#i made that purchase in lieu of buying USUM in november

[strontiumsun]

Stront does something unexpected (involving video games)

That being I bought a Nintendo Switch and Splatoon 2 (via Amazon, it should come later this week) in lieu of pre-ordering and eventually purchasing Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon.

Since my wrist pain has accumulated over the years, playing both the DS and the 3DS has been really challenging on my body. Those systems are not ergonomic and it’s hard to find a comfortable position to hold them in. It’s why I’ve really whittled down my video game playing experience to iPad games and Pokemon main series games, which come out every other year or so.

But for the past month I’ve been entranced watching people play Splatoon 2 on Youtube. I watched people play the first game a bit, but not much. This time was different. Perhaps it’s because the Switch is a piece of hardware I wanted to own eventually, or because the graphics are better, but watching the game has been very entertaining. Yet I said to myself, “This is just something to watch, not something to buy. I won’t have wrist time for it.”

Well.. the more human side of myself won out and I convinced a friend from social group to bring his Switch and his (yet unplayed) copy of Splatoon 2 last Sunday. And I found to my delight that the Switch controllers are much easier on the wrists. I think the fact that your thumbs go vertical, rather than at a horizontal angle, really helps enhance the ergonomics of the system. I played for two hours and wasn’t screaming in wrist pain as I often am playing on the 3DS.

Also the game was really fun.

But it was what my mom said before social group that convinced me to make the investment. She cautioned me (in her mom way) that I shouldn’t expect to be an expert when I pick up the game for the first time.

“Well, I’m an expert at Pokemon games, even when I get a new game,” I said.

“Where’s the challenge in that?” Mom said.

And she’s right. I get a new Pokemon game, I play through the main storyline. I spend most of my time level grinding. Once I beat the E4, I stop playing. All in all, it takes me at the least a week to beat the game. And then I don’t play it ever again.

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are going to have new features, but they’re going to be very similar to Sun and Moon, and probably not any more difficult in the main storyline. It made sense, rather than to buy a game I might only enjoy for a week, to instead buy a game I could play over and over again.

It’s unexpected because I always play the main series Pokemon games. But I’ve found unexpected pleasure in changing up some of my media habits, so I feel comfortable giving this a try. Now I don’t have to agonize about what Pokemon I want to raise this time around (which, trust me, I have been agonizing about for some time XP)

Plus, a Pokemon game for the Switch is coming out in 2019 so the system is eventually going to need to be in my possession.

Thanks for reading and (as the squids say) stay fresh!