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Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour
Released On: Jun 5, 2025
57
3.5
All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 17 Critic Reviews
57
6% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
82% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
12% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 17 Critic Reviews
57
6% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
82% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
12% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Welcome Tour is a calming, surprisingly engaging hardware exhibition with a handful of cool minigames, a trove of interesting info, and some neat demos that showcase exactly what the little system can do. It makes you feel good about buying the thing, which makes the platform holder's decision not to bundle it with the console utterly baffling. Featuring expensive add-ons you might not own also won't impress anyone who's indignant that the company wants another 10 bucks for this. That aside, it's an undeniably fine demonstration of Nintendo's thoughtful design approach. It's cute, it's fun, and it's a shame the whole pack-in argument overshadows the delightful software. Anyone interested in tech, design, or Nintendo in general should check it out immediately.
My primary impression of Welcome Tour is that it’s more robust than I had initially expected, and it provides a comprehensive, hands-on experience with all of the upgrades offered by the Nintendo Switch 2. I’m eager to return to the game in small bursts to finish off more advanced versions of the mini-games I’ve unlocked, while also being a good student and “studying” for the numerous quizzes that help you learn about the new console and features. Just as the name implies, this tour lingers and doesn’t overstay its welcome. However, it does feel like it may have served as a very effective pack-in title, perhaps just outside the pantheon of those I mentioned earlier. I get it, though: in a world where many don’t have the patience for or interest in multi-page manuals, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour fills a role. Ultimately, I come away with a better sense of the capabilities of my new Nintendo console, and that at the very least helps ease the pain of my poor wallet.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 85 User Ratings
3.5
27% Positive
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
11% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
62% Negative
53 Ratings
53 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 85 User Ratings
3.5
27% Positive
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
11% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
62% Negative
53 Ratings
53 Ratings
It's just great , loved it ,and while it is nice that it whould be free, it is worth 10 dollars
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Nintendo Switch 2
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Nintendo Switch 2
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is exactly what it claims to be: an interactive manual with a few bells and whistles. It’s the Wii Sports of the Switch 2 era, helping users understand the console, its features, and how it all fits together. While charging $15 for something that feels like it should’ve been bundled might be a turnoff, the level of detail and interactivity makes the price somewhat justifiable. It’s not a must-have, but if you want a fun way to explore your new console, it’s a decent way to spend a few hours. Just don’t rush through it; enjoy it for its charm.
Part of me has always thought that Nintendo doesn't really care about technology. The company's made games that look like they're made of paper and felt, and when it dabbled in VR it did it with cardboard. So it feels a bit weird to see Nintendo banging on about HDR and, in the later moments of the stamp rally, diving inside the Switch 2 console itself and letting you walk over its battery and its heat channels and all that jazz. It feels like Nintendo spends a lot of time pretending that this isn't technology at all. It's just imagination and playfulness.
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour feels more like a paid manual than a real game. While it teaches you a thing or two, it simply doesn’t justify the €10 price tag. Only worth a look if you're a tech nerd or waiting for payday.
It’s not worth your money and, even if it were the free pack-in game it feels like it was always meant to be, it would only barely be worth your time.
Whereas the Switch 1 had games like ARMS and 1-2 Switch to show off the new tech, NS2 Welcome Tour carries the burden of being somewhere in the middle-ground of those and a free tech demo. If it was a free pack-in, this would've felt like an entirely different experience. But alas, it is unfortunately its own thing, and it's a thing that I hope does not become commonplace.
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ehhhhh it’s okay. I had my fun with it, I don’t care that it was 10 dollars, sure, it should’ve been a pack-in, but whatever. The mini games were decently fun, but getting all the stamps were tedious, the quizzes super obvious, and some pretty cool visuals. it’s not a “instruction manual”, more like if Wii Play had fun facts about the Wii. tech demos were pretty cool showcases as well.
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It's a cool game that teaches you about the console with some fun mini games it isnt revolutionary or anything like that. But a lot of people will still get some fun out of it and its worth a try even though it should of been a pack in
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TL:DR AT THE BOTTOM
While incredibly fun, I decided to give this game only three points. I did so for three reasons:
The most important reason for such a low score is, obviously, the price tag. I have no idea why this is paid. The best way to sum up this game is the tech demo which everyone immediately beloved and started hating it ten seconds later as soon as they figured out it's not going to be free. As much fun as Switch 2 Welcome Tour is, the "welcome tour" in this case is a ten dollar slap in the face, which is generally disappointing and actually, I'd go as far as calling it predatory. I would have given the game a solid seven if it were free.
The second reason is that collecting the stamps gets very boring very quickly. In order to advance to the next area, you must collect all stamps in the previous one. These stamp pedestals are invisible unless you're close enough at which point they reveal. They are located in places of interest such as individual buttons, so you just have to run everywhere once to collect the stamps. It gets old FAST. After the sixth-ish area, it actually feels like a boring errand.
The last thing about this thing that I cannot stand is that this entire game seems to employ a number of psychological strategies in an attempt to trick you into buying the (expensive) gadgets usable for the system (such as the camera). This is a very ambitious thought, but I have a reason to think so. A lot of the character dialogue suggests how they want this item so bad, how cool it feels, blah blah blah. It's very hard to explain, you have to play this game yourself to truly understand that this game's secondary purpose is to blatantly promote the gadgets.
If you watch TV, you probably know those annoying commecial breaks which is a ten minute loop of ads being fed to you like candy to kids. In the case of the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, not only you have to sit through the promotion, you also have to PAY for it. So you are essentialy paying for a game which is actually an ad. It's pretty stupid. Like I said - you have to play this to fully understand.
TL:DR summary:
While this game is enjoyable, you're actually paying for a big ad pretending to be a game, due to the psychological predatory strategies which the game utilizes in a great amount. The fun content is constantly interrupted by the need to seek boring stamps to unlock new areas. Would recommend if this was free, but in its current state, it's actually quite embarassing.
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Overpriced tech demo that barely tells you how the system works.. a bunch of poor unfun mini games and while quirky this game should have never cost anything and been. Included in the system.
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Nintendo Switch 2
Summary Discover all the secrets of Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is an interactive exhibit of sorts that offers an inside look at the suite of features and tech that power the games you love to play. Look, touch, and feel your way through the different exhibits. Uncover lots of insights about the console. Explore basic feat...
Rated E
for Everyone
