Nintendo’s latest console, the Nintendo Switch 2, finally arrives this week. While Nintendo’s Switch 2 global tour let fans have a brief first-hand trial with the console back in April, Nintendo recently arranged an in-depth day for the media to have a more intimate look at the new hardware. Here are my first impressions after a day with Switch 2.
Nintendo’s lineage informs many of the design cues in their latest console. Their long use of cartridges, the magnetically detachable new Joy Cons and their continuing emphasis on local multiplayer are among many callbacks to previous consoles that instantly make the Switch 2 recognizable as a Nintendo. With all of this Nintendo lifeblood coursing through the Switch 2’s veins, it doesn’t do the one thing Nintendo has tried to do every time they introduce a new console. The Switch 2 doesn’t shift the paradigm. Instead, it stays true to its predecessor all the way down to its name and focuses on doing everything better.
Sure, that means a bigger, brighter screen with higher resolution and 4K and HDR capabilities and thoughtful speaker layouts for mobile gaming with great sound. It means better battery life, bigger internal storage (256GB) and an improved online experience from eShop to chat capabilities. It’s not all big picture stuff though.
The Switch 2 drills down into the quality of life shortcomings of the original Switch and fleshes out the creature comforts magnificently. The new, magnetic Joy Cons satisfyingly snap into the body of the console. They feature larger buttons so I don’t feel like I’m jamming my thumb on a pebble when I’m constantly on the throttle in Mario Kart World. Even the new rubberized feel of the console in my hand was an improvement over any handheld Nintendo has ever released. Despite packing new power and capabilities, it’s still as portable as ever, an important feature for a hybrid system that’s intended to deliver the future of games both at home or on the road.
Games, from my experience, are likely to be the biggest downside of the Switch 2’s initial launch. At the point of this writing, I have beaten every 150cc Grand Prix in Mario Kart World, the sole major first-party launch game for the Switch 2. No disrespect, Mario Kart World is the best Mario Kart game I have ever played, hands down. It innovates and offers up so much more than I ever expected. Nintendo clearly feels Mario Kart World will move consoles and I don’t believe they’ve misjudged, it really is that good.
What I fear is that Mario Kart World shines best with friends. In all of our testing, Nintendo helped facilitate multiplayer matches with up to 24 (!) real people and they were spectacular. Laughs, swears, groans and celebrations – the normal range of visceral emotions that Mario Kart evokes so well – were a huge part of our enjoyment of the game. Considering the Switch 2 has been entirely sold out of pre-orders for weeks, I fear that many gamers won’t have a chance to have that joyful experience out of the box because it’ll depend on their friends being lucky enough to get their hands on a console too.
Nintendo Online, an online platform that’s been conspicuously spartan since its debut, is meant to combat the initial short supply and simultaneously bring Nintendo’s faithful into the future. Nintendo hasn’t shown specifics about the future of Nintendo Online publicly yet, not even to the media, but the fact that the Switch 2 actually does have a system-wide chat that can both stream whatever is playing on-screen and connect friends in both audio and video chat indicates a willingness to overcome their previous shortcomings.
For context, when I reviewed the original Switch on its arrival back in 2017, the lynchpin game was Breath of the Wild, an expansive solo experience that similarly did its franchise proud, but that game was single player and allowed early adopting console owners a fantastic solo experience that didn’t rely on their friends or online to make it fantastic. I hope my reservations are misplaced on this because those solo experiences are most certainly coming but I expect them to be sorely missed on launch day.
Perhaps I’m being too hard on the first-party launch lineup because the Switch 2 is backward compatible and, even though launch day will be a crowning moment for Mario Kart World (seriously, it’s really that good) the console will arrive and be ready to serve up recent hits like Mario Odyssey or the upgraded Switch 2-specific versions of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom among nearly the entire back catalog of Switch games and the Nintendo eShop with all of its retro gaming option, now including hits from the Gamecube era like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
Buying a Switch 2 virtually guarantees the owner’s interest in Nintendo’s arsenal of beloved characters but there is a renewed sense of partnership coming along with this console launch. For now, that means a ton of AAA and indie games that have previously debuted making their way to the Switch 2 but, hopefully, it also means the Switch 2 won’t be left out in the cold for future AAA games, a problem Nintendo has been combating since the Wii. The upcoming Borderlands 4 and the still-under-wraps Project 007 game are good signs for the Switch 2 on this front.
The Switch 2 will have plenty of accessories available at launch in the way of cases and travel packs but the standout among them is the updated Switch 2 Pro Controller. This is a must-have accessory for any core gamer, taking design cues from Xbox’s Elite controller with rear bumpers not found on the Switch 2 Joy Cons and a headphone jack for anyone who wants to bring their own set of cans to the experience.
With all of Nintendo’s heritage on display in the Switch 2, this new console is plenty ready to welcome in the next era of Nintendo’s games without ever losing sight of the decades of progress and fun that put it here in the first place. Between the launch lineup of first and third party games, backward compatibility, retro games from the eShop and the surefire blockbusters in the Zelda and Mario franchise that have yet to be unveiled but are surely in the works, the Switch 2 is a worthy successor to Nintendo’s best-selling console ever.