I've owned two normal Switches and one non-hacked Switch Lite so far, and I can tell you this: The Switch is a great console, held back by great costs.
Nintendo truly did deliver here a system that's worthy of carrying their mantle, but with the games all costing upwards of R$250-300 here in Brazil, it makes things completely unaffordable for the average gamer.
Back in the 3DS or Wii days, games would never cost more than R$170 at my local retailers or online, so what the hell happened?
Not to mention now there's a cost for online play as well.
Now now, I'm not advocating piracy, but if this is the only way I can get any enjoyment out of the system, then let it be hacked.
This is a turquoise Switch Lite with a modchip on it. It boots into Hekate and lets me choose between the emummc with CFW or the sysnand without any hacks.
This fact is already pretty cool. It means I can play my original Switch games that I actually bought online with no risk of being banned. I own Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros, Animal Crossing, the Doom games, and more.
And at the same time, I can enjoy homebrew and backups through Atmosphére, the emummc CFW of choice.
So, what am I doing with this Switch Lite?
- Gaming
I've been playing sooo many games I wouldn't have had the chance to play otherwise, be it portably or at all. Be it because my CPU can't handle Yuzu or because the game is only available portably on the Switch.
It's been pretty crazy to enjoy Persona 5 Royal on here. A game I own on Xbox, but feel a lot better playing on this tiny little screen, since I can do it at bed beyond 11pm, whereas on the Xbox by that time I'd have to be in my room anyway lol
The exclusives are also great, and so many games just feel better on here, like they were made for the Switch - like Stardew Valley, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire and more. These indie games bring some great enjoyment on this tiny little machine, and they're all games I already own somewhere else in one form or another haha.
- Emulation
This may look like just the Switch Online emulators, but it's more than that. Since hacking lets you do pretty much anything, these Switch Online emulators are packed full of roms of games I want to play since you can add however many roms you want.
I even have translated roms
The N64 emulator is a bit finnicky so I have few games on there but what matters is that what I want to play is there.
- Homebrew
Whilst I haven't gotten too much into homebrew yet, I have played games such as Katawa Shoujo on here and have used many great homebrew tools, like the Hekate modules.
With these modules you can do things like pair any bluetooth controller (except for the Series controllers) to your Switch and stream the screen to your PC or phone.
I've been doing this to get comfortable multiplayer out of the Lite, because its screen is too small. So I pair up the PS4 controller and stream to my PC. Done! Nice multiplayer experience on the non-multiplayer focused Lite!
Overall I've been really enjoying my time with this little guy, its portability reminds me of the PSP or PSvita and it being hacked allows for so much more than what Nintendo lets you do.
I would definitely recommend this for someone looking for a great portable experience. It definitely beats my last favorite handheld, the Vita.
Thanks for reading!
