13 months later: A retrospective on the Nintendo Switch 2

Whenever a new console makes its arrival, there's always a rose-tinted impression defining reviews and critical impressions. For one, it's hard to truly know where you stand on a gadget until you've used it frequently for months on end, but adding to this is the level of excitement one must manage when a platform gets a major upgrade and overhaul after around eight years.

To this end, now that the Nintendo Switch 2 has been available for 13 months, I figured it was time to boil this added experience down and look at the console all over again, seeing how my impressions, for one, have changed in the time that has followed.

The hardware

To begin with, let's look at the hardware. For starters, it's still clear this is an eloquently engineered piece of technology. It looks the part and has a sleeker impression, leaving behind the more child-like and colourful elements of the original Switch for a more succinct and stylish alternative. It simply works like a charm.

The build quality is brilliant, the fit and firm nature of how the pieces connect is a true highlight and improvement from the more flimsy Switch 1, and the speaker system and variety of ports provide plenty of options. In these regards, the Switch 2 feels like a worthy successor, especially so when considering the Joy-Con 2 design and how these magnetically and smoothly slot into place without an ounce of wiggle room even after 13 months of usage. By this point, a Switch 1 would be starting to show signs of wear and tear in places, but the Switch 2 remains stalwart and strong, and that's one of best qualities this device offers this far down the line.

However, the screen is a regression. The OLED model of the Switch 1 was something really special from a visual perspective and this LCD alternative doesn't match the same standards. It works, and no one can deny that, but it's also evident dropping back from OLED to LCD was a cost-cutting measure to ensure the Switch 2 remained at a more reasonable price point. At least, before any price hikes...

It's also worth spreading a bit of love for the battery of the Switch 2, because while it isn't excellent, it holds up quite well, especially when playing less intensive games as you can easily squeeze five or more hours out of the system on a single charge in these instances. Would I prefer it to be better? Sure. But the Switch 2 is already rather large and heavy when it comes to a handheld system, which is an area I'd appreciate an improvement, and adding a bulkier battery wouldn't do it any favours. The Joy-Cons also hold up well when used on their battery, although I still find using the Joy-Cons separately to be a major nuisance, even with slightly larger SL and SR buttons.

Otherwise, the dock works like a treat still even if having a centrally-built port arrangement would make it easy to fit cables in without needing to bend them in ungodly manners to ensure they squeeze out the minor hole in the bottom corner. There's an element of versatility Switch docks have always lacked and this was reflected once again in the Switch 2 dock.

Looking at the other hardware, while one can appreciate Nintendo's desire to keep producing quirky innovations, in practice, the Camera, the Wonder plant, all of these niche and daft ideas simply lend to rather awful use-case scenarios, so much so I don't think the Switch 2 or the Nintendo ecosystem benefits much at all in offering them, which brings me to...

The features

There are a lot of ideas Nintendo introduced with the Switch 2 that I'm still quite fond of, but after 13 months, it's clear as day that the GameChat and social systems are still disastrously behind the competition. The intention was there, but the execution and how this is offered is simply counter-intuitive and a nuisance, leaving me to ultimately prefer not communicating with others online while using the Switch 2, which continues to limit the opportunities for online and cooperative action. Considering Nintendo has frankly sucked at offering social systems for years, it continues to baffle me how the company continues to struggle on these grounds when in the mid-2020s, there are countless quality examples and options they could somewhat reflect. Naturally, this all means having a dedicated "C" button feels like a waste of space and design intention, but hey ho.

It's this insistence from Nintendo to lean into the unusual and then manage to mostly muff it up that begins weighing on me a tad, because another example is the Mouse Mode on the Joy-Con. Again, it's a unique and cool idea, but in practice it simply isn't very effective, as even if you can find a game where the feature makes sense, you then also need a flat and smooth surface to use it. Hurdles after hurdles, not least forgetting most games don't offer many compelling ways to use Mouse Mode.

Still, GameShare is a wonderful idea and a brilliant way to connect the gap between Switch 1 and 2 systems. Being able to easily and effectively share your digital library with friends or family members goes a long way, so credit to Nintendo on this front. Likewise, I actually don't particularly mind the idea behind Game-Key Cards. No, I'm not some twisted anti-physical supporter, but games are getting bigger and producing physical media to store all this data upon it is becoming more demanding and likewise expensive, so if a Game-Key Card is the solution to retaining an element of physical presence and having a cartridge you can physically hold in your hand, rather than physical simply being abandoned in favour of an all-digital future, I'll play along for the time being.

The software

Speaking about games and software, this is perhaps the area where there's the most criticism. For what it's worth, the last 13 months haven't been particularly terrible for the Switch 2, it just also hasn't matched the amazing start the Switch received. Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, Pokémon Legends Arceus, Pokémon Pokopia, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Kirby Air Riders, Mario Tennis Fever, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Star Fox, even day one launches like Resident Evil Requiem, Hades 2, and Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles.

The point is, we haven't been starved of games to play on the Switch 2, and many have left pretty excellent impressions by using the platform rather exceptionally. However, this doesn't change the fact we're lacking a true one-of-one game, a defining title to steal the spotlight for this first year on the market and that does paint an interesting picture as to where Nintendo currently is with its Switch 2 software endeavours.

Also, the insistence on trying to get fans excited about ports of long-existing games doesn't do much to continue to generate hype and interest in the system. I'm sure there will be some eager to play Devil May Cry 5 on Switch 2, or perhaps even Metaphor: ReFantazio, but ports are ports at the end of the day. Granted, Nintendo does need an element of leniency because the first couple of years for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S wasn't much better, even if we did use the pandemic as much of the reasoning behind it. The fact is, developers need time to catch up and master the new tech before they commit to it wholly - if they can even get their hands on a dev kit, that is...

In summary

But anyway, long story short, while it hasn't quite had a major splash in the same way the Switch 1 did, the last 13 months have shown me the Switch 2 has been rather successful. I haven't felt any need or desire to want to return to my Switch 1 (even with its OLED screen), and the combination of exciting upcoming titles and the fact PlayStation and Xbox have been competing for the title of the major console manufacturer with the slowest cadence of new first-party launches as of late, this all means Nintendo continues to stand out as the outlier and somewhat a gold standard for how a video game titan should operate.

Just please, please Nintendo figure out a way to serve up a social and communication system that isn't the hottest pile of garbage known to man...