Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on: Bigger screen, faster chip live up to the hype

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The arrival of Nintendo Co.’s Switch 2 marks the biggest consumer tech product release of 2025 so far, with legions of gamers now unboxing and trying the new $629.99 gaming console for the first time.

Despite the hype and a substantial increase over the launch price for the original, the second-generation system manages to impress with faster performance, improved graphics, more comfortable ergonomics and enough tweaks throughout to make this feel like a distinctly new machine.

Like the first edition, the Switch 2 has a versatile design, allowing it to be used as a portable handheld or placed in a dock where it will function as a living-room system. This time, it’s capable of outputting 4K resolution and more impactful HDR video to your TV screen.

For now, Mario Kart World and enhanced versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are the best visual showcases of what the Switch 2 is capable of, along with third-party launch titles like Cyberpunk 2077. The improved graphical fidelity and higher frame rates, made possible by the Switch 2’s Nvidia Corp.-made processor, are easily noticeable once you’ve started up a game.

When it comes to performance, Nintendo’s console still lags behind Sony Group Corp.’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox Series X, both heavier-duty systems designed to be used exclusively in the home. But for Nintendo fans, the in-game worlds of beloved characters like Mario and Link have never looked better.

Unboxing the device will be a familiar experience to owners of the original Switch, and that feeling remains true as you begin using it. The significantly larger 7.9-inch display is much easier on the eyes — a blessing for the eyesight of anyone who’s grown up alongside Nintendo’s gadgets — and has a sharper 1080p resolution.

It’s also far more fluid than the screen on the original version; this model supports a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, which makes Mario Kart World feel all the more chaotic (in a fun way).  These upgrades help offset the fact that the Switch 2 uses an LCD display instead of a punchier OLED panel.

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The upsized screen means you’re also getting bigger Joy-Con controllers, which makes handheld mode a far more ergonomic experience. The buttons are also larger than before. Everything about the Switch 2 feels less cramped.

One of the best changes Nintendo made relates to how the Joy-Cons connect to the console: They now attach magnetically instead of sliding down onto the hardware with a rail mechanism. Magnets inside the console firmly latch onto steel buttons on each Joy-Con. The hold is strong without any of the flimsy wobbling that some users complained about on the original Switch. Disconnecting the Joy-Cons is as simple as pressing the release button on the back of each one.

Nintendo’s thoughtful improvements continue elsewhere: The Switch 2 has a second USB-C port, which can be used for accessories (or just more flexibility in how you charge the device). There’s now a screen lock feature to prevent other people from using your console — something that would have been nice to have on the original.

The speakers, while not best in class, are a vast upgrade over the hollow, thin sound that came from the Switch OLED Model, released in 2021. The console’s software interface is similar to the first Switch with some new splashes of color and sound effects thrown in. Nintendo’s eShop store for digital game purchases is also more responsive than the sluggish experience on the original console.

The buzzy launch drew long lines at retailers including Best Buy Co., GameStop Corp., Target Corp. and Walmart Inc. The era of spending hours waiting in line for the latest iPhone is long gone, but the debut of a new video game console is still a rare enough event that Nintendo fans didn’t think twice about driving to retailers in the middle of the night to secure a Switch 2.

It will take more testing and longer play sessions to gauge whether the Switch 2’s more powerful processor has an adverse effect on battery life — or if there are any performance issues with the large library of backward-compatible Switch titles available for this new hardware.

But at the outset, the device makes a strong first impression. Nintendo played it safe with the Switch 2, but that’s precisely what many customers were looking for: It’s a bigger, faster, more polished version of a wildly successful gadget.