It was still under the influence of the conference broadcast yesterday, April 2, 2025, that the Nintendo Switch 2 passed into our hands during a particularly structured presentation. There was therefore no question of accessing the interface, familiarizing ourselves with GameChat in the hubbub and tumult of the event, or even switching from one mode of use of the console to another at will. We had to go from game to game, during short sessions, sometimes far too short. For a more definitive opinion, we will have to wait until this summer, but it was enough to judge its ergonomics, some of its new features and especially its performance and graphics. From Metroid Prime 4 to Mario Kart World, including the Nintendo Switch 2 versions of Zelda Breath of the Wilds and Cyberpunk 2077, we were able to put the console to the test, both portable and docked.
A pleasant handling
More elegant, more sober colors... the Nintendo Switch 2 has more allure, but it's when you hold it in your hands that the contrast is striking. Larger than a Steam Deck with its 7.9-inch screen, the hybrid console doesn't seem to have gained a single gram on the scale. Its silhouette is still as thin, but more slender. Its lightness is almost disconcerting when compared to portable consoles of the same caliber currently on the market. The grip is immediately pleasant, as are the sensations as soon as you touch it. To adjust to this new size, the Joy-Cons 2 also gain a few centimeters and in gaming comfort at the same time. It is especially large hands that will finally be able to play in better conditions.
The joysticks have also been completely redesigned, to prevent the infamous Joy Con drift from inviting itself to the party. Here again, the difference is felt with larger, smoother and less lively movements that do not generally alter the gaming sensations. The Pro Controller could, however, still prove indispensable when playing more intense titles that require precision, such as FPS. In any case, for this first hands-on with the port of Cyberpunk 2077 and with the sensitivity at maximum, it was still a bit laborious, but it will take more than five short minutes to really judge it. The small revolution of the Joy Cons of the Nintendo Switch 2, on the other hand, is their magnetic design with a detachment this time horizontal. Here again, the comfort is immediately felt with a particularly intuitive grip.
And what does mouse mode give?
The Nintendo Switch 2 also multiplies the use cases by adding a string to its bow: mouse mode. The two Joy-Con now offer a whole new control when placed on a flat surface, activating new possible interactions with compatible games. They can be placed on a table, a mouse pad, or even on your jeans if you're in the middle of mini-games. In the improved version of Mario Party Jamboree, it will be possible to play air hockey by miming the shots you would make at the arcade to return the puck or even to sort emails as if you were on a computer by simply imitating gestures like with your office mouse to classify them in the right folders. It's particularly intuitive, it's easy to use and it seems to respond to the finger and eye, even when you have to lift your mouse to perform additional actions like throwing an object.
Metroid Prime 4 will also benefit from this great new feature of the Nintendo Switch 2, even if the handling seemed less obvious to us. With your left hand, you'll hold your controller normally, using the joystick to move and the trigger to target or double jump. With your right, you'll lay it flat in mouse mode to aim, move the camera, and perform all the other actions like shooting, curling up, scanning, and so on. In other words, almost all the buttons are used, and it's not particularly easy to hit them accurately with your thumb. I personally have small hands, so it's even more tedious for me, but some of my normally built friends have also encountered this problem.
It's definitely a knack for getting the hang of it, and it should become second nature once you get used to it, which isn't necessarily easy during such a short demo. But here again, Big N seems to have already planned the solution. It may not be valid for all Nintendo Switch 2 games, but in Metroid Prime 4, you can switch from one mode to another on the fly simply by lifting your right Joy-Con. It's immediate, it responds to the eye, and it's well thought out and executed. Due to lack of time, we were unfortunately unable to test what appears to be the technical showcase of this new feature, the game Drag x Drive, nor even Civilization 7, which would have been a good use case to better appreciate this feature.
The question of the screen and the battery
We also had a taste of the Nintendo Switch 2's camera, sold separately for €59.99. Here again, it was Mario Party Jamboree that offered us a little demonstration with nice mini-games where we had to hit cubes while mimicking the plumber's movements, moving our heads to catch a skewer of Kumbas in mid-air and balance them, or even setting the mood for Bowser's big end-of-year show by shouting and getting excited to get the crowd going. Simple mini-games, but incredibly effective. It was more the range of the camera that blew us away. By simply placing it next to the console, the fourth and first players could be detected even if we were at the far end of the box where we were. Participants were thus able to have more space between them than one would have thought.
Only the questions of battery and screen will remain fully unanswered given the conditions of this first glimpse of the Nintendo Switch 2. Big N announces a battery life ranging between 2.5 and 6 hours depending on use, which is for example less than the OLED Switch which had a range between 4 and 9 hours. Kouchi Kawamoto, Takuhiro Dohta and Testsuya Sasaki, the three brains behind the machine, in any case hinted during a Q&A session reserved for the media that GameChat could greatly influence the device's charge. We will have to wait to actually put the Nintendo Switch 2 to the test to judge, as will the choice of LCD screen.
As a reminder, the hybrid abandons the popular OLED of its latest model for an LCD screen with 120 Hz and 1080p. This means that the visual quality will be lower in terms of black depth and color rendering. When asked about this, the developers stated that LCD technology has undergone several significant advances and after careful consideration, they decided to move towards this option. The quality seemed to be there, but it's difficult to really say in less than optimal conditions.
Improved graphics and techniques
That's all well and good, but what does this Nintendo Switch 2 have to offer? The console is expected to deliver on its graphics and performance, where the manufacturer was seriously lagging behind the competition in terms of technology. Some might say the bar was set low, but the graphical leap looks pretty monstrous. Just take a look at Mario Kart World and then jump into a few races to realize it. 4K in docked mode, a frame rate that no longer has to blush in front of its rivals, a fluid open-world mode that would have been almost unimaginable for the publisher not long ago... no wonder Big N is making it the headliner of the console's launch. Even in portable mode, Mario and his gang look great on the track. In Performance mode, the one we tested, Metroid Prime 4 runs at 120 fps and 1080p without flinching, while Donkey Kong also looks great in docked mode and its frame rate is unfazed despite the mess on the screen. Even the old favorites of gamers will be getting a makeover.
The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wilds and TOTK will both benefit from an upgrade that will do them good. These unforgettable journeys should be magnified by improved resolution, welcome lighting effects thanks to ray tracing, and above all, a constant 60 fps. Neither game flinched, whether docked or portable, even in the Korogus Forest of Zelda BOTW. Yes, the game, which is known for its violent framerate drops, is also at 60 fps. At a glance, a few minor issues persist, particularly in terms of clipping, but the experience clearly gains in quality on Nintendo Switch 2.
As for partner games, the picture was a little less rosy. Hogwarts Legacy fared well with HDR and graphics that held up well when docked. However, it will be limited to a constant 30 fps, regardless of whether you use the console portable or if you connect it to the TV. In less than ten minutes with the second option, it's hard to argue with Warner Bros. However, it only took us one in Cyberpunk 2077's portable mode to realize that it wasn't up to scratch. It was lagging, it frankly wasn't pretty, while in the docked version the FPS performed rather well with a frame rate that held up and decent graphics for a port of this scale. Smaller games like Hades 2 or Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster seem flawless, at least when docked.
The Nintendo Switch 2 has it all, but there's still a lot to see
A more than reassuring first contact with this Nintendo Switch 2. The little one, not so little anymore, has it all, and technically it's night and day compared to its predecessor. If used wisely, the few new features, including mouse mode and the camera for party games, could create real added value in the long term. The new console hasn't yet revealed all its secrets and has only shown us what it wants us to see. It remains to be seen how it will perform in real-life conditions, as it's difficult to say without having put a single cartridge into it ourselves, especially since there are still some unknowns.
0 Comments