Switch Switch 2 Initial Thoughts

[SpikeSlania]

I did finally get to sit down and enjoy my new Switch 2 yesterday after work. I will admit I was jealous listening to other people in line talking about getting food at Sheetz and then heading home playing Mario Kart while for me I would be lucky enough to just set it up before going to bed. Too old to be doing midnight releases anymore :P

About the unit itself I'm pretty neutral on. I'm in the minority that I only use my Switch in docked mode with a pro/3rd party controller so don't have much of an opinion on it's handheld features or joycons. The UI is hardly different from the OG Switch and gets the job done. I guess their magnetic features for the joy cons are pretty cool but I don't have anything else to really say about the unit itself.

Now the Pro Controller on the other hand fixed my one major issue with the OG Switch Pro Controller. It actually has a good d-pad compared to what Nintendo gave us last gen. Haven't tested any of the game chat features with it since none of my friends got a Switch 2 yet, but for gaming it feels pretty nice and has a decent weight to it. Looks like the battery life is good since after my few hours of playing yesterday and I checked the status on it afterwards it was still near full charge.

Now for the one some people might have been waiting for, my thoughts on Mario Kart World. For the short summary, I love it. First new Mario Kart in a decade. Mainly been doing Grand Prix unlocking characters, skins, and cars. They have a few traditional race courses that you would find in the other Mario Karts the whole doing laps in circles formula. But the majority of tracks are racing to the next destination. You did get a few tracks like that in 7 and 8 while World is mostly those tracks which is a nice change of pace. I also went online and raced for like a hour and had a blast with how chaotic it is with up to 24 racers it is. Like you could be in 6th about the cross the finish line and then get hit finding yourself in 17th and with a new found grudge against a guy named Blue Luigi.

So my initial thoughts are pretty positive and looking forward to the Switch 2 generation. I know I have Donkey Kong next month and Daemon X Machina in September. Will also be looking into some Switch 1 games with Switch 2 updates and of course finally getting my hands on Xenoblade Chronicles X and playing through that.

 

[Bonkers225]

Glad you enjoyed it. Mine should arrive tomorrow.

 

[bjork]

I had never heard of sheetz until recently, but it sounds pretty cool to go to. Turns out that the closest one to me is 1900 miles away, so it likely won't happen soon.

 

[BinaryMessiah]

I was able to walk into a local Wal-Mart at 10AM yesterday and pick one up. Plenty available. I just love how much snappier everything is. The eShop slowdown is finally fixed and has been spruced up. I'm disappointed we're still stuck with the same boring UI despite how much cleaner and "Nintendofied" it is. There are some cute sound effects for every icon now, there's a swirling rainbow outline effect on every icon, icons are rounded, etc. Lots of little details, but I want themes damn it!

The magnetic Joy-Cons work better than expected. They are insanely strong. I'm someone who uses the Switch in handheld mode more than docked so I haven't picked up a Pro Controller 2 yet, but it's the next accessory I get. I'm also glad this thing has 256GB on board. I don't have a need for an SD card right away. The Switch system transfer was painless and seamless, and for anyone with kids or family members on their NSO the virtual card feature is actually really neat and much easier to manage.

 

[deh]

That's good have fun with it !

 

[ATenderLad]

I was able to walk into a local Wal-Mart at 10AM yesterday and pick one up. Plenty available. I just love how much snappier everything is. The eShop slowdown is finally fixed and has been spruced up. I'm disappointed we're still stuck with the same boring UI despite how much cleaner and "Nintendofied" it is. There are some cute sound effects for every icon now, there's a swirling rainbow outline effect on every icon, icons are rounded, etc. Lots of little details, but I want themes damn it!

The magnetic Joy-Cons work better than expected. They are insanely strong. I'm someone who uses the Switch in handheld mode more than docked so I haven't picked up a Pro Controller 2 yet, but it's the next accessory I get. I'm also glad this thing has 256GB on board. I don't have a need for an SD card right away. The Switch system transfer was painless and seamless, and for anyone with kids or family members on their NSO the virtual card feature is actually really neat and much easier to manage.

Having an eShop that doesn't run like like molasses - lazy molasses, even! - makes me want it more than the game trailers I've seen, to tell the truth.

Someday.

 

[Pearly]

I did finally get to sit down and enjoy my new Switch 2 yesterday after work. I will admit I was jealous listening to other people in line talking about getting food at Sheetz and then heading home playing Mario Kart while for me I would be lucky enough to just set it up before going to bed. Too old to be doing midnight releases anymore :P

About the unit itself I'm pretty neutral on. I'm in the minority that I only use my Switch in docked mode with a pro/3rd party controller so don't have much of an opinion on it's handheld features or joycons. The UI is hardly different from the OG Switch and gets the job done. I guess their magnetic features for the joy cons are pretty cool but I don't have anything else to really say about the unit itself.

Now the Pro Controller on the other hand fixed my one major issue with the OG Switch Pro Controller. It actually has a good d-pad compared to what Nintendo gave us last gen. Haven't tested any of the game chat features with it since none of my friends got a Switch 2 yet, but for gaming it feels pretty nice and has a decent weight to it. Looks like the battery life is good since after my few hours of playing yesterday and I checked the status on it afterwards it was still near full charge.

Now for the one some people might have been waiting for, my thoughts on Mario Kart World. For the short summary, I love it. First new Mario Kart in a decade. Mainly been doing Grand Prix unlocking characters, skins, and cars. They have a few traditional race courses that you would find in the other Mario Karts the whole doing laps in circles formula. But the majority of tracks are racing to the next destination. You did get a few tracks like that in 7 and 8 while World is mostly those tracks which is a nice change of pace. I also went online and raced for like a hour and had a blast with how chaotic it is with up to 24 racers it is. Like you could be in 6th about the cross the finish line and then get hit finding yourself in 17th and with a new found grudge against a guy named Blue Luigi.

So my initial thoughts are pretty positive and looking forward to the Switch 2 generation. I know I have Donkey Kong next month and Daemon X Machina in September. Will also be looking into some Switch 1 games with Switch 2 updates and of course finally getting my hands on Xenoblade Chronicles X and playing through that.

A word of warning on the xenoblade games, they look great docked, but look much worse than the switch 1 in handheld mode at the moment, at least until they get some sort of patch to optimise them for the switch 2 in handheld mode, as they don't scale up to the switch 2's currently handheld resolution.

That's likely not gonna be an issue for you since you mentioned that you mostly play docked anyway, but just thought I should mention it

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

i played it, and i thought it was just okay. Felt underwhelming, i expect a wow factor like the Wii, 3DS or Wii U days. a solid 5/10 console. No music or anything cool really makes it bland

 

[Pearly]

i played it, and i thought it was just okay. Felt underwhelming, i expect a wow factor like the Wii, 3DS or Wii U days. a solid 5/10 console. No music or anything cool really makes it bland

I think the days of opening a console and turning it on and being floored by how much better is is than the previous system etc. are over.

My jaw dropped running breath of the wild in handheld for the first time. I was floored by final fantasy 7 remake, the ps5 version alongside stellar blade which made me very happy with my ps5 purchase but it won't rival the first time I played sonic 2 on a Sega genesis or the first time I played tekken tag on a new ps2 etc.

Also without stellar blade I really wouldn't have noticed the really unique haptic feedback in the ps5 controller, the rain drops landing on eve could be felt subtly in the controller and can't be understated how oddly surreal and engrossing it was. These days for me, it's going to be system sellers or nothing, I don't care too much about what hardware it's on anymore unless it's thrash like the ps4 pro and takes away from any effort to enjoy games withs it's jet engine trying to cool down it's poorly optimised games.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

I think the days of opening a console and turning it on and being floored by how much better is is than the previous system etc. are over.

My jaw dropped running breath of the wild in handheld for the first time. I was floored by final fantasy 7 remake, the ps5 version alongside stellar blade which made me very happy with my ps5 purchase but it won't rival the first time I played sonic 2 on a Sega genesis or the first time I played tekken tag on a new ps2 etc.

Also without stellar blade I really wouldn't have noticed the really unique haptic feedback in the ps5 controller, the rain drops landing on eve could be felt subtly in the controller and can't be understated how oddly surreal and engrossing it was. These days for me, it's going to be system sellers or nothing, I don't care too much about what hardware it's on anymore unless it's thrash like the ps4 pro and takes away from any effort to enjoy games withs it's jet engine trying to cool down it's poorly optimised games.

I think im the only person, who wasnt blown away by BOTW. when you go out and see the overworld i was more like "damn this game has some shitty draw distance". Felt more like a Ubisoft game, minus all the extra bs collectibles.
PS5 controller and seeing the cars in GT7 was the wow factor for me on that system. I had the PS5 collecting dust since launch and when i finally played astro's playroom it was really something. I skipped the PS4 but i kept buying PS4 games since it came out because i knew Playstation would have BC for PS4 on the PS5.

 

[gwardojones]

I think im the only person, who wasnt blown away by BOTW. when you go out and see the overworld i was more like "damn this game has some shitty draw distance". Felt more like a Ubisoft game, minus all the extra bs collectibles.
PS5 controller and seeing the cars in GT7 was the wow factor for me on that system. I had the PS5 collecting dust since launch and when i finally played astro's playroom it was really something. I skipped the PS4 but i kept buying PS4 games since it came out because i knew Playstation would have BC for PS4 on the PS5.

Nah, you're in good company.

I was really underwhelmed by BOTW. Wasn't all that into it from the trailers, but a guy I worked with sold me on buying a copy by telling me how NOT like an Ubisoft open world game it was. After playing it for a bit, I realized exactly how much like an Ubisoft open world game it actually was. Climb towers to open up more map to climb towers to open up the map. Dungeons were awful. Having all of the game's tools available at the start removed any excitement from visiting new locations. Shrines are really repetitive, gamey, and feel completely separate from the overworld. Weapons breaking made finding new items extremely unexciting, which in turn made exploration of the overworld unexciting. Side quests were... there... kind of...

I'm not going to give people crap for loving it. Even if it is basically an Ubisoft open world, it has significantly more art, consideration, and care put into it than anything profit-driven, AAA companies make. But it's supremely overrated and it took the series in a direction I'm not at all interested in.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

Nah, you're in good company.

I was really underwhelmed by BOTW. Wasn't all that into it from the trailers, but a guy I worked with sold me on buying a copy by telling me how NOT like an Ubisoft open world game it was. After playing it for a bit, I realized exactly how much like an Ubisoft open world game it actually was. Climb towers to open up more map to climb towers to open up the map. Dungeons were awful. Having all of the game's tools available at the start removed any excitement from visiting new locations. Shrines are really repetitive, gamey, and feel completely separate from the overworld. Weapons breaking made finding new items extremely unexciting, which in turn made exploration of the overworld unexciting. Side quests were... there... kind of...

I'm not going to give people crap for loving it. Even if it is basically an Ubisoft open world, it has significantly more art, consideration, and care put into it than anything profit-driven, AAA companies make. But it's supremely overrated and it took the series in a direction I'm not at all interested in.

yeah i hated how fast the weapons degrade, i like some of the cool weapons but never used them since ill have to go back and search for them again. When i fought Ganon i just used the Master Sword and used the Master sword for the rest of the playthrough. Same with the Hyrulian Shield.

 

[SpikeSlania]

I had never heard of sheetz until recently, but it sounds pretty cool to go to. Turns out that the closest one to me is 1900 miles away, so it likely won't happen soon.

One of the reasons why I feel like it would be hard to move away from Central PA. I am spoiled by having Rutters, Sheetz, Royal Farms, and Wawas all around me. Though I will say it's a bit odd telling people that some of your favorite places to grab food at around here is from Gas Station chains :P

I was able to walk into a local Wal-Mart at 10AM yesterday and pick one up. Plenty available. I just love how much snappier everything is. The eShop slowdown is finally fixed and has been spruced up. I'm disappointed we're still stuck with the same boring UI despite how much cleaner and "Nintendofied" it is. There are some cute sound effects for every icon now, there's a swirling rainbow outline effect on every icon, icons are rounded, etc. Lots of little details, but I want themes damn it!

Was somewhat surprised how easy it was to just show up and there were extra units available. I haven't really explored the eshop since my memories of it on the OG Switch are of it being filled with a lot of shovelware "games." I'm mainly just getting first party games on the Switch 2 with 3rd parties still being Steam.

A word of warning on the xenoblade games, they look great docked, but look much worse than the switch 1 in handheld mode at the moment, at least until they get some sort of patch to optimise them for the switch 2 in handheld mode, as they don't scale up to the switch 2's currently handheld resolution.

That's likely not gonna be an issue for you since you mentioned that you mostly play docked anyway, but just thought I should mention it

Yeah, I have never played a game in handheld mode when I originally had a Switch. Whenever I have time to game it's always at home making handhelds not needed. I drive everywhere when I have to go somewhere so I'm never a passenger Prince.

I think im the only person, who wasnt blown away by BOTW. when you go out and see the overworld i was more like "damn this game has some shitty draw distance". Felt more like a Ubisoft game, minus all the extra bs collectibles.
PS5 controller and seeing the cars in GT7 was the wow factor for me on that system. I had the PS5 collecting dust since launch and when i finally played astro's playroom it was really something. I skipped the PS4 but i kept buying PS4 games since it came out because i knew Playstation would have BC for PS4 on the PS5.

Back then I was one of the first few people in the Hard4Games discord and the other members kept hyping up Breath of the Wild. Eventually I bit the bullet and tried it and was disappointed. They hyped it up to be a better open world than Elder Scrolls and it felt like a dead open world with a lot of places to climb. I had to turn the game into a linear adventure and just bee line it to the "dungeons" to actually finish the game. Tears of the Kingdom was a definite improvement over Breath.

i played it, and i thought it was just okay. Felt underwhelming, i expect a wow factor like the Wii, 3DS or Wii U days. a solid 5/10 console. No music or anything cool really makes it bland

I haven't experienced a wow factor in gaming since the first time I played Oblivion on the Xbox 360 :P We are at the point of diminishing returns as developers try pushing for limited gains. Granted I might have a wow factor on the Switch 2 if I for some bizarre reason that I pick up Pokemon Scarlet again and play it and can experience gameplay in constant double digit FPS, that would be a wow factor over me playing the game on the OG Switch. Wow, this game actually runs decent now and might be playable!