Drop tests are a rather common way for companies and reviewers to test the durability of products and for a number of shock-tubers to rile up their audiences by destroying expensive gadgets. Whatever category you feel UnlockRiver falls into though, this 1,000-foot drop test is an impressive one, because the Switch passes it with flying colors.
During its lengthy descent, the Switch flips back and forth through the air before hitting the ground with a rather worrisome crash. While the left joy-con was destroyed, the screen and right controller were absolutely fine. Although hardly scientific, the test suggests that Nintendo made a solid decision to leave glass out of the Switch’s design. The joy-cons also appear to have some measure of shock absorption, as the sacrificial controller in this case took the brunt of the fall.
Of course this test is somewhat redundant since the actual chances of a Nintendo Switch ever needing to survive such a fall are very slim. As portable as the system is, we wouldn’t recommend you play it on the edge of a cliff. This is UnlockRiver’s bread and butter though, as some of its most popular videos have involved dropping gadgets from drones at extreme heights.
A more worthwhile durability test may have been to see how the system’s bezel can stand up to repeated dockings. One of the cited problems with the Switch from some users is that putting the console back into its dock can result in abrasion on the bezel surrounding the screen.
Of course if you’re particularly concerned about that, you could just turn your old N64 into a Switch dock instead.
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