Nintendo Switch 2 - Console Review

The Nintendo Switch 2 is finally in the palm of our hands! The long wait from a successful 8-year generation from its predecessor wasn’t as gruelling considering we’ve had a healthy run of new and innovative games from Nintendo, but there’s just something about taking that shiny new toy out of its box and experiencing the next 8 years of one’s gaming life all over again.

The original Nintendo Switch was revolutionary and innovative, but after so long with an outdated graphics Nvidia Tegra X1 chip at launch and our slew of recent reviews repeatedly saying the same thing, “poor performance on the Switch version, etc., etc…,” having a brand new hybrid console from Nintendo that’s ready to take on the current generation is a truly exciting prospect. But whenever there’s hype, there are aspects that don’t tend to live up to expectations, so I’ve gone ahead and broken down the good and the bad of the Nintendo Switch 2.

The Good

First of all, having a Nintendo console that can run current-generation games with very little compromise is a sight to behold. Admittedly, we did receive ports of current-gen games at the time with the original Nintendo Switch (DOOM (2016) and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt come to mind), but many of these games came with considerable compromises. I’m currently playing Cyberpunk 2077 on my Nintendo Switch 2 (review still to come) and while there are noticeable downgrades compared to the PC or PS5/Xbox, these are certainly not as drastic as the measures taken to port CD Projekt Red’s previous title to the Switch 2’s predecessor. I’m not a tech expert, that’s for sure, but with the improved horsepower and Nvidia’s custom chipset with DLSS technology, I feel optimistic about the Nintendo Switch 2’s future with third-party support.

Our writer Max Olds recently published his review on Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, and while I felt a chill run up and down my spine as I pressed the ‘Proceed to Purchase’ button, it has certainly helped me with this review. While many Nintendo purists have expressed their disheartened concerns over Nintendo losing its quirkiness, I firmly believe that the Nintendo Switch 2 is a culmination of all Nintendo’s past iteration attempts. The improved gyro controls allow for much more accurate Wii Remote-style play, and the mouse controls provide new avenues for them and third-party developers to experiment with. The latter also allows for more games to migrate over while providing more options to play.

Speaking of refinements, everything about the console’s UI is much more streamlined, especially the eShop. The eShop on the original Nintendo Switch was a horrendous experience to find and purchase games in, and its discoverability and wishlist system were atrocious. The new eShop now loads much quicker, feels far less bloated, and has some fantastic quality-of-life features. For one, trailers and screenshots will play when you hover over the thumbnail of a game, meaning you don’t actually need to load a whole new page just to see what the game is about; and if those snippets have you excited, you can simply press X to wishlist the game without even having to open the page at all. Speaking of wishlisting, the page that features all of your wishlists can now be filtered in many more ways, and there’s even an ‘On Sale’ checkbox you can tick—how neat is that!?

TL;DR

• Substantial performance improvements
• A slew of refinements
• More refined UI and eShop elements

The Bad

Similar to the original Nintendo Switch’s first iteration, the battery life is not the greatest. As someone who works from home most of the time, this isn’t too much of a deal breaker, but I’m dreading my next flight (I should probably bring a book with me as well, just to be safe). I’ll generally take my Switch 2 to bed and play for a while before I sleep, and I can usually get approximately two hours of Mario Kart World and/or Cyberpunk 2077 out of it before it tells me it needs to recharge. Perhaps my Switch 2 is trying to tell me to fix my sleeping habits… nah, I’d prefer the better battery life. After approximately one year on the market, the original Nintendo Switch quietly received an upgraded SKU with a far superior battery life, which all future models followed suit with thereafter. Nintendo has also offered suggestions to improve the battery life, but I’ve personally had little luck with these methods. Thankfully, there’s a second USB-C port at the top of the console, so I can charge the console on a flight in tabletop mode, but it’s a less than ideal situation, that’s for sure.

When I first held the Nintendo Switch 2, I was surprised at just how light it was considering the size. However, after a week with this thing and holding it up in bed, I’m now starting to feel the weight of the device… literally. I’m coming off of the Nintendo Switch OLED Model, which weighed in at 421 grams with the Joy-Cons attached, while the Nintendo Switch 2 weighs in at 534 grams with the Joy-Cons attached, and while that doesn’t sound like much, it does begin to build up some lactic acid in the muscles after a couple of hours. Perhaps I’ll come out of this generation with really toned forearm muscles…

Lastly, I’m going to play devil’s advocate here for a moment and really channel my inner Nintendo fanboyism. I love the idea that the Switch 2 takes everything great from its predecessor and improves on them in almost every way, but there is a small part of me that wanted more of that Nintendo charm. While they may not be the most profitable eras of the company’s history, I long for the sense of wonder that came from StreetPass on my Nintendo 3DS or the wow factor of holding a Wii Remote for the very first time. I even enjoyed collecting stickers in Super Mario 3D World on my Wii U and using them in Miiverse. We’re still in the very early days of the Switch 2 lifespan and it took a whole year before Nintendo pulled a Nintendo on us to sell Nintendo Labo on the Nintendo Switch. And while I love the Switch 2 and everything it’s doing to keep up with modern hardware standards, I’d love to see just a little more of that Nintendo charm shine through.

TL;DR

• Battery life concerns
• Perhaps a little too big?
• Lacking a little of that Nintendo magic

Final Score: 8/10

The Nintendo Switch 2 promises a blindingly bright future, with up to 4K visuals and 120 frames per second, and we have some exciting titles coming up within its first year alone: Donkey Kong Bananza, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Kirby Air Riders, and even some wacky titles next year like Rhythm Heaven: Groove and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. There’s certainly going to be no shortage of great games on Nintendo Switch 2 from both Nintendo and third-party publishers, and for once, it’s nice to not have to worry as much about whether the console can actually run them. This next leap forward refines everything Nintendo has done in the past while adding Mouse Mode, which is sure to bring some fun new experiences while providing more play styles for accessibility.

The downside to all of this is in the finer details, such as its initial battery life and the size of the console itself. That’s not to say that there may not be future iterations that improve on these matters much in the same way as the original Nintendo Switch had in its lifespan, but only time will tell on that front.

Overall, I am incredibly bullish about the future of Nintendo and the Nintendo Switch 2. The system is chock full of horsepower and gimmicks, while the initial software lineup is certainly a promising one. I just hope Nintendo continues to surprise us with wacky new experiments along the way.

Thank you for checking out our Nintendo Switch 2 review, thank you to Nintendo AU/NZ for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:

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