The Nintendo Switch 2 Progress Report
It has been 11 months since the Nintendo Switch 2 launched in the US and around the world. I picked one up on launch day with the Mario Kart bundle and at the time I was very happy with the improved visuals and some of the upgrades to existing games like Breath of the Wild with the Switch 2 editions. New hardware is something that always gets me excited. Heck, I even almost picked up a ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X last fall when they came out just to check it out. Thankfully I just laid on the floor for an hour and the urge subsided. But, while the Nintendo Switch 2 impressed me at its launch, the console has started to fade out of my memory. I think the last time I touched it was back around Christmas and looking at the upcoming release calendar, I am not sure the next time that I will even remember to check if it has a charge on it.
The launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 coincided with the tariff situation in the United States which might have been some of the reason that Nintendo held off to announce pricing until right before the launch and stunned some folks with just how much more expensive that the Switch 2 was going to be than the original Switch.
The Nintendo Switch 2 was available in two configurations for the launch of the system, a base system with no games for $450 and a bundle with Mario Kart World for $500. I don’t know that Nintendo has come out and said what the split was between bundled systems and base units, but I don’t think I know anyone that purchased just the base unit. It didn’t help matters that Nintendo kind of stacked the deck towards the purchase of the bundle given that they decided to come out of the blocks with a price of $80(!) for Mario Kart World. I am on record as not being one of the biggest Mario Kart fans out there. I have enjoyed them, but the rubber bandy AI and wildly unbalanced weapons in some installments has always kept the series down the tier list of the Nintendo mainstay franchises for me. The whole situation was made a bit easier when Gamestop announced a very compelling trade offer for my existing OLED Switch console. So, I went ahead and pre-ordered and picked it up on launch night, the first time I had done a midnight line up since before the pandemic. The vibes were high and I was pretty happy to be out and a part of the next phase of the Nintendo story.
It didn’t take long before I regretted trading my OLED Switch. One of the first things that I noticed on the Switch 2 was the ghosting on the screen in handheld mode. It is worse in some games than others but the ghosting in a fast paced game like Fast Fusion just makes the game look like a blurry mess. Which is really a shame because Nintendo made some smart decisions on paper. They chose to equip the Switch 2 with a 120Hz screen that could make some indies and backwards compatible games potentially run at a butter smooth high refresh rate. It could also more practically open up the option for developers to have their game run at 40FPS in portable mode, which I can attest feels much better than 30FPS, especially on a small handheld screen.
Despite my issues with the screen, I can honestly say that the Switch 2 is a pretty nice piece of hardware. Due to the nVidia chipset inside the unit, they have access to DLSS features that can do wonders to reconstruct images from lower resolutions and upscale them and turn out some impressive results. Early on in the systems life many people were shocked at how the Switch 2 port of Street Fighter 6 looked better on Switch 2 than the Xbox Series S. The joycons felt improved over the previous generations but the lack of hall effect or TMR sticks on the unit still leaves it potentially open to stick drift, a situation that plagued nearly every Switch 1 owner other than me. I managed to get out unscathed when it came to stick drift. But I would place a caveat on that comment, I upgraded Switch consoles a few times over the generation so no set of joycons ever got that much use and whenever I was playing on a tv I used the Pro Controller.
I won’t try to beat the dead horse here, but I will acknowledge that Mario Kart World left something to be desired. It felt light on content, didn’t let you play a more traditional GP circuit as you might like, and the travel races were largely straightforward busy work that never got me too excited. The fortunes of the Switch 2 were about to change though, Donkey Kong Bananza was announced and came out in late July and while I didn’t love it. It did however show off some cool visual effects and modernized the concept of what a DK game could be and leaves me curious what they team would do next. The rest of the Summer, I actually made decent use of the Switch 2 console as a Fortnite machine. They did a very good job of porting that game over to the new Nintendo handheld and I will keep this brief in that I was in a situation where I was going through a divorce and a lot of my hardware was in storage so the handheld nature of the Switch 2 made it easy for me to play a round or two a night and level up that battle pass.
Games on the Switch 2 Disappoint
The fall is where things really started to fall off for me. I wasn’t interested in Kirby Air Ride. Pokemon ZA was really not for me. (I should stop trying to like a modern Pokemon game). But, my true darkest hour with the Switch 2 was on the horizon in December, the absolutely soul shattering Metroid Prime 4. Boy I didn’t like that game and I LOVE Metroid. Heck, just a few years ago Metroid Dread was VideoDestruct’s game of the year! It looked nice and played fine. The new psychic abilities did nothing for me and the incredibly linear nature of the games main dungeons was hugely disappointing and the motorcycle stuff was just lame.
That brings us to this year. The Switch 2 continues to get impressive ports with Pragmata and Resident Evil Requiem from Capcom continuing to surprise. Final Fantasy VII Remake also got released and was an interesting mix of better than PS4 visuals and closer than you would believe to PS5 quality visuals. The issue I have with these ports is I would never choose to play one of those games on the Switch 2 when I can play them on my very nice gaming PC or the PS5 Pro. It isn’t the fault of the Switch 2, just a reality that many people have to face. Do you want the visuals or the convenience of the portable hybrid nature of the Switch 2 and I am just not in a situation right now where that makes a very compelling argument for getting some thing on the Switch 2.
The last couple of weeks have been interesting. Nintendo has announced they are remaking Star Fox 64… again… Which itself was a remake of the SNES game. It is surprising how every decade or so Nintendo remembers they have Star Fox and then they make a bad installment and put it to bed and then 5-10 years later they trot out a remake or remaster of Star Fox 64. Guys, I get that Star Fox 64 is the one time that the formula worked but you can just make another one. It doesn’t need to be the SAME game. Just make a Star Fox 64-2. The issue with the other games in the franchise isn’t that they are not Star Fox 64, it is that you inject them with a bunch of vehicles or control modes that people don’t like.
Final Thoughts
As of this writing just yesterday Nintendo announced that they are going to be raising the price of the base unit Switch 2 to $500. They have given you plenty of time to go out and get one as I don’t think they price hike takes place until September. That raises the question: Has Nintendo made a good enough case for the Switch 2 as a platform at this point for you to justify it or will you just wait for a new Zelda or 3D Mario game before taking the plunge? I don’t hate the fact that I picked one up. I have been ride or die with Nintendo platforms for the better part of my entire life, no reason to stop now. I mean heck I own a Wii U and a Virtual Boy. So, much like the father figure that is smoking filter-less Camel cigarettes and advising you to not be like him, I would probably hold off on the Nintendo Switch 2 at this point and see what is gonna come out soon because year 1 hasn’t been a disaster but it certainly has not made me feel like I ran out and got the best value in gaming. Also, Nintendo does tend to revise their hardware and maybe they will release a unit with a nicer screen without the ghosting or heck even another OLED. Only time will tell. Thanks for reading and go play some games!
