2017: Handhelds flatlined. The Vita gasped, while the 3DS felt its own dwindling. Then came Nintendo’s bombshell: the Switch. The hybrid consoles spearheaded a portable revolution, proving that power and portability need not be at odds. With its sortie, it grew into a titan, poised to perhaps become the best-selling console of all time.
The perfect chase feels impossible. But with the Switch 2, Nintendo did not reinvent the wheel: they coated it with magic. The magic of the original was captured and its best elements were supercharged to load us with more greatness. This is simply the dawn of a new era and I am thoroughly enthralled.
Billy Steele for Engadget
The hottest new handheld
Nintendo Switch 2
With the Switch 2, Nintendo improved everything we liked about the original while retaining its sleek and portable design.
Pros
- Larger 7.9-inch LCD screen with HDR
- More polished design
- Magnetic Joy-Con
- Improved base storage
- Significantly better performance
Cons
- Battery life could be better
- Dock needs more USB-C ports
- Increased price
- No VRR when connected to a TV
$449 at Walmart
Design
The Switch 2 is not going to reinvent the wheel; Nintendo is subtly doing the super-sizing of everything we loved about the original. The analogy is basically saying that the Switch 2 is like a protein shake version of the Switch. The dimensions have bulked up (10.7 x 4.5 x 0.55 inches and a 1.2-pound frame with Joy-Cons) to house an incredibly bright 7.9-inch display that just invites play. Even the controls get upgraded treatment; picture thicker face buttons, more refined analog sticks, and a kickstand that opens wider than your opportunities for gaming on the go. It feels yet new.
The key charm of Switch 2, however, lies in its refurbished Joy-Cons. Gone are those days of slide and pray. Now, a magnetic pull brings them together, accompanied by a deeply satisfyingthunk. The recognizable matte finish is glamorized with minimalistic red and blue highlights, but the true magic is in letting go with ease: with a mere push near each trigger, the little hiccups pop free. Secure, seamless and, let’s say, a bit addictive – the Joy-Cons they do feel exceptionally well.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Nintendo has tucked away a weird, quirky secret: Each Joy-Con L and R has its own hidden sensor, turning them surprisingly into decent mouse devices. I was skeptical and I snorted. So I fired up Civilization 7, and honestly, in such an environment usually ruthlessly bad when using gamepad control, my little sensor was a blessing. Desk be gone, say goodbye to mouse pads! Your armrest or even your leg turns into a decent mousepad. That type of freedom is genius when engaged in a massive TV game.
Display
Forget squinting, as the Switch 2 is now all out with a brilliant 7.9-inch LCD, leaving the original kind of dust. Really, it’s 1080p versus 720p, and a 120Hz refresh rate lets your games flow with buttery smoothness. HDR support? Yes, sir. Maximum brightness is around 400 nits, soaring to 450-plus nits for HDR-enabled games. That would be some eye candy right there!
The Switch 2 LCD would shine brighter, actually. But its blacks take the darkest possible level for OLED deep. In dimly lit areas with weaker illumination, inky blacks tend to lean more towards grays. But honestly? Being huge in size, resolution, and speed, the screen turns into a level above.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Once docked, the Switch 2 unleashes unparalleled visuals: silky-smooth 4K at 60fps or a blazing fast 1440p at 120fps. However, few games will really perform at such exalted heights. An interesting idiosyncrasy: VRR actually applies to the handheld screen but not for your TV. All in all, though, I am glad it supports ALLM, which does wonders when you are in a blitzkrieg.
Performance
Unleashing the Beast: The Switch 2’s Raw Power Revealed!
Forget baby steps; the Switch 2 is sprinting out of the gate. While history teaches us that new consoles need time to find their footing, the raw specs of Nintendo’s next-gen device are screaming potential. The very heart of this console is a custom NVIDIA GPU a real graphical powerhouse with a tenfold jump in performance over the previous generation. Just imagine visuals brimming with breathtaking detail, courtesy of DLSS and ray tracing. Then came an additional punch of 12 GB of RAM, along with a 256 GB SSD. Until your game library swells even more, feel free to muscle through with a microSD Express card. Here now is the future of handheld gaming, and it’s looking seriously impressive.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
A series of Mario Kart? Perfection, as to be expected of Nintendo’s heavyweight champion. It’s buttery smooth. Theonlytime IthoughtI saw a hiccup was during a chaotic four-player free-for-all, with active Game Chat and an avalanche of video streams. Even then, the slowdown was so subtle that only a keen-eyed hawk could catch it. In other words, non-issue.
It’s not just a spec bump; it’s the Unreal Tournament. No more indie darlings; we’re talkingCyberpunk 2077genuinely looking gorgeous on the alleviated hardware. It’d be a hard find if you were scrutinizing any compromises with a high-end PC.Street Fighter 6is no perfect victory, some visual flourishes are downscaled but it really delivers. I, a longtime Switch skeptic when it came to performance, am taking my hat off to it. It’s not just a step up; it’s really a big leap.
Backwards compatibility
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Maybe it is backward compatibility that is the Switch 2’s killer application; i.e., jumping back into your old Switch software library, as almost all games work flawlessly! With a few exceptions, then: speciallyRing Fit Adventurewill need some thinking on the user’s side because the new joycons will not fit into the old straps. But hey, just dust off those old joycons, and theRing Fitis yours again! Almost every NS1 accessory works, too! There’s aSuper Smash Bros. UltimateMii Fighter glitch crashing the game, but Nintendo is already hard at work on a fix. In other words, get ready to have the Switch favourites experience anew!
Maybe we should forget the nostalgic goggles; Switch 2 isn’t just giving a second life to occasional favorites. It’s like a liquid sunshine forSuper Mario Odyssey,and forBreath of The Wild,prepare to rediscover Hyrule in stunning HDR (courtesy of a minor upgrade or the Expansion Pack). But then, the true magic: watchPokémon ScarletandVioletreinvented. A free Switch 2 upgrade washes away framerate woes and pop-in nightmares of old. The world is really alive, extending to an unseen horizon. This is a tribute to the Switch 2 power that could revive the undeliveredPokémonexperience of 2022.
Or hearkening classic phraseology:
Nostalgia aside: Switch 2 is not simply about breathing second life into occasion-favorite titles.Super Mario Odysseyis liquid sunshine incarnate, whereasBreath of the Wildis another matter; prepare to rediscover Hyrule cast in majestic HDR (thanks to a slight upgrade or the Expansion Pack). But really, the magic is: witnessPokémon ScarletandVioletreinvented. A free upgrade for Switch 2 clears away frame rate woes and pop-in nightmares of yore. The world is really alive, stretching to previously unseen horizons. That is thePokémonexperience that was desired in 2022-this is in testimony to the power of Switch 2 to alter the annals of gaming.”
Game Chat
Picture it: the final boss battle is underway, adrenaline coursing through your veins, and backup must come fast. Away with frantic texting! The Switch 2 comes with a dedicated chat button linking you instantly to your team. The initial setup is simple: just validate an ID, and you are good to go. Invite your friends, and within no time, the lobby is ready, or just pair off and construct your own virtual clubhouse.
…After crossing “the portal,” it was the “C-button” that was going to jazz up everything. Set the screen layouts to what they prefer, choose a background that suits their style, decide on how they want to communicate: video stream, voice-only, or have their words converted to text-kind (and vice-versa!). If a camera is available, they might as well make good use of it and try to slap their face into the chat just for good measure. This is not just a mere chat. This is a revolution in connected gaming.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Nintendo’s nailed the message of hassle-free group chats. Rewind and picture: up to four faces beaming in, a digital living room buzzing with 12 players. Family game night has gone international, staring at cousins across continents! But the video never quite passed the Hollywood standards. Think charmingly retro: a pixelated postcard, if you will. And if I were talking about the green screen effect, ho-hum. Actually, think emergency digital camouflage. Watch those windows jump or, if feeling fancy, leverage the “Director’s Cut” to pin one. In any case, turns quirks aside; it’s the connection to the actual game that counts.
Forget the highlight reel; it’s all about good company. Step into a lobby, even if you’re not killing the same baddies (or killing any, really!). The setup is simple, and it’s such a laid-back atmosphere that must be called a win-win. The problem: You will need Nintendo Switch Online, but for instant camaraderie through twenty bucks yearly it really is too small a price.
The Dock
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
The new dock? Think of something smoother and cooler, yet unmistakably Switch. Gone are the sharp edges of the original; a soft-curved top shell now cradles the Switch 2. Those familiar ports are still placed on the back (power, HDMI, Ethernet), hidden away behind a removable cover. But wait! Inside resides a fan to slyly keep the system cool, at least until the heat builds up. Goodbye to performance drops and hello to long gaming sessions sans annoying fan noise. The same, but, definitely, better.
USB ports could potentially be the dock’s Achilles heel. There’s no third USB-A side; only two are offered on the sides and one on the rear with USB-C. Going to use the camera? You better have a USB-A adapter in hand because it comes only with USB-C. You can plug it straight into the top port of the console, but then you’ll have to go through the “undock, unplug, repeat” procedure every single time you want to game on the go. Nintendo, what a pity! A full compliment of USB-C ports, or even justonemore, would have saved us all from adapter purgatory.
Battery Life
The Switch 2 battery will be a 5,220 mAh monster, offering power capacity of anywhere between a two-hour quick burst and a sprawling six-and-a-half-hours of adventure. Your mileage may vary, though. The battery life depends on load imposed by demanding games, screen brightness variations, and even downloads sneaking in the background. Gear up for that potential sprint in power or a leisure marathon!
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Testing the Switch 2 battery life meant setting up an exhausting test, a full-throttle gaming gauntlet. From 100%, I pushed the console to its limits until the battery decided to give up. Screen brightness was set to 100%, some 400-nits with auto-brightness shut off like the worst-case scenario. Think stress-test; it’s theminimumruntime expectancy. Dimming screen brightness, of course, gets you still more time to play.
Battery life is under the spotlight for the Switch 2. InMario Kart World, the port ran down after a mere two hours and 23 minutes, failing to reach Nintendo’s projection.Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild(NS2 edition) got a somewhat respectable 2 hours and 56 minutes. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S, though, was the true battery champ, tallying in around 4 hours and 15 minutes. Such long battery life shouldn’t come as a surprise considering its thinly veiled guise as an-old 2D port.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Sure, those figures might be a little painful to swallow. Who would not want an extra hour of play? But let’s keep it real here; we are talking about performance levels that rival or even better the Steam Deck and ROG Ally X. The real kicker is that the Switch 2 did all that in a form factor that makes those PC-based counterparts look like serious bricks!
The Switch 2 is really a battery dream, all the way with it. A selectable charge limit allows you to put a cap on the charge at a certain percentage, thereby extending the life of the battery. But the best part-the married couple cannot be distinguished: the battery icon becomes sketchy! Docking the Switch 2 drops a small illuminated indicator that pops on this desperation of a visible screen and says, “Charging.” Gone are the days of having to guess!
Cost considerations
The new Switch 2 hits your wallet harder than a blue shell. At $450 for just the console and half a sawbuck more if you want Mario Kart World, it’s an appreciable climb from the original’s $300 opening veil (inflation cushioning the blow a bit, though). That, however, is merely the starting line. Want the full experience? Prepare for sticker shock. My own dive into the Switch 2 pool console, physical copies of Mario Kart World and the shiny new Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NS2 Edition), and a Pro Controller set me back $745.75. To this, Nintendo gleefully sucker-punched me for another $50 of online play with the Expansion Pack. Final damage? A nearly $800 gaming outing.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Shiny new console and a couple of games: they are the siren song for any gamer. But before you dive headfirst, remember that “disposable income” is a fluid idea, varying from person to person. Will the Switch 2 be a joyful addition to your everyday life or a budget-breaking one? Let’s crunch the numbers and check if your wallet can bear the hype.
Important notes
Heads up for future Switch 2 owners! It might be a good idea for a little pit stop before the main race. There’s a day-one patch for online gameplay and probably some game launches, to boot. Usually, this kind of switch 2 update will be grabbed during the setup phase, just follow the prompts on screen and connect to Wi-Fi when asked. Should you be too excited to set it up via Wi-Fi, though, it’s no biggie! You can grab your patch the window after switching, connect to the internet, then hit up system settings to grab that update. Just like giving your Switch 2 a little polish before setting out on a grand adventure!
Old-standard microSD cards are not good enough with the Switch 2. It goes up a notch withmicroSD Express. These once were grandma’s microSD cards. If it does not have an “EX” or “EXPRESS” engraved on it, it simply will not work!
Unboxing the Switch 2 reveals the ingenious console, along with the aforementioned Joy-Con Grip for comfy play, two Joy-Con straps for motion adventures, an HDMI cable for big-screen fun, and a powerful 60-watt power adapter with a detachable USB-C cord that will power through any long gaming session.
- Some units may suffer from an inaccurate charging indicator, which can be addressed with these instructions from Nintendo. Tired of online gaming unknowns chatting with your kids? Parental Controls givesyouthe power. Approve who your kids interact with in-game, and keep the game’s emphasis on fun, not interaction. Relax…level unlocked.
Nintendo’s anticipated Joy-Cons for the next-gen Switch are ditching the old-stick technology, but wait a sec: drift-free gaming? These aren’t the coveted Hall effect sticks gamers wanted, so is history going to repeat itself, or has Nintendo finally eliminated drift? Only time-and heavy gameplay-will tell.
- Only the Switch 2’s bottom USB-C port supports video out.
Wrap-up
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the saying goes. But Nintendo did fix it – very much so, and REALLY well. While keeping the hybrid concept that everyone loved on the first console, every parameter was greatly improved. Imagine a screen that pops up with the brightest colors, and that is bigger than ever. The buttons now respond to your touch with utter satisfaction, and the newly redesigned magnetized Joy-Cons practically snap into place! Do you recall the kickstand? It’s grown sturdy arms to cradle your hands with the best viewing angles. Storage? Load in the blink of an eye with microSD Express cards at breakneck speed. And, a second USB-C port? Think of it as a doorway to opportunities!
If the Switch 2 were a word, it would mean ‘amplicapturis’; the multitasking platform asks a few extra bucks but is not just another console to be sold. It’s the beginning of another chapter in a revolution started by the original Switch-a revolution that gave a new definition to handheld gaming. Worth it? Oh, it’s the front-row seat to the future of play.
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