Bigger = Better?
The Nintendo Switch may have strayed from its unique selling point – that it can be played both as a handheld and on a TV – but so far that’s gone in one direction, with the Switch Lite only allowing handheld play – albeit other controllers can still be linked up to the console. Still, don’t underestimate human ingenuity – especially in 2020.
YouTuber Michael Pick has turned things on their head, building a custom Switch which could only conceivably be played online by giants at a massive 70 by 30 inches – 650% bigger than the standard, common or garden Switch.
“I really like the Nintendo Switch. It’s small, it’s portable — but it’s really easy to lose. And for me, that was a problem. So, I decided to fix that by making something that was just a little bit larger,” said Pick, and as someone who once found his ex-boyfriend’s PS4 controller in his trashcan, I can’t empathize enough.
The best part is that the switch is functional – albeit it does lose out on some features, such as a touch screen and removable Joy-Con controllers.
The actual construction is relatively simple – albeit that special kind of simple where you can follow what’s happening without an engineering degree but couldn’t imagine putting it into practice. Essentially the “Joy-Con” parts of the switch house an actual switch and joy-cons, which are wired up in such a way that pressing a button on the larger console will activate the same button on the joy-con – and since the lucky owners of the console aren’t giants, the console is compatible with extra controllers.
And who are the lucky owners? Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, which now has dozens of patients with access to one of the coolest – and most unique – toys of all time.
Is bigger better? Let us know in the comments, on Twitter, or on Facebook.