One year ago today, Nintendo released the Switch 2. The successor to the original Switch boasts a larger screen, magnetic Joy-Con controllers, a new C for “Chat” button for its social hooks, and most importantly, more powerful internal hardware. The Switch 2 is still the place to play Nintendo first-party games–and more and more of them are becoming exclusive to the new hardware, forgoing the Switch 1. But the increased horsepower means the Switch 2 is a viable platform for big third-party games such as Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth, Capcom’s Pragmata and Resident Evil Requiem, and CDPR’s Cyberpunk 2077.
We’re marking the occasion by looking back at the last year on the platform–our favorite games, our biggest surprises, and our disappointments. Some of the shine has come off the new hardware, even as we reveled in new experiences. Here’s what we think about the first year of the Switch 2.
Switch 2 Hasn’t Been The Steam Deck Replacement I Expected
Even with a good gaming PC, recent years have seen me spend more and more of my gaming time curled up with a Steam Deck. I always loved my Nintendo Switch and was extremely excited at the prospect of Switch 2, expecting it would become my console of choice for anything multiplatform that didn’t heavily benefit from higher-end hardware. And while that initially did prove to be the case, Switch 2 has transitioned into more of an exclusives-only machine than I anticipated.
That largely comes down to two factors: I often find performance in multiplatform games to be better on Steam Deck than Switch 2, and it’s just so damn much cheaper to buy digital PC games, be it through Steam sales or third-party sites that offer Steam keys. Plus, having the flexibility to scale up a given game’s visuals to enjoy it on a high-end PC, the expectation that those Steam games will be easily playable for longer into the future, Deck’s rear buttons (mediocre, but better than nothing or having to buy third-party Joy-Cons) and the continued lack of Achievements on Switch (I still get a kick out of unlocking them) all make Deck my preferred option.
Beyond all this, the number of exclusives I care that much about has been lower than I would’ve expected. Pokopia and Tomodachi Life are fun, but my standout experience on Switch 2 has been high-frame-rate Tears of the Kingdom, for better or worse.
I do still really enjoy using my Switch 2, but I’m hoping Nintendo can find some ways to make it a more worthwhile option for me, particularly for games that I can choose to play elsewhere.
(Music on the eShop wouldn’t hurt, either.) —Chris Pereira
I Regretted Buying My Switch 2–And Then Pokopia Happened
With age, I have become far less susceptible to “FOMO,” the fear of missing out. When the Nintendo Switch 2 was first announced, I quickly decided I was not going to purchase it on day one and felt largely content with my choice. Despite it being the first time I’d opted out of a day-one purchase with any of the big three’s consoles in at least two generations, the Switch 2 just didn’t entice me enough to merit its $500 price tag. I had a perfectly functional Switch, a moderately powerful gaming PC, a Steam Deck, an Xbox Series X, and a PlayStation 5 Pro. Was it worth paying that much for what would essentially become a Mario Kart World machine? In my eyes, absolutely not. As I watched all my peers unbox their shiny new consoles, I still somehow felt immune from envy.
And then, Metroid Prime 4’s release date was announced.
Yes, I could play it on Switch, but as a certified Samus fan-girl, I knew that I wanted to experience it in its most optimized form, and that meant forking over the cash for a new system. Fortunately by this time, Donkey Kong Bananza had been released to rave reviews, making me feel as though I wasn’t spending an absurdly large sum on just one game. No, in the months since its release, the Switch 2 had begun to accrue a proper catalog, and I felt a bit better about the purchase. But then I played its games.
I’m not trying to be a hater, I promise. But in my opinion, Donkey Kong Bananza, Mario Kart World, and Metroid Prime 4 were all simply … fine. So fine that, even after all this time, I still haven’t felt compelled to finish any of them. The Switch 2 became the thing I had worried it would be: a very expensive shelf decoration.
For a while, I didn’t have a particularly high opinion of the Switch 2. The system itself was comfortable, sleek, and a marked improvement, but I didn’t see real value in having one. If a friend was asking me what handheld console they should buy, I recommended the Steam Deck with zero hesitation. “There isn’t much point to grabbing a Switch 2 right now,” I’d tell them. But that was all before Pokemon Pokopia hit shelves.
Though it might not be in a literal sense, I firmly believe Pokemon Pokopia is the Switch 2 launch title and, at least for the time being, the system’s defining game. The charming life-sim-meets-town-builder single-handedly reshaped my opinion of the console and its utility. With its shockingly deep and emotionally resonant story, its stellar gameplay loop, its vast environments, and its level of care and creativity, it’s a game I come back to often, making Pokemon Pokopia one of precious few games that I dare to say is worth buying an entire console for. Both my husband and sister–after spending hours watching me play the game–went out to Best Buy and purchased a Switch 2, far more confident in their decisions than I ever was. And if their 100+ hours logged in Pokopia is any indication, I think they feel pretty secure in their investments.
But perhaps most importantly, Pokopia served as a way to dispel the barrier between me and the Switch 2. Since the game’s release, I’ve found myself turning to the console more and more. In the past few months I’ve poured a frankly embarrassing amount of hours into both BallxPit and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. Just last week, I opted to purchase Mina the Hollower on it rather than on Steam Deck. As I sit in a hotel room writing this, my Switch 2 rests next to me in my backpack, the sole console I brought with me on my latest assignment. Though my Steam Deck will certainly never be relegated to “expensive shelf decor” status, it’s definitely seen far more downtime since the release of Pokemon Pokopia. —Jessica Cogswell
Switch 2 Makes Me Wish For A Better Steam Deck
Portable gaming has always been a major part of my life, and even more so since becoming a busy parent with supervision and transportation obligations. The original Switch felt like a godsend, fusing Nintendo’s AAA development with its portable business. As the years went on, it lost some of its luster, especially once I bought a Steam Deck. The Steam ecosystem is so robust, its library so massive, its sales so deep, that it essentially replaced the Switch 1 in my portable gaming rotation. In its elder years, the Switch was mostly a Nintendo-exclusives machine.
The Switch 2 hasn’t fundamentally changed this dynamic. All things being equal, I’m still more likely to buy a game on Steam than Switch 2. But the hardware itself is much more thoughtful, and every time I put my hands on the Switch 2, I’m left wishing that my Steam Deck had the same cohesion of hardware design.
Perhaps because Nintendo has spent decades making consumer console hardware, the Switch 2 just works. The Joy-Cons simply turn the system on, and can be disconnected. The Pro controller simply turns the system on. The console simply slides into the dock and immediately starts displaying on the TV screen. The Home screen is just zippy and easy to navigate with minimal lag as I browse my library. It’s all designed to be as frictionless as possible. In a hundred barely perceptible ways, it feels better to actually put your hands on a Switch 2. Altogether, those add up.
As much as I love my Steam Deck, playing on the Switch 2 makes me jealous for its ease of use and simplicity. That’s quite an accomplishment for Nintendo, even if the smaller library means I still default to Steam most of the time. –Steve Watts
I Was Adamant I Didn’t Want, Or Need, A Switch 2. I’m So Glad I Bought One.
I am a victim of consumer marketing. I always have to have the newest, shiniest thing that’s coming out, especially if that coincides with gaming. I remember watching the reveal of the Switch 2 and thinking, “Not this time, Nintendo.” I have an OLED Switch, I have the original Switch, I have a Switch Lite–although I will caveat that by saying I also have two tiny humans who enjoy these products as much as I do. But we didn’t need a Switch 2. There wasn’t enough newness there for me to justify it. And, sure enough, I stuck to my guns for the first six months. June rolled around and I still had no interest, or desire, to pick one up.
But then came the Christmas lists. Both of my daughters had listed the Switch 2 at the top of their letters to Santa. And Santa never disappoints children, right? Besides, Pokemon Pokopia was due to come out, and that was the only Switch 2 exclusive that had managed to turn my head at that point. So, as every lenient parent does at some point in their life, I caved in. Two shiny Switch 2 consoles sat under the Christmas tree, and as soon as my offspring had reluctantly gone to bed on Christmas Day, I got stuck in.
I was immediately struck by how much more premium the Switch 2 feels compared to the original. Its larger screen and heftier weight just felt better in my hands, and although I wasn’t quite smitten with it, I was impressed.
When Pokopia release day rolled around, I was practically battling my children, giving them chores to do, reminding them of their homework, anything to delay them realizing what day it was and which game had just come out. From that point on, I was riveted. Every spare hour of my day was Pokopia time, and it remained that way for quite some time–until Tomodachi Life (also on Switch 1) came out. The disturbing and depraved conversations I could force my Miis to have caused hilarity among myself and the friends I was playing alongside in Discord group calls. From two titles alone, I have justified the expense of the console. It’s safe to say that my (read: my daughter’s) Switch 2 is a console purchased for Nintendo exclusives, and it has even remained in handheld mode for the duration of its time with us so far. I did try to talk myself out of needing the new, shiny thing, but I’m glad my daughters convinced me in the end. Just please, Nintendo, don’t bring out a bigger, better, shinier one any time soon. –Cheri Faulkner
I Literally Forgot I Owned A Switch 2 Until I Was Assigned This Blurb
I did legitimately like the original Switch. Apart from supplying some engrossing games with The Legend of Zelda and providing a handy way to revisit a few excellent retro games I didn’t already have sitting on a shelf, it served as my indie game delivery system for a long time.
But even when the Switch was most useful to me, before I got a Steam Deck, I would go long stretches without playing it. Usually it would take the launch of some big-name first-party game for me to reach deep into my TV’s entertainment center to retrieve it, covered with dust, battery extremely dead. I’d get a month’s worth of play time out of it, before it would vanish again to its tucked-away place among too many other aging game consoles.
I’ve played the Switch 2 even less. In fact, if the Switch 2 has been available for 12 months, I haven’t played it in about 11. I’d forgotten I owned one until we started talking about this feature. And that’s because I’ve found the Switch 2 pretty underwhelming, almost wholly from the standpoint of its game library.
I nabbed Mario Kart World when it released, and found little to draw me in; maybe because Mario Kart games themselves are for parties and chaos, and not for playing alone in handheld mode while half-watching a movie. I bought Donkey Kong Bananza and thought it was cute, but fell off as I came to realize that all of its activities felt basically identical, without any kind of real challenge. Bananza feels like a game for children, which doesn’t bother me, but I wanted something more substantial.
It was my experience with Bananza that put me off buying Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, once the reviews came out. Metroid games have been all over the place for a while now, and I haven’t felt like they’ve really captured what I liked about the franchise since either the Game Boy Advance days or Metroid Prime 3. This one sounded like it was full of irritating characters, skewing in a different direction, and memories of Other M flooded back. Better to keep Metroid as I remember it, I figured.
Other apparently fun games have come along. Pokemon Pokopia sounds cool if you’re a Pokemon person, but my Pokemon game was Red and the year was 1998. Apparently people like Tomodachi Life. I played Animal Crossing: New Horizons during COVID like everyone else. Tom Nook is a slumlord and the whole thing got dull in a hurry. I think I’m good on cutesy life sims.
The thing about the Switch 2 is that I’m getting pretty old. I don’t have any kids. Its first-party games feel undercooked to me, a little childish, a little flighty, a little thin. There’s something almost … Jar-Jar Binksian about the console. And much the way the Star Wars prequels are remembered fondly by people just a little younger than me, I just might no longer be the target audience for what Nintendo has in mind.
That’s fine. You don’t have to be the audience for everything forever. It’s foolish and egotistical to think so. But I wish I’d known the Switch 2 would have so little to offer me before I’d laid down my credit card for one. —Phil Hornshaw
