The Nintendo Switch 2. Connie Park/NYT WirecutterTop pickThe Nintendo Switch 2 packs almost a decade’s worth of performance improvements into a handheld console that plays all your old games better and will offer new experiences for years to come.Like the original Switch, the Nintendo Switch 2 is a hybrid gaming device, a portable that also connects to your television, allowing you to play out in the world or in your living room on a big screen. But whereas the original Switch was often compromised by aging mobile hardware that severely constrained the kinds of games that could work, the Switch 2 has much more powerful hardware, so it’s far more likely to receive more full-featured versions of popular games for the foreseeable future.The Switch 2 consists of a central tablet body with a USB-C port on both the bottom and top (new to this system), as well as a headphone jack, detachable Joy-Con controllers on the right and left sides, and a dock that allows it to charge and also connect to a television via HDMI 2.0a with support for HDR video in 4K at 60 Hz.Like the original Switch, the Switch 2 features a kickstand on its rear panel, but the stand has been considerably enhanced: It’s now the full width (and half the height) of the Switch 2 and designed with a tension mechanism that allows more precisely adjustable angles when you place the console on a flat surface. The Switch 2 also offers 256 GB of flash storage, and it supports microSD Express cards, which are almost 10 times as fast as the microSD cards that the original Switch uses.However, the Nintendo Switch 2’s familiar appearance hides a lot of improvements under its matte-black finish that set it apart from the original Switch, all of which allow it to provide the best possible Switch experience for everyone — assuming you can stomach the $450 price tag.The Nintendo Switch 2. Connie Park/NYT WirecutterThe Switch 2 is noticeably bigger and nicer to hold than the original Switch. Measuring about 10.6 inches wide, 4.6 inches tall, and just over half an inch thick, it has an approximately 8-inch display, which is larger than even the OLED Switch’s 7-inch screen; as a 120 Hz HDR-capable LCD touch panel, the display delivers less lag time and a crisper image. We’re a little disappointed with that LCD, however, in part because it virtually promises that an OLED version of the Switch 2 will launch eventually (with an accompanying price premium).The Joy-Con controllers are better. The Switch 2’s larger body includes correspondingly larger, upgraded Joy-Con controllers. These taller Joy-Cons feature a new attachment system using electrically activated magnets, and they have more pronounced buttons on the sides, along with redesigned analog sticks. Although Nintendo has touted a new design for these sticks, despite rumors to the contrary they do not use Hall Effect sensors, which would theoretically have all but eliminated the many reliability problems that often plagued the original Joy-Con controllers. We’ll be monitoring how well this new design performs over time.Each Switch 2 Joy-Con has along its inside rail an optical sensor for mouse-style functionality. Nintendo has also added to the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons and its new Pro controller a “C” button, which activates the new GameChat feature. GameChat places your active game in a window and shows a Zoom-like strip of your friends. GameChat supports voice and/or video chat with up to 12 people, though only four can share their screens. Previous-Switch Joy-Cons work as controllers with the Switch 2 but can’t dock to it; previous-generation Pro controllers also work with the new console, though Nintendo also has a new Switch 2 Pro Controller. The Switch 2 left Joy-Con (left) and an original-Switch right Joy-Con (right). Connie Park/NYT WirecutterIt’s much more powerful. The Switch 2’s new Nvidia processor provides an enormous, multigenerational leap in speed and overall performance compared with the original Switch, and it has much faster memory and 256 GB of internal storage, along with microSD Express support for added storage. Mario Kart World. NintendoIt will get a new generation of games, plus older games that skipped the original Switch. The Switch 2’s more powerful hardware allows for new, Switch 2–exclusive games that are bigger, more advanced, and better-looking than those on the original Switch. It also means that popular, more demanding games that skipped the original Switch will come to the Switch 2. Nintendo has already released Mario Kart World. Donkey Kong Bananza, and the absolutely excellent Pokopia exclusively for the Switch 2. And companies like Capcom are already supporting the system with releases like Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata, modern titles that would have been impossible on the original Switch.Your existing Switch library will run and (often) look better. The Switch 2 also plays almost all of your existing Switch games, with the exception of titles that aren’t physically compatible with the new, larger Joy-Con controllers and a small and steadily dwindling number of titles with some compatibility problems. On the new console, original-Switch games regularly see improved performance that ranges from more consistent frame rates to clearer graphics and often dramatically improved loading times. There are also optional, paid enhancements available for older games, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Mario Party Jamboree.Load times are dramatically faster. The Nintendo Switch 2 uses modern storage formats and technology that together provide meaningfully faster load times across the board in comparison with the original Switch. And that applies to every way in which you may play a game on the system; whether you’re loading a game off your Switch 2’s internal storage, from a game card, or from a new microSD Express card, the time you spend waiting can be measured in seconds, rather than the minutes that more recent games for the original Switch often take. And moving games between the Switch 2’s internal storage and an optional microSD Express card is also much faster than the process on the original Switch.It’s full of small but meaningful quality-of-life improvements. The Switch 2 takes advantage of its new Nvidia processor to provide some unexpected perks, including audio tuning to make its speakers sound considerably better than those found on the original Switch. Its haptics are also improved, with better, more nuanced vibration that often translates to subtle but enjoyable experiences within games like Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. Although we’ll have to see how effectively the mouse-control features of the new Joy-Con controllers work out over time, they provide another input method that could work well for the types of games that often struggle to translate to game consoles.Flaws but not dealbreakersIt’s expensive. The Nintendo Switch 2’s launch price of $450 is considerably higher than the original Switch’s $300 price tag, and there are a number of ways in which the Switch 2 doesn’t provide much (if any) improvement over that eight-year-old console. Considering that the original Switch is still regularly available for $300, we don’t foresee a price cut for the Switch 2 on any predictable horizon.The games and accessories are also expensive. With Mario Kart World priced at $80 (an increase over the usual $60 and the occasional $70 price tag for original-Switch software), Nintendo has officially pushed into a new tier of premium pricing on its biggest games. We expect other publishers to follow suit on at least some of their Switch 2 releases.The updated Switch 2 Joy-Con controllers and the Switch 2 Pro Controller have also seen bumps in price over their predecessors. The new system’s Joy-Cons are an eye-watering $95, in contrast to $80 for the original-Switch Joy-Cons, and the $85 Switch 2 Pro Controller is similarly $15 more expensive than the Switch Pro Controller. And if you want to expand your Switch 2’s storage, microSD Express cards are routinely twice as expensive as microSD cards for the same amount of space. Connie Park/NYT WirecutterThe LCD screen isn’t as good as OLED. The Switch 2’s 120 Hz, HDR display features pretty good color reproduction and good contrast, and it supports VRR (variable refresh rate), but its motion handling isn’t fantastic. Worse, for anyone who upgraded to a Switch OLED model, the image quality feels like a legitimate step backward in most respects.The physical-game situation is confusing. There are actually three kinds of “physical” Switch 2 game cards. The first is a full Switch 2 physical copy, a game card that contains a complete and playable Switch 2 game, no downloads needed, and doesn’t work on an original Switch. Meanwhile, Switch 2 Edition game cards work on a Switch 2 (with Switch 2–specific enhancements) and on an original Switch (without such enhancements), in both cases playable directly, without an internet connection.There are three different kinds of “physical” Switch 2 games. Arthur Gies/NYT WirecutterMario Kart World is compatible only with Switch 2 consoles. Tears of the Kingdom is compatible with both the Switch and the Switch 2. And the card for Bravely Default Flying Fairy is only a license to play the game — you have to download it from the Switch 2 eShop to play it. Arthur Gies/NYT WirecutterThere are three different kinds of “physical” Switch 2 games. Arthur Gies/NYT WirecutterFinally, there are game-key cards, which don’t actually include the game. Instead, they serve as physical licenses for use with a downloaded copy of the game in question. This downloaded copy can’t be played without the game-key card inserted into your Switch 2, but you can lend or sell back a game-key card just as you can a physical game.There’s a logic to all of that, but we still sort of hate it. And unfortunately, many games will be offered only as game-key cards, meaning potentially long download times for those games before you can play them (and a rapid filling up of your Switch 2’s internal storage). You need to look closely at each game’s box art or its game card to know which type you’re buying; game-key cards have a small key icon on the game box featured in the white bar along the bottom of the box art.
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