I'll readily confess that when I first heard about the Switch, I may have offered up a concerned frown. A home console that's also a handheld? The controllers click in and out and you can take your game from the TV onto the train? Sounds interesting, but we're straying into 'gimmick' territory, I thought.

May the spirit of Iwata forgive me.

You can understand my concern, though. Nintendo have always been innovators, we were all built up for a console revolution starting with the Wii, but the Wii U after just didn't land in the same way. I loved the Wii U's ability to transfer the game you're playing on the TV to the built-in screen on the controller in your hands in seconds, I thought it was a pretty neat trick. But it wasn't enough to make the console legendary. So when I saw the party game 1-2 Switch had been allocated the bulk of the advertising budget, I feared the worst. Another flash in the pan, kiddies-at-Christmas crowd-pleaser.

The Switch for me turned out to be a grower. I was initially curious, but not convinced. But the more I saw and heard from developers interested in the console, the more games I researched aside from the family-friendly party offerings, the more I felt a small tingle of excitement.

When I learned that Zelda: Breath of the Wild was to be a launch game, that was my tipping point.

I plonked down my hard-earned coins and tracked my parcel minute by minute on launch day.

Tantalisingly, Zelda had arrived that morning by post, so I'd spent a good portion of the morning and early afternoon reading and re-reading the game case, pouring over the screenshots and - yes - licking the game cart.

What? Honestly, it's a thing. All the cool kids are doing it. (Apparently Nintendo have coated the micro SD-sized carts in a bitter substance to prevent children swallowing them, but it's not enough to stop sceptical adults tasting them to be sure.)

I've always loved console gaming as well as handheld, and this is finally the console that's going to bridge that gap.

I've played the Switch out and about a fair bit, and although you don't quite get the full immersive quality of a game like Zelda on a smaller screen, it's a great stopgap until you can get home and get it back on the TV.

I can't wait to see what platformer and puzzle games come along that can really make the most of the dual function - I think Mario Kart will fare well there also (another must-buy on my list).

I'll cover Breath of the Wild itself at a later date, as I simply cannot gather my thoughts properly right now. I'm still wide-eyed with wonder, exploring every archipelago and outcrop, befriending bird people and desert-dwellers alike.

I've mentioned previously about perhaps going off console gaming because of the time issue, having to actually sit down and load up a game. But the Switch doesn't just help that in portability mode, if you start up the console (which takes but a few seconds) you can pick up the game exactly as you left it.

No loading screens, nothing - just straight back in where you were, even mid-slash at an errant Moblin.

Launch day for the Switch will stay with me for a while. That familiar excitement, not being able to wait another minute before delving into a fantasy world - I was a young child again, receiving a Nintendo 64 for Christmas and waiting to play Mario. Except without the licking.