We Have A Nintendo Switch 2 In Our Hands. Here Are Our First Impressions

After two Nintendo Switch 2 events under our belt and a dozen or so hours with the new console, setting up Hades, Super Mario Odyssey, and Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we can safely say that the Switch 2 is here — and, well, there’s a lot to unpack.

We’ll be diving deeper into the features of the Switch 2 over the next few weeks and testing a variety of claims — like the alleged 2 to 5 hour battery life —and launch titles like Mario Kart World and the eventual addition of Donkey Kong Bananza and Hades II. And don’t forget the mouse controls and the C button — features we’re going to need to wait to really weigh in on as some game developers barely got the heads up about them. The GameChat feature is another one we’ll have to wait on, as I have to wait for my friends to get a hold of the Switch 2 before I can check that out. So far, it looks like only one old colleague on my friends list may have it.

What we can now say is that the Switch 2 is not a wildly new console (once we see the C Button and Mouse Controls in action, we reserve the right to change our minds). Everything we’ve seen is an incremental upgrade — in performance and function. Still, all the new features are a very big deal and poring over its every feature is worth it for the 150+ million folks who own a Switch and may be eyeing an upgrade — at some point.

For now, here are a few first impression from our time with it:

• The Switch 2 has been running Hades smoothly at 1080P, playing the bass riffs of the soundtrack on upgraded speakers. The console boasts 3D spatial audio, and the little I’ve heard so far definitely sounds more immersive.
• The Joy-Cons snap in place, with a fun animation on the screen — think small blue and orange rectangles that float over — to add emphasis.
• The kickstand for leaning the console against a surface has been reinvented, bumped up from the original’s measly singular rectangle on the right, to a more substantial, balanced stand that supports weight on both ends. Time will tell, but it already feels more stable than the original.
• An extra USB-C port at the top allows me to charge it with a separate cable even while the Switch 2 is docked, which is a nice quality of life feature to have just in general, even if it’s not absolutely necessary.
• The larger LED screen isn’t anything revolutionary, but I’m already feeling more reassured playing Hades. I can see more, more surface area is being covered, and thus I know where the enemies are.
• Holding the Switch 2 in my hands, I can tell it’s heavier (by 30% of a pound, according to the tech specs), but it’s not anything ground-breaking. A true test will come after hours and hours of gaming with the added weight, but at such a small fraction, I don’t anticipate this being an issue.
• About 20 titles are getting a Switch 2 upgrade already, at least that’s what’s been announced so far. If you’re like me, you’re basically working with most of the Switch 1 titles you’ve already got and seeing how they run with the new digs. You still have to sign up to a Nintendo Online membership to use online features, and the system to connect online remains largely the same, as far as I can tell.