It’s been eight years since the Switch originally launched and shook up the gaming scene with a system that tried to be both a handheld and home console in one. Though held back by its performance and certain unnamed controller issues, the system has been a raving success for Nintendo, reportedly selling more than 150 million units between its various iterations. A new system has been long overdue from the company, and after a long wait, we’ve finally got Nintendo’s latest and greatest in-hand. Having had a week with the Switch 2 though, is it really all it’s cracked up to be?

It’s the Switch, Again?

So let’s just dive in. At its core the Switch 2 is a slightly bigger Switch with slightly longer Joy Cons, slightly smoother sticks, an extra USB C port, better kickstand, and a particularly contentious button I won’t name for now. When it was announced I wasn’t caught in the same sense of hype I had for the original system and felt no need to go out to one of Nintendo’s big experiences to try it for myself. That didn’t mean I had no plans of getting one though. Though a little lacklustre on paper, the Switch 2 wasn’t so much a console I was excited to experience so much as it was a system I was excited to own. The Switch as a concept always resonated with me, and through those eight years of owning the system I’ve amassed a library of more than 90 physical and 300 digital games. A lot of those games I haven’t given the time they deserve. Some I admit are overly zealous purchases on sale, but a good chunk just did not perform to a standard where I thought I could sit down and enjoy them to their fullest. The idea of a Switch that just performs better is enough to have me invested, and in that much the Switch 2 surely succeeds.

Much like the outward appearance of the hardware, much of the software experience will be familiar to owners of the original system. For some this will be a positive, but I can certainly understand those feeling underwhelmed by the sameness of it all. Rocking what appears to be the same Horizon OS under the hood, continuing from where the Switch left off in terms of versioning, the system isn’t exactly pushing the boat out. Sure the game icons are rounded now, and a few menus have been tweaked, but I’m just left wanting a bit of something. Anything really. The Switch got away with how bare it felt at launch in no small part due to the novelty of its form factor. That and people were too busy playing Breath of the Wild to complain. There was also something of an expectation that the underlying OS would develop in time much like what happened with the 3DS; though the 3DS has themes and folders now (and even had badges at some point!), it was even more bare than the Switch at launch. Those dreams never really materialised though, and here we are in the same position again with the Switch 2.

I do get it. And I know there will be some out there who will cry from the rooftops that the home menu isn’t important. “You’re here to play games, not sit on the menu” is something along the lines of the usual rhetoric. And again I agree, but I still want more. What’s wrong with wanting a system with great games and fun menu to go with them? Nintendo are supposed to be the company that embody the idea of fun games and gimmicky systems, it’s a company like that you would hope to see stand out for exactly these smaller details. To give credit where due the home screen and system apps aren’t entirely without change, and the changes that have been made are without exception for the better. The rounded icons look nice, the new sound effects are satisfying, and not needing to double tap the icons along the bottom of the home screen? Whoever thought that detail up deserves a raise.

More importantly though system apps see a performance boost too, with the standout definitely being the eShop. No longer will you need to rely on external sites like DekuDeals to browse the system’s upcoming and recently released titles (though sites like that are still very good and very much recommended by me if you’re wanting to quickly surf one of the larger sales). Navigation is fluid, images and screenshots load quickly, it’s everything you would hope a digital storefront would be in 2025. This same praise can be extended to the Nintendo Switch Online applet on the home screen. I think I opened it once on the original Switch, but now I do feel it’s a viable launcher for the various Nintendo Classic apps. The system as a whole feels much nicer to navigate despite so little outwardly changing. I still want more from the Switch 2 in terms of those smaller details and bouts of personalisation, but on a larger scale I do think what we have now is fine. Not exceptional, not charming, but fine.

The Price of Professional Gaming

One area I really feel Nintendo nailed the assignment was its Pro Controller, and to a lesser extent, its Joy Con 2 Charging Grip. Now do I feel like the latter should’ve been included in the box? Yes. But it is still a good product and far more worthwhile to pick up than the original Switch’s Charging Grip. Why is that? Because it has the same GL and GR buttons as the full-priced £75 Pro Controller. For those who may have quite understandably skipped both of these, the GL and GR buttons are additional mappable buttons that live on the grips of both the Switch 2 Pro Controller and its new Charging Grip. We’ve seen paddles on both Xbox’s Elite and Sony’s Edge controllers, so it’s nice to see Nintendo not only catching up, but offering a genuinely premium feature on a lower priced peripheral.

To start with that lower priced peripheral it largely does what it says on the tin. It’s the bog standard grip that you can attach your two Joy Con 2s to (try saying that a few times fast) with some translucent plastic, a USB C port, and the aforementioned bonus buttons. It costs £30 here in the UK and I actually ended up buying it. It was the new Rune Factory game that sold me on it. If you’re interested in a review for the game, you can check out the one Sony wrote up last week, but the swing factor for me was something new to the Switch 2 version: mouse mode. Rune Factory doesn’t use the system’s new mouse mode much; in fact it only really utilises it for one segment of the game. This ended up being a problem for me in finding the best way to play. I liked the Pro Controller as a solid block to hold, and the GL and GR buttons were great to map things like running and aiming. But I had no way to use mouse mode in the few instances where I wanted it. The included grip let me pop out a Joy Con when I wanted to use mouse mode without bringing up the controller connection menu and then just pop it back in when I was done. This was missing the GL and GR buttons however. The Charging Grip was just a good fit, and I can see it getting more use from me as more games that lightly utilise the system’s mouse mode release over time. It’s a nice bonus that the GL and GR mappings are on a per-game basis, which really just means less faffing about in settings menus. Again I will stress that this feels like something that should’ve been included as standard, but to those who are looking at it and thinking you might like what it offers, it may well be worth it.

The full fat Pro Controller is its own beast though, and I can safely say it is my favourite controller to date. Bar none. The material used for the controller feels great on the hands, and I really can’t sum it up any better than @Darth Meteos already has in comparing it to the “ooh, that feels nice” technology from the edge of the Wii U discs on the whole controller. It’s a joy, but it doesn’t stop there. The real draw of the controller for me is its sticks. I’ll get this out of the way now, they’re not Hall effect. We’ve had time for people to tear down the controller and it’s been confirmed we’re looking at Alps sticks, albeit slightly unique modules. They use potentiometers under the hood and, yes, can in time develop a drift. It’s still the nicest controller I’ve used. Despite their primitive technology, Nintendo have managed a stick that is incredibly smooth with a muted sound when hitting the rim directly. This is managed using a rubber ring surrounding the sticks for them to hit as you move to one extreme or the other. They’re not the first to do something like this, but it’s still a great showing. Add to this the incredible battery life Nintendo’s Pro Controllers are known for, the GL and GR buttons I’ve already touched on, and a headphone jack? If you’ve got the £75 and want the best way to play your non-mouse mode Switch 2 games, this will be it. It’s a high price of entry, much like other aspects of the new ecosystem, but it is a worthwhile one.

Refreshing the Switch Library

Before jumping into the games that are brand new to the Switch 2, I feel it’s better to look at the colossal library of its predecessor. That is of course because the vast majority of those games are playable on the new console, and not only that, will actually play better. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room first though, this isn’t full native backward compatibility. Nintendo are using some kind of translation layer to support Switch games on the Switch 2, and it isn’t perfect. You’ll find some games with new bugs on the new system, and though these are likely to be worked out in time, it can be a frustrating thing to encounter. Personally I’ve only run into a minor visual bug when playing Pokemon Scarlet where the terrain texture seemed to warp in the mountains of Kitakami as I walked through them. Notably Pokemon Scarlet is a game that has actually had an update for better Switch 2 support, so these things can slip through. As a whole though I’ve been seriously impressed.

My biggest concern through the buildup to launch was that we’d see another backwards compatibility situation like we had with 3DS games on the New 3DS. A situation where the older titles wouldn’t have access to the new power, and would ultimately be stuck in their less than ideal state. That isn’t the case here. If a game wasn’t hitting its performance target or if a game used a dynamic resolution, you can largely expect the former to be fixed and the latter to be locked to its highest setting. No changes needed. It’s fantastic. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a game that’s particularly noteworthy to me. I picked it up at launch and struggled to play it with how poorly it ran on the Switch. I put it down, and it took me a few years before I just decided to dump my cartridge and emulate the game. It’s a great game, and now people can experience it in the best possible way on official hardware.

For regular old Switch games the larger screen for handheld play has been fantastic, and naturally enhances some games that didn’t really have any issues to begin with. Pocket Card Jockey has had my attention for some time and it’s been great to jump into when between other games on the Switch 2. I’ve also played some Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, Fire Emblem Engage, and Mario 3D All Stars amongst others. Everything has been fantastic. If I had to pull a criticism, it’s that I wish Nintendo had put something on the OS side to give users the option to bump up resolution for original Switch titles without them needing an update, similar to how you can enable resolution scaling in the various Switch emulators. With Nintendo’s translation layer I don’t know if this was unfeasible or just something they wanted to avoid with it potentially reintroducing performance issues if used on the wrong game, but it would’ve gone a long way in enhancing games that otherwise aren’t likely to get such treatment. I swear Girls und Panzer on the Switch runs around 360p in handheld mode, somebody please give it the love it deserves.

Obviously some games have seen a dedicated patch for better Switch 2 support, and those games really do stand out on the system. There’s a decent assortment on offer, with some being free to download, and others being paid “Switch 2 Edition” upgrades. It’s a little random as to what is being charged for and what isn’t, and does sadly lead to some confusion with the free games not having any kind of indication on the eShop or other official pages that they do in fact run better on the Switch 2. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are basically new games and it feels like that fact really should be shouted about more. Just a tag on the eShop to mark what is “Switch 2 Enhanced” or something similar would go such a long way, and this is something I really do hope Nintendo choose to implement if these free upgrades are expected to continue. Just having the same “Supported” statement under the Switch 2 compatibility information sells these games tremendously short.

When it comes to the paid upgrades I surprisingly have no complaints. I get that people don’t want to put down the extra money to play an older title again, but having played them I do genuinely believe they offer a worthwhile and transformative experience. I’ve spent a few hours starting a new Master Mode file on Breath of the Wild, making use of Zelda Notes to get new lore tidbits and guide me to Koroks and overworld bosses. It’s been a remarkably laid back way to just cruise through the game again and appreciate the upgraded visuals and better performance. I’d make a point out of saying that I don’t think it’s a great way for first-time players to interact with the world, but as somebody who’s already seen most of what the game has to offer, it’s really just nice to go from place to place on a bit of a treasure hunt.

I’ve also had an absolute blast playing the new Rune Factory game, Guardians of Azuma. In her review Sony mentioned a few graphical sacrifices were made for the game to run well on the original Switch. With the Switch 2 Edition you see a bump in resolution, a 60fps target that appears to be being hit to my untrained eye, and as a whole a game that does not feel compromised for a handheld platform. It’s been one of my favourite games to play on the Switch 2, with even small things like the minor mouse control implementation going a long way in crafting a great experience for the system. I’ll definitely be sticking with it and playing the game to its conclusion. If you’re a fan of RPGs, town customisation and management, or just a little bit of life simulation and farming, it’s a really great game to pick up.

Next up I want to look at two different approaches to upgrading a Switch game for the new console, these being the updated releases of No Man’s Sky and Nobunaga’s Ambition Awakening. To start with the positive, Hello Games have pulled a blinder here. Not only is the game reduced to £16 from £40 until the end of the week, it also has an entirely free upgrade path under the formal “Switch 2 Edition” moniker. It’s no small update either, not only enhancing visuals and performance, but also bringing multiplayer to the platform for the first time. I’ll confess this is the first time I’ve given No Man’s Sky a shot after its initial launch woes, but it seems like a pretty fun game to me, and I’m excited to see more of it. Nobunaga’s Ambition though? I really wanted to like it more.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely the best portable way to play the game. That much I will grant Koei Tecmo. I am a huge enjoyer of the series and reviewed the game for PC when it originally launched, and if you’ve never tried a Nobunaga game before, it’s as good a game as any to jump in on. My faults with the Switch 2 Edition are that the upgrades just don’t feel that impactful. Again I’ll give credit where due, adding mouse mode to a game like this is a big deal. It’s the ideal way to interact with the game, and having a version that supports both controllers and mice does make it better than the PC release in some ways (the PC version not actually supporting controllers), but that is the bulk of this upgrade. Graphics and textures do appear to have been improved, but Koei have for some reason neglected to render the UI and text in a higher resolution, making them really stand out on a 4K monitor and cheapen the larger experience with how much menuing you’ll be doing. You get the DLC from the original release bundled in which is nice, but is that worth buying the whole game again for £58? It most certainly is not. And that’s where this all really falls apart.

Owners of the original Switch release are just left out to dry with no upgrade path for no apparent reason. I picked up the game physically just a few months ago and poking around the eShop there really is no weird hidden DLC like we’ve seen with Hogwarts Legacy, no update to download that adds the new mouse functionality. It’s a huge disappointment that I sincerely hope does not become the norm. The only companies I know that have taken this approach are Koei Tecmo with Nobunaga’s Ambition Awakening and SEGA with Sonic X Shadow Generations. With some luck that is where the list ends. These are not cheap games, and expecting fans of the series to pay full price for them twice is entirely unreasonable, especially with Sonic X Shadow Generations in particular being less than a year old at this point. It leaves me in a difficult spot, because despite it all I do feel Nobunaga’s Ambition Awakening is a game worth buying on Switch 2. It is however not a game worth rebuying if you already own it on the original Switch.

New Games on the Horizon

We’ve finally reached the part of the post where we talk about the games that are exclusive to the Switch 2. It’s been a long journey of highs and lows, but we’re here now. Mario Kart World. I know there’s going to be a lot of you out there hoping to hear something different, but I’ll give it to you straight: it’s a good game. There is a reason Mario Kart has been Nintendo’s best-selling game on the Wii, 3DS, Wii U, and Switch (not counting Wii Sports on the Wii anyway). They know how to make a kart racing game work, and this is no exception. It is different though, and to me that’s only a good thing. It would be easy to rest on your laurels and just release a new game that’s basically Mario Kart 8 again with new tracks, but they haven’t done that. From the visual design to the tracks to how the karts handle, Mario Kart World is its own game, and I am here for that.

The most impactful change is without a doubt the new movement options, and by extension how the kart handles while driving. Unlike the jumps from Wii to 7, and from 7 to 8, World felt genuinely foreign to me when I first picked it up. The new movement options were a little overwhelming, but what really struck me was just how heavy the vehicles felt going around corners. This felt worse yet for me as somebody who really likes the inside drifting bikes on Mario Kart 8. I’ve been playing for a while now and I just can’t find anything that matches that kind of tight drifting, resulting in me using karts for the first time in years. I don’t feel that same gap between the two options that has previously existed; there’s still different styles of drifting, but I can fairly naturally move between them this time around. It’s good in terms of accessibility and in opening up more options with less of an adjustment period, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss my Inkling Girl on her Sport Bike just a little.

Coming back around to the new movement options and you will find a depth to this game that is entirely foreign to the series. There are three new things, and they generally play into each other. First you have rail grinding. If there’s a wire hanging above you, a fence to the side of you, or just a Sonic Adventure 2-style rail somewhere on the track, you can now mount it and continually perform tricks on it. Tricks now also work directionally in this game, allowing for you to jump off the rail in a way that suits you, potentially letting you chain together different rail sections or jump back onto an optimal racing path. You can also go straight from a rail onto a wall, another new aspect of the game. Wall riding isn’t something I’m quite used to yet, but seeing some time trials floating around online, it’s something I definitely want to learn. The Great ? Block Ruins has been the big showstopper track for these technical tricks, and seeing something like this being done completely blows my mind. Both rail grinding and wall riding are supported by a new jump mechanic that you can access by holding the drift button without a directional input. Once charged you’re able to hop up onto whatever you want, or even jump over things like shells coming your way. The charging of the jump does slow you down slightly however, so there’s a certain risk and reward to it that you’ve got to balance out.

As a whole I feel the tracks on show here are a series high. I say that in terms of their larger design, their music, and even just how adaptable they have needed to be to support so many ways of engaging with them. The amount of effort required to have made it all work is truly astonishing, and the end product is something really special. Each track can be driven as a standard three lap race, as a part of a Grand Prix with a segment of the race containing the road leading up to the track, and as a part of a Knockout Tour where you’re just passing through a small section. The interconnectivity of the world is impressive in a way we’ve never seen from the series without sacrificing what made it so popular to begin with. In my time playing, Knockout Tour has definitely been my favourite mode. With 24 racers on the track and a shrinking number making it through each segment of the race I frequently find myself in races for 12th place, 4th place, giving that finish line feeling time after time over the course of a single race.

If I had to find fault with Knockout Tours, it’s really that there’s just not enough of them. Mario Kart World only has eight of them to play, and for online races especially this does feel incredibly underwhelming. Though they are long races that take you through four or five different tracks, you’ll only be playing through those same few long races on loop. Of all the things I hope Nintendo bring to the game through updates, more Knockout Tours is at the top. A randomised tour would probably be the most fun for the online mode, keeping the experience fresh and rewarding those that choose to engage with the open world beyond what is regularly seen through the set races. There’s a really solid base there that I hope does get built on over time.

The larger open world is fun to navigate, though I must confess it’s not something I’ve really played with much beyond unlocking a few outfits for characters I enjoy playing as. It’s not that there aren’t things to do and find, but the game’s complete lack of tracking which things you’ve done or found kills my motivation to start until I at least have some kind of regional count to hand. I don’t necessarily want everything to be pointed out to me, but I would at least want to know how many Peach Coins are hidden on a certain course, or how many of the missions are scattered around the desert. I enjoy the driving and seeing the world, but I don’t want to be wasting time searching for things that might not even be there.

With Zelda Notes having launched for the updated versions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, I do have a theory in mind that they’ve got plans for something similar in Mario Kart World down the line. And to be fair to them, a little sat nav on your phone does sound like a really good fit for the game. I wouldn’t want everything to be pointed out to me right out of the gate, but what we have now in this area doesn’t feel enough.

All things considered I would personally call Mario Kart World a success, and another great entry to the larger series. I can understand the frustration of some with there not being a big adventure title to launch with the system, but as games go that keep people coming back daily, Mario Kart really is a solid pick. With DK set to launch next month it’s really not as though people are waiting long for the next big hit either. Comparing it to the launch titles on offer for the Switch, Wii U, and Wii, I think it does fine.

It’s not just Mario Kart World that launched on the Switch 2 last week though, and one game in particular had me more excited than most: Hitman. I love this game. Since the roguelike Freelancer Mode was added back in 2023 I have sunk hundreds of hours into the PC release and keep coming back for more. When I saw the full World of Assassination was coming to the Switch 2 I knew I had to jump at it. What we have here though? As it stands it isn’t worth picking up, and I cannot express just how disappointed I am to say that.

I could spend hours going into a borderline rant on the topic, but for the sake of brevity I will contain myself. The game’s struggles really can be condensed into two core areas: its performance and its “offline mode”. The former I hope can be fixed by IO given the consistent reporting of such issues; the game looks remarkably good on Switch 2, and I would be happy to lose some of that quality if it means I can get a stable framerate. Even the option to just lock the game to 30fps would be greatly appreciated. The latter though? They’re not going to fix that.

The modern Hitman titles have been always-online since the first of the trilogy launched in 2015. The reasoning has always been a little out there for me, but with it being played on home consoles or PCs it’s not something that’s bothered me. It’s incredibly rare to be without internet on a system that’s pretty much bolted in place after all. On the Switch 2 though? On a portable system? It’s lacking, and it’s bewildering that on their own news page they state you can play the game “seamlessly offline and on the go”. There is nothing seamless about it. To be clear, the game does have an offline mode. This offline mode however limits you to only being able to play the main missions, not carrying any of your online mode progress over. It is a blatantly misleading way to advertise the game that I'm shocked they opted to post.

I love the World of Assassination, but there is no way I can meaningfully recommend it in the state it’s in. If you can work around the online requirements and the performance issues do get fixed you’ll be in for a stellar time. But I really would say to hold off and not support the game as it is now.

To close up this roundup I will shine a light on a game I didn’t expect to enjoy, and a game I’m expecting a lot of people to want to hate on principle: Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. I bought it with the intent of writing something up for it but haven’t found the time to give it its own post, so let’s just cover it here briefly. I think it’s a fun idea, and I think Nintendo did it well. You wander around a colossal Switch 2 and its various accessories, learning about the finer details of the system through quizzes and small minigames. It’s presented in a somewhat sterile-looking package, but is supported by surprisingly fun dialogue and games that will offer a genuine challenge if you’re looking to collect all the medals on offer for high scores.

I went into Switch 2 Welcome Tour expecting to hate it and write about how much I think it’s not a worthwhile title, but that just isn’t the case. Nintendo have something good here that I hope will be updated as new accessories release, and that I hope will see a sequel when a new console eventually drops ten years from now. Saying that though? It should have been free. This would have been the perfect way for people to begin their journey with the new system, and it is a tragedy to me that it’ll grab the attention of maybe 1% of the new and rapidly growing audience. Nintendo dropped the ball in more ways than I can count, having passed up so many ways to get the software in the hands of Switch 2 users while still technically charging for it, since they do seem fairly adamant it’s worth paying for. The simplest approach would’ve been to make it free for NSO subscribers; even a Game Trial for launch week would’ve given people enough time to check it out, as well as giving people entirely new to the ecosystem a reason to redeem a Switch Online trial. Beyond that we could’ve seen the game bundled with new Joy Cons or any of the other accessories that it features. Realistically though, they could’ve just slapped the price of the game onto the base Switch 2 price and people probably wouldn’t have noticed. It’s this outward idea that this is premium software that deserves to be purchased on its own merits that holds it back from mass appeal, and that is a shame to me.

With that in mind I figured I would do what Nintendo won’t. I’ve got four codes for the game on hand, and I’m happy to give them away. If you feel like you’d enjoy playing through Welcome Tour, just leave a comment along the lines of “I’d play it if it were free” and I’ll enter you into a raffle to get a copy. The prizes will be drawn at some point on Sunday this week, and I’ll stick a threadmark on this post so the winners will be visible. The only restriction on winning is that you were a member of the forum before this post went live. If you happen to be reading this on a guest account, feel free to sign up now to be able to enter things like this going forwards!

A Good Year To Come

One week on I can safely say I’m glad I bought the Switch 2. Some games have disappointed me, sure, but as a whole the system is exactly what I wanted from the Switch’s successor. Though at the moment it does rely on its predecessor’s library to prop up its launch titles I do find myself excited for the year to come, and more so for what comes after that. Next month we see DK returning in style, August we have one of my favourite Story of Seasons games getting remade alongside a long-overdue return for Inazuma Eleven. September has Daemon X Machina, October has Pokemon Legends ZA. We’ve also got Metroid Prime 4 and Kirby Air Riders slotting in somewhere, alongside the updates to Super Mario Party Jamboree and Kirby Forgotten Lands.

We are at the ground floor of a new Nintendo console, and as unexciting as the hardware might be, it is exactly what I wanted to see from them. Having seen Mario Kart World I can’t wait to see what else the company has planned for the system, as well as how third parties will use the additional power on offer. With how long it took to release in the first place, we may very well be at the start of another eight year cycle from Nintendo, and I can’t wait to see just what we’ll have to play in that time.