The Switch 2 is a mirror

Whatever you think the Switch 2 is, it is. If you think it’s overpriced and underpowered, it is. If you think it’s a welcome upgrade to one of your favorite consoles of all time, it is. If you think that the magnets are cool, they are. If you think Nintendo is a conservative company hedging their bets, they are. The Switch 2 is a mirror, and you will see in it whatever you bring to it.

My own Switch 2 arrived at 6:20 am from Walmart after a week of me obsessively checking my preorder to see if it had been canceled. I was, I must admit, excited. I’d like to be less consumerist than I am, but I still get Christmas-morning excited for new gadgets. Putting aside the obviously monstrous labor practices of gig work delivery, I was elated to know I’d get to transfer my data while I took my dog for a walk. Setting my launch day Switch next to my launch day Switch 2, it was clearer than ever to me that Nintendo has a grip on me like no other company.

I spent the day playing with the thing, as a lot of people did. Like all console launches, the Switch 2 is mostly a promise right now, but so far I like what it’s promising. Still, there was a duality to my feelings on the first day with it that I couldn’t reconcile: that this was both exactly what I wanted out of the successor to the Switch and also a bit of a disappointment. I don’t think that sense of disappointment was entirely the fault of the console, though. If I’m being honest with myself, I think it has to do more with where I am in 2025 versus where I was in 2017.

Let’s start with the good: Mario Kart World is a great launch title. So far I’m unsold on the open world mode, which feels a bit too empty and boring to traverse. Maybe it’s just bad luck, but some of my earliest encounters with the P Switch challenges that dot the world were about wall-riding, which I can say with confidence I am dog shit at. However, I’m pleased to report that the hype for Knockout Tours is entirely warranted. There’s a chaotic joy to each match, especially in the first few rounds, as you duke it out with what feels like too many karts on the track (in a good way). I’ve yet to come in first, but I have scored a few third place finishes that left me feeling exhilarated and itching to jump right back in.

But like the Switch 2 itself, whatever you think Mario Kart World is, it is. If you think it’s just more Mario Kart, it is. If you think it’s a game you’ll play from day one with the console to day 1,000, it is. Both the console at World are meant to be enjoyed for a long time, even if neither of them is a drastic departure from their predecessors. In that way, World is the perfect launch title for the Switch 2. You, right this moment, reading this, know whether you will like it or not. If you want more Switch, get a Switch 2. If you want more Mario Kart, get World.

Less successful, I’m sad to report, is Welcome Tour. As I joked on Bluesky, I ask for your prayers for my eternal soul, because I have indeed purchased a $10 tech demo that really ought to have come with the console. Was it worth it? If I were not writing this newsletter, no. It’s cute, to be sure, and it does go rather deep into the logistics of how they constructed the console. Think of it like an interactive Game Maker’s Toolkit, or if Mark Cerny was allowed to make a game about SSD speeds. Sony set the bar for this kind of thing with Astro's Playroom, and I’m sorry to say that Welcome Tour does not even attempt to reach those heights.

I found the most enjoyment with this title testing out the mouse controls. They’re a lot more responsive than I would’ve imagined, and surprisingly fun to use even in rudimentary games like “move the spaceship around to avoid obstacles.” Had this come with the console, I might be extolling it as a lovely package meant to show you around your new, expensive toy, but as it stands, it feels undercooked and unworthy of your time. Unless you really, really want to play the entirety of Super Mario Bros 1-1 in pixel perfect 4K, which for me just hurt my eyes, but for you might be something approximating fun.

The Switch 2 also has the benefit of supporting original Switch software, sometimes with better performance and visuals. Knowing this was inevitably coming, I saved my playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom for whenever the inevitable Switch successor came out, and here I am at that inevitability. It runs much better thus far, though I’m sure Digital Foundry will do a deep dive on the veracity of that in due time.

I do appreciate having a Zelda game to play at launch, especially as a counterbalance to Mario Kart. It’s what I think of as a secret launch title for the Switch 2. It was clear when the game launched that it wasn’t entirely designed with Switch hardware in mind, so to see it running now in what looks like full 1080p in handheld mode and a close-to-locked 60 fps is, for annoying people like me who care about framerates, a joy.

But again, the mirror is in play here. If you think it’s annoying to have to wait six months to play an uncompromised version of a game you paid $60 for, it is. If you see it as a charming supplement to a typically sparse launch lineup, it is. I can’t tell you how to feel about any of this, but you know in your heart which one you are.

I like the Switch 2. I like its size, which for a person with pianist hands feels exactly right to my tastes. I like its screen, which, though not OLED, is a marked jump up in color and clarity from my launch day Switch from 2017. I really like its little magnets, which, adulthood be damned, are just a fun little bit of playfulness that is just as satisfying as you might expect. I like the mouse controls, gimmicky as they are.

But will you like any of this? I submit to you that you know already whether you will or not. I have loved Nintendo consoles since my father first brought home a used Nintendo 64 and a shoebox full of loose cartridges he got from a pawn shop on his delivery route. I have a soft spot in my heart for the GameCube and feel it has been unfairly maligned. I enjoy Nintendo games more than most others, nearly always. It was inevitable, then, that I would eventually get a Switch 2, so I figured why fight the tide.

But if you’ve grown tired of the original Switch and have since moved on to something like the Steam Deck, you know this about yourself. Or if you feel satisfied with playing indie games on cheaper PC hardware without worrying about things like backwards compatibility, you know this about yourself. If you don’t like Nintendo—yeah, you definitely know this about yourself.

The Switch 2 is a fun device, and that’s no surprise. It will undoubtedly have great games. None of that is in question. It’s just a matter of what you bring to it. You will see in it what you know you will see in it. A mirror only reveals what you already know.