and care taken with this product are every bit as impressive as the SNES Classic Mini itself.

Even the box is a throwback to official Super NES products from the ‘90s, with the design evocative of the packaging to Nintendo’s own controllers. The pad bears Hori’s old logo, which its pads carried in the ‘90s, too. The nostalgia doesn’t stop there, either. The pad itself is a revival of the wired Fighting Commander that Super Famicom owners could pick up in Japan.

The only change made to the design of this pad is the fact that it’s now wireless – a welcome addition to any console in 2017. The controller is powered by two AA batteries, which are included in the package, and it’s connected to the SNES Classic via a wireless dongle that protrudes a fair bit from the console, and has a red light on it to indicate the controller is connected. The unit we received for review was already paired with the receiver out of the box, but if you need to pair your controller the process is as simple as they come:

It also carries all the accoutrements one would expect of a ‘90s fighting game controller. Each button can be set to be automatically held or rapidly pressed using an array of two-stage switches found on the front of the pad. The first stage enables the turbo function, while the second stage tricks the console into thinking the button is held down. There’s also a slow motion feature on deck with two stages of speed as well. The slow motion effect is achieved by rapidly pausing and unpausing the game, which itself is achieved by rapid simulated presses of the start button. This feature was considered useful in fighting games of the day by allowing one to input moves during the pause delay.

All these features make for a charming controller to have for nostalgic reasons, but beyond that the Wireless Fighting Commander is just a plain good controller, too. The d-pad and buttons feel every bit as good as those found on the real deal. The buttons themselves aren’t concave like the official controller’s Y and X button, and they’re larger too. The L and R buttons are both in their traditional positions atop the controller and in a third column to the right of the face buttons. Initially it would seem that having a layout like this could cause some confusion or lead to mis-pressed buttons, but we had no issues with the controller layout across any of the games on the SNES Classic.

The wireless functionality worked very well under even the most demanding of situations. In our testing area we placed the SNES Classic directly above a wireless router with several wireless devices positioned nearby. Even under these conditions the Fighting Commander didn’t skip a beat.

The Wireless Fighting Commander is a love letter to those that bought the special controllers that lined the pages of gaming magazines in the halcyon days of the 16-bit era. From its packaging to its presentation to its build quality, there is little to find fault with. Like Nintendo, Hori has resurrected a product that some will have incredibly fond memories of and built it in an uncompromising way. It’s the only Nintendo-licensed third-party option on the market right now and it’s easy to see why. If you want to go wireless with your SNES Classic, this is an absolutely essential product.

Splatoon 2 is a game that keeps on giving, mostly through new weapons and occasionally with a new stage. One of the reveals in the recent Nintendo Direct, the Tenta Brella, is our new weapon for the weekend.

You can see some pics of it below.

If you need a reminder of what it’s all about, the Nintendo Direct segment below should help.

As always the update will likely kick in 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern today (29th September), which means the early hours of the morning (2am UK / 3am CEST) in Europe.

Will you be trying this out over the weekend?

Nintendo’s SNES Classic Edition / Mini is out today, and is providing plenty of retro kicks for those able to get hold of a unit. It’s a lovely little device, so we hope everyone trying to get hold of one has been in luck.

To celebrate the launch Nintendo of Europe has released a snazzy trailer to showcase what it’s all about. Sorry, North American owners, but it’s riffing on the awesome colour scheme of the Super Famicom / SNES PAL design.

Check it out below.

This writer just played Star Fox for the first time; it was worth the wait.

FIFA 18 is finally with us, and if you’ve already consulted our exhaustive review then you’ll know that, despite missing some key features, it’s the best football (soccer if you’re in North America) game we’ve seen on a Nintendo system in years.

While it was always clear that the Switch version wouldn’t be a match for its current-gen rivals in the visual stakes, it’s always interesting to compare how they shape up – especially when you take into account that the Nintendo version is one you can take with you on the road, making the graphical standard on display seem even more impressive.

As you can see from the footage, the Switch version does lose a lot of visual detail when compared to the PS4 edition, but what’s really important is that from a gameplay perspective the Nintendo offering is a very, very close match; the controls are the same and the whole thing “flows” almost identically on both systems – and that’s perhaps the biggest achievement here, even if Nintendo owners don’t get the swanky new “Journey” story mode.

Have you downloaded FIFA 18 on Switch, or will you be playing it on another system? Let us know with a comment.

Last week we went along to the Tokyo Game Show, Japan’s best known and most popular games expo. Various publishers went all-in with live events and streams, such as Sony, Capcom and more, while Nintendo still opted for a low-key approach. It offered some support, however, for smaller publishers and developers showcasing Switch and 3DS games, and the current-gen hybrid was the focus for the impressive stand held by CIRCLE Entertainment and Flyhigh Works.

The two companies share some employees and business; CIRCLE is a familiar developer and publisher on 3DS and now Switch, while Flyhigh Works is a newer name to Western audiences. They’re businesses that aim to succeed in the West – often by localising games out of Japan – but are also increasingly active publishing PAL and North America-developed games on the Japanese eShop. For example between them they’re the publishers of games like SteamWorld Dig 2 and RIVE in Japan.

During TGS we had a chance to chat with Chris Chau, CEO of CIRCLE Entertainment and foreign (outside Japan) business director of Flyhigh Works. We caught up on the TGS experience and the general business of building a library on Switch.

Thank you for meeting with us, and welcome to TGS. How has it been so far? 

Chris Chau: Busy! Not eating much, just cookies! 

This is the first time we’ve had a proper booth at TGS, in previous years we have had a couple of blocks, but this year, we have 20 TVs at our booth. This is the biggest investment we’ve ever had at TGS so we feel it’s important and we need to do our best for everyone involved. We feel this is our duty and are extremely happy to be here.

It’s great to see the relationship growing, in terms of developers and building a library with Nintendo. 

We have worked with Nintendo since DSiWare, and then on 3DS eshop and Wii U. Five years ago we started focusing on the Japanese market. The eShop is really suitable for Nindies. Nintendo is also aware of us as a company and we are really thankful that we are only focusing on publishing for Nintendo. Nintendo trusts us which is a precious thing. 

It’s exciting to see the range of titles you have brought to TGS – right up to games still in development. 

Of course we are planning on new titles and It’s been really positive developing new titles, but it takes a lot of time, so Flyhigh Works are also publishing some games in Japan that were released on the Wii, such as World of Goo, but Nintendo Switch exclusives such as Kamiko are also very important, even though it’s a smaller title.

We like this platform, we are fans of it and Nintendo games in general, this gives us passion to continue our work.

The turnaround from the announcement to release of the console was short – how did you deal with it? It must have been fast paced compared to other consoles, and the Switch is still so early in its lifecycle.

The best example is Kamiko. It is a brand new title which took four months to make. The developer Skipmore developed Fairune for 3DS which came out in 2014, so they have good experience, they knew how to make a good pixel art game. They are professional, but they also needed help to learn about releasing in this region and on the new platform. They have also been very positive and passionate about their upcoming game Picontier, which was announced last TGS but has been really well received and will launch at the end of the year. It suits the platform really well, plus we want to create more content for it to make a more premium product. We are still thinking about other titles to bring to Nintendo platforms. 

We want to be bigger, but we need to build as we are ‘hand crafting’ the company. We are always learning, getting a lot of feedback which is really precious. I’m so happy so many gamers still support us – in the future we want to make more exclusive and new titles like Picontier, also maybe different art styles, but we are still a small company with a few employees. While it is true that at the moment that we are publishing some ported games, they are enhanced ports and we are really focused on bringing new, exclusive games to the Switch. 

You mentioned about different art styles. We’ve just played Deemo – not only is the art style gorgeous, it’s great to see the hardware being utilised in different ways. 

Due to the portable nature its possible to see AAA as well as games that are smaller or have different control schemes. 

We have gotten so much support from Nintendo, especially with the music games.  

VOEZ was our first title on Switch and we were ecstatic about it. In the early stages we can’t use all of the features all of the time, but people had a great experience on Switch and people appreciated the free DLC. 

We have a physical release coming out and it’s been confirmed to have controller support. It’s really exciting that the Switch is so popular already and, going forward, we are excited to release another music game. It’s true that we are used to pixel art games, but it’s not just about being satisfied or not, it’s about being happy or not happy with the product and experience. So far we are so happy because of player comments, so we can carry on. Our first Switch title VOEZ, and the positive comments we received, motivated us going forward into publishing Deemo in Japan.

All sorts of games can find a home on Switch; as a publisher, what are your thoughts on the immediacy of digital distribution and how important it is for this platform?

A good example is PAN-PAN. PAN-PAN was announced during the Nintendo Direct in Japan.  It’s a cool title but it’s still a new title and from the comments we have received, gamers are finding it satisfying and say they want fresh experiences. 

After the showcase it was available straight away, but maybe western gamers won’t watch the Japanese Direct, also the release is sudden – so there isn’t much build up. Things like timing in addition to the fact that the Switch is region free are still important, but It’s a double edged sword – it’s doing well in Asia but it’s still a learning experience. We can still satisfy global users when there are titles coming to the global market. 

We’re always telling ourselves that we need to learn from past experience; the markets can change fast and we need to learn fast.

Issues with titles for the global eShop include ratings like CERO or localisation, it can take time, so we want to focus on a specific region and also take care. Not just releasing the English versions in Japan. Maybe we have to wait but then more titles or AAA titles come out which is unavoidable, so we prefer to focus on regions for each project. 

What do you look for in a game?

We did try other platforms, such as PS4, but we are focused on Switch and this is our main consideration. Due to the size of our team, we should focus and don’t want to divide our energy, so for now Switch as a first priority, then even when we decide to port a title, we are looking for the reason why players want this on Switch. If it’s not a good match for Switch users it’s not fun. The game might be a hidden gem on other platform, we give it a second chance but it still might not be suitable. Party games such as Death Squared have thrived on Switch.

It’s great to hear how much care you’re taking in choosing the right titles to bring to Switch, to new audiences as well as suiting the hardware.

We have lots of games, get lots of feedback and we have our viewpoints which we have shared with developers, sharing advice regarding localisation or even the nature of the market. We don’t want to just port fast to get money. We want to build our reputation and trust. 

There are so many games on other platforms, especially Unity. In theory it’s easy to port it to other platforms. As a publisher we want to make the right decision and choice. 

The diversity of the titles is fantastic and, going forward, SteamWorld Dig 2 is a big title for you.  

It was stressful (laughs) so we want to do our best and the CEO of Image & Form, Brjann, knows Japanese, therefore we can’t be lazy. We need to earn developers’ trust. Sometimes when starting a partnership with a developer, it’s about timing.

SWD2 is the first sequel that you’ve taken on – there’s that legacy/ fanbase to honour. 

It’s not easy to get the opportunity. It started about 4 years ago. We already knew each other, but we missed out on SteamWorld Dig. Looking back, we did learn a lot about the market. He gave us the opportunity and I’m really thankful. We have been patient, as a result, now we have finally got to work together. You can’t buy trust or support and it takes years. It’s not just business. Many years ago 3DS eShop games were simple, now they are rich in content and can compete for space. Developers have to choose partners carefully. It’s a huge risk. 

We have talked about Japanese titles in Japan and their success in the West. How about bringing western games to Japan? 

For me, we need to think about this because it’s not just about it being a good title, there could be something like the actual pronunciation of the game itself – it might not be easy or catchy to the Japanese audience. For example, Death Squared – in Japan the word ‘death’ maybe is a bit too strong, so we changed it to the katakana ‘rorororo’ which is… ロロロロ – four squares! And the Chinese is ‘㗊’ which means clamour and match for party game concept, also four squares!

We need to care about the sensitive issues to understand them, but we bring Japanese games to the West and vice versa, so we need to think about the western market which is a lot of pressure. The main thing is to do our best. We care so much about different cultures and the developers are indies so there is an element of risk regarding global sales, but it’s going really well right now. Most western gamers are understanding and embracing ‘traditional’ Japanese games more than ever.

An interesting example is Urban Trial Freestyle on 3DS – a western and western-style motorbike game, and it turns out it sold really well on the shop in Japan, and exceeded western sales. It can depend on timing, but we are getting the word out there and saying to consumers that it is suitable for the Japanese market – they are putting faith in our judgement.

There’s been a resurgence of Japanese games coming into the western market – with the indie scene and digital distribution, are consumers more globally aware than ever.?

Japan is still a traditional audience in terms of preferred genres, to a certain extent, it is a cultural thing and there are of course long running series that have huge userbases. Most of the most popular titles are still local titles. 
We have the chance to do certain things slowly. We can understand why other companies have been aggressive but we can be patient and observe. You can’t build a house with a 3D printer! 

Flyhigh Works’ most recent releases – PAN-PAN, SteamWorld Dig 2 is coming to Japan soon and Deemo has just come out in Japan, as well as Golf Story next month. We have nearly thirty titles. It’s exhausting but very rewarding.

As you see, we have had a great booth this year. However we have learnt from having a smaller booth in the previous two years that it’s step by step, year after year. 

Thank you for you time and showing us your booth at TGS. 

Thank you.

Happy SNES Classic Edition launch day, folks! If you’re reading this you most likely fall into one of two camps – those who were lucky enough to get their hands on a system, and those who weren’t and are really, really sore about it. Sadly we can’t help if you’re in the second camp, but what we can do is show you exactly what the North American SNES Classic looks like.

As you can see in the shots below – snapped by our very own Steve Bowling – it’s a perfect replication of the boxy beast which launched in North America all those years ago – while we’re sure a great many of our American readers will disagree, we vastly prefer the Super Famicom / European SNES design.

If you take issue with that, why not post a comment below – you know you’re going to anyway. In the meantime, browse the images and then let us know if you’re SNES Mini has arrived today.

Video game spin is a curious thing. It must be difficult for publishers and developers to turn a negative into a positive, but sometimes the excuses are so odd our eyebrows can’t help ascending skyward. The FIFA series has been a good example of this for a number of years. Nintendo fans need only cast their minds back to the launch of FIFA 13 on Wii U: it was essentially FIFA 12 with major modes – most notably the massively popular Ultimate Team – completely removed.

The game was heavily criticised for this, and gamers stayed away as a result. EA then decided not to make any more FIFA games for Wii U, citing “disappointing commercial results” despite “featuring FIFA’s award-winning HD gameplay and innovative new ways to play” (as opposed to being because all the best modes were, you know, totally missing). More recently, FIFA’s much-hyped story mode, dubbed “The Journey”, made its debut in FIFA 17 but was only available on the Xbox One and PS4 versions: Xbox 360 and PS3 owners missed out because those editions didn’t run on the swanky new Frostbite game engine and according to its creative director, “without Frostbite a story this immersive doesn’t happen”.

Now here we are with FIFA 18 on Switch, the first FIFA game on a Nintendo home console for half a decade, and the spin machine’s out in full force again. This time, while the Switch version finally has the much-loved Ultimate Team mode the Wii U game omitted, fans will be curious about the fact that none of the new Ultimate Team features in this year’s Xbox One and PS4 version are in there. The reason, according to a Eurogamer interview with one of the game’s producers, is that having every feature in there “might be too much” for someone new to Ultimate Team. We’re calling nonsense on that: and we’ll explain why in a bit.

First though, let’s judge the game on its own merits. To be blunt, FIFA 18 on Switch is a fantastic game and a brilliant technical achievement. Fans of the FIFA series will immediately be able to get to grips with the game as soon as they start playing, because at its core this is ‘proper’ FIFA, not the odd bespoke versions on Wii and 3DS back in the day. The full array of abilities is available in this version, due to the JoyCon Grip (and Pro Controller) offering enough buttons to cope with it. Right stick skill moves, finesse shots, driven lobs, threaded through balls, you name it – every expert-level technique you can pull off in other versions of the game is here too. No more Wii Remote flicking, slow-mo Matrix moves or any of that other rubbish Nintendo-owning football fans have had to put up with over the years.

However, because it’s not running on the Frostbite engine, FIFA 18 on Switch doesn’t play exactly like the other current-gen versions. The pace is slightly faster and player animations and physics aren’t quite as fluid, lending the game an ever-so-slightly more arcade feel (but not to any major degree). It actually works well; as long as you aren’t a stickler for intricate animation detail, you’re going to have fun here. It runs smoother than a greased-up jazz musician too, with a full 60 frames per second in both docked and handheld mode making for a silky performance and the general feel that you’re playing a high quality product. Although its (slightly less silky-smooth) cutscenes and other close-up moments reveal that the character models are a good deal less detailed than their Xbox One and PS4 counterparts, squint a bit during normal gameplay and you’d genuinely struggle to tell the difference.

The ability to crack out those JoyCon controllers and play some two-player matches anytime and anywhere is also a welcome one, although the game’s simplified a bit in this form. If you’re playing with a single JoyCon you’re missing out on a second stick, a D-Pad and two shoulder buttons, which means things like on-the-fly tactics, threaded through balls and finesse shots are no longer possible. Consider this a more casual version of multiplayer FIFA, then, designed for quick games on the go: for more serious grudge matches on the move each player will need either a Pro Controller or both JoyCon so that they’re armed with a full set of buttons.

Every element of the game is produced to high, error-free quality. The commentary is crisp and varied, the crowd noises are a treat and load times are reasonable (with the series’ ever-present skill games on offer to keep you busy while you wait, but we found you can jump into the game in seconds anyway). If NBA 2K18 was an example of how to completely mess up a port and riddle it with errors, FIFA 18 is an example of how to do it properly. Well, on the field at least. It’s when you’re off the pitch and in the game’s menu screens that FIFA 18’s limitations start to rear their disappointing head. Again, let’s be clear: this is still a far greater suite of modes than any Nintendo FIFA game has ever had (or any portable version, for that matter).

The standard Kick Off and Tournament modes are in there. Women’s football, first introduced in FIFA 16, is present and accounted for. There’s a Career mode in there – more on that in a while – and a Switch-exclusive Local Seasons mode lets you play a five-match series against a FIFA-owning friend locally to see who’s the best when the dust settles. In terms of online, you’ve got Online Seasons – the league-based mode in which you start in Division 10 and have to play 10 games against random online opponents in an attempt to get enough points for promotion – but the most important addition has to be the ever-popular Ultimate Team mode.

For those new to it, Ultimate Team is one of the most addictive things to happen to football games, and sports games in general (which is why it’s since been imitated in PES, NBA 2K, Madden, NHL and the like). When you start it you pick a team name and are allocated a bunch of hopeless 50+ rated players and a random team badge, kit design, ball and stadium from the ones available in the game.

The aim is to play games to earn coins: these can then be traded for packs containing better players, or spent in the transfer market to buy specific players you’re looking for. And yes, microtransactions rear their ugly head here, but they’re by no means essential. This reviewer has been playing Ultimate Team since 2010 and has never spent a single penny, yet still adores the satisfaction of building a team into world-beaters through nothing more than hard graft and skill.

Also present are the Squad Building Challenges. These were introduced to Ultimate Team last year and are a series of regularly updated puzzles that ask you to put together specific squads with players you no longer need, then submit them in exchange for rewards like rarer packs of players. The whole thing is an obsession, though on Switch this excitement has to be tempered a little. The Switch Ultimate Team is a separate entity to the Xbox One and PS4 versions, so even though all three versions require you to create an EA Account to save your squads online, each edition’s teams are completely different. This means you can’t, for example, play the Xbox One version on your TV then take your Switch on the train with you and load up the same team. There’s also no Switch support for the FIFA 18 Ultimate Team web app or mobile app, which let you tinker with your squads and Squad Building Challenges while away from the game.

This is the tip of the “missing content” iceberg, sadly. As you make your way through the game’s menus, FIFA 18 on Switch can just as easily be judged on what features and modes it doesn’t have as it can on what it does. Long story short, there’s a lot. The brilliant new Squad Challenges mode in this year’s Xbox One and PS4 versions of Ultimate Team? Not there. The new Daily Challenges, which give you mini-achievements (score three goals with a Brazilian player) for rewards? Not there either. The FUT Champions mode, where you compete in weekly tournaments to try and enter an elite league against the best players and win rare prizes? Nope.

And that’s just in Ultimate Team – there are many more gaping holes in the game’s feature set. All the fancy league-specific graphics packages are missing, so if you play a match with two teams from the likes of the Premier League, MLS or La Liga, you’ll still get the standard EA Sports scoreboard and timer instead of the official authentic ones. The EA Sports Football Club feature – in which you earn points as you play the game which can then be spent on historic kits, different balls, new goal celebrations and Ultimate Team coin boosts – is nowhere to be seen, meaning all that content is missing. 

Online gameplay, meanwhile, is nice and smooth: as long as you plan on playing against strangers. Even before the game was launched we were able to find Ultimate Team online Seasons matches within seconds, so that side of things works perfectly. But there’s currently no way to invite any of your Switch friends for an online match. This is almost certainly Nintendo’s issue rather than EA’s – hopefully the still-to-come paid online service will sort out this side of things – but it’s still annoying that if you want to play FIFA against one of your mates instead of a random opponent, they’re going to have to be in the same room as you. Whether or not this is a deal breaker for you is down to personal taste, but we imagine that it will compromise the experience for a great many FIFA addicts.

Most telling of all, though, is the Career mode, and that’s how we managed to figure out why the aforementioned dose of spin – that the Switch version is missing modes because it “might be too much” for the players – was a load of old kippers. The Xbox One and PS4 Career mode in FIFA 18 has a new transfer negotiation system in which you hammer out a deal face-to-face with players. This isn’t in the Switch game, presumably because of the whole “this is only possible in Frostbite” malarkey. The Xbox One and PS4 Career mode in FIFA 17 didn’t feature this. It was just a normal Career mode with some new objective-based features. But here’s the thing. The Switch version of FIFA 18 doesn’t even have that version of Career mode. It’s got the one from even older versions of the game, because (drum roll, please) FIFA 18 on Switch is basically the Legacy Edition that’s on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Now, let us clarify a few things before you plug in the old pitchfork-sharpening machine. There are still a few things in here that set the Switch version apart from the last-gen games. As previously mentioned, its custom game engine means that it runs smoother and looks sharper (the developers claim it renders at full 1080p when docked and it certainly seems crisp enough for that to be true). It adds the four new stadia that the Xbox One and PS4 versions get, its Ultimate Team mode has the Icon players like Maradona, Pele and the like (the last-gen ones don’t) and you can unlock a special Switch football shirt in Ultimate Team, too.

So let’s not go too overboard: it’s clear that at least some work has gone into optimising the game for Switch and ensuring there’s at least some new content in there for the system. Our complaint here is more that it’s not enough. The Journey story mode aside, there’s no actual technical reason why any of the other current-gen modes – the Ultimate Team Squad Challenges, the Daily Challenges, the weekly FUT Champions event, the EA Sports Football Club section with the retro kits and other goodies (none of which are in the Xbox 360 and PS3 Legacy Editions either) – couldn’t have been in the Switch version. Despite the producer’s claim, we all know these features aren’t missing because it “might be too much” for Switch owners’ delicate brains to process. They aren’t in there because it was decided (be it down to lack of resources or time) that there’d be no effort made to implement them in the game.

What we ultimately have, then, is a game that – when we look at it logically rather than emotionally – is far and away the greatest modern football game on a Nintendo system and the greatest handheld football game ever made. If you don’t own an Xbox One or PS4, this still looks great and plays fantastically and is a more than acceptable version of FIFA. If you do own an Xbox One or PS4, however, you should only really buy the Switch version if you plan on mainly playing it in handheld mode. While it’s still superb both handheld and docked, the latter can’t really hold a candle to its more powerful and feature-rich siblings.