Rejoice, fellow Nintendo fans. On Wednesday, the clouds parted, the sun rose, and the divine spectra; hand of Miyamoto reached down from the sky to grace us with Nintendo’s newest handheld carnival of joy, the Switch 2. After years of speculation, we finally have a clear look at the mysterious console hybrid.
Sadly, while sleek, compact, and powerful, the rumours are untrue. The Switch 2 does not in fact pack a tiny little Reggie into every GPU. But after we spent an hour during the Direct glued to every word: dissecting it, screenshotting every image, poring over captured video for tiny clues to its form and function, we can finally apply something besides guesswork and give you some solid facts, including all the ways it leaves its beloved predecessor in the dust.
1. Switch 2 packs in a lot more raw graphical power than Switch
This is probably the least-surprising revelation as practically every next-gen Nintendo console has been significantly improved over its predecessor (yes, even the Wii). Still, when released in 2017, Switch was hardly a cutting-edge powerhouse in comparison to Sony and Xbox consoles, and eight years later it noticeably struggles under demanding games. Nintendo and its partners were increasingly running up against the limitations of the hardware.
This week we saw elements on display promising us a vastly improved experience: handheld resolutions up to 1080p, docked up to 4K, both with HDR, and framerates extending up to 120 fps. It’s a welcome upgrade that should allow a wider variety of games to come to Switch 2. We may already see some of the fruit in EA’s decision to host soccer and football games on Switch 2, and 2K’s intention to do the same with wrestling and basketball.
Third parties revealed all manner of current-gen games to give us some idea of the Switch 2’s increased capabilities, and what we saw was encouraging: a console/handheld capable of handling Elden Ring, Street Fighter 6, and other demanding software. And what Nintendo showed of their new first-party offerings was simply gorgeous.
2. Switch plays GameCube games. Switch doesn’t
The little purple lunchbox that could finally comes to Nintendo Switch Online, exclusively available on Switch 2. Nintendo has effectively drawn a fence between online experiences on Switch and Switch 2, and that means that from this point forward those who want to play some of Nintendo’s best retro games are going to have to shell out for better hardware. Sure, it’s only three games right now, but those three games are absolute bangers: The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, and, holy crap, Soul Calibur 2, complete with Link.
Okay, seriously. Soul Calibur 2 is incredible. If you’ve never played it with a friend you are in for such a treat.
3. Switch 2 recognizes the existence of the Internet
When humanity later reviews and catalogues the glorious day in video game history, the opening chapter won’t be about how Mario Kart is now like Forza Horizon, or about Donkey Kong’s return in Bananza, or even about the announcement of the until-now secret project called Duskblood. Instead, the book will open and perhaps also close with the most significantly un-Nintendo thing to happen this week: easy integration of online features commonly available on other platforms.
The company that brought us Friend Codes now graces us with GameChat, a feature-rich communication and visual sharing feature set for Switch 2. A noise-cancelling mic picks up your voice and shares it with friends. An optional desktop camera allows you to share your face, both in window-corners and in compatible games like Mario Party. You can also share screens across consoles remotely. It’s much of what we gave up on asking Nintendo for years ago... a simple, straightforward tool for playing with friends. I’m looking forward to seeing how it actually plays out.
So much potential awaits with this feature. Where my mind keeps going is Monster Hunter, with teams of four benefitting from shared screens as they pursue and trap their prey. It’s simply become unthinkable for Nintendo to voluntarily offer fans such a useful array of online features, but here we are living in the future at last.
4. Magnetic Joy Cons
Okay, we’d already guessed this but it’s still really cool. Joy-Cons now magnetically snap to the Switch 2 body rather than slotting in. Nintendo showed off how the steel shoulder buttons on each controller attract to the magnetic facing along the sides of the screen, locking them together. A press of a button releases the magnetic grip.
This is a pretty great feature for my home setup, where a shelf top obstructs removing the Joy-Cons without removing the entire Switch from the dock, which sometimes leads to knocking the whole thing down. I’m a fan.
5. A bigger screen
Bigger isn’t always better with handhelds, but given the sharper resolution of the 1080p portable screen and the nature of most Switch games, the slight increase in size to 7.9 inches should be a net gain for most players. The first Switch sacrificed screen real estate for portability but I think Nintendo is making the right call in giving these elaborate, feature -rich games more space to shine.
6. Mouse controls
Nintendo was weirdly excited to show off its innovative Joy-Con mouse features. A Switch 2 Joy-Con laid on its side can be scooted across a tabletop, and its telemetry tracked to provide precise pointing and rotation. It looks to be heavily-supported at launch by games like Drag x Drive, Civ 7, and Metroid Prime 4.
I do love wacky Nintendo. My guess is the mouse feature won’t see much use past launch window (much like the microphone on the old DS) but I’m actually 1000% in on playing Metroid Prime 4 with a mouse. As a PC gamer, I rarely enjoy FPS games that force me to use a controller, so this surprising option feels a bit liberating. Hopefully we get Mario Paint 2.
7. More storage
This one is more of a double-edged sword. Nintendo crammed the Switch 2 with 256GB of external storage, much more than the original Switch. But with all the Switch 2’s extra graphics capacity, those asset-rich game files are going to be much bigger too, so it may be close to a wash. The memory is quicker as well to deal with larger game files, which means you’ll need a new, faster memory card for your supplemental storage.
8. Quality of life improvements are no small deal on Switch 2
Nintendo tweaked the Switch hardware in response to nearly a decade of feedback. Switch 2 now features two USB-C ports, with one added on top to assist in charging while playing in kickstand mode. Nintendo added a fan to the doc to aid in cooling consistency. Sticks are larger and sound capabilities are improved.
Even the Switch 2 Pro Controller is a step up, with an audio jack (at last!) and assignable buttons. No telling yet if the new controller contains the same miniaturized star that exists at the core of every Switch Pro Controller, giving it near-unlimited battery life.
And one of the most subtle features might be most useful. I do a fair bit of Switch playing on my tabletop. The fact that the Switch 2 screen angle is adjustable in kickstand mode is a huge deal for me. Too often, ambient light at an airport or the angle of a tight airplane tray table make playing in kickstand seem like an exercise in futility. But with the ability to subtly shift angles, coupled with the new mouse feature, leads me to believe I might actually be able to enjoy a serious game of Civilization 7 on the go.
9. Switch 2 gives you more choices
So first off, Switch 2 is backward compatible. That’s always good. Microsoft has already blazed a pretty amazing trail toward optimized backward compatibility on Xbox, and Nintendo has also wisely taken a note from its own Gamecube to Wii to WiiU history, making most Switch games a snap to play on new hardware. Backward capacity helps sell consoles their first year.
While the Nintendo Switch 2 is backward compatible with Switch games, it also supports special new Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of certain Switch titles like Metroid Prime 4. These enhanced titles offer new features including a selection between a higher-res Quality Mode or a faster frame rate in Performance Mode.
One really cool feature of these Nintendo Switch 2 Editions is that if you already own the original game on Switch, you will be able to purchase a simple Switch 2 Edition upgrade and enjoy all the new features on your new hardware. Let's hope it's not too expensive.
It’s also possible that Switch 2 Editions of Switch’s notoriously-janky Pokemon games could be improved by these features. Let's hope so. Throwing hardware at things can’t solve every problem but sometimes it really helps.
10. You need Switch 2 to play the newest games by the best developers on earth
Mario Kart World does everything we expect of Mario Kart and adds two key elements. The first is the ability to traverse a continuous world Forza Horizon-style, racing from course to course, free mode exploring, fooling around, and so on. The second is the swelling of the field size to 24 carts, which is, well, a lot to get one’s head around when the shells start flying. It sounds like absolute bedlam. I can’t wait.
Nintendo took its time showing off new games but toward the end of the show we bought about a minute tease of a new Kirby’s Air Ride game, Kirby’s Air Riders, an announcement that would likely have resulted in a thunderous snooze were it not for the surprising involvement of one Mr. Sakurai, known equally for his self-immolating work ethic and his status as god of Smash Bros. I love Kirby, but Air Ride sucked... BUT it’s Sakurai so I’m now 100% in.
Then there was The Duskbloods, a trailer that produced some hysterics in me. At first I thought it was Bloodborne 2, then I thought it was a licensed FROM Software take on Castlevania, and then finally I accepted that what I was seeing was an entirely original Miyazaki game exclusive to Switch. My friends, remember: FROM Software does not miss. Probably you will die. Probably you will dodge roll. Certainly you will have a blast.
And of course; the real King of Kong makes his triumphant return to 3D with Donkey Kong Bananza. It’s a moment of absolution for Nintendo: 26 years after dropping the barbequed turd Donkey Kong 64 on an unsuspecting planet, a wiser, more skilled Nintendo has returned to the drawing board with what’s sure to be a landmark adventure.
Nintendo devs have been absolutely murdering 3D platforming on the Switch, not just with Odyssey and Bowser’s Fury, but also with Kirby’s incredible journey to the shores of the Forgotten Lands. Bananza was constructed to showcase far more capable hardware than these modern-day classics, which means that the devs had opportunities to iterate on ideas that wouldn’t have been possible on a basic Switch.
Jared Petty is a former IGN editor who likes writing about how wonderful and silly video games are. You can find him at Bluesky as pettycommajared.
