I know it’s weird that the first post here about the Nintendo Switch 2 is already one week later after the console’s launch, but again, bear with me. This is going to be mainly rants. It’s not a review, it’s my opinion as a long life Nintendo fan.
I’ve been with Nintendo since the beginning. My fist console was a Game Boy. My parents were generous to get me a few games now and then and pretty much all the other iterations of the Game Boy. While my main gaming platform was the Commodore Amiga and the PC later on, Nintendo was always present. Growing up, having a few summer jobs I was able to get myself a Gamecube which is still today my favorite Nintendo console. N64 didn’t had any appeal to me, still to this day. NES and SNES were my dreams when I was growing up and I ended up getting them later on.
At this stage in my life I have all consoles Nintendo released, to the exception of the N64 and the Virtuaboy. After I had kids, they also started playing with the Nintendo Wii and WiiU and later had their own Nintendo Switch. While we have other consoles at home, we’re mainly a Nintendo household.
But again, this is about the Switch 2.
I got an invite to pre-order the Switch 2 earlier this year from Nintendo itself, and it was a no brainer. Got it on the launch day, one week ago, which I didn’t believe it was going to be possible, but the delivery person actually showed up at 18:00 with the package in hand.
I got the Mario Kart World version, the Gamecube controller and the case. The rest will come in time, because Nintendo got greedy with the prices. But we’ll get there.
The console is the inevitable upgrade to the Switch. It’s bigger, it’ feels better in hand, specially if you are like me that have big hands. The original Switch felt a bit small and not very pleasant to hold and play in handheld mode for long periods. The Switch 2 solves that issue for me.
The mouse mode for the controllers is… ok. We’re yet to see a killer game that uses that feature to the max.
The console’s performance is great… ish. Mario Kart World plays smoothly and most of the Nintendo Switch games that previously ran a bit sluggish now get a good performance bump. Not to mention that upgrade packs Nintendo released for some games like Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, that make the games absolutely perfect. The rest of the third party games run ok… but you don’t get a Nintendo console to play third party games, you get it for the Nintendo IPs.
The built-in stand is vastly improved over the original Switch, but when compared to the OLED model, it still feels a bit cheap and flimsy.
The screen, while having a better pixel density, resolution and HDR, the colors do not compare with the OLED.
The support for an USB camera is a neutral feature for me. I won’t be using GameChat with video and I believe most people won’t use it as well. Positive point in this, is that it supports third party USB cameras.
You start to get the sense that Nintendo could have delivered a much better system, but chose not to.
The current Nintendo is not the same one pictured above.
I didn’t buy the Switch 2 Pro Controller yet. It’s on my list, but its price feels out of step with the market. Unless you’re comparing it to the Xbox Elite 2 or the PS5 DualSense Edge, most standard controllers fall in the €60–70 range. Nintendo is asking €90 for theirs. That’s steep.
Nintendo unilaterally decided to bump the Switch 2 game prices a lot, compared with the previous generation. XBOX and Playstation don’t have their standard game releases market at 80 and 90 EUR. I hope Nintendo is not positioning the Switch 2 in a new console generation, above the XBOX Series X and the PS5, because it’s not. Not even close. It’s a greedy move above all else.
Another greedy move is charging 10 EUR for the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. After all this time, since it was announced earlier this year, I still can’t believe Nintendo has this display of greed and lack of respect for their customers, to charge for the console’s manual / tech demo. At least give it for free to customers who have the Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
I feel that currently Nintendo and other companies don’t offer much value to their customer base. Yes, XBOX and PlayStation offer some free games sporadically if you are a subscriber to their gaming services, but we used to get much more. Customer loyalty is not compensated at all nowadays.
The launch games line up is lack luster. This could have been easily improved if we had Donkey Kong Bananza and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment released day one instead of months later. If the Switch 2 didn’t had retro compatibility with Switch 1 games, this would have been a complete shit show.
Final thoughts: Yes, I love the console. The ability to play Gamecube games with a wireless Gamecube controller is amazing for me. Nintendo is a master at weaponizing nostalgia and I’m a sucker for it.
I still believe in Nintendo and I’m sure they will provide more value via future upgrades and the new games coming up like Metroid Prime 4 and the inevitable Mario flagship game.
But make no mistake. I’ll always be one of Nintendo’s biggest critics.
Leave a Reply