The world finally caught a glimpse of Nintendo's hybrid console. Days after the Switch's release, critics praised the console as a potential trendsetter. However, with the rig's $299.99 price-tag, gamers that are on a tight budget might find the price a bit steep.

On the contrary, there are other cheap alternatives to Nintendo's game-changing console. The alternatives share some the Switch's properties, these are devices that you can play on the go.

Wii U ($199.99 Refurbished, $249 Pre-Owned On Gamestop)

Nintendo might be parading the Switch, but before the fanfare, the Wii U came in first. This console is sharing some traits of the company's new hybrid console. Although it was a complete bust, the console pioneered the idea of playing games on a remote tablet controller.

It might not have the Switch's ability to transform into a handheld, but it's still worth the money. There are a plethora of games that you can play with this system. Including "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

Nvidia Shield Tablet K1 ($199.99 NVIDIA SHIELD Store)

The Shield Tablet is a capable gaming Android tablet from the creator's of the Switch's CPU, the Tegra X1. The tablet's Tegra K1 CPU enables it to play games like "Half-Life 2" and "Portal." Gamer's will also have the ability to stream PC games using Nvidia's Gamestream.

So far the only downside is you'll need WiFi to stream good games. Aside from that, the Shield tablet can easily replicate the Switch's on the go tablet mode.

PlayStation Vita ($159.99 Pre-owned Gamestop)

There was a time when Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) was king of the handhelds. It shared Nintendo's vision of bringing powerful handheld consoles to play triple-A games. However, the trend died with the PSP's successor, the PlayStation Vita.

Although the handheld first took action in 2011, it's still a very capable system. Plus, Sony's game library for the handheld device spans to more than a thousand. Games like "Persona 4: Golden," "Gravity Rush," and "Disgaea 3" still can compete with today's games.

Here's something worthy of mention, the PS Vita has a feature similar to the Nintendo Switch. it also lets players beam their games to the PS4 and PS3 console.

Notable Mention: The Smach Z ($325 Kickstarter & Indiegogo)

There have been several attempts to bring PC gaming to a hybrid handheld console. The Smach Z aims to do the impossible by incorporating PC dedicated specs to play steam games on a handheld.

The Smach Z has a 4-core AMD Merlin Falcon RX-421BD processor bundled with a Radeon 800MHz R7 GPU. The Pro version has an 8GB DDR4 2133MHz Ram, while the basic variant has 4GB. The crowdfunded project is set to hit the shelves in May 2017.