Nintendo Switch 2 review: Expensive but impressive

It’s now been nearly a month since the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, plenty of time to put the hardware through its paces. Honestly, we’re pretty impressed: this is pretty much everything we wanted from a Switch follow-up. There are, however, some things that potential purchasers might want to think more about before parting with their hard-earned money.

The most important thing to know about the Nintendo Switch 2 is that it’s very much a Switch. It’s a little bit bigger, it generally feels more premium, and the launch model is only available in black, so it’s not as colourful, but all the features you’ve come to know and love are still present. You can still use it as a handheld console or connect it to your TV via the included dock (now with support for 4K). And the Joy-Cons can still be detached and used individually for a nifty two-player gaming session.

The Switch 2 is a much more premium-feeling console than its predecessor

Those Joy-Cons are now connected via magnets rather than rails, and removing and replacing them feels much more satisfying. When connected for handheld play, the unit as a whole feels much more solid and well put-together, too. Combined with it being a bit bigger, the Switch 2 looks and feels less like a toy and more like a serious piece of hardware.

The only thing that might be disappointing here for some is the screen. There’s no OLED here, just a traditional LCD, so it’s not quite as bright or responsive as it could be. Still, it’s an eight-inch, 1080p screen which makes for a more enjoyable portable gaming experience, and in addition to being able to produce some wonderful colours, it supports up to 120fps along with VRR.

While the more premium build is nice, the main reason to consider buying a Switch 2 is that it’s much more powerful under the hood, so to speak. In layman’s terms, while the original Switch sits somewhere between the PS3 and PS4 in terms of performance, the Switch 2 is closer to an Xbox Series S. It’ll be lacking grunt when the next-generation of consoles from Sony and Microsoft come around, then, but judging by our time with its rather impressive launch line-up, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

A great launch line-up of games — and an exciting amount of potential

The only brand new first-party launch title, Mario Kart World, for example, shows that games can look much more detailed on Switch 2 whether you’re playing handheld or docked, and run at a steady 60fps to boot. Meanwhile, there’s an impressive port of Cyberpunk 2077 available, a title which famously ran abysmally on PS4 and Xbox One. This open-world action RPG looks mightily impressive on Switch 2 at times, with visuals and performance comparable to that of the Xbox Series S version. And this is at launch. With more time to optimise and perhaps improved DLSS performance further down the line, it’s clear that developers will be able to produce some impressive results with Switch 2.

Backwards compatibility is also a strong point. While the Switch 2 isn’t compatible with all original Switch games, the vast majority work without any issue. And many of those that do work are improved without any additional work by their developer. Games with dynamic framerates generally hit their ceiling on Switch 2. They often do so while maximising their framerate cap, too, whether it be 30fps of 60fps. An so, if you shelved Bayonetta 3 because of its blurry visuals and choppy framerate, it’s time to dig it out if you pick up a Switch 2. There’s a night and day difference.

Of course, it’s games on the receiving end of Switch 2 updates that benefit the most, though. Games like Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening really make use of the console’s extra power, making their Switch 2 version feel like a free remaster. It’s just a shame that not all upgrades are free. You’ll need to pay to upgrade The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel, for example, though at least some games with upcoming paid upgrades, such as Super Mario Party Jamboree, will also include extra content and/or features.

The Switch 2 has a handful of brand new features

What new features can Switch 2 offer, you might be wondering? Well, there are multiple. Some games can make use of new mouse controls, for example, where you effectively use a Joy-Con like a mouse. We don’t really see the appeal of it, but it’s an option for you to try and see how you get on with. Gameshare, however, is a feature we can get behind. It effectively allows you to enjoy games such as Puyo Puyo 2S with multiple players, only they don’t need to own a copy of the game. In fact, they don’t even need to own a Switch 2: as they’re essentially streaming the game, they can play on an original Switch. The only real caveat is that some games will be limited to 30fps depending on how many players are involved. It’s a small price to pay for such a handy feature, however.

Perhaps the biggest new feature of the Nintendo Switch is GameChat. In fact, there’s a bespoke button for it on the updated Joy-Cons. Game Chat allows you to assemble a group of up to twelve people to talk to as you play, with the Switch 2’s built-in mic doing a good job of filtering out background noise. You can share real-time gameplay, too, and connect a USB camera so you can see each other as you play. The required screen space (and presumably power) means only four of your friends can join you in this manner, however.

If you’re a social gamer, you’re likely to love these features, even though the framerate of the shared gameplay isn’t all that impressive. But it’ll do nothing for those who like to play alone or with others locally. While GameChat is free until the end of March next year, you’ll need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to make use of it after that. It feels a bit cheeky considering that bespoke button: for many people, it will be redundant.

However…

All things considered, the Switch 2 sounds great so far, doesn’t it? And it is. The one thing that might give some real pause for thought, though, is the cost. At £395.99, it certainly isn’t cheap. And if you’re an avid gamer, the costs will keep piling up. It’s £74.99 for a Switch 2 Pro Controller, for example. And while it has 256GB of built-in storage, which is a massive increase over that of the original Switch and the updated OLED model, you still might get through it worryingly fast. Many games in the launch line-up, such as Cyberpunk 2077, Hitman: World of Assassination and Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut all need around 50GB of storage space each.

You can’t make use of any old MicroSD cards you might have lying around, either. Switch 2 only supports newer, more expensive MicroSD Express cards. Hopefully these will come down in price as they become more mainstream, but it may take a while. At the moment, you’re looking at around £49.99 for another 256GB of storage.

That perhaps wouldn’t be as much of a problem if all physical Switch 2 games actually came on Game Cards. Instead, many are what are called Game Key Cards, which simply allow you to download the game when you insert the card into your console. These Game Key Card releases are better than a code in a box — at least they have some resale value — but they’re not good for storage space or those with poor internet connections.

We guess the last thing to discuss here is battery life, but there’s not much to say, really. It’s okay. Play something power-hungry like Cyberpunk 2077 and you’ll get around two hours of entertainment out of a full charge. Play something less demanding, however, and you could get three to four hours of play out of a single charge. It’s about the same as the original Switch. There’s a handy feature in the settings which allows you to only charge your device up to 90% to preserve the overall life of the battery, however, which is nice.

The bottom line? The Switch 2 is a worthwhile upgrade

Ultimately, after nearly a month with the Switch 2, we’re very happy with it. It’s a shame that the screen is simply an LCD display rather than OLED, but it’s understandable in order to keep the cost down. In any case, it feels better built in almost every other way, and what matters most is the extra grunt to power games. There may not be many brand new games in the console’s launch line-up, but the majority of them are fantastic titles that look and perform brilliantly on Switch 2. It’s this which excites us for the console’s future, as there’s clearly a decent amount of power for developers to tap into. Our only real concern at this point is storage space, but hopefully those MicroSD Express cards will become more affordable over time. Either that, or more physical games become available on actual Game Cards.

Anyway, the bottom line is that the Switch 2 is expensive, but worth it if you love gaming on the go or simply can’t live without Nintendo’s first-party titles. It’s pretty much everything you could expect of a follow up to the original Switch, with a more premium build, some interesting new features and, most importantly, more power for developers to create games.

Nintendo Switch 2 consoles were purchased by GameSpew for the purposes of this review.