Okay everyone! Sorry for the late response, but I'm back and have *some* answers. Unfortunately, not as many as I had hoped though. I got to play Switch for a decent bit, but every console I played was locked the F down. Home button, share button, hell they even had metal brackets that covered up power and volume buttons. So everyone hoping for UI info (myself included) are out of luck here. This was a *very* controlled demo setup.
Also, I did *not* play Zelda. They had 3 setups - a "congregation" for playing Mario Kart (which I played), a ~30 minute line to get into the main Switch area to play ARMS, USFII, 1 2 Switch, Splatoon 2, Super Bomberman R, and Snipperclips (all of which I played), and then another line to play just Zelda. I got there at 10 am (when it opened) and the line was immediately 3+ hrs long. Sorry guys, no Zelda feedback. Sorry to disappoint.
Controllers
I was able to try every setup. The joycons are kind of amazing. They are small in my hands but they just feel great. They're solid, the HD rumble is legit (I was seriously impressed by the ball game in 1 2 Switch), and they're super responsive in ARMS. The strap things for the joycons turn them into the controllers the kinda need to be. They're a bit uncomfortable without the strap attachments, but once they're on there, they feel like a natural extension of yourself. I also used both joycons in Snipperclips horizontally and I can report that both of them actually feel pretty great. Yes they're small, but I didn't have to stretch my thumb in either setup. With the joycon L, my left thumb very naturally rested on the joystick, and with the joycon R, my right thumb very naturally rested on the buttons. For reference I'd say I have average sized hands for a man. I would not be opposed at all to playing some fun light multiplayer games in this setup. Using ZL and ZR is not *great*, but it's totally usable for some light fun. Especially with the strap attachments on. Also, there's these little white tabs at the bottom of the strap attachments that when you flip down or up will "lock" the attachments / "unlock" them.
The joycons attached to the switch was also a very natural, and great, feeling setup. It feels and plays how you would expect it to - fantastically. I was playing console level games in my hands, and it was awesome. Oh, and I could definitely feel HD rumble in this setup, though it was less pronounced.
The Pro Controller was okay. I played USFII with it. There's nothing wrong with it at all. It doesn't re-invent the wheel at all. And that's what's *good* about it. It gives players a standard, basic ass control scheme. And some games need that. But nothing about it was particularly "impressive". It's definitely nicer than the Wii U Pro Controller. It gets the job done.
The only control scheme that was surprisingly not my favorite was the joycons in the grip. This was the basic (non charging) grip. Now, just putting my hands on it felt great. But of all the control schemes and hardware there, the grip itself felt *very* cheap. It's a very thin, and way too flexible piece of plastic. I felt like it wouldn't take too much force to break it. When I was squeezing my hands a bit, I could absolutely feel flex and subtle movement in the whole setup. This is a shame to me, because this was the setup I was most looking forward to. It's by no means BAD. It's just that all the other setups felt so great that compared to them, this setup felt a *little* cheap. Hopefully the "charging grip" feels more solid. Who knows (they didn't have one there).
The Switch itself
The tablet is very basic by itself. I tried the touchscreen in every game, but it was disabled across the board. I listened and felt for air coming out of the vent on every game and I couldn't feel it at all in any config (docked or handheld). Even in ARMS, Splatoon 2, and Mario Kart. Impressive. The kickstand actually felt pretty darn cheap to me. Every other part of it felt solid, but that kickstand just feels like it could easily break off, and the Switch could possibly fall over if something knocked it from the other side. I'm probably over-exaggerating, but it was noticeably not that great of a part. Oh, and I'm 99.9% sure the screen has glass over it. It did not feel like plastic to me. Felt like some kind of gorilla glass.
The dock
I got a look in the dock, and to me it definitely looked like the USB C male end actually recesses down like someone earlier mentioned. There are these little triangular looking tabs that I think when they get depressed by the Switch, they force the USB connector up and into the Switch. I believe it's designed that way to prevent the USB connector from accidentally breaking off. Lifting the Switch out and putting it back into the dock felt very natural. I thought it could be difficult trying to find USB and place it in just right, but it uses guides to naturally bring it on home. I was not able to try and see if the dock could work on it's side as some have asked, as they were bolted down. Here's the pic I was able to take pointing down inside the dock. TO ME, it looks like what I've described.
The games
ARMS is the standout for me. And for reference, when I first saw the reveal trailer, I was not impressed. But playing this game is the real deal. There is clearly a lot of depth to this game, and playing it felt very natural. It's amazing how quickly I picked up on the movement controls. Control felt very accurate. The only thing I had trouble with was blocking, but I think that was actually on ME, because I had a tenancy to block late, so I would often try and block after kinda starting a punch. If the game senses a punch, it GOES, and that's part of the challenge. It's risk and reward. I cannot wait for ARMS to release.
USFII was fun! It's SFII! With some new changes! I don't really have anything to add more than what's already been said elsewhere.
1 2 Switch is silly, but the joycons' hd rumble is the real deal. You have to feel it to believe it. I'm gonna pick up this game because I think it will be a fun little party game.
Splatoon 2 felt pretty much like Splatoon, lol. It played great in handheld mode.
I'd never played a Bomberman game before, so I don't know how to compare Super Bomberman R, but it was cool. What was super impressive was how quickly and easily we were able to have all the consoles join a "room" and start playing. I was expecting it to be a nightmare because of wi-fi, bluetooth, and whatever other signals all over the place in a convention. But it was smooth as butter. I'd say the best ad-hoc setup I've ever seen. And I did not have that "eyes hurting problem" that I saw reported elsewhere. I could see everything on the screen just fine.
Snipperclips was fun. Might grab it to play puzzles with the wife. Nothing amazing, and it could easily exist on other platforms, but it's fun.
Mario Kart felt like Mario Kart! I played battle mode and a race. It's fun, and it looks gorgeous on the Switch screen!
Questions
Okay, so I'm going to try and address general questions as best as I can. I might try and go back through the thread and quote people if I have specific answers to things.
Speaker quality / loudness Could not test at all. Everything I played was on mute, or so quiet I couldn't hear. And I was unable to adjust volume.
Joycon L "d-pad" I wasn't able to try the "d-pad" in any games like SFII or anything unfortunately. But it's definitely 4 individual buttons and not one piece. It felt like the equivalent to the letter buttons on the joycon R.
Sonic Mania was not there
.
Dead zone of analog sticks on joycons I didn't feel any noticeable dead zone. Note that these sticks are smaller than usual, so there's not a LOT of room to go anyways. They're not Vita small, but they're also not Xbox One big. They're in between.
Brightness settings I was unable to adjust brightness (or any settings), but the screen looked amazing, had fantastic viewing angles, and I had no trouble seeing at any point.
Heat? The Switch never once felt hot or even warm on any game I played.
Hibernation mode - could not test or get an answer.
Splatoon 2 switch weapon between matches - yes, in the setup they gave us (turf war local ad hoc multiplayer 4v4), we were able to change weapons between matches.
Joycon buttons mushy or clicky? CLICKY!!!
Headphones I was unable to test my headphones. The port was blocked by the metal protective casing.
Wrap up
Okay! So that's what I can answer off the top of my head. I'm going to go back through the thread to see if I missed anything. But one thing I know I missed, and I'm really sorry about this, is I didn't get any pics of the sides of the joycons like
Refreshment.01 requested. I'm very sorry about that. We were so busy filming and testing, and that one thing completely exited my brain.
And I'm sorry to everyone with Zelda questions. We just couldn't make a 3+hr line work for our schedule for a game that has that demo footage already all over the internet.
Another interesting tidbit is that my wife commented on how much she actually really dug the Switch, and even hinted at possibly wanting her own. Now what's interesting about this is that she doesn't consider herself a gamer. She plays fighting games with me, but that's about it for the most part. She told me that the joycons felt like they were "my size". (My being her of course). She's small and has small hands, and she also boxes, so playing ARMS was an amazing experience for her. She actually beat me.... bad. LOL. I was really surprised by how much she really dug it. She even loved using the joycon in horizontal mode when playing Snipperclips. And she had fun with them in handheld mode playing Bomberman.
Lastly, we shot a bunch of footage and I will be getting it edited and uploaded to FloKO.tv some time this week. I'll update this thread with that so you can check out the footage, if you so choose.
I hope some of this is helpful, and I'm sorry I wasn't as helpful as I had hoped I'd have been able to be!
OH - and I am 150% team NEON after seeing it in person. BEAUTIFUL.
(I just realized the metal bracket isn't attached to the Switch I'm holding in this photo, but it was a completely non-functioning unit. It only had a red screen that said nintendo switch on it and had the logo. I remember trying all the buttons, but nothing did anything.)
**And thus ends what I believe is my longest NeoGAF post ever.**