Nintendo Switch 2

Here you can see us unpacking the console

As you have probably already seen, full reviews of the Nintendo Switch 2 have been trickling in over the past few days, as Nintendo itself dropped a real press strategy in favour of just letting everyone have access at the same time. On launch day. This means that shortly after the launch, you could read our first impressions of the machine here on the site, but since then I have taken my time to ensure that I really understand what Nintendo is aiming for here, and whether the console manages to hit those targets.

This means that you will read a number of the same text snippets that appeared in the first impressions, but with a little new insight based on a good week of diligent use and experience with a wide range of games. Okay, so here comes the final review of the Nintendo Switch 2.

Switch 2 is a sublime piece of hardware, purely from a sober, physical perspective. The matte black materials with subtle colour coding exude quality, and the dimensions of 116x272x13.99 millimetres make it appear dizzyingly thin and light in the hands, especially considering its size, and the new magnetic grip in each Joy-Con 2 is far more intuitive and infinitely reliable. The slightly larger size in general also makes it much more comfortable to hold for those of us with slightly larger hands. To put it bluntly, this console does not feel old, unambitious, or cheap - it feels like a more mature, more adult, and refined version of an already existing idea.

There are a number of refinements that are immediately apparent, that's for sure. The new Joy-Con 2 controllers are absolutely fantastic. They are slightly larger, making it easier for those of us with larger hands to grip the console and the included holder/controller properly, and the new magnetic lock is downright ingenious - much stronger than the "rails" Nintendo used for the original Switch, while also being a more responsive and reliable mechanism. The new kickstand on the back also spans the entire rear of the console, making it much more stable. Small things? Perhaps, but they are crucial to the feeling of quality and versatility that is at the heart of the whole Switch promise. This is still a Switch, but it is very clearly a giant leap forward in terms of refining and improving on the same central idea. In other words, the same Switch idea.

You could call it a Switch on steroids, or, as I said, just a Switch that has been back on the drawing board, where every single aspect of its use has been upgraded, streamlined, and improved. Some fans may mourn the loss of crazy innovation, but I'm not one of them. Nintendo's Switch idea works - fundamentally.

It's extremely difficult to say in the long term whether Switch 2 has enough horsepower "out of the gate". I'm not particularly concerned about WI-FI 6 or the Bluetooth connection to various accessories, nor do the speakers produce anything other than crystal-clear sound in handheld mode. The 256GB UFS storage space is also not a problem, as you can use microSD cards up to 2TB. No, we're talking about Nvidia's SoC design and whether it provides enough overhead to achieve the graphical and performance evolution that will make this feel like a "Switch 2" - even in three years' time.

To be completely honest, that's still how I feel after a week. Games like Cyberpunk 2077, Yakuza 0 Director's Cut, and Sonic X Shadow Generations prove that there is more horsepower to play with this time around, but at the same time, graphical standards are moving at lightspeed, so won't graphically intensive games from visually ambitious studios quickly find themselves in the same situation as with the original Switch? It's extremely difficult to say right now, but based on my experiences with third-party games, I'm not particularly worried that this console will come out of the starting blocks with too little horsepower under the bonnet.

Of course, we have Mario Kart World, and when it runs smoothly in 4K/60fps, it fills me with confidence about the "power pack" that Switch 2 has to offer. Considering how much Nintendo and others managed to squeeze out of the ancient Tegra chip in the original Switch, it seems that they have struck a good balance. Of course, we remain cautious, but there is also an excellent balance in terms of noise, which I have not experienced any of, nor heat, which seems to be quite well optimised with the cooling solution Nintendo has chosen.

We've recorded a lot of Mario Kart World gameplay in 4K

Now that we're talking resolution, I'm one of those who would have liked to see Nintendo use an OLED panel. It's not that this 1080p HDR10 panel isn't impressive, but by introducing the Switch OLED a few years ago, expectations were raised that should be reflected here, given that this is such a spec-focused upgrade. Furthermore, I think it's a shame that there is a fairly noticeable screen bezel on this 7.9" 1080p LCD. It's not exactly offensive, but on a handheld device, it would have been advantageous to utilise as much of the physical screen area as possible.

In terms of the user interface, I still think it's downright sublime. All navigation, all menus and every single piece of user interface design walks the fine line between childish playfulness and more refined, function-oriented use. The little UI sounds are also back and continue to be an excellent touch. The extra horsepower makes using the eShop a little smoother, and all forms of interaction between you and the console are infinitely easy to understand. But GameChat is a slightly strange feature, to say the least. The accompanying camera is not particularly good, and although the user interface is quite responsive, it is neither particularly innovative nor particularly appealing. Yes, it's nice that the microphone is built into the console itself, so you don't need more equipment than is absolutely necessary, but at the same time, this feature is hidden behind a Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription, which is also a bit of a strange decision, as this must be seen as one of the most rudimentary things that a consumer can reasonably expect to be included in the price of the console.

We walk you through the console's UI

That said, it's a pretty minor issue, as all consoles are launched with "gimmicks", and having responsive, good voice chat is nice, since online infrastructure hasn't always been Nintendo's strong suit. GameChat works fine, but that's about all I can say about it.

However, I have only good things to say about the other central "gimmick", Mouse Mode, which is activated when one of the two Joy-Con 2 controllers is placed with the LED strip facing downwards. No, it's not the most ergonomic way to hold it, but I was surprised, to say the least, at how intuitive and precise the controls are. And to be completely honest, this is a much more organic implementation of a challenge that has plagued console manufacturers since the dawn of time. Could we see a flood of RTS games coming to Switch 2? Based on my impressions, it's very possible, and if nothing else, this is a far more responsive way to offer this form of input than, for example, Valve's haptic plates on the Steam Deck.

Based on a little more intensive testing, the battery life is slightly worse than on the OLED model - and that may still be the biggest real complaint about the actual hardware. I love the shape, I love the quality of the materials, I love the design philosophy, I even love the user interface, but the battery life should be a little better, there's no doubt about that.

That said, this is an exciting new day for those who fundamentally like the Switch concept, and I certainly belong to that group. We eagerly await how developers, large and small, will respond to the amount of horsepower and how elements such as DLSS and Ray-Tracing will affect each studio's resource budget, but for now, it's safe to say that Nintendo has been thoughtful in how they've put this console together. Switch 2 deserves all the success it is currently enjoying on the market, and even though the number of must-have launch titles is somewhat sparse, and it would have been smart to launch it together with Donkey Kong Bananza, this is still a smashing console launch.

Here we briefly describe the specifications and features