I like the whole lot in regards to the Steam Deck. It’s a (principally) open-source console with the flexibility to launch (however not essentially run) all video games on the Steam platform, and it turned the proper companion to my gaming PC after I first purchased it. However, it wasn’t till my first week with the Nintendo Switch 2 that I used to be reminded why I favored handheld video games to start with.
There’s nothing overwhelmingly new in regards to the Nintendo Switch 2. Yes, the console is significantly extra highly effective than the unique machine that launched in 2017, with a bigger display screen, extra snug controllers and an general higher design, however it additionally didn’t want its personal show-stopping new function. Nintendo’s world of gaming is exclusive and unmatched, tapping into elements (portability, sofa co-op-ability and a robust concentrate on first-party video games) that leaves another firm, at greatest, hopelessly behind.
It’s why the argument over whether or not or not the Steam Deck will stand an opportunity towards the Switch 2 makes me groan. It’s of no significance. It’s not value caring about. They is likely to be related units general, however they’ve completely different intentions within the video games area.
What does matter is making your expertise distinctive – and the Nintendo Switch 2 is far-reaching in its distinctiveness, making for each the proper gadget when entertaining my niece or the perfect get together trick when hanging out with pals.
You ought to learn our in-depth Nintendo Switch 2 review for those who’re extra within the specs, efficiency and options. I’m right here to inform you why I just like the console.
Switch it up
My beautiful niece Zoey is 5 years previous – she’s hyperactive and a terror, consistently operating round and yelling, enthusiastic about little issues and uninterested in boring issues. She’s the world to me.
And being her solely uncle, there’s loads of duty positioned upon me! My brother and his fiance are consistently exhausted by Zoey’s antics, so I’m placed on ‘Zoey duty’ every time I’m on the town or after they come to go to. She’s beautiful – however she will get bored simply.
For a very long time, the perfect gizmo I had for preserving Zoey preoccupied was my Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – its built-in S Pen stylus and properly maintained first-party PENUP app provide numerous hours of drawing enjoyable for a bit of child.
The Nintendo Switch 2 strikes the identical area of interest. Pulling the console out at a household occasion on the weekend, Zoey’s restlessness was rapidly introduced beneath management as soon as I launched her to the brand new Mario Kart World. Sure, she’s a part of this new era of children which have been first launched to Mario by way of the 2023 Illumination movie, however just like the Galaxy S Pen, there’s an prompt enchantment to youngsters when the gadget is so tactile, and you may bodily contact and work together with it in a very cool approach.
Similarly, the flexibility to whip the console out each within the workplace, on a gathering room TV, or at a celebration and have pals play on it effortlessly utilizing the detachable controllers is such a boon. It’s the perfect console to have when enjoying with individuals in individual, and its compact type permits you to take it wherever.
Even with out the deck, the brand new Joy-Cons are sufficiently massive that they’re not too uncomfortable when held horizontally. The show is bigger, brighter and extra clear than the unique Switch too, making splitscreen gameplay on the console alone way more satisfying.
The complete movement of snapping out a magnetically-attached Joy-Con to go head-to-head with a good friend in individual is infinitely extra thrilling than whipping out a a lot smaller recreation in your cellphone, or perhaps a high-performance recreation in your Steam Deck, and enjoying by yourself. It’s a tactile distinction and, with its efficiency enhancements throughout the board, the Switch 2 aces the project.
I can’t be gained over with the whole lot
The Nintendo Switch 2 is a reasonably well-rounded console that is aware of precisely what it’s making an attempt to do, however there are points right here. The primary one is the value – the excessive price of the Switch 2 is, in a phrase, inaccessible to many of us, and the dearth of any tangible distinction to the unique console would depart many preferring to economize.
Though the console is noticeably greater this time round, with a bigger show than even the Steam Deck’s (but a smaller general dimension), it’s nonetheless a bit uncomfortable for grownup arms in its customary handheld mode. The bumper buttons specifically really feel only a tad too massive and have typically led to unintentional presses throughout my use.
On this be aware, the flexibility for the Switch’s Joy-Cons to rapidly flip into wi-fi mice for extra exact gameplay at a desk or desk, utilising sensors down the facet to trace the Joy-Con’s motion because it slides throughout the desk, looks like one of many greatest jumps in latest first-party gaming {hardware}. My solely criticism is that it’s restricted by the identical points as when holding the console in handheld mode – it’s a bit awkward for greater arms. Thankfully the Switch 2 helps third get together mice.
Having most of my gaming on PC, I’m additionally massively towards subscription providers for on-line play, however that is seemingly a non-issue for a lot of, on condition that there are lots of different nice bonuses available with Nintendo Switch Online.
But my greatest level of criticism stays the dock – the factor I favored the least in regards to the unique Switch. I get that it’s imagined to be massive to help console play at residence, however for my use case, I would really like a extra moveable resolution for projecting to a TV at a good friend or member of the family’s residence. Surely all the inner elements could be condensed right into a smaller type issue, simply as we noticed with third-party Switch equipment after 2017? This could be an enormous boon to me, as lugging the sizable dock round solely for the flexibility to mission onto a TV is type of annoying.
On gaming and id
The Nintendo Switch 2 is the last word social console. That I can entertain my niece for hours on finish with this gadget, enjoying video games in a extra moveable type than any different console, is so cosmically essential to me that I can’t assist however love this quirky, multi-purpose handheld. That I can present as much as a home get together of introverts and have buckets of enjoyable is of comparable significance.
In 2025, there are alternate options for devoted players after higher efficiency. The Steam Deck most prominently (significantly for the way it too can be utilized as a co-op console, albeit much less. elegantly with out detachable Joy-Cons), however even the PlayStation Portal could be thought to be an honest in-home handheld.
But none of those will ever obtain the all-encompassing brilliance of the Nintendo Switch 2. Try as Microsoft would possibly with its newest console, the ‘ROG Xbox Ally X’, a reputation so comically unhealthy that solely Xbox and Asus might have give you it, it’ll by no means be this.
These handheld consoles, whereas cool and able to nice gameplay, lack the bodily enchantment that makes the Switch 2 so sensible within the first place. Nintendo has mastered the steadiness between {hardware} and software program to make completely different modes of play rapidly achievable, with out annoying OS difficulties (like in former Windows-based handhelds), streaming reliance (just like the Portal and cloud-based providers) and hulking {hardware} tradeoffs (like when pairing controllers with the Steam Deck). Rather than spend a few minutes pairing controllers to the Deck, for instance, the Switch 2 solely requires a split-second detaching of a Joy-Con. It’s seamless.
It’s an costly console, little doubt about it, however the Nintendo Switch 2 has taken the mantle of the perfect informal console in the marketplace – whereas additionally catering to extra devoted players too. It’s straightforward to like, however for those who can’t afford it (or justify the excessive value), then I might extremely suggest nonetheless choosing up both the unique Switch or the Switch OLED, as they proceed to offer a sufficiently succesful household gaming expertise.