Nintendo Switch 2 The Switch 2 isn't as exciting or innovative as you might want or expect from the big N, but it proves that even when Nintendo plays it safe, there's still a unique magic to be found.
I wasn’t going to buy a Nintendo Switch 2. With no major Nintendo games releasing for a while and better and cheaper ways of playing indie titles, my original Switch had been gathering dust for months; I’d largely pivoted to spending my fleeting gaming hours on my PC rig, a Steam Deck OLED, and testing out a few exciting new Android handhelds. But then it went on sale, and I got an email from a retailer to say they had limited stock, and, well… here we are.
I’ve owned Nintendo home consoles and handhelds stretching back to the Super Nintendo, so I’ve seen the many, many ups and downs of the Kyoto innovators’ weirdest and most wonderful hardware launches. But in all that time, there was one thing missing: “2”. The Switch 2 represents the first ever numbered console follow-up from Nintendo, and it’s hardly surprising considering the Switch’s overwhelming sales figures and general popularity.
Nevertheless, I was curious to see if it could earn that sequel status, so I kept my impromptu pre-order. After a week of playing around with the Switch 2, I can confirm that the unique home-handheld hybrid setup hasn’t lost the sauce, and there are plenty of upgrades to get excited about. However, it’s not the perfect successor I was hoping it would be, either.
The performance upgrade is huge
Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
Put simply, the performance bump over the original Switch is the single biggest reason to buy the Switch 2. In handheld mode, the Switch 2 can run games in 1080p at 120fps. In docked mode, you’ll get up to 4K at 60fps, with some games confirmed to benefit from NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) upscaling tech for improved performance.
What that means is even uber-demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 are now possible to play on a Nintendo console. Meanwhile, first-party games like Mario Kart World and the superbly-named Donkey Kong Bananza — launching in July — can up the size of their worlds, increase the number of particles and other bits on screen, and generally look far more visually and technically impressive than any Nintendo game to date. Perhaps the most underrated upgrade is the eShop experience, which is now fluid and doesn’t take an age to load when you’re simply trying to check the latest (usually very stingy) batch of game sale prices.
The performance bump over the original Switch is the single biggest reason to buy the Switch 2
There’s a significant hit to battery life compared to the original Switch (I’ve been getting 3-4 hours on a single charge; not terrible but not great), and I think the lack of variable refresh rate support when docked is a strange omission (it’s there in handheld), but the fact that we’re in the ballpark of PS4-like performance and visual clarity from a Nintendo console is an obvious win.
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