As the doors to the giant hall swung open, journalists thronged through, jostling against each other. Their goal? To get some hands-on time with the brand new Nintendo Switch 2. Announced yesterday, with much fanfare, it’s Nintendo’s latest step in redesigning the future of gaming.
For a lucky few – including myself – came the chance to preview the console first hand, before its launch on June 5. Over the course of three hours, we put the Switch 2 through its paces. And the signs are positive.
First things first: this is a beast of a machine. Clad in a fetching matte black, it weighs the same as the original Switch, but it’s larger: a 7.2 inch screen, as opposed to a 6.2 inch one for the earlier models. It’s wider and taller, but slimmer than the originals, which is quite a feat when you consider how much processing power is packed into it. But pleasingly, it still feels handheld: unlike the chunky Steam decks, this still feels like it could be packed into a bag and taken on holiday.
The processing power is worth a mention, too. This bad boy comes with 256GB of memory – many times more than anything a Switch console has been able to muster before – and some whopping software courtesy of gaming tech giant NVIDIA.
Truthfully, we still don’t know much about what’s inside the Switch – except that it’s custom-built – but we do know that it’s capable of running third party games like Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy and Split Fiction without breaking a sweat. I spent time with all of them, and didn’t detect a noticeable difference in loading times or graphics to their console versions.
Plus, it looks damn good. Games are run in 1080p, but when the Switch 2 is docked, that is multiplied a thousandfold: the dock is capable of running games in 4K resolution, at 108fps. As a result, the games it was showing off during the demo – the new Mario Kart World, which they seem to be lining up as their flagship game – looked incredibly detailed.
And let’s talk games for a second. We had the chance to play Mario Kart World (which can be bought in a pack with the Switch 2, for £429.99), as well as the new Mario Party Jamboree and upcoming Donkey Kong Bananza – aka, the first 3D DK game in 25 years.
This was Nintendo at its most inventive. Mario Kart World was a complete redesign of the Mario Kart franchise: we had a massive world of levels to explore in Free Roam, open-world style, as well as a tournament-style Knock-Out mode, where competitors raced each other to be first over the finish line. The twist? The lowest scoring competitors would be eliminated.
Jamboree had also been upgraded with all-new party games (as well as a couple that wouldn’t run without the additional £58.99 camera). In one, we had to spray paint walking bombs, using the mouse to point and click at the item we wanted to coat in paint. In another, we played puck hockey; in another, we had to use the mouse to wind up toy cars and launch them across the screen.
Both Mario games will be available on launch day – as will both Legend of Zelda games. But a whole host of other games were announced, too, including Miyazaki’s exceedingly Bloodborne-esque The Duskbloods, which sounds like a gothic vampire horror. Although we didn’t get to test any of the game at the event, we’re here for it.
All the above is tied together with some truly mindbogglingly flexible controls. Yes, there’s no touch screen, but there are the Joy-Cons, and they’re packed to the hilt with new tech. That includes a HD rumble pack, a gyroscope (the better to play party games) and - best of all - new functionality that allows them to work as a mouse.
That’s right, the Joy-Con can be flipped on its side, with the R and ZR levers now serving as mouse buttons. How good are they? Well, they can play PC games like Civilisation VII without breaking a sweat, and are remarkably sensitive for a device so small – just one of the touches that makes the console feel so high-end.
The only downside was the battery. The Switch 2 takes three hours to charge and lasts between 2-6.5 hours – certainly less than the Switch OLED, with its whopping 4.5-9 hours of battery life, though here’s hoping Nintendo will release upgraded versions after its big launch in June.
The one bit of functionality we didn’t get to test was the console’s Gamechat feature, which (it promises) will let gamers link up remotely to talk, share their device screens and even video chat (their image will appear in the bottom right corner of the screen). Sadly, this is all still up in the air – we’ll likely hear more around launch time.
After a hectic three hours, the event was over, but one thing’s for sure: the Switch 2 does feel quietly revolutionary. Adding a mouse-mode is a stroke of genius – albeit one the fans have been calling for, for some time – that makes the console so much more versatile.
When you add in that massive memory, the high quality graphics and the crunchy processing power – all in a remarkably small package – the idea of traditional consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation feel almost obsolete. At £395.99 (£429.99 with the inclusion of the new Mario Kart World game), it’s not cheap, but for serious gaming fans, I suspect it might be a must-have. The best things really do come in small packages: yes, it’s a preview, but the Switch 2 feels like dynamite.
