Enlarge / What are these Joy-Cons I see before me? (credit: Mark Walton + Sebastian’s hands)

This is the conclusion I’ve come to after watching Nintendo’s jarringly disjointed presentation out of Tokyo Thursday night, and then spending the bulk of Friday trying out the system in person. Nintendo is presenting the Switch as the ultimate evolution of its portable line and a high-end TV console at the same time. Switch is supposed to be a casual, socially focused system with motion and touch-screen controls, and a “hardcore” system with complex single-player epics like Zelda, Skyrim and Xenoblade. It’s a lower-powered alternative to the “top end” consoles, but also a “1080p” TV gaming machine that practically matches the competition in price. It’s a floor wax and a dessert topping.

In trying to be a jack of all trades, the Switch seems to be mastering some of those trades better than others. Your initial impressions of the system will depend largely on which of those roles you most expect it to fulfill.