Features

Can't afford a Nintendo Switch? Here are 4 alternatives you can get right now

4 cheaper handheld/console hybrids

Can't afford a Nintendo Switch? Here are 4 alternatives you can get right now
|

Nintendo is releasing a new console this Friday. You might have heard. We only mention the fact in every other article.

Excitement aside, the simple fact is that not everyone will be able to afford the Switch right off the bat. At £280 without a game, it's far from cheap.

Which got us to thinking: where can you get Switch-like kicks for a lot less money? We're talking about devices that shoot for a similar goal of mixing handheld gameplay with the ability to hook up to your TV and play like a traditional console.

Here's what we came up with.

PlayStation Vita

It's not an angle that many people are taking, but when the Nintendo Switch hits the shops on Friday it will replace the PS Vita as the most powerful handheld console on the market.

Indeed, the Vita is arguably a much earlier vision of what Nintendo is setting out to achieve with the Switch. When Sony launched it back in 2011, it was with the idea of giving you true console-quality games on the go.

What's more, the Vita also featured Sony's Remote Play function. This let you beam your PS4 and PS3 games to the Vita over a handy Wi-Fi connection. It's a different and much less direct take on the Switch's instant TV hook-up, but there's similar intent.

They're a little harder to track down brand new, but at the time of writing Amazon is selling the PS Vita Slim for £190.

Wii U

The Switch might be Nintendo's new handheld, but it isn't the direct follow-up to the 3DS. That will remain a going concern, at least for while. In actual fact, the Switch is a direct replacement for the Wii U console.

Indeed, you can see the genesis for the Switch concept in the half-baked form of Nintendo's last home console. The Wii U, too, was a home console that let you play games remotely on a large tablet-like controller.

True, you can't play the Wii U on the bus, because you need to be on a Wi-Fi network. But there's a decent (if not massive) library of games, and the Switch's flagship game - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - will also be available fully formed on the Wii U.

You can currently buy the Wii U with Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon - two of the best games on the platform - for £190 on Amazon.

Nvidia Shield Tablet K1

Crack the Nintendo Switch open and you'd find an Nvidia Tegra X1 CPU powering it. Its immediate predecessor, the Tegra K1, can still be found powering Nvidia's own portable gaming machine, the Nvidia Shield Tablet K1.

It's a highly capable gaming-focused Android tablet (with a larger, sharper display than the Switch) that can be coupled with its own pro controller and used to play games like Half Life 2 and Portal, as well as Nvidia's own Gamestream PC game streaming service.

Like the other devices on this list, you'll need a Wi-Fi connection to make this latter feature work properly.

The Nvidia Sheild Tablet K1 will set you back £170 from Nvidia, while the Shield Controller will cost another £50.

Sega Mega Drive Arcade Ultimate Portable

This little cheap-and-cheerful retro handheld has been marketed under a number of names and with a number of gaming configurations.

But the core concept is the same: play 80 or so Sega Mega Drive (that's the Genesis to you Americans) games on a custom-built handheld.

Sonic the Hedgehog II, Columns, Streets Of Rage 2, Golden Axe - all present and accounted for, and playable on the bus with a solid physical set of controls for around £55 (at the time of writing).

The main twist here that earns this machine a place on our list (albeit as an alternative pick) is that it features an AV port, so you can hook it up and play these games on your TV with an appropriate cable.

Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.