My Thoughts On The Switch 2
Sup fellow Nintoddlers. So we finally got a proper rundown on what the Switch 2 is supposed to be as of April 2, 2025. Hardware-wise, I don't actually have any problems with it. It seems to handle SOME games at higher framerates and at least up to 4K docked if that's your kind of thing. I don't really know anything about 4K. Some of the hardware improvements are nice too I guess. It just seems to be a better Switch console all around that can play OG switch games and the new Switch 2 games. That's all well and good.
The new voice/video chat feature is kind of silly. It's not something I'd ever use because I have no friends but essentially it lets you show off your SOYface while playing Mario Kart World and Mario Party. The quality of the streaming seemed pretty ass to the point where it made me physically sick despite the camera accesssory having some advance features like background removal. Speaking of which, I was not really interested at Mario Kart at first but I see it's doing some kind of Forza thing with an open world kind of racing game so I thought that was kind of cool. A couple of older switch titles are getting Switch 2 updates like Mario Party and the two Zelda games. They won't be if you own the game but you have to buy an "upgrade" to get the enhancements. I have no clue how much these upgrades are but I don't think it's going to be cheap. More on that later.
Nintendo Switch Screen Sharing in a Nutshell.
The rumors turned out to be true and the Switch 2 Controllers do have a gyroscopic mouse functionality. I saw you can play the new Metroid Prime game with mouse controlls which sounds pretty awesome. My only gripe with that idea is that you would have to play on a dining table or some kind of lap desk for that to be viable in the first place. I don't know about you but whenever I play a handheld, I'm usually either lying down or sitting down somewhere like a couch. I feel that mouse functionality would work out pretty cool if Nintendo made another Mario Paint style game or if they were to release a keyboard and some kind of Nintendo branded bowser...I mean browser. There's a lot of possiblities with that controll scheme but I have a gut feeling most third party developers won't really use it.
You can play Gamecube games with the high tier Nintendo Online subscription....uh....yay I guess? I saw Soul Calibur 2 is included which is nice but I could just play gamecube games on Dolphin.
There's going to be a bunch of third party support on launch which is a very good thing to see. Even if some of the tiles are a couple of years old at this point (Or I think they are old). There's some that use some of the Switch 2's new hardware which is nice. OH MY GAWD A NEW ZELDA GAME?!!! Nah, just another Hyrule Warriors but the big reveals are a new Kirby Air Riders game (I played the original on Gamecube years ago but don't have much feelings for it since I never owned it) I really don't like Donkey Kong's new design. But there's a new Donkey Kong plaftormer game if that's your thing.
Now let's talk about the Elephant in the Room (WOWIE ZOWIE). The price. Four Hundred Fourty Nine Dollars for the console. MAMA MIA! $80-$90 for Switch 2 Games (Digital/Physical) WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! $50 for Switch Online. OOHOOOOO NOOOO! And to top it all off, there's a tech demo game Nintendo is releasing that YOU have to pay for the low low price of $29.99. Add them all up:
It's freaking expensive! Especially for a Nintendo console! I was actually feeling rather optimistic about the new console until I found out about the pricing. For that amount of money, and considering it's being released in June, there's no way I can afford that. Some people are saying it's the tarrifs but that's not true. Other non-tarrif countires have to pay even more than the US. The only country that is paying less is the Japanese market their model of Switch 2 is going to be region locked. I mean, even the PS5 for all the crap I give Sony at least had a free tech demo in the console. The PS3 was incredibly expensive when it launched but at the very least it had the excuse of being an "affordable" Blueray player for it's time which was new technology. Nothing on the Switch 2 is anything ground breaking in terms of innovation. A lot of it like the voice chat thing has been around in other consoles for decades. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you're not putting the latest and greatest on your new system. But give me a break here. It's just a better Switch. There's a ton of Chinese handhelds on Aliexpress that can play gamecube games for not a lot of money. Granted, many of them are shoddy at best but at least there's alternatives.
My two cents: unless there's a cheaper handheld model like the Switch Lite (because I don't have a TV to dock a Switch into), there is a price drop later on, or if there's a must have game for the Switch 2 that I absolutely have to buy, I would just wait.
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