switch 2

The Switch 2 is getting a new Virtual Console (kind of)

Classics, gaming, Nintendo, retro, switch 2, virtual console / Mike M. / February 5, 2026

In 2018, we lamented as Nintendo officially replaced the Virtual Console—its long-running line of downloadable classic games on the Wii and Wii U—with time-limited access to a set of games through a paid Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Now, Hamster Corporation is doing what Nintendo no longer will, by offering downloadable versions of retro console games for direct individual purchase on the Switch 2.

As part of today’s Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, Hamster announced a new Console Archives line of emulated classics available for download starting today on the Switch 2 and next week on the PlayStation 5 (sorry, Xbox and OG Switch fans). So far that lineup only includes the original PlayStation snowboarding title Cool Boarders for $12 and the NES action platformer Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos for $8, but Hamster promises more obscure games, including Doraemon and Sonic Wings Special, will be available in the future.

If the name Hamster Corporation sounds familiar, it’s because the company is behind the Arcade Archive series, which has repackaged individual arcade games for purchase and emulated play on modern consoles since 2014. That effort, which celebrated its 500th release in December, even includes some of Nintendo’s classic arcade titles, which the Switch-maker never officially released on the original Virtual Console.

Now Hamster’s says it is expanding its efforts “with the concept of faithfully reproducing masterpieces released on various home game consoles, allowing players to easily enjoy them on the latest hardware.” While these new offerings are more bare-bones than the full-fledged interactive museums released by the likes of Digital Eclipse, they still include a few modern features, such as customizable button layouts, screen settings, and the ability to save and load at any time.

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Finally, a new controller that solves the Switch 2’s “flat Joy-Con” problem

controller, drift, gaming, hall effect, joy con, Nintendo, nyxi, Switch, switch 2 / Shannon Garcia / January 22, 2026

When I reviewed the Switch 2 back in June, I noted that the lack of any sort of extended grip on the extremely thin Joy-Con 2 controllers made them relatively awkward to hold, both when connected to the system and when cradled in separate hands. At the time, I said that “my Switch 2 will probably need something like the Nyxi Hyperion Pro, which I’ve come to rely on to make portable play on the original Switch much more comfortable.”

Over half a year later, Nyxi is once again addressing my Switch controller-related comfort concerns with the Hyperion 3, which was made available for preorder earlier this week ahead of planned March 1 shipments. Unfortunately, it looks like players will have to pay a relatively high price for a potentially more ergonomic Switch 2 experience.

While there are plenty of third-party controllers for the Switch 2, none of the current options mimic the official Joy-Cons’ ability to connect magnetically to the console tablet itself (controllers designed to slide into the grooves on the original Switch tablet also can’t hook to the successor console). The Hyperion 3 is the first Switch 2 controller to offer this magnetic connection, making it uniquely suited for handheld play on the system.

And although I haven’t held the Hyperion 3 in my hands yet, my experience with the similar Hyperion 2 on the original Switch suggests that the ergonomic design here will be a welcome upgrade from the relatively small buttons and cramp-inducing flat back of the official Switch 2 Joy-Cons (“Say Goodbye to Tendonitis,” as Nyxi claims in its marketing materials). The controller can also connect wirelessly via Bluetooth 5.0 for when you want to switch to docked play, unlike some Switch Joy-Con replacements that only work in portable mode.

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Seasonal Switch 2 sales show significant slowing as annual cycle sunsets

business, gaming, holiday, industry, Nintendo, sales, Switch, switch 2 / DJ Henderson / January 8, 2026

Lingering sales of the original Switch might also be contributing to the relatively weak holiday performance for the Switch 2. In the UK, at least, the older console is still selling well enough to buoy Nintendo’s overall holiday hardware sales in the country to 7 percent higher than what the company achieved in 2017.

Nintendo might need another *Super Mario Odyssey*-sized hit to keep up sales momentum for the Switch 2. Credit: Nintendo

That said, the transition from record-setting launch sales to relatively underwhelming holiday sales is a worrying sign for the Switch 2’s market momentum. A lack of system-selling Switch 2 exclusive games could explain that movement. In 2017, the October launch of Super Mario Odyssey built holiday excitement for the Switch on top of earlier hits like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. For the Switch 2, holiday releases like Pokémon Legends Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 don’t seem to have had as much impact as early system sellers like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza.

Thus far, Nintendo’s planned 2026 schedule doesn’t seem primed to offer many big-name exclusive software to turn things around. The year’s first-party lineup is currently anchored by standard sequels for second-tier franchises like Yoshi, Mario Tennis, and Fire Emblem, alongside slightly upgraded “Switch 2 Edition” re-releases of popular Switch games. Aside from Nintendo’s own titles, the planned 2026 release of FromSoft’s Bloodborne-esque Duskbloods as a Switch 2 exclusive could make some fans of the company’s Souls-like games take a second look at the hardware.

Nintendo is likely to announce more Switch 2 exclusives and ports in the coming months, of course. Having a few system-selling blockbusters in that slate could be crucial to propping up the Switch 2’s sales now that pent-up launch-window demand seems largely satiated.

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Switch 2 pub backs off Game Key Cards after leaking lower-cost cartridge options

cartridges, cost, game key cards, gaming, memory, Nintendo, production, switch 2 / Beth Washington / December 19, 2025

The Switch 2’s data-free, download-enabling Game Key Cards have proved controversial with players who worry about long-term ownership and access issues to their purchases. But they’ve remained popular with publishers that want to save production costs on a boxed Switch 2 game release, since Game Key Cards don’t include any of the expensive flash memory found on a standard Switch 2 cartridge.

Now, though, at least one publisher has publicly suggested that Nintendo is offering cheaper Switch 2 cartridge options with smaller storage capacities, lowering production costs in a way that could make full cartridge releases more viable for many games on the console.

Earlier this week, R-Type Dimensions III publisher Inin Games explained to customers that it couldn’t switch from Game Key Cards to a “full physical cartridge” for the retail version of the Switch 2 game without “significantly rais[ing] manufacturing costs.” Those additional costs would “force us to increase the retail price by at least €15 [about $20],” Inin Games wrote at the time.

In an update posted to social media earlier today, though, the publisher said that “there is no better timing: two days ago Nintendo announced two new smaller cartridge [storage capacity] sizes for Nintendo Switch 2. This allows us to recalculate production in a way that wasn’t possible before.”

As such, Inin said it has decided to replace the Game Key Cards that were going to be in the game’s retail box with full physical cartridges. That change will result in the game’s asking price going up by €10 (about $13) “due to still higher production costs,” Inin explained. Still, that’s still less than the “at least €15” Inin was speculatively quoting for the same change just days ago. And Inin said early pre-order customers for R-Type Dimensions III won’t have to pay the increased price, essentially getting the full cartridge at no additional cost.

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Accessory maker will pay Nintendo after showing illicit Switch 2 mockups at CES

3d printed, CES, gaming, genki, leak, legal, mockup, Nintendo, switch 2 / Mike M. / September 9, 2025

Nintendo also accused Genki of “extensive use of Nintendo trademarks” in association with their unlicensed products, a move that “exploit[ed] and appropriate[d] for [Genki] the public goodwill associated with… Nintendo Switch marks.”

The Switch 2 mockup Genki showed in a CES video ended up matching very closely with the final console as released. Credit: Genki

The lawsuit also dealt in part with conflicting reports that Genki may have had “unauthorized, illegal early access to the Nintendo Switch 2,” as Nintendo put it. Media reports around CES quoted Genki representatives asserting that their 3D-printed case mockup was based on early access to a real Switch 2 console. But the company later publicly backtracked, writing on social media that “we do not own or possess a black market console, as some outlets have suggested.”

In their settlement, Nintendo and Genki simply note that “Genki represents and attests that it didn’t obtain any unreleased Nintendo property or documents before the system’s official reveal.”

The public settlement document doesn’t go into detail on the confidential “payment in an agreed-upon amount” that Genki will make to Nintendo to put this matter to rest. But the settlement outlines how Genki is barred from referencing Nintendo trademarks or even parody names like “Glitch” and “Glitch 2” in its future marketing. Under the settlement, packaging for Genki accessories also has to “make clear to consumers Genki’s status as an unlicensed accessory manufacturer” and not mimic the color scheme of official Switch 2 hardware.

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Dev says Switch 2’s physical Game Cards were too slow for Star Wars Outlaws port

data transfer, gaming, Nintendo, speed, star wars, switch 2, ubisoft / 9u50fv / September 5, 2025

A video shows how different storage media can affect Mario Kart World load times.

CD Projekt Red VP of Technology Charles Tremblay has alluded to this same challenge when talking about the Switch 2 port of Cyberpunk 2077. In a June interview with IGN, Tremblay said the data transfer speeds enabled by MicroSD Express were “great,” while streaming data from a Switch 2 Game Card was merely “okay.” Tremblay did go on to say that “all the performance we have on [input/output] is very good on [the Switch 2],” especially compared to the extremely slow physical hard drives that plagued Cyberpunk 2077‘s performance on older hardware.

Slow down, you move too fast

From the outside, it’s a bit odd that Nintendo allowed this loading-speed dichotomy to exist on the Switch 2 in the first place. On the original Switch, read speeds for both SD cards and Game Cards reportedly maxed out around 90 MB/s. But when designing the new Switch 2 game cards, Nintendo settled on a format that would stream data much more slowly than for downloaded games on the same console.

That decision might have been an attempt to minimize hardware costs for the Switch 2’s Game Card interface. If so, though, it doesn’t seem to have done much to reduce the costs of manufacturing Switch 2 game cards themselves. The cost of manufacturing those physical Game Cards has been frequently cited as a major reason many publishers are using cheaper Game Key Cards in the first place, though Bantin said that he “[didn’t] recall the cost of the cards ever entering the discussion [for Star Wars: Outlaws]—probably because it was moot.”

Nintendo could get around this variable loading speed issue by letting players pre-install games from a Switch 2 Game Card to internal or expansion storage, as Microsoft and Sony have either allowed or required on their disc-based consoles for decades now. But that solution might prove onerous for physical game card players who want to avoid clogging up the limited 256GB of internal storage on the Switch 2 (and/or avoid investing in pricey MicroSD Express cards).

As time goes on, many developers will likely learn how to adapt to and tolerate the Switch 2’s relatively slow Game Card interface. But as gamers and the industry at large continue to transition away from physical media, some developers might decide it’s not worth compromising on loading speeds just to satisfy a shrinking portion of the market.

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Donkey Kong Bananza is a worthy successor to Super Mario Odyssey’s legacy

Donkey Kong, gaming, Nintendo, platformer, Switch, switch 2 / 9u50fv / July 16, 2025

D-K… donkey kong is here!

Cathartic, punch-fueled land destruction is a great showcase for Switch 2 hardware.

Screenshots you can feel. Credit: Nintendo

When the Switch 2 was fully unveiled in April, we weren’t alone in expecting the announcement of a true follow-up to Super Mario Odyssey—one of the original Switch’s best-selling games and our pick for the best game of 2017. Instead, we got our first look at Donkey Kong Bananza, the big ape’s first fully 3D adventure since the Rare-developed Donkey Kong 64 in 1999.

The fact that Nintendo wasn’t willing to commit its long-standing plumber mascot to its first first-party platformer on the Switch 2 could have been seen as a sign of a rushed, second-tier spinoff effort. After playing through Donkey Kong Bananza, though, I’m happy to report that nothing could be further from the truth for this deep and worthy spiritual successor to Super Mario Odyssey (from many of the same development staff). Donkey Kong Bananza captures the same sense of joyful movement and exploration as the best Mario games while adding an extremely satisfying terrain-destruction system that shows off the capabilities of the Switch 2 hardware.

Beat up the earth

It’s that terrain-destruction system that sets Donkey Kong Bananza apart from previous 3D platformers from Nintendo and others. Three of the four face buttons on the Switch 2 controllers are devoted to letting Donkey Kong punch either horizontally, upward, or downward, often taking out large chunks of the nearby scenery as he does.

Punching through the terrain in this manner forms the fast, crunchy, and powerfully kinetic core of the game. It’s hard to overstate how incredibly cathartic it can be to quickly reduce a well-ordered chunk of dirt and rock into a mountain of valuable, collectible golden rubble (then gathering up all the nearby rubble with a quick tap of a shoulder button). Imagine a 3D Mario game by way of Traveller’s Tales Lego games, and you’ll have some idea of the extremely satisfying combination on offer here.

The semi-persistent changes in scenery also do a good job of highlighting the Switch 2’s hardware, which doesn’t seem to drop a single frame, even as the rubble flies and the ground’s shape morphs under Donkey Kong’s persistent punching. That extra hardware power also lends itself to some nice graphical touches, from the mirror-like shine on a pile of golden rubble to the gentle movement of fur that rustles in the breeze.

I get around

Donkey Kong can also pick up chunks of terrain, using them as impromptu melee weapons or hurling them to destroy far-off enemies, obstacles, or key switches. The aiming-and-throwing controls for this terrain-throwing system are just clunky enough to be annoying—this is a far cry from Gears of Donkey Kong or something. Still, the interactions between different types of hurled terrain end up forming the root of many interesting situational puzzles—throwing some snow to harden sections of a harmful lava lake into a solid platform, for instance, or using a chunk of explosive rock to destroy an otherwise impervious spiky enemy.

When you’re not tearing up the scenery to your benefit, simply getting around in Donkey Kong Bananza is a joy. Donkey Kong Country fans will be happy to know the classic roll is back and can be used to help extend jumps or quickly change mid-air direction (a la Cappy from Mario Odyssey). Donkey Kong can also slide along on chunks of terrain in a zippy, madcap land-surfing mode that’s wonderfully difficult to control effectively. The ability to climb along the edge of most surfaces adds a layer to the vertical gameplay dimension that doesn’t rely on precision jumping and which is utilized well to hide some of the game’s more out-of-the-way secrets.

This Kong’s got a funny face… Credit: Nintendo

As the game progresses, you’ll also unlock a handful of animalistic “Bananza” transformations from a menagerie of gigantic animal DJs (don’t ask). These temporarily grant DK new powers—a quick-dashing zebra or a fluttering, hovering ostrich, for instance. The game builds some specific gatekeeping challenges around each transformation, of course, but the extra locomotion options become a welcome part of your toolbelt when simply exploring generic areas.

Running around and smashing up the world isn’t all joy, though. Problems arise when you dig into thick patches of dirt, crafting a narrow, Kong-sized tunnel surrounded by opaque earth. The camera system does its best to deal with these tricky scenarios, making the ground opaque and highlighting only the notable features around you. Still, it’s easy to lose track of where your digging has taken you and how to get back to the surface, especially when the best way out of a jam is to “dig up, stupid.”

Oooh, Banana!

All this terrain destruction and digging is in service of the game’s primary goal: collecting a bunch of giant bananas. These are roughly as plentiful as the Power Moons scattered across Super Mario Odyssey and roughly as varied in their availability. Some sit out in the open, waiting to be stumbled on. Others are hidden in some of the game’s most out-of-the-way underground crevices and practically require the use of collectible in-game treasure maps to find. Many are hidden in elaborate challenge rooms that test your precision platforming, terrain destruction, or combat skills.

Unlike the Power Moons in Mario Odyssey, though, hunting down bananas is largely optional to progress down the succession of elaborate, wide-open, high-ceilinged layers (read: “levels”) on a quest toward the planet’s core. Instead, bananas are primarily used to unlock upgrades in a surprisingly deep skill tree or grant DK more health, more punching power, or longer Bananza transformations. Other collectibles can be used to buy stylish and protective outfits to further increase DK’s endurance.

You’d be forgiven for not believing that these large explorable “layers” are supposed to be underground. Credit: Nintendo

These upgrades provide ample incentive for those who enjoy exploring and dozens of hours of challenges for completionists to delve into after the credits roll. But the game’s structure also allows skillful and/or impatient players to zip to the game’s conclusion quite quickly, rushing through the visually inventive bosses that guard the game’s major chokepoints.

Those who rush, though, may end up struggling with the game’s final gauntlet of challenges, which quickly ramp up the difficulty while re-introducing some classic DK enemies (that we aren’t allowed to say more about at the moment).

Wait, that kid is Pauline?

Thus far, we’ve avoided talking about the ridiculously convoluted plot the game builds around Donkey Kong’s quest for bananas and the evil corporate forces that want to stop his journey deep into the planet’s core. The game’s underground world is populated with all sorts of talking animals, sentient rocks, and familiar Kong faces to assist DK or ask him for help with various ridiculous errands. They’re cute, but their chatter is more or less ignorable.

The reimagined Pauline is an adorable addition to the lineup. Credit: Nintendo

The main exception is Pauline, the damsel-in-distress from the original Donkey Kong, recast here as a precocious child working with DK to find a way back to her home on the surface. Pauline’s effort to overcome inherent stage fright and embrace the magical power of her singing voice was surprisingly touching. That’s largely thanks to a winning voice-acting performance that forms the basis for some toe-tapping gibberish playing behind DK’s Bananza transformations.

The adorable relationship between young Pauline and the silent Donkey Kong is the icing on a very satisfying cake. Even though Mario is nowhere to be seen, Donkey Kong Bananza seems destined to be thought of in the same category as the Mario games that defined earlier Nintendo hardware launches.

Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper.

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Switch 2 users report online console bans after running personal game “backups”

Backup, gaming, iracy, mig flash, mig switch, Nintendo, Switch, switch 2 / 9u50fv / June 17, 2025

Earlier this week, the makers of the popular Mig Flash cartridge, which allows users to play Switch games loaded via an SD card without modifying the console itself, issued a firmware update enabling the cards to run original Switch games on the Switch 2. Since then, though, multiple Mig Flash users are reporting that they’ve seen their Switch 2 consoles banned from Nintendo’s online servers, even in cases where the devices were only used to run backups of legitimate games the users purchased themselves.

“My Switch 2 test has been banned after using the Mig [Flash] with perfectly legal dumps of my own cartridges, so it would seem that Nintendo can detect something,” popular hacking news account Switch Tools posted on social media Monday (along with a follow-up showing a stack of legitimate Switch games they said they had backed up using the device). “I strongly recommend that you do not use the Mig [Flash], it was already very risky to use but it is even more so on Switch 2.”

My Switch 2 test has been banned, after using the mig switch with perfectly legal dumps of my own cartridges, so it would seem that Nintendo can detect something

Similar reports on reddit are starting to come in.https://t.co/nbPMlRWSaP https://t.co/3eq6dkbFMi

I strongly… pic.twitter.com/btzjQYJzE4

— SwitchTools (@SwitchTools) June 16, 2025

The insistence that the ban came while using “perfectly legal dumps of my own cartridges” is important here. Nintendo has long used certificates with robust cryptographic signatures to identify when individual copies of Switch games are being shared for the purposes of piracy. If Nintendo notices the same cryptographic signature on security certificates being used by hundreds of different consoles and accounts, for instance, the company can be relatively sure that all those users are engaging in piracy.

But the Mig Flash can also be used for backup and play of an individual’s legal Switch game purchases on a personal console, which shouldn’t lead to any such signature conflicts. On the Mig Flash website, the developers of the device say they “only support and guarantee your gaming with your own games backups. This applies to online, too. If you want to play online with the full Mig Flash warranty, you need to use your own dumped backups… Failure to respect this rule might end up in bans from Nintendo online service, which we won’t be held responsible for.”

Switch 2 users report online console bans after running personal game “backups” Read More »

Nintendo Switch 2’s faster chip can dramatically improve original Switch games

gaming, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, nintendo switch 2, Switch, switch 2, Tech / DJ Henderson / June 7, 2025

Link’s Awakening, Switch 1, docked. Andrew Cunningham

It’s pretty much the same story for Link’s Awakening. Fine detail is much more visible, and the 3D is less aliased-looking because the Switch 2 is running the game at a higher resolution. Even the fairly aggressive background blur the game uses looks toned down on the Switch 2.

Link’s Awakening on the Switch 1, docked.

Link’s Awakening on the Switch 2, docked.

The videos of these games aren’t quite as obviously impressive as the Pokémon ones, but they give you a sense of the higher resolution on the Switch 2 and the way that the Switch’s small endemic frame rate hiccups are no longer a problem.

Quiet updates

For the last two categories of games, we won’t be waxing as poetic about the graphical improvements because there aren’t many. In fact, some of these games we played looked ever-so-subtly worse on the Switch 2 in handheld mode, likely a side effect of a 720p handheld-mode image being upscaled to the Switch 2’s 1080p native resolution.

That said, we still noticed minor graphical improvements. In Kirby Star Allies, for example, the 3D elements in the picture looked mostly the same, with roughly the same resolution, same textures, and similar overall frame rates. But 2D elements of the UI did still seem to be aware that the console is outputting a 4K image and are visibly sharper as a result.

Games without updates

If you were hoping that all games would get some kind of “free” resolution or frame rate boost from the Switch 2, that mostly doesn’t happen. Games like Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe and Pokémon Legends Arceus, neither of which got any kind of Switch 2-specific update, look mostly identical on both consoles. If you get right up close and do some pixel peeping, you can occasionally see places where outputting a 4K image instead of a 1080p image will look better on a 4K TV, but it’s nothing like what we saw in the other games we tested.

Pokémon Legends Arceus, Switch 1, docked.

Pokémon Legends Arceus, Switch 2, docked.

However, it does seem that the Switch 2 may help out somewhat in terms of performance consistency. Observe the footage of a character running around town in Pokémon Legends—the resolution, draw distance, and overall frame rate all look pretty much the same. But the minor frame rate dips and hitches you see on the Switch 1 seem to have been at least partially addressed on the Switch 2. Your mileage will vary, of course. But you may encounter cases where a game targeting a stable 30 fps on the Switch 1 will hit that 30 fps with a bit more consistency on the Switch 2.

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Hands-on with the Switch 2: It’s the Switch, too

Features, gaming, mario kart world, Nintendo, switch 2 / Mike M. / April 3, 2025

It’s bigger, it’s more powerful, and it has some weird Nintendo control gimmicks.

That’s my hand on a Switch 2. Hence the term “hands-on” Credit: Kyle Orland

The Nintendo Switch 2 could be considered the most direct “sequel” to a Nintendo console that the company has ever made. The lineage is right there in the name, with Nintendo simply appending the number “2” onto the name of its incredibly successful previous console for the first time in its history.

Nintendo’s previous consoles have all differed from their predecessors in novel ways that were reflected in somewhat new naming conventions. The Switch 2’s name, on the other hand, suggests that it is content to primarily be “more Switch.” And after spending the better part of the day playing around with the Switch 2 hardware and checking out some short game demos on Wednesday, I indeed came away with the impression that this console is “more Switch” in pretty much every way that matters, for better or worse.

Bigger is better

We’ve deduced from previous trailers just how much bigger the Switch 2 would be than the original Switch. Even with that preparation, though, the expanded Switch 2 makes a very good first impression in person.

Yes, the Switch 2 feels a good deal more substantial in the hands—Nintendo’s official stats page pegs it at about 34 percent heavier than the original Switch (as well as a tad wider and taller). But Nintendo’s new console is still noticeably short of Steam Deck-level bulk, coming in about 17 percent lighter (and a bit less wide and thick) than Valve’s handheld.

That extra size and weight over the original Switch is being put to good use, nowhere more so than in a 7.9-inch screen that feels downright luxurious on a handheld that’s this compact. That screen might be missing a best-in-class high-contrast OLED panel, but the combination of full 1080p resolution, HDR colors, and variable frame rates up to 120 fps still results in a handheld display that we feel would hold up well next to the best modern OLED competition.

The system’s extra size also allows for Joy-Cons that are expanded just enough to be much better suited for adult hands, with much less need for grown-ups to contort into a claw-like grip just to get a solid hold. That’s even true when the controllers are popped out from the system, which is now easily accomplished with a solidly built lever on the rear of each controller (reconnecting the Joy-Cons by slotting them in with a hefty magnetic snap feels equally solid).

The controls on offer here are still a bit smaller than you might be used to on controllers designed for home consoles or even those on larger handhelds like the Steam Deck. But the enlarged buttons are now less likely to press uncomfortably into the pad of your thumb than those on the Switch. And the slightly larger-than-Switch joysticks are a bit easier to maneuver precisely, with a longer physical travel distance from center to edge.

Speaking of joysticks, Nintendo has yet to go on record regarding whether it is using the coveted “magnetic Hall effect” sensors that would prevent the kind of stick drift that plagued the original Switch Joy-Cons. When asked about the stick drift issue in a roundtable Q&A, Switch 2 Technical Director Tetsuya Sasaki would only say that the “new Joy-Con 2 controllers have been designed from the ground up from scratch to have bigger, smoother movement.”

When it comes to raw processing power, it’s all relative. The Switch 2 is a noticeable step up from the eight-year-old Switch but an equally noticeable step down from modern top-of-the-line consoles.

Playing the Switch 2 Edition of Tears of the Kingdom, for instance, feels like playing the definitive version of the modern classic, thanks mostly to increased (and silky smooth) frame rates and quick-loading menus. But an early build of Cyberpunk 2077 felt relatively rough on the Switch 2, with visuals that clocked somewhere just south of a PS4 Pro (though this could definitely change with some more development polish before launch). All told, I’d guess that the Switch 2 should be able to handle effective ports of pretty much any game that runs on the Steam Deck, with maybe a little bit of extra graphical panache to show for the trouble.

A mouse? On a game console?

Nintendo has a history of trying to differentiate its consoles with new features that have never been seen before. Some, like shoulder buttons or analog sticks, become industry standards that other companies quickly aim to copy. Others, like a tablet controller or glasses-free stereoscopic 3D, are rightly remembered as half-baked gimmicks that belong in the dustbin of game industry history.

I can’t say which side of that divide the Switch 2’s Joy-Con “mouse mode,” which lets you use a Joy-Con on its side like a mouse, will fall on. But if I had to guess, I’d go with the gimmicky side.

It works, but it’s kind of awkward. Kyle Orland

The main problem with “mouse mode” is that the Switch 2 Joy-Cons lack the wide, palm-sized base and top surface you’d find on a standard PC mouse. Instead, when cradled in mouse mode, a Joy-Con stands awkwardly on an edge that’s roughly the width of an adult finger. The top isn’t much better, with only a small extension to rest a second finger on the jutting shoulder button that serves as a “right-click” option on the right Joy-Con (the thinner “left click” shoulder button ends up feeling uncomfortably narrow in this mode).

This thin “stand-up” design means that in mouse mode, the thumb side of your palm tends to spill awkwardly over the buttons and joysticks on the inner edge of the Joy-Con, which are easy to press accidentally in some gameplay situations. Meanwhile, on the other side, your ring finger and pinky will have to contort uncomfortably to get a solid grip that can nudge or lift the Joy-Con as necessary.

These ergonomic problems were most apparent when playing Drag x Drop, a Switch 2 exclusive that I can confidently say is the first video game I’ve ever played using two mice at once. Using long, vertical swoops of those mice, you can push and pull the wheels on either side of a wheelchair in a kind of tank-like fashion to dash, reverse, pivot, and gently turn with some degree of finesse in a game of three-on-three basketball.

That repetitive mouse-swooping motion started to strain my upper arms after just a few minutes of play, though. And I ended my brief Drag x Drop play sessions with some soreness in my palm from having to constantly and quickly grasp the Joy-Con to reposition on the playing surface.

These problems were less pronounced in games that relied on more subtle mouse movements. In a short demo of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, for instance, using mouse mode and a few small flicks of the wrist let me change my aim much more quickly and precisely than using a joystick and/or the Joy-Con’s built-in gyroscopes (or even the IR-based “pointer” on the Wii’s Metroid Prime 3). While my grip on the narrow Joy-Con still felt a bit awkward, the overall lack of mouse motion made it much less noticeable, even after a 20-minute demo session.

A quick flick of the wrist is all I need to adjust my aim precisely and quickly. Credit: Kyle Orland

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond also integrates mouse controls well into the existing design of the game, letting you lock the camera on the center of an enemy while using the mouse to make fine aim adjustments as they move or even hit other enemies far off to the side of the screen as needed. The game’s first boss seems explicitly designed as a sort of tutorial for this combination aiming, with off-center weak points that almost require quick flicks of the mouse-controlling wrist while jumping and dodging using the accessible buttons on the thumb side.

Other mouse-based Switch 2 demos Nintendo showed this week almost seemed specifically designed to appeal to PC gamers. The Switch 2 version of Civilization VII, for instance, played practically identically to the PC version, with a full mouse pointer that eliminates the need for any awkward controller mapping. And the new mouse-based mini-games in Mario Party Jamboree felt like the best kind of early Macintosh tech demos, right down to one that is a close mimic of the cult classic Shufflepuck Cafe. A few games even showed the unique promise of a “mouse” that includes its own gyroscope sensor, letting players rotate objects by twisting their wrist or shoot a basketball with a quick “lift and flick” motion.

The biggest problem with the Switch 2’s mouse mode, though, is imagining how the average living room player is going to use it. Nintendo’s demo area featured large, empty tables where players could easily slide their Joy-Cons to their hearts’ content. To get the same feeling at home, the average sofa-bound Switch player will have to crouch awkwardly over a cleared coffee table or perhaps invest in some sort of lap desk.

Nintendo actually recommends that couch-bound mouse players slide the Joy-Con’s narrow edge across the top of the thigh area of their pants. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this worked for the long vertical mouse swipes of Drag x Drop. For games that involved more horizontal mouse movement, though, a narrow, rounded thigh-top does not serve as a very natural mouse pad.

You can test this for yourself by placing an optical mouse on your thigh and going about your workday. If you get weird looks from your boss, you can tell them I said it was OK.

Start your engines

Mouse gimmicks aside, Nintendo is leaning heavily on two first-party exclusives to convince customers that the system is worth buying in the crucial early window after its June 5 launch. While neither makes the massive first impression that Breath of the Wild did eight years ago, both seem like able demonstrations for the new console.

Mario Kart World feels like just the kind of update the long-running casual racer needs. While you can still race through pre-set “cups” in Grand Prix mode, I was most interested in the ability to just drive aimlessly between the race areas, searching for new locations in a freely roamable open world map.

Racing against 23 different opponents per race might sound overwhelming on paper, but in practice, the constant jockeying for position ends up being pretty engaging, like a slower-paced version of F-Zero GX. It definitely doesn’t hurt that items in World are much less punishing than in previous Kart games; most projectiles and hazards now merely slow your momentum rather than halting it completely. Drifts feel a bit more languorous here, too, with longer arcs needed to get the crucial “sparks” required for a boost.

A multi-section Knockout Tour map. Credit: Nintendo

While the solo races were fine, I had a lot more fun in Knockout Tour mode, Mario Kart World‘s Battle Royale-style elimination race. After pairing up with 23 other human players online, Knockout Tour mode selects a route through six connected sections of the world map for you to race through. The bottom four racers are eliminated at every section barrier until just four racers remain to vie for first place at the end.

You’d better be in the top 20 before you cross that barrier. Credit: Kyle Orland

This design makes for a lot of tense moments as players use up their items and jockey for position at the end of each section cutoff. The frequent changes in style and scenery along a multi-section Knockout Tour competition also make races more interesting than multiple laps around the same old turns. And I liked how the reward for playing well in this mode is getting to play more; success in Knockout Tour mode means a good ten to fifteen minutes of uninterrupted racing.

Punch, punch, it’s all in the mind. Credit: Nintendo

Nintendo’s other big first-party Switch 2 exclusive, Donkey Kong Bananza, might not be the new 3D Mario game we were hoping for. Even so, it was incredibly cathartic to jump, dig, and punch my way through the demo island’s highly destructible environments, gathering countless gold trinkets and collectibles as I did. The demo is full of a lot of welcome, lighthearted touches, like the ability to surf on giant slabs of rock or shake the controller for a very ape-like beating of Donkey Kong’s chest. (Why? Just because.)

One of my colleagues joked that the game might as well be called Red Faction: Gorilla, but I’d compare it more to the joyful destruction of Travellers Tales’ many Lego games.

A single whirlwind day with the Switch 2 isn’t nearly enough to get a full handle on the system’s potential, of course. Nintendo didn’t demonstrate any of the new GameChat features it announced Wednesday morning or the adaptive microphone that supposedly powers easy on-device voice chat.

Still, what we were able to sample this week has us eager to spend more time with the “more Switch” when it hits stores in just a couple of months.

Hands-on with the Switch 2: It’s the Switch, too Read More »

A look at the Switch 2’s initial games, both familiar and what-the-heck

gaming, Nintendo Switch, nintendo switch 2, switch 2, switch 2 launch titles / DJ Henderson / April 3, 2025

You can read a lot more about original Switch games’ compatibility on the Switch 2, “Editions,” and upgrade packs elsewhere in Ars’ Switch 2 launch coverage.

AAA games of recent vintage

Switch 2’s “Partner Spotlight,” Part 1

With the promise of new hardware capable of 1080p, 120 frames per second, HDR, and even mouse capabilities, the Switch 2 is getting attention from developers eager to make up for lost time—and stake out a place on a sequel to the system that sold more than 150 million hardware units.

Elden Ring Tarnished Edition, Yakuza 0, Hitman: World of Assassination, Cyberpunk 2077, Street Fighter 6, Hogwarts Legacy, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade stood out as games from the near-to-middle past slated to arrive on the Switch 2.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Street Fighter 6, Civilization 7, and Cyberpunk 2077 are due to arrive at launch on June 5, with the rest arriving in 2025.

Notable independents (most notably Silksong)

Proof of life. Credit: Nintendo/Team Cherry

The cruel games industry joke, ever since Silksong’s announcement in 2019, is that the game, originally intended as DLC for acclaimed platformer/Metroidvania Hollow Knight, is always due to be announced, never gets announced, and resumes torturing its expectant fans.

But there it was, for a blip of a moment in the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal: Silksong, coming in “2025.” That’s all that is known: it will, purportedly, arrive on this console in 2025. It was initially due to arrive on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox when it was announced, but that remains to be seen.

Another delayed indie gem, Deltarune, a kinda-sequel to Undertale, purports to land all four chapters of its parallel story on Switch 2 at the console’s launch.

Other notable games from across the studio-size spectrum:

Hades 2 (2025)
Split Fiction (at launch)
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster (at launch)
Enter the Gungeon 2 (“Coming soon”)
Two Point Museum (2025)
Human Fall Flat 2 (“Coming soon”)

The legally distinct game that sure looks like Bloodborne 2

The hero of this sanguine tale. FromSoftware

The next original game from FromSoftware, maker of beautifully realized finger-torture titles like Elden Ring and the Dark Souls series, is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, The Duskbloods. The trailer, with its gore-etched hands, gothic churches, and eldritch/Victorian machinery, certainly stood out from the Kirby and Donkey Kong games around it. The game arrives sometime in 2026.

A look at the Switch 2’s initial games, both familiar and what-the-heck Read More »

What we’re expecting from Nintendo’s Switch 2 announcement Wednesday

c button, gaming, Mario Kart, metroid prime 4, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, nintendo switch 2, switch 2, switch 2 launch / Mike M. / April 2, 2025

Implausible: Long-suffering Earthbound fans have been hoping for a new game in the series (or even an official localization of the Japan-exclusive Mother 3) for literal decades now. Personally, though, I’m hoping for a surprise revisit to the Punch-Out series, following on its similar surprise return on the Wii in 2009.

Screen

Likely: While a 720p screen was pretty nice in a 2017 gaming handheld, a full 1080p display is much more standard in today’s high-end gaming portables. We expect Nintendo will follow this trend for what looks to be a nearly 8-inch screen on the Switch 2.

Possible: While a brighter OLED screen would be nice as a standard feature on the Switch 2, we expect Nintendo will follow the precedent of the Switch generation and offer this as a pricier upgrade at some point in the future.

Implausible: The Switch 2 would be the perfect time for Nintendo to revisit the glasses-free stereoscopic 3D that we all thought was such a revelation on the 3DS all those years ago.

C Button

Close-up of the — C-ing is believing. Credit: Nintendo

Likely: The mysterious new button labeled “C” on the Switch 2’s right Joy-Con could serve as a handy way to “connect” to other players, perhaps through a new Miiverse-style social network.

Possible: Recent rumors suggest the C button could be used to connect to a second Switch console (or the TV-connected dock) for a true dual-screen experience. That would be especially fun and useful for Wii U/DS emulation and remasters.

Implausible: The C stands for Chibi-Robo! and launches a system-level mini-game focused on the miniature robot.

New features

Switch 2, with joycons slightly off the central unit/screen. — Credit: Nintendo

Likely: After forcing players to use a wonky smartphone app for voice chat on the Switch, we wouldn’t be surprised if Nintendo finally implements full on-device voice chat for online games on the Switch 2—at least between confirmed “friends” on the system.

Possible: Some sort of system-level achievement tracking would bring Nintendo’s new console in line with a feature that the competition from Sony and Microsoft has had for decades now.

Implausible: After killing it off for the Switch generation, we’d love it if Nintendo brought back the Virtual Console as a way to buy permanent downloadable copies of emulated classics that will carry over across generations. Failing that, how about a revival of the 3DS’s StreetPass passive social network for Switch 2 gamers on the go?

What we’re expecting from Nintendo’s Switch 2 announcement Wednesday Read More »