Whisper it, but the Nintendo Switch was not a good console. It might be your favourite console, but I ask you – what was your favourite feature? That it had a great Mario game? That it had two great Zelda games? The Switch’s ecosystem, library, and legacy are absolutely one of the best ever to do it. But the hardware? Second rate in almost every department.
This is why the idea of a Switch 2 scared me a little. It was a no-brainer decision for Nintendo – this is one of the most popular and iconic consoles of all time. Staying the course was the obvious choice for getting people to upgrade. But it was never so much a question of ‘how do you better the Switch?’ – the games will have to speak for themselves in that regard. Instead, the question was ‘how do you make a Switch good in the first place?’ and Nintendo has found the answer. This is not a bigger Switch or even, really, a better Switch. This is a Switch from another universe.
The Switch 2 Can Rival The PS5 And Xbox Series X
With its massive storage space, 120fps, and 4K resolution, the Nintendo Switch 2 is an extremely powerful console in an entirely different stratosphere to the Switch (which would make sense, given I already told you it’s from a different universe). While the Switch was content to look a little bit wonky, barely tried with online play, and featured controllers that were fiddly to use and easily broken, the Switch 2 is here to compete. Having played a steady stream of games on it yesterday, it’s a contest it can win.
Of all the games I played, Street Fighter 6 made me understand this leap the most. While waiting for a booth to open up to check out whatever the heck Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour was (my answer, coming in a longer preview, is ‘I have no idea’), I saw Street Fighter 6 was free, and decided to kill some time with it. After crushing my opponent as Juri with my bare feet, I thought to myself ‘why am I bothering with this? It’s just Street Fighter 6’. Then I realised that yes, this was just Street Fighter 6, exactly as I know it on my PS5. It didn’t feel slow, it wasn’t juddery around the edges or tactically lacking in detail or texture. It was the real Street Fighter 6.
We’ll be adding our thoughts on a lot of the new games Nintendo showed off in the coming days – Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, Drag x Drive, Metroid Prime 4, Jamboree TV, the aforementioned and very strange Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour – but those were all new games. It was in seeing a game like Street Fighter 6 match up to the current generation that I realised this was a very different console for Nintendo to be making. I also tried out Cyberpunk 2077 and Yakuza 0 (the latter in handheld mode, no less) and they felt indistinguishable from current cutting-edge consoles.
With no ray tracing, it’s worth pointing out the Switch 2 is still technically behind the industry’s leaders, but to the casual or even more discerning eye, this is a giant leap of a catch up. Praise be the power of DLSS.
What Is The Switch’s Hardware Like?
I would not describe my humour as particularly sophisticated. When the Direct stated that the Switch 2 was the same thickness but with extra inches, it got a laugh out of me. But it did help me remember that fact when I finally got to wrap my fingers around its girthiness – the Switch 2 is a surprisingly light console. I tried lifting it with one hand, and while it did strain more than a Switch would, it was still comfortable.
Nintendo lists its weight as 535g (1.18lb) with both Joy-Con attached, making it 105g (0.23lb) lighter than a Steam Deck.
Despite this, it felt incredibly durable. The kickstand on the back is steel rather than cheap plastic, and, as a result, feels way less flimsy than the original Switch stand, while being sleeker than the OLED’s. The magnetic Joy-Con feel locked in place, and yet are easy to disconnect. The screen is vibrant, and the colours pop, especially when docked on a fancy TV. Obviously, the razzle-dazzle of new, often very cartoonish games may be a factor there.
Most surprisingly is the mouse functionality. My Metroid Prime 4 preview will dig into this further, but they feel surprisingly sleek and ergonomic, nothing like the original Joy-Con which are, frankly, often uncomfortable to hold. Obviously, most people don’t play the Switch at a desk like the ones we had available, and that might be the dealbreaker that traps this feature in gimmick land, but if you’re looking for that kind of functionality, it works and feels great.
Even without a desk handy, the mouse functionality worked ably when I used my legs as the desk to test out Drag x Drive.
Is The Nintendo Switch 2 Worth The Price?
Of course, another way in which this feels like an alternate universe Switch is the price, which was conspicuously absent from the Direct. It was also not mentioned to press gathered to go hands-on with the console. £395.99/€469.99/$449 is a hefty price tag, especially when you factor in Mario Kart World, and others likely to follow, being priced at $80. This is, as you may have noticed, extremely expensive.
Due to the nature of this preview, we did not get to try out the fabled C button or any of the chat functionality, though we did get to use the mic and camera for Jamboree TV.
On the one hand, it’s a premium piece of kit that, if The Duskbloods is any indication (for clarity, we did not get to play it), will continue to host world-class exclusives with an even bigger range of genres than the Switch – which might already stake a claim at having the best array of exclusives of any console. It feels high end, has great games, and runs fantastically – admittedly in a controlled environment. So I’d say yes, in a vacuum of value, it’s worth the price.
On the other hand, the Switch 2 is setting itself up as a continuation of the Switch. For most people, the Switch is their ‘other’ console, with a PS5 or Xbox Series X alongside it, as well as possibly a gaming PC. It’s family-friendly. It’s accessible. It’s a car in every garage and a Switch in every dock. Along with the premium feel and premium price comes a premium audience. It feels less likely that the Switch 2 will capture the hearts of the public than its predecessor, even if it feels like a better console in every way. People can only fall in love with a console they own, after all, and at this price, fewer people will own one.
You’ve also got to factor in that it’s launching with an exclusive Mario Kart, and will host an exclusive FromSoftware title next year in The Duskbloods. Donkey Kong and Kirby are coming in the meantime. It also adds better online functionality and upscales a lot of your favourite Switch games, albeit at a price.
Then there’s the fact that some games won’t be compatible at all, while some new games are essentially digital only as the physical edition is just a dummy cartridge with a code in the box. Those things will all make the choice for a lot of you in one way or the other.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is a fantastic console with a great line-up of games that seems to have given itself space to go from strength to strength. But in prioritising excellence, it has sacrificed some of the broad appeal the Switch had. It is a better console than the Switch, and gives Nintendo a platform to continue to offer outstanding video game experiences.
But at this price, when the time comes in several years when we’re moving on to whatever Nintendo does next, I think fewer people will look back at this as their favourite console than they will for its scrawny little brother the Switch.
- Brand
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Nintendo
- Operating System
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Proprietary
- Storage
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256GB internal / MicroSD
- Resolution
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1080p (handheld) / 4K (docked)