Nintendo Switch 2 Is Boring, and That’s Okay

Nintendo Switch 2 is the first Nintendo console that is a direct successor to its predecessor, in terms of numbers and everything else. Of course, everyone knew what “Super Nintendo” meant, but now more than ever, Nintendo is looking to competitors like Sony for clues, aiming this time for a simpler, more straightforward next-gen upgrade. This makes sense: the Switch was the company’s most successful home console, and when Nintendo tried to follow the Wii with the more unusual Wii U, it failed. So why spoil success?

But this strategy leaves the Switch 2 in a precarious position, especially given its hefty $450 price tag. Is there really enough new here to justify an upgrade? After practical application, I would say yes, but with a disappointing caveat.

Switch 2 is very similar to Switch 1.

Unlike how the Wii or Nintendo DS changed the way we played games, if you already own a Nintendo Switch, then you’re mostly already familiar with the basic uses of the Switch 2.

At its core, it’s still a tablet with detachable controllers that can be connected to your TV for big-screen display if needed. There are a few new bells and whistles, but Nintendo hasn’t strayed far from that vision.

It’s a good vision, but sticking with it means that listing improvements here means relying more on specs than the new experience I’m used to with Nintendo products, and the results aren’t entirely in Nintendo’s favor.

Once again, the company is using old equipment. Nintendo hasn’t said anything upfront about the chip the Switch 2 uses (though it’s rumored to be five years old ), but in short, there’s nothing here that you haven’t already seen from competitors like the Steam Deck or, to put it simply, the Lenovo Legion Go .

Let’s start with the good: The screen is now 1080p instead of 720p and measures a roomy 7.9 inches—up from the original model’s 6.2 inches and the OLED model’s 7 inches. It can also support up to 120fps, and when docked, is theoretically capable of playing 4K games at 60fps or lower resolution games at 120fps (this will depend on the title, which I’ll cover later). According to a roundtable I attended with hardware developers, there’s even ray tracing, although I couldn’t confirm if I saw it in action while playing.

There’s also an additional USB-C port on top, which is very convenient, as well as a built-in microphone for the GameChat feature (which I wasn’t able to show off, nor was the GameShare feature). The stand has also been redesigned to be more durable and have more angles, and the dock features a fan that keeps the console cool, helping maintain stable performance over long sessions. (I didn’t get to hear it in person, which is good, but the event I got to play at on Switch was pretty loud.)

However, perhaps the best improvements come to the Joy-Cons. They now connect magnetically and have larger joysticks and trigger buttons, as well as more prominent SL and SR buttons, making them much more comfortable to use. I found the original Switch Joy-Cons to be virtually unusable, but with these I actually wouldn’t feel much pressure to buy a Pro controller. Plus they have a couple of new secrets, which I will tell you about a little later.

On the downside, the Switch 2 is a bit larger and a bit heavier than the Switch 1, although I wouldn’t have noticed that if I hadn’t put the specs next to each other. The screen is also an LCD, meaning Switch OLED owners may notice a bit of a drop in quality here. It’s a tradeoff of cost, increased size, and frame rate, but it’s worth keeping in mind. Honestly, as much as I love OLED , I don’t really mind it. The screen is still bright and colorful enough, and it’s small enough that I’m willing to accept the balancing act Nintendo is playing here. Either way, the company will almost certainly release an OLED version in the future.

In fact, the device itself is quite sleek, but it definitely reads like “more Switch” rather than “new Switch.” Just looking at the improvements on paper, I’m not sure there’s much reason to upgrade just for the new technology, which is worrying considering it’s the only real change that isn’t dependent on future developer support. Even if you’re a hardware fan, the differences here aren’t as stark as between, say, the PS4 and PS5. Rather, they simply bring Nintendo in line with the competition, although they may still be a few years behind.

This means that more than ever, games need to sell the Switch 2.

But first, mouse control!

But before I talk about these games, I need to address one big new feature. While not as slick as the Wii’s motion controls or the Wii U’s gamepad, the Switch 2 does have one standout new feature that other consoles don’t have : mouse controls .

In theory I like them. By simply turning the Joy-Con 2 on its side, you can suddenly move it and use it like a mouse. The cursor will appear in your game if it is compatible, and suddenly it will look like a PC game.

There are several trade-offs. The grip required here is a bit more claw-like than I’m used to, and pressing the face buttons with the Joy-Con 2 on its side can be quite awkward. But when I tested the mouse controls in Civilization VII and, yes, Metroid Prime 4 , they immediately seemed like a natural way to play. I just can’t go back.

This gives the Switch 2 a lot of potential, but it’s really up to the developers to capitalize on it. In the future, this could become the de facto way to release shooters, RTS or MOBA games on consoles, which is a bit funny since these games tend to be more associated with older gamers and the Xbox. But it can also easily fade into the background as a tech demo, as in Drag X Drive , a game I tried in which you use both Joy-Con 2s simultaneously as mice to control a wheelchair. I’ll leave it to people who actually use wheelchairs to comment on the accuracy here, but it was certainly new – and very tedious after about five minutes.

The potential excites me perhaps more than anything else in this system. Competitive shooter players can potentially play here from the comfort of their living room. Heck, you could easily use this to provide better backwards compatibility to the DS or Wii U. But since the actual implementation of these features is left up to individual developers, I’m still a little skeptical. How many games actually used Wii MotionPlus?

Metroid Prime 4 makes a case for Switch 2

It’s easy to say that the game that sold me the most on Switch 2 was Metroid Prime 4 , and I’m not even a big Metroid Prime fan. (I liked the first game, but in general I prefer 2D games.)

The game, however, was great and played like a dream. When I sat down to play it, it was one of the few moments where I thought, “This is not possible on Switch 1.” It’s funny because technically the game is cross-generational. However, Nintendo has noted that Metroid Prime 4 runs at 1080p/120fps on the Switch 2, and while that’s pretty tame compared to what I’m used to on the console’s contemporaries, damn it wouldn’t be nice to see that level of technical polish and precision combined with Nintendo’s signature “show, don’t tell” design. Here, this precision actually serves gameplay purposes, as the increased frame rate makes it much easier to follow the action.

And this is without access to controls, which, of course, are not possible on any other console. I’ve only played the previous Metroid Prime games with a controller and the re-releases with motion controls, but mouse controls are the best way to move Samus around in 3D. Targeting bosses’ weak spots is instant and quick, and the ability to quickly move the mouse to a vantage point makes it easy to take in the scenery, whether for scanning or just for eye candy.

All of this comes with some risk, as a less experienced developer could easily delve too much into these improvements and turn Metroid into what is essentially a Halo clone. But even in the brief demo I played, I noticed the same thoughtful level and encounter design that I’ve come to expect from the rest of the series (so as not to frustrate the Master Chief too much).

If Switch 2 needs an advocate, it should be Metroid Prime 4 , because it makes a compelling case for the console, even if it still represents its big brother.

Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza seem more similar

If Metroid Prime 4 seems like a game that needs a Switch 2 , then other major games for the console, or at least the ones I’ve played so far, are heading into more dangerous waters.

Simply put, Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza seem like games that could have been released on the Switch 1. They’re both cute, don’t get me wrong, but there’s nothing new about the gameplay that would require a new console to run. They use nice art styles, but are so similar to those found on the Switch 1 that I’m not sure the average person would be able to tell them apart from Mario Kart 8 or Super Mario Odyssey if they were combined into a lineup.

Of the two games, Mario Kart World suffers more from this. Playing it was like playing Mario Kart 8 , for better or worse. Pros: Mario Kart 8 is a good game! The Bad: Mario Kart 8 is a good game.

Honestly, it feels like Mario Kart World has no particular reason to exist and no particular reason to be a Switch 2 exclusive other than to sell the console. Its few new additions, such as grinding, wall jumping, and a battle royale-style multiplayer mode, are all that could be achieved without forcing players to spend at least $500 to obtain them, and they are quite easy to not even notice while playing. Again, it’s ” Mario Kart 8 but more” and players might want to skip the jump.

Of course, there’s one elephant in the room with all this, as I didn’t get to try out much of the Forza Horizon -style free roam mode. I could see this on the original Switch. But I’m also skeptical about how necessary this is. This can either be a full-fledged map that is worth spending hours on to find every detail, or a glorified lobby that you can drive around while waiting for players to assemble online. But as far as the core Mario Kart experience goes, it’s still strong, but doesn’t sell on the system and isn’t a noticeable improvement over what came before, other than just slightly improved visuals.

Donkey Kong Bananza , meanwhile, is a big 3D platformer taking up the Switch 2’s launch window (it’ll be available about a month after the console itself). Again, much of what I said about Mario Kart World applies here. It looks good, but is no different from the beautiful Switch 1 game. Mechanically, it’s also mostly something that doesn’t require an upgrade, so it could be a Switch 1 game if Nintendo really wanted to.

That is, except for the destructible environment. Donkey Kong in this game is remade into a kind of miner, and you can tear the entire map apart, polygon after polygon, with flying debris everywhere. I’m convinced that if you made enough compromises with the visuals it could have worked on Switch 1, but it’s still notable that Bananza is very pretty and never puffed while I was playing.

However, and as a Donkey Kong fan it pains me to say this, playing Bananza is kind of a chore. It may get better in the future, but Donkey Kong’s first 3D platformer since the Nintendo 64 strangely falls into the same trap as the game: too many collectibles.

Since you can tear the entire map apart polygon by polygon, and since almost every one of those polygons shows a reward, it makes maintaining the same state of flow as Super Mario Odyssey , a game that Bananza clearly influences and encourages so heavily, nearly impossible. Instead of focusing on smoothly moving through an obstacle course, you’re instead incentivized to smash and destroy almost every part of the map, making the worlds a little tedious to actually get through as you slowly pick them apart.

Or you could accept that you don’t have to get absolutely everything unless you suffer from the same optimization disease that I do. Just playing as Donkey Kong is fun, but even so I think the game could have been better designed to support this, as the courses here seem to be more Mario-centric than DK-centric. A less linear design might have made it more ape-like, but to be honest, I’ve only seen the first world.

Third party games present a mixed picture

Nintendo has a few more games for the Switch 2 announced later, although I’ve yet to play such tantalizing games as Kirby Air Riders . Instead, my preliminary experience with the Switch 2 was supplemented by third-party developers.

Unfortunately, the games I tried were the main reason I remain skeptical about the Switch 2. From Cyberpunk 2077 to Street Fighter 6 , this was a quality bag. Considering the age of most of these games and how they all run well on devices like the Steam Deck, this shouldn’t be the case.

Case in point: Cyberpunk on Switch 2 is just plain ugly. It’s pixelated, the framerate drops constantly, and I often found myself disoriented in combat. This is clearly an example of how the Switch 2 has surpassed this figure, which shows that while the system is prettier than its predecessor, it doesn’t solve the typical Nintendo performance issues that some had hoped for.

To be fair, the build I played was only seven weeks old, and I didn’t seem to be able to switch from quality mode to performance mode despite trying, but that puts a pretty clear cap on this system’s performance, which is roughly on par with the PS4. That’s impressive for a portable device, but it’s the same thing we’ve seen before with the cheaper, older Steam Deck. If the Switch 2 lasts as long as the Switch 1, it could also start to feel dated pretty quickly, as other companies are already on the verge of leaving this era behind.

Civilization VII also chugged a bit, although this wasn’t a major problem given its turn-based nature. But there is a positive side: Street Fighter 6 and Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut ran smoothly and at a fairly high resolution. The latter is to be expected given the game’s age, but as for the former, it’s nice to know that Capcom knows how to work with Nintendo hardware. Despite this, Street Fighter was still noticeably pixelated at times, so the Switch 2 isn’t the best way to play Street Fighter 6 . This is the best way to play it without compromise if you do not have other modern slot machines.

This is an improvement over the Switch 1, and may be enough for now. But given Cyberpunk’s performance, even knowing how demanding that game was at launch, I’m worried that the Switch 2 will soon fall into the same trap as its predecessor: third-party developers will either skip the console entirely (I was hoping Monster Hunter Wilds would be here, given the series’ history with Nintendo platforms, but so far it’s MIA), or their games will be more and more compromised here as time goes on.

The best games for Switch 2 are Switch 1 (and GameCube) games.

This brings me to perhaps the saddest realization of my time with the Switch 2. All of the games I enjoyed playing the most on the new Nintendo console were Switch 1 games.

Breath of the Wild . Kirby and the Forgotten Land . Metroid Prime 4 . Even Mario Party Jamboree . It all runs flawlessly on Switch 2 at high resolutions and even higher frame rates. It’s truly a breath of fresh air, especially since some of Nintendo’s more ambitious Switch 1 games didn’t always perform at their best on the system. (I didn’t get to play Tears of the Kingdom , but there’s a Switch 2 update planned and it’s sorely needed.)

In a vacuum, it’s an eye-opener. One of Nintendo’s strongest gaming libraries, now without the tech ankle chains. But it also has three of the Switch 2’s biggest weaknesses.

First and most obvious: a Switch 1 game isn’t going to be a good killer app for Switch 2. Even Metroid Prime 4 , the game I cited as the best reason to buy a Switch 2, will technically still be playable on the Switch 1. Which means budget-conscious gamers will likely just live with no mouse controls or occasional frame drops since they can still get the same core experience without spending hundreds of dollars on it.

The second, and most unpleasant thing, is that you have to pay for these improvements. Even if you already own Kirby and the Forgotten Land on Switch and buy the Switch 2 for $450, you’ll have to pay again for the Nintendo Switch 2 Enhanced Edition version of the game to play it using the Switch 2 features you already have. Otherwise, you’ll get the same experience as on Switch 1, minus some potential small improvements such as slightly faster load times . To Nintendo’s credit, you can upgrade your existing Switch 1 library for less than if you bought the new version outright, but it’s still a tough pill to swallow. “It plays your existing Switch games, but better” would be a reason to buy here, especially if the launch lineup doesn’t give you anything, but alas.

Third, there’s no guarantee that the Switch 2 will play your existing Switch games at all. According to Nintendo hardware developers, the new console does not contain any Switch 1 components, meaning it plays unenhanced versions of Switch 1 games using emulation. It’s not a death blow, and Microsoft is actually highly respected for how it takes a similar approach on Xbox . But this means that Nintendo has found problems running more than 120 games on the Switch 2, some of which won’t even launch . At first glance, the Switch 2 will take some time to become a suitable replacement for the Switch 1, as Nintendo is testing all 10,000+ Switch games one by one to make sure they work on the new console. Don’t throw away your old Switch just yet.

There is one bright spot in Switch 2 emulation, however: GameCube support. Starting with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker , F-Zero GX , and Soul Calibur II , Nintendo is set to begin adding GameCube games to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack plan that can be played exclusively on the Switch 2 (and are compatible with the optional GameCube-style controller sold separately exclusively for Switch Online members). For me, Wind Waker worked flawlessly, and pausing and resuming was instantaneous. $50 a year is a lot for such a small selection of games, especially when there are, ahem, other ways to get them, but it’s convenient. And hey, as a bonus, expansion pack membership includes at least the Switch 2 Edition upgrades for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom .

Switch 2 is boring, and that’s ok

So what does this all mean for Switch 2? Well, truth be told, it’s not as dark as I described.

At its core, the Switch 2 is a polished piece of hardware with plenty of quality of life improvements and one new control trick (I really like it, but I’m not sure if it’ll stick). It doesn’t go beyond hardware and, like the GameCube or Wii U (eventually), it relies on its games to sell. And before I found out it cost $450 (why didn’t we say that during the Direct, Nintendo?), this article was initially much more lenient on it.

But with a price tag that’s $150 higher than the original Switch’s launch price, higher than the Steam Deck, and on par with Sony’s entry-level PS5, I have no choice but to get a little more picky. This isn’t necessarily a problem, but it does mean I have to give the same boring advice I would give to almost any console launch, rather than the advice I typically gave on a previous Nintendo launch.

Unless your supply of bananas is overflowing, or if you absolutely need a new Mario Kart on day one, or if you can’t make any kind of compromise when strapping on Samus Aran’s helmet, you should wait to buy the Nintendo Switch 2. There simply aren’t enough compelling reasons to upgrade at this time, and given that support for the Switch 1 is either paid or prone to glitches, I doubt it will be around for much longer. Wait for a sale (or at least until a FromSoft exclusive game comes out).

This is fine. I’ll probably say the same about the PS6, and it was probably the right move for Nintendo. The Wii U famously failed to move away from the strengths of its predecessor, so it makes sense for the Switch 2 to aim for “Switch but more,” and the only way to do that while staying within the budget of a family console in the tariff era is to do pretty much the same thing again, but with some minor improvements.

But it’s still a slight disappointment. I would generally recommend buying something like the original Switch at launch. It was something new and affordable, so you won’t lose much if you use it right away. However, it now seems that even Nintendo can’t escape the homogenization that is sweeping the rest of the tech industry. Every phone is now a candy bar, and increasingly every gaming console is just a faceless black box.

More…