The Nintendo Switch is trying to be all things to all gamers. This can be a strength in some ways, but it's starting to come off as more of a confused weakness.

This is the conclusion I came to after watching Nintendo's disjointed presentation out of Tokyo on Thursday night , and that impression was only strengthened when I spent 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 master 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.

The best Nintendo portable yet?

As the latest entry in Nintendo's long-running line of portable systems, the Switch is an obvious leap over the aging 3DS and DS lines. That advancement comes through the moment you look at the screen, a 6.2", 720p beauty that puts the tiny, pixelated views on the DS, 3DS, and Wii U tablet to shame. Even the entirely adequate Vita screen can't compare. Your smartphone probably packs more pixels, but only the biggest of big phablets can match the sheer screen real estate of the Switch (and dedicated tablets don't come with the Switch's integrated and diversely useful Joy-Con controls; more on those below).

Playing Mario Kart 8 once on a portable Switch is enough to make you never want to play on the Wii U's tablet screen ever again, much less play the blocky Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS. Seeing a game like Fast Racing RMX running by at a smooth 60 fps on a sharp portable screen is breathtaking. Splatoon 2 provides a convincing, console-style experience in a fully portable form factor, although tilting the entire system to utilize tilt-control aiming gets annoying.

The Switch is also a leap in Nintendo's physical portable console design. After years spent folding up Nintendo portables that look like plastic laptops designed for mice, the Switch is a svelte revelation. The joysticks and shoulder buttons on the Joy-Con make it a little thicker than your average smartphone or tablet, but it's still a beauty queen compared to a Wii U gamepad or a 3DS. The whole thing feels solid, but not overly heavy in the hand (Nintendo wouldn't confirm a total weight).

Treading water in the living room console pool

Here's the thing: the same system that is Nintendo's most beautiful and well-designed handheld ever is also a disappointment as a modern home console.

Don't get me wrong. Games like Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild look nice on a full-sized 1080p screen. They just don't look appreciably better than similar (or identical) games on the Wii U, a system that was already considered underpowered when it launched at $300 (or more) four years ago. Nintendo isn't discussing the internal hardware specs for the Switch, but the Nvidia Tegra innards are likely based off of the X1 system-on-a-chip, which was never designed for top-of-the-line TV console performance.