I spent a lot of time away from home over the past few weeks, visiting With friends in Edmonton in between business trips to New York City and Boston. As a freshly-minted Nintendo Switch owner, I wanted to take my console with me to spruce up my downtime while I was on the road. As I can be kind of hard on my gear, one of the first things I do, especially if it’s a piece of kit that I plan on traveling with, is invest in a good case to protect it. As I’d had success with their bags and cases in the past, I opted to take Waterfield Designs’ Cityslicker case for Nintendo Switch for a spin.
For the most part, it was a good decision.
Heavily padded and well-stitched to within an inch of its life, the Cityslicker Case looks and feels great. When I ordered the case, there were a few different color options to choose from. I opted for Grizzly Leather: a light brown that gets better looking the more you beat it up. Aside from its leather lid, most of the case is made from ballistic nylon. It feels good the touch and should (although I wouldn’t recommend trying it) offer your Switch a bit of protection from liquids, too. Most importantly, the CItyslicker comes with enough padding that I don’t think much would happen to my Switch were it dropped from, say, the height of a dining room table while it was in the case.
In addition to their being room for a Nintendo Switch and a pair of Joy Cons, I was also able to jam a USB C cable into the case so that I can charge my console on the fly, a cloth for wiping the console’s display, a slim portable battery bank for recharging my Switch or smartphone on the go (I’ll be damned if you’ll ever catch me using an airplane’s power system to charge anything) and a leather card that can hold ten Switch game cards in it. The latter’s likely overkill, as the case itself has slots in it to hold up to five game cards or microSD cards. Right now, I only own two games published to physical media. But I hate paying taxes and shipping on small items like a game card holder after the fact, so here we at.
The case’s lid is secured by a pair of magnetic snaps. Given what a terrible idea pushing on buttons with your delicate Switch console inside of the case would be, I think this was an outstanding design decision. I’m also fond of the wee loop of fabric, located on the bottom of the case. By slipping a finger through the loop and grabbing my Switch with my free hand, it’s really easy to remove the console from inside of the snug-fitting case.
The only thing that makes this case a little less than great is its price: it’ll set you back $79. That’s a lotta cheddar to be laying out after investing in a Nintendo Switch. But I look at it this way: It could end up costing me a whole lot more if I were to buy a less expensive, less capable protective case for my console. Drop a Switch once in a shitty, under padded case and that’s all she wrote. I suspect that the Cityslicker will serve me well, for as long as I own my console.