Posted in: Games, Nintendo, Review, Video Games | Tagged: Nintendo Switch 2, Switch 2

Now We're Playing With Power… Again: Our Nintendo Switch 2 Review

We were given a Nintendo Switch 2 in the middle of June's gaming chaos, so here's our reveiw of the console a week after launch

Over eight years ago, I stood in line at a supermarket at 6 am, cleverly snagging the original Nintendo Switch and a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild from a place few expected to find a copy of the new portable console. At the time, there was much speculation about what would become of Nintendo as a company, whether this new console would be amazing or terrible, and whether it could overcome the poor run the Wii U had. There were actual journalists predicting Nintendo would fail horribly, and might get sold off to become a subsidiary of Sony. We all know that's not how history turned out, as its become the second biggest selling console in their portfolio (with only the Nintendo DS being the one on top as of March 2025).

Eight years later, just before Summer Game Fest, the Nintendo Switch 2 arrived on my doorstep,  with about the same amount of hyperbole about the future of the sequel to the portable console, but just as much hope as it seems like a lot of the complaints fans had about the first one may have been resolved. But was that actually the case, or has Nintendo created a console with a new set of issues? We sat down and really messed with this one for a week, as we have our review of the Nintendo Switch 2.

So let's cut through some of the obvious before we dive in. If you wanted a highly technical review by someone who tore the console apart, you wouldn't be here. What you probably want to know are three general things: What can it do? Does it play well? And is it worth the price? So that's what we're going to give you, with a bit of a comparison to what we would consider the final version of the original Nintendo Switch, the OLED Model, because comparing it to the original from eight years ago is pretty senseless since the company gave it an upgrade less than four years ago. We won't be comparing games, like Mario Kart World vs Mario Kart 8 Deluxe; reviews for Nintendo Switch 2 titles will be coming later. But we will be noting some of the upgrades that current titles were given.

Starting with the basics, you're getting a better and wider screen bit better picture quality, as this version has a 7.9" LCD touch screen with support for HDR, going up to 120 fps, giving you the best quality you'll get from one of Nintendo's portables. The OLED had 64 GB of memory, which was a complaint going back to the original that only had 32 GB, so they beefed it up to 256 GB. Still not enough for a lot of gamers, but it retained the microSD slot for added cartridge memory, which we'll get to in a bit. The Switch 2 has two USB-C ports this time, one in the top for easier charging when in use, and the other for when its docked or you just want to charge while it's stationary. The two joy-cons are still present with their traditional faded red and blue coloring, with some new additions.

One of the benefits to the new console is that these are magnetically locked in place, which is a significant upgrade compared to the sliding bar that players grew to detest. Each still has its own independent battery, so when you charge a unit, you'll have to charge all of them together (until someone comes out with a third-party charger, which we know they will). The handheld wrist attachments are also magnatized for easier use when using them independently from the console, but no real change from the wrist-rope we've seen since the original Wii.

The Joy-Cons for the Nintendo Switch 2 seem to be more functional and powerful than before, and a bit more responsive. I found I had a greater reach when disconnected for two-player gameplay. The buttons are bigger, but not by much, with a more pronounced grain to them, so they feel more in line with tapping a PS5 controller. The use of the mouse controls was interesting, but since we don't exactly have a 2025 edition of Mario Paint to play with (or available on Nintendo Switch Online, which to me is a crime), we were stuck just using it to navigate the menus and using it on the Welcome Tour game (which we have our own thoughts on for a later time). It works pretty well, but until we crank out a game like Fortnite on this thing, the true test of its capabilities has yet to be pushed.

The back of the Nintendo Switch 2 comes with a proper U-shaped stand that is a 100% better upgrade compared to the "bike kickstand" the original had, which could easily be broken off. This feels more like a tablet to play games and watch media on than before. A few different people commented that this could be used as a handle, but I don't recommend it. It's better, but not so strong as to carry it around like a bag. Speaking of items around the back end, the microSD slot has returned for the added memory,  but it comes with the caveat that you need Express versions of the card in order to use it, which is simply annoying on multiple levels.

If you're a hardcore gamer and you've sunk money into a 1TB card for your Switch, and now you're told that's useless and you can't transfer those games over without buying a new card and making the transfer outside the console just to make those games play, you'd be mad, too. Which is extra annoying considering they made sure original Switch cartridges could be played in the top-loader. Youc an do backwards compatibility on your own hardware, but not on the universal hardware everyone else is using? That's incredibly frustrating.

The Nintendo Switch 2 dock has also been given a few changes. First off, you have an Ethernet port, so no more using Wi-Fi all the time as you'll have a stable connection if you choose to use it. You've also got two USB 3.2 ports on the side for charging and accessories, such as the camera, which we won't be talking about today because we weren't sent one for review, so we can't speak to how well the Nintendo-made camera works. That said, you can hook pretty much ANY modern camera into this and use the camera features, if you so desire. They've also given it a sleeker look and feel, so it looks less like a box and more like a subtle piece of art. The biggest change, and probably one that needed to happen, was that the power adapter is now a USB-C cord into a brick. Which means, if you have the capability, you can swap the power source to USB full-time to another device and get an outlet back.

When it comes to performance, you can tell this is a full upgrade from the previous system. The Nintendo Switch 2 just has better graphics quality, better responsiveness to the controls, faster response time with the internal memory of digital games, and faster processing of the cartridges from the first console. (We have yet to test a physical Switch 2 game, but if it's handling the first generation fine, it would lend to suggest the second generation will be fine.) The cooling of the unit could be a bit better, but it's not like it was overheating in my hands; it was just a little warm from excessive gameplay.

The audio is okay, and it's probably one of the few things Nintendo didn't go out of their way to really change or improve beyond putting a better speaker in the console. The reality is that if you have it docked and you have a surround sound system, games will function well and give you clear audio. But it's not like they made this THX 7.1 compatible. You have a standard 3.5mm, headphone port on top like the last model, so whatever device you use for that will give you the same results. The microphone on top works fine, no real complaints as it gives you the same kind of audio you'd expect from a cell phone.

There are some downsides to the Nintendo Switch 2, and at the top of the list is Battery Life. I had to set the system to show me the percentages as I played to double-check that I wasn't going crazy, but this thing eats up power in a short time when not docked. Five minutes of Mario Kart World had me down to 90% battery life. Which means if I played the game for an hour, the console would need a charge before that hour was up. What's more, the top USB-C port charges more slowly than the bottom port, which, in our eyes, defeats the purpose of being able to use it as a charger. And on top of that, it wasn't charging fast enough to keep up with my gameplay, so I HAD to switch to the bottom port to stay even. Even leaving the screen open for longer than a minute drains the battery by 2%. The right software update could fix that in an instant.

Another issue I have is that, regardless of what you want to do, it feels like you need a Nintendo Switch Online account to take part in a number of things. Having an account with Nintendo just doesn't seem good enough anymore, as you need it to incorporate elements of online play, new content, the retro library, and more. This may be the old-school gamer in me coming out, but it is becoming increasingly exhausting that buying a console and a game is nowhere near the end of the journey to just play a game. You need a subscription to something, and Nintendo has made that extra apparent with the way they've incorporated it into their titles. The one thing it still has going for it is that it's cheaper than Xbox and Sony's multi-tier subscription systems, with just two options that are relatively cheap.

Overall, this is probably the best system Nintendo has made to date, even with its minor quirks and issues. It genuinely feels like the company took all of the feedback people hated about the first console and incorporated it into the Nintendo Switch 2. The big complaint many will have is the price, as it comes in at $450, a combination of a bad time in the world of wanting parts that now cost more than they used to, and the fact that all the things people wanted fixed cost extra. But if you don't think the next incarnations of the Xbox and PlayStation won't run you $500-600 starting price, you're dreaming. In the long run, $450 is going to be the cheap option with the way things are going.

The few things we don't like about it have room for improvement, with the exception of the SD Express card issue. But we really don't have a ton to be mad about because its everything we wanted years ago and a little more, with the promise of Nintendo bringing some hard hitting titles soon with Metroid Prime 4, Donkey Kong Bananza, Pokémon Legends Z-A, the other titles they have given an update to with better graphics. If you're a Nintendo Switch owner or just a Nintendo fan, it's a must-get. Even for average gamers, it's a good system. Hardcore gamers will always debate about it until they want to play the new Mario game whenever it comes out.

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