The Switch 2 is nearly here, which means the original Switch is entering its twilight years. It's been eight years since Nintendo released its revolutionary hybrid console, and while many fans have spent the last couple of those itching for the device to be replaced, now seems like an opportune time to look back at what its legacy may wind up being (while acknowledging that it still has some life ahead of it). Instead of bleating on myself, though, I turned to the rest of the Engadget staff to see what comes to mind when they think of the Switch, as just about everyone on the team has played with the console. We've collected our reflections below -- some take a bigger-picture view, some are more personal, some contradict others' experiences entirely. There's plenty more that went unsaid. But I think that's part of the Switch's beauty; it's a device that's resonated with so many, in so many different ways, in its near-decade on the market.

The last console generation was all about black plastic rectangles. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 looked like sleek, futuristic VCRs. It was not an exciting or inspired vibe. This console generation, Sony and Microsoft are leaning into their respective aesthetics. Microsoft's Xbox Series X is bigger and squarer than ever before. The PlayStation 5 is more radical.

Microsoft's video game streaming technology, Project xCloud, will come to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on September 15th, at no additional cost to members. The initial rollout covers 22 countries across North America, Europe and South Korea, and gives players access to more than 100 games, including Destiny 2, Gears 5, Minecraft: Dungeons, The Outer Worlds, Sea of Thieves and Yakuza Kiwami 2. Microsoft revealed in July that xCloud would be rolled into Game Pass Ultimate in September, but didn't share an exact date or specific titles coming to the service. Today, Microsoft listed the names of 36 games heading to Game Pass Ultimate via xCloud, and we've published those at the end of the article. Project xCloud makes Xbox console games playable on Android smartphones and tablets, streamed in over WiFi or cellular data. It's been live in beta since October 2019, and it's proven to be one of the most consistent, steadily-growing streaming services out there.

Raid bosses are the toughest fights in any massively multiplayer online game, but eventually players always find ways to crack them. Now developers are looking at ways to use cloud computing to give raid bosses a way of fighting back. During one of Microsoft's Game Stack developer livestreams yesterday, software engineer James Trott said that as developers are able to use the resources of the cloud to update and improve their games in real time, the real difficulty will be in not making them too hard. "We worked on a project with Microsoft tech last year for an MMO-like system for bosses that learn player behaviors in raid encounters," Trott said. "As raids go on and people find dominant strategies, the bosses adapt in near real time [and] detect the strategies players are implementing."

Well, this is certainly a surprise. Xbox has been the bumbling underdog of the eighth console generation, playing catch-up to Sony's PlayStation 4 and watching from a distance as the Nintendo Switch reignited the passion of video game fans worldwide. However, over the past five years, Microsoft has doggedly climbed its way out of a PR and reputation pit with items like the Xbox One X and the Adaptive Controller as well as its public support of cross-console play. Today, Microsoft is better positioned than any other video game company to take control of the coming hardware cycle, which is expected to kick off in 2020. First, let's appreciate how deep that Xbox pit really was.

When Microsoft revealed the ID@Xbox program in 2013, Xbox CVP Phil Harrison said he hoped it would usher tens of thousands of games onto the Xbox ecosystem. Five years on, Microsoft is 10 percent of the way there -- the company has officially published 1,000 games via the ID@Xbox program. Maybe hold off on printing those "Congrats on 10,000 games" banners for another few decades). "We're really kinda happy with where we are right now," ID@Xbox head Chris Charla told Engadget. "That doesn't mean there isn't tons of work to do for developers going forward, or that we're gonna slow down."

As far as announcements go, it barely qualified. Microsoft's head of Xbox Phil Spencer was giving his standard end of E3 press conference talk about the state of gaming and the passion of the Xbox teams. The hardware team, he mentioned, was hard at work on the next Xbox. This is something we all assume, of course, just like we assume that their counterparts at Sony are doing the same thing on the PlayStation 5. And yet it's still uncommon to make any mention of the next generation outside of a tightly choreographed reveal much closer to launch, mostly because it makes people look forward when you want them buying your hardware now.

There are three main contenders in the video game console market, and each one has unique advantages and drawbacks. The PlayStation 4, for example, is easy to use: Sony has made a powerful console designed to appeal to as many players as possible, and its gamble has largely paid off. While Microsoft clearly wants just as many people playing Xbox One, it's tackling the market via its ecosystem, which is more open than any of the other consoles. The Xbox One supports cross-play with Windows 10, and its built-in livestreaming architecture, Mixer, is an impressive tool. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch is a strange treasure, packing less power than the other two systems but making up for this technical loss with an innovative hybrid design.

First, the Pro doesn't signal the end of video game console generations, even though its specs and launch window fit a pattern that resembles PC or smartphone upgrade cycles more than traditional console releases. Second, the Pro is valuable even if you don't have a 4K TV. Third, though most games on the Pro won't actually be rendered in true 4K, they're still much improved over the standard PS4. Sony probably feels the need to clarify these points because after it revealed the PS4 Pro in September, there was some confusion over the capabilities and identity of the new console. It was pitched as a mid-generation upgrade that would usher in an era of 4K gaming, but after the scripted presentation, it became obvious that 4K was still out of reach for most developers.