Look It's a consoles !!!!!! Nope, it's a portable gaming system

look it's a handled!!!!!!!!  Nope it's can be played on TV

OK then it's a " SWITCH ",..........NOPE it's SEGA NOMAD from 1995 , yup 20 years before SWITCH 

Article by Digital Foundry 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2018-retro-revisiting-sega-nomad-the-original-switch

1.The first handled that can play full fat consoles experience (pun intended)

2.It was released in 1995

3.It has similar concept with Switch

4. Very ambitious concept 

5.It lack batteries life worse then Switch

6.The size is not convertible

https://youtu.be/MTdz7CfjPxo

My Opinion : It seems Switch is not an Innovative by design,  but it execute very well from concept, exclusives, quality games and availability (none other competitor competing on the same concept at the moment ). 

Kudos to Sega, and prove that innovation is not guarantee to become success but at last the spirit of Sega still live on Nintendo

And also PSP Go also has the same concept, but it was missing with the Vita.  

I dont think anybody ever claimed was an original idea? It' s just the best executive of it.

SEGA Nomad was ahead of its time. Th tech was not in place to have that be ... Not clunky and consumer friendly.

The Super Game Boy came out in 1994.

There were many forms of cross gaming between handheld and home consoles before the Switch which we all knew already.

However I'd say the 'form' the Switch copied (or was influenced by) the most would be the PSP Go, with its docking device to connect to TV and using a separate controller.

Innovation isnt just coming up with new ideas, it also includes making past ideas better.

I remember the Nomad! It was awesome. :D I still have mine. The only bad thing about it was that the battery drained insanely fast, which was a problem because the system required a lot of HUGE, pricey batteries. It was (obviously) an underrated concept though.

Someone here mentioned the Super Game Boy. That's a good point, but hardly comparable. The starting premise of the Super Game Boy wasn't to make proper console games (Super NES titles) portable, but to make handheld titles (Game Boy games) playable on your TV, which is the reverse premise of the Switch. The Nomad was a more directly valid comparison to the Switch, as it used Genesis titles. See what I'm saying?

Even before the Nomad there was the NEC Turbo Express in 1990 which played Turbografx/PC Engine games. Along with the Turbovision TV Tuner, you could play on your TV. Way ahead of even the Nomad technically making this thread invalid, so... sorry Sega!

I'll have to agree with you on this one. Also pretty much everything has been invented one way or another so coming up with something that is completely original and never seen before is harder and harder with every passing year. So I think the important thing nowadays is how well something is made, how practical it is and how efficient it turns out to be.

Of course the Digital Foundry article is interesting as past hardware innovations should not be ignored but originality only goes so far in terms of what criteria make any hardware a good or a bad one.

Nothing is created, everything is copied.

Yeah, agree. But sometimes is also influence, knowledge experience and evolution.

The switch is a evolution of previous concepts thanks to the time, previous mistakes and you know, new technology. 

I remember Sega Bomad and Game Gear with those colorful graphics and my Game Boy. We know what happened with the Game Boy, even with their limitations.