Nintendo Switch 2 Console Review – A Bigger, Bolder, and Smarter Evolution of the Switch

The original Switch was lightning in a bottle. It was a perfect concept, that was executed extremely well, supported by a company that finally had its ducks in a row, and was able to get to the peak of its creative powers. It sold untold, obscene numbers – it is likely to go down in history as the highest selling game platform of all time by the time it is pulled from the market. If nothing else, it is guaranteed to be the highest selling Nintendo system of all time. It’s sold over 150 million units of hardware, and over a billion units of software. The scale of its success is mind boggling, and has not been seen this side of the PS2, which is the only other hardware to achieve both of those feats.

In other words, there’s a gigantic, highly engaged audience here that Nintendo needs to sell on a successor. That successor, which has been rumoured and reported on for literally years at this point, has been long in the coming. The existing Switch, fantastic machine though it is, has increasingly been unable to keep up with the demands that modern games make of it, not just third party titles, but even Nintendo’s own. And the Switch concept has remained evergreen, with the original Switch, in spite of its age, or those aforementioned limitations, or those expectations of a successor, or even the lack of a price drop, continuing to sell millions upon millions more than eight years after release.

"Unlike the original Switch, the Joycons do not wiggle, do not flex, and do not give under pressure at all."

All of which points to the necessity of making a Switch 2 that is an appreciable upgrade over the existing console, but also not a disruptive one. And ultimately, that’s exactly what Nintendo has delivered here. The Switch 2 is very much what it says on the box – it’s a new Switch. It’s bigger, it’s more powerful. It supports HDR, 4K, DLSS, 120fps, VRR in handheld mode, and even has intriguing new mouse controls built in. But for all of that, it is ultimately a bigger and better Switch. 

This isn’t meant to be a criticism – a better Switch was quite literally exactly what Switch owners have wanted from its successor, and exactly what was needed. Nintendo couldn’t afford any gimmick that would take away from the hybrid functionality of the Switch, as much for its appeal in the marketplace as for the fact that Nintendo cannot afford splitting development resources across independent handheld and console platforms again. So getting exactly what was needed, without any unnecessary disruptive feature thrown in just for novelty’s sake, is good! A nicer Switch was precisely what the doctor ordered.

And it is nicer. By a lot. Gone is the flimsiness and the plasticky build of the original – the Switch 2 feels premium. The build quality is excellent, with very high grade materials used for the body, the controllers, the screen, and even the kickstand (which is where Nintendo cheaped out the most on the original Switch, an oversight that was addressed with the OLED revision at least). High grade metals and plastics have been used for the construction, and the whole package reeks of a mature aesthetic and sensibility that is very unlike Nintendo. This is an expensive machine, and when you hold it in your hands, it feels expensive.

A lot of this comes down to the new attachment mechanism for the Joycons. Rather than being slotted into a rail, they now attach electromagnetically, which makes a world of a difference. Unlike the original Switch, the Joycons do not wiggle, do not flex, and do not give under pressure at all. They sit flush with the system, so flush, in fact, that it would be easy to assume they’re a solid part of its body, rather than being discrete attachments. The whole system feels solid, as a result, which goes a long way towards addressing that sense of flimsiness in the original Switch.

"Across pretty much all metrics, the Switch 2 supports every major current generation feature in some capacity."

Aesthetically, this is very much a Switch, using the exact same design language and with very few inherent differences. Yes, the color is different, yes the size is bigger. But other than that, there aren’t that many visual differences between the Switch 2 and the original models. The biggest one is the kickstand, which has a U-shape, and allows for full support across almost 90 degrees, like the OLED model’s kickstand did. There’s also a USB-C slot neat the top, which can be used to charge the system, as well as for accessories such as the Switch 2 camera (but not to dock the system).

Realistically this isn’t bad thing, as, again, the Switch concept is evergreen (and also, limits what you can do if you stick to it). It is a little disappointing that there are no color options available for the new Joycon at launch, as those were a great way for people to differentiate their system and personalize it to their liking, but hopefully, Nintendo will launch multiple colors and variants over the next few years.

And the Switch 2 should be expected to last for a few years. If it’s anything like its predecessor, this system will play sole host to all Nintendo games, as well as the entirety of the Nintendo ecosystem, for the better part of a decade. It is, therefore, heartening to see that Nintendo has equipped the system well to be able to keep up with modern third party titles. Out of the box, it comes with support for 4K graphics (in docked mode; the handheld screen is 1080p), 120 frames per second, HDR, 3D audio, variable rate refresh (we’ll get back to this in a bit), Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology, refined haptics, an SSD, and even ray tracing.

Across pretty much all metrics, the Switch 2 supports every major current generation feature in some capacity. Obviously none of these features are anywhere close to being as robust or substantial as they are on a PlayStation 5 or a high end gaming PC, but their presence here suggests the possibility of third parties finding it easier to scale their games to run on the Switch 2 than they ever did for the original Switch – which often had to get separate, bespoke versions made for it (which would still run poorly).

"Conversely, however, the portable mode supports VRR, which docked mode does not."

Across the board, then, whether you prefer handheld mode or docked mode, you are looking at substantially better graphics and visuals on the Switch 2 than on the original Switch. There are definitely going to be areas where one mode is better than the other, however. For example, as good as the Switch 2 screen is – and it is definitely a great looking screen, bright, vibrant, and a far better looking screen than in the launch model Switch, the Switch Lite, the launch model Steam Deck, or the PlayStation Portal – it is an LCD screen, which means that in terms of HDR, for example, it performs a lot worse than a high end TV is likely to. 

Conversely, however, the portable mode supports VRR, which docked mode does not. VRR can be game changing, particularly for games that target lower frame rates – which, you have to imagine, a lot of games on a lower powered device like the Switch 2 will – and it’s only available in portable mode right now. This comes down to how the Switch 2 outputs its video signal in docked mode – it sends it out over USB-C, which converts it to HDMI via Display Port, a series of conversions that wreaks havoc on VRR. Hopefully, this is a problem that can be resolved eventually – other recent systems like PS5 and Steam Deck also lacked VRR support at launch, but did end up getting it eventually.

These quirks aside though, you’re going to get far better graphics on the Switch 2 than the original across the board. This can be easily verified by anyone themselves – playing Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2 is eye opening compared to how they look and run on the original Switch. Running in a locked 60 frames per second (the original releases are infamous for not even keeping a steady 30fps), and a beautiful 1440p in docked mode and 900p in handheld mode, the games look sharper, cleaner, clearer, and smoother than they ever have before. The loading is almost instantaneous too, which is a very underrated upgrade, but one that can be hard to go back from. Nintendo has more of these Switch 2 Editions planned for their first party games, and hopefully they can keep that ball rolling for a while, because I would love to play a lot of Switch games with these kinds of upgrades.

Those two games have gotten substantial Switch 2 upgrades in the form of paid Switch 2 Editions. But even games without these paid upgrades run significantly better on Switch. This can, again, be in multiple forms. We have games such as Super Mario Odyssey, or Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which got free patches to enable better performance and graphics on Switch 2, for example. Odyssey gets HDR support and higher resolution, which makes an already good looking game even better. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet can be transformative, on the other hand. The Switch versions were broken, buggy, unstable, stuttered a lot, suffered from awful pop in, and across the board were an embarrassment. The Switch 2 versions look sharp, run at a locked 60fps, have better lighting, better object density, better draw distance, and actually look and run like you would imagine a finished game to.

"That excellent backward compatibility isn’t just limited to the games, either – Nintendo has also extended it to controllers, accessories, and peripherals."

So even these free upgrades can make a big difference – again, I sincerely hope Nintendo keeps this going and has more of these updates planned for its enormous Switch catalog in the coming months and years.

Which brings us to the last category of Switch game, which will be most Switch games that people play on Switch 2 – one that got no free patch or paid upgrade at all. These games, when running on the Switch 2, also run better, simply by virtue of running on better hardware. If the game utilized dynamic resolution, it will automatically run at the highest targeted resolution. If the game suffered frame rate drops, it will automatically run locked at its intended framerate cap. This, again, can be transformative – a game like Arkham Knight was completely unplayable on the original Switch, and on the Switch 2, it is, while still the worst version of the game, actually functional. It still needs a lot of optimization before it approaches running well, but it isn’t broken anymore.

In many cases, some games outright resolve the big graphical or performance issues of the Switch build without any update or patch necessary, whether that is running at a fixed, steady frame rate, or not scaling its resolution down aggressively whenever the image gets busy. If you held off on playing Switch games because of their performance and graphics, or if you are going to be playing them for the first time – or even if you are revisiting some favorites – it’s excellent how effective the Switch 2 backward compatibility is.

That excellent backward compatibility isn’t just limited to the games, either – Nintendo has also extended it to controllers, accessories, and peripherals. Almost all existing Switch controllers and peripherals will run on Switch 2 with no trouble. This extends not just to your existing Pro controllers and third party controllers, but even your Switch 1 Joycons – while they can no longer be physically attached and paired to the console, they can still be used if you pair them up via Bluetooth. Almost every accessory for the Switch works on the Switch 2 – some, such as Labo, or carrying cases, which were designed around the physical dimensions of the original system, do not, obviously. The Switch 2 also won’t work with the original dock, which is not only smaller, but also lacks the active cooling fan that the Switch 2’s dock has. But those exceptions aside, everything has come over, which is a far cry from how, for example, Sony handled the PS4 to PS5 transition.

"The one area where there is an improvement is performance and responsiveness."

This sort of smart and thoughtful decision making permeates the Switch 2 as a whole. Take, for example, Switch 2 Edition cartridges. As long as these aren’t game key cards, they come not only with the Switch 2 version of the game on the cart, but also the Switch 1 version in its entirety, meaning you can insert the same cartridge in a Switch 1 or a Switch 2, and the right version will automatically play, with no user selections required, and no download necessary. It’s like Smart Delivery, but without the need for downloading dozens of gigabytes of data. It’s also far smarter than PlayStation, which still makes you pick which version between a PS4 or PS5 version you want to download for games that have both, to this day.

This sort of seamless cross-compatibility with the original Switch generally manifests in good ways, as discussed so far, but there is one exception – the UI. The Switch 2 carries over the exact same OS and UI from the existing Switch, in fact it even has the same versioning. But more relevant to the end user, it looks almost exactly the same (there are some changes to color, formatting, spacing, and shapes), and carries over the existing Home Screen, settings, friends screen, all of that, as is.

This is a little disappointing given that new UIs can often be an exciting and integral part of a new console’s identity and vibe, but it would at least be understandable if the existing Switch UI was robust and full featured enough that it didn’t make sense to throw it out and start all over. Except… the Switch UI and OS was extremely barebones, and therefore, so is this one. There are some shades of whimsy to it – there was actual system music when setting up the console, for example, as well as every time that you boot it up – but otherwise, it’s as spartan as the Switch OS.

The one area where there is an improvement is performance and responsiveness. The Switch UI started out as fairly quick (which was good), but it slowed to a crawl in several applications – any time you booted up the eShop, for example, or the NSO app, or even if you had a download going on in the background. None of those are problems anymore. The eShop is extremely fast (unnervingly so – I am not used to it being this quick), the NSO app is as well, everything is extremely fast and slick. At the very least, this is a huge functional improvement, even if I will continue to wonder why Nintendo won’t give us something as basic as themes for this UI that had a provision for that built into it from day one on the original Switch. But functionally, at least, there’s a lot fewer reasons to complain now.

"In general, the Switch 2 is the most robust a Nintendo system has been in terms of connectivity ever."

That speed also shows up in the system’s internet connectivity. The original Switch has a positively primitive wireless chip now, meaning download speeds are, at the best of times, glacially slow (surely this can’t help with the online applications such as eShop and NSO running poorly either). That is not the case on the Switch 2, which includes a WiFi 6 chip, allowing for way faster downloads and uploads. Seriously, they’re quick! Mario Kart World, at more than 20GB, downloaded in a few minutes; on the original Switch, a comparable download would often go up to an hour, if not more. 

In general, the Switch 2 is the most robust a Nintendo system has been in terms of connectivity ever – in addition to the Wifi 6 chip, it also comes with an Ethernet port built in (which, incredibly enough, no Nintendo console did until the OLED revision of the Switch) and full Bluetooth connectivity (including for Bluetooth audio) – both things the original Switch did not get until years after release. 

The Switch 2 also comes with more on board storage than any Nintendo system has so far – 256GB of on board storage may not seem like a lot compared to what PlayStation and Xbox offer, but it is eight times the storage offered on the original Switch, four times the storage offered on the Switch OLED or the launch model Steam Deck, and on par with the storage offered in the current entry level Steam Deck. The storage is also extendible, although since the Switch 2 needs SSD equivalent read and write speeds, you need a microSD Card Express specifically – existing microSD cards will not work, not even for playing Switch 1 games, which is honestly a bummer, since PS5 and Xbox Series both let you use a slower hard drive to run last gen games. 

I’ve said so much, but arguably the most important thing with the Switch is yet to be addressed – the portability. And it’s a bit of a mixed bag there. For starters, as mentioned already, this is a bigger machine than the original Switch, the Switch OLED, and the Switch Lite, by a fair bit (by a lot for the Switch Lite). Inherently that makes it less portable than those, although the Switch 2 is still smaller than any other portable or handheld device on the market, including Steam Deck, ROG Ally X, and even the PlayStation Portal. It is also exactly as thick as the original Switch was, which means it’s thin – the Switch is about as thick as a DVD case, whereas the Steam Deck, Ally, Portal, and other similar devices are all 3-4x thicker (at least).

"As of right now, my tests for Joycon mouse control were limited mostly to menus and the OS, since none of the many Switch 2 games I picked up at launch seem to support it for controls, but it was heartening to realize that mouse control on Switch 2 may be viable in a much wider multitude of scenarios than one might expect for mouse control."

It also runs a lot less hotter than those systems do (seriously, playing with my Steam Deck anywhere near my lap is a health hazard), although it runs noticeably warmer than the original Switch did most of the time. It is, after all, a lot more powerful.

That also means, unfortunately, that the battery life suffers – at least compared to the Switch OLED, which could go 8-10 hours on a single charge. The Switch 2’s battery life is rated for about 2-6 hours, which comes in slightly worse than the launch Switch model’s 2.5-6 hours. It’s pretty bad, although it’s important to note that this is still comparable (if not outright better in some cases) than the battery life on most PC handhelds, as well as the PS Portal for some reason.

There are other ways Nintendo has made the Switch 2 portable friendly – the much better kickstand, for example, as well as the fact that the built in mouse controls on the Joycons can be used on practically any surface with little to no loss in control fidelity. As of right now, my tests for Joycon mouse control were limited mostly to menus and the OS, since none of the many Switch 2 games I picked up at launch seem to support it for controls, but it was heartening to realize that mouse control on Switch 2 may be viable in a much wider multitude of scenarios than one might expect for mouse control. 

So that’s a lot of ink that has just been spilled in trying to assess and describe the Switch 2. Any review of a console at launch, of course, is only a very small part of the story. These machines last for years, sometimes even approaching the better part of a decade. They grow and evolve, via software updates and hardware revisions and new accessories. And, of course, the games, which, more than anything, define a console, and which it obviously accrues more and more of as time goes on. Then also are the  quirks and frustrations and shortcomings that only become apparent with very prolonged and extended use – for example, there was no way to identify the drifting analog sticks on the original Switch or on the PS5 at or around launch, that was only something that became apparent after months of continued use. So of course, what you or I or anyone else feels about the Switch 2 right now is not necessarily how we will feel about it at the end of its life, or a few years from now, or even a few months from now. 

"If the Switch 2 is to be Nintendo’s only platform for the next 5-7 years, then they have situated themselves extremely well for another round of success to follow up on the trailblazing, pioneering, Nintendo Switch."

But how we feel about it now is important, because it sets the tone for the system’s life. First impressions matter, and the Switch 2 makes a very strong first impression. This is a premium machine, filled with thoughtful, robust, and comprehensive upgrades across the board that make this a much better version of a system that practically everyone already loves to begin with.

It lacks in the novelty or the sheer impact and shock value of the original Switch, and its emphasis on continuity and cross-compatibility can only contribute to that sense further. But what it lacks in freshness, it more than makes up for in sheer quality. If the Switch 2 is to be Nintendo’s only platform for the next 5-7 years, then they have situated themselves extremely well for another round of success to follow up on the trailblazing, pioneering, Nintendo Switch.