Nintendo Switch 1
Image: Gavin Lane / Nintendo Life

It's time to say goodbye.

Well, not really. The massively popular Switch will live on in a way few other Nintendo consoles have done thanks to free upgrades to existing games, and a Switch 2 form factor that keeps everything about the previous console. As generational jumps go, it doesn't get much smoother than this.

However, assuming the games play as d and the upscaling doesn't bork 720p games on Switch 2's 1080p screen, then a great many of us will be retiring our trusty console - or donating it to someone else.

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube815k
Watch on YouTube

After eight long years, it's an emotional time, so we thought we'd take a look back at the system — or systems (the replacements, the Lites, the OLEDs we've added to the family) — that kept us going since 2017, though good and bad, sickness and health, 'til Switch 2 us part.

Let's take one last look at the Switches Nintendo Lifers will be packing away very soon...

A life Switch-up (Alana Hagues, deputy editor)

Nintendo Switch 1
My floor isn't always this messy... — Image: Alana Hagues / Nintendo Life

It's weird to think that I almost didn't get a Switch straight away. I felt burned by the Wii U's launch, so I was tentative about picking up another launch-day console. Then I got home from work on 3rd March 2017 and there was my mum, with a shiny new boxed Nintendo Switch and a copy of Breath of the Wild. The Switch was my very first 'adult' console — as in, it was the first new console I owned as a adult. And in the eight years since, I've had two OG models, a Lite, and three different OLEDs.

Those Switches have been my rock. I took my OG to two separate E3s. It was my companion for many plane and train rides. The Switch was there through a break-up, buying my first apartment, through the-year-we-don't-talk-about, waiting for me post-therapy. Importantly, my OLED was there for Smash Bros. sessions during my long-distance relationship, and it's here now after my move to America to live with my partner.

We have two OLEDs between us, so while one will probably be tucked away, the other will stay out for now. I can't quite say goodbye to the console just yet. I may reserve a lot of love for older systems, but the Switch is one of my favourites. I'm not sure I would be doing what I do now at Nintendo Life without the Switch. So, thank you, you lovely little tablet, you.

Man's second-best friend (Ollie Reynolds, staff writer)

TEDDY
"What you doing, Dad?" — Image: Ollie Reynolds / Nintendo Life

I don't think I've gone through quite as many milestones in life as I have during the Switch's lifespan. Okay, granted, not many console generations have lasted as long as the Switch, but whatever.

Soon after March 2017, I moved into my first house with my then-girlfriend, who became my wife a few years later. We got a dog (Teddy, who some of you will have met in a few Nintendo Direct liveblogs), created a brand-new human, moved into a bigger home, and I started working my dream job here at Nintendo Life. Honestly, I owe the Switch a great deal.

Switch Lite
Image: Ollie Reynolds / Nintendo Life

Unlike the 3DS, which wooed me with its excellent custom designs, I've stuck to owning just one of each Switch variant: the OG, the Lite, and the OLED. The original has, until now, festered in the garage after I haphazardly threw it in a box whilst moving house, and unfortunately it no longer charges. A regrettable action on my part.

My Lite has pretty much already gone to my daughter, and while she's still not quite old enough to understand how it all works, it'll be there for her in the coming months and years. As for the OLED, I dunno... I suspect I'll keep it as a kind of backup; something to potentially test out GameShare features in the future, or something. I'm hesitant to let it go.

All that's left to say is... thank you, Switch. Nostalgia keeps the GameCube pretty high up on my list of favourite consoles, but there's no denying that the Switch is probably Nintendo's greatest achievement.

So long, partner (Jim Norman, staff writer)

Nintendo Switch 1
Yes, that's how shocked I am that it's almost over — Image: Jim Norman / Nintendo Life

It comes as a shock to almost everyone that I tell, but I didn't get my first Switch until Christmas 2017. I was in my first year of uni at the time and, unsurprisingly, I didn't have a lot of spare money lying around to be splashing on the latest Zelda machine. And so, I patiently waited until ol' Saint Nick came a-calling, while the lineup grew and grew.

Over the next three years of studying, the console brought some of my happiest memories: Wrapping up Breath of the Wild in my gross student bedroom rather than dwelling on homesickness; pulling an all-nighter with my housemates to finish a collaborative runthrough of Just Dance party. The Wii was all about giving everyone the chance to play, and the Switch felt like it did it all over again.

That OG model, with its drifting Joy-Con and mysterious scratch on the back, got cashed in shortly after I started here at Nintendo Life and thought it only right to pick up a shiny new OLED to mark the occasion. I've kept this replacement in tip-top condition since, naturally, and will continue to do so long after my Switch 2 arrives.

It's only the threat of recency bias that keeps this wonderful hybrid from the top of my all-time favourite console list (where the DS currently sits), but I can see it sitting in pole position a few years down the line. So long, partner. You've been fantastic.

An on, off, then fully-back-on-for-the-long-haul relationship (PJ O'Reilly, staff writer)

OG Switch
Image: PJ O'Reilly / Nintendo Life

Ah, my old mucker, which I haven't cleaned the dust off here for maximum effect. An ancient relic, this piece of early human history is actually my first Nintendo Switch (flanked by its siblings) and it still works. Probably. I'm not going to try it, just in case I release a curse and we have to get Brendan Fraser in (he's expensive since the Oscar).

Back in 2017, my mate got himself a Nintendo Switch and, for one of the first times ever, I decided to hold off a little on a new console launch, playing Breath of the Wild on my trusty Wii U, before finally realising I couldn't deal with the FOMO and capitulating. I then got very bored, very quickly. I'm not quite sure why — hard to anything that happened before COVID, innit — but I felt like the Switch wasn't going to be able to pull me away from shinier games on more powerful hardware. What a fool.

Fast forward a bunch of years and Switch, besides having given me a route — through freelance reviews — into my current full-time job at this lovely place, has easily become my favourite console of all time. So many great games, so many cherished family memories (my sons have grown up on Mario Kart 8 and Zelda, which I think we can all agree is the best start in life), it's been the final proof needed for me, as a (pro) gamer, that graphics, raw horsepower, and all that fancy stuff isn't what makes this medium really tick.

So, having said all of those very nice things, you'd think I'd at least be nice enough to dust it, after everything it's done for me. Why am I such a pig? A question for another time, perhaps.

Gone with the drift (Gavin Lane, editor)

Nintendo Switch 1
Not sure where the biro across the Capture button on that blue Joy-Con came from — Image: Gavin Lane / Nintendo Life

I've gone through three Switches in eight years. The first, a launch-day department store pickup, was donated to another family member when the better-battery version came out and I couldn't resist the tiniest of upgrades.

Then, when the OLED launched, I ended up swapping the better-battery one for my original launch-day Switch — the one I'd broken in with BOTW across four glorious weekend coach journeys throughout March '17 — which I've still got in the drawer. It's seen better days, and the rails don't hold the Joy-Con very well anymore (the same goes for my OLED), but it's still going.

I can't say what the future holds for them. It would be a shame for that OLED screen to go unused, but until my kids are older, these will probably stay in the drawer. One thing I won't be sad to see the back of is my drifting Joy-Con. I love the multicoloured lineup, but only two of the six pictured above function properly. Hmph.

But let's not let dodgy Joy-Con colour the memory of a little console that's become a part of the family. As with all family , there's some crunchy with the smooth, but you wouldn't be without them. Goodnight, sweet Switch.

And there we are. We salute these Switches as we commit their tablets to the cupboard.

Will you be hanging up your S1 Joy-Con completely in a few days? Are you getting a little emotional about bidding this console farewell and getting involved with the new, shiny model? We'd love to hear your journeys with your personal Switches below.