The Switch 2: a Complete Supersymmetric Grand Unified Playground for Gamers and N-Body Particles, and an Overview of Old and New Nintendo

The Nintendo Switch 2 was officially out today and the Verge staffers spent a lot of time playing with it. There’s an extraUSB-C port on the new console, as well as a bigger screen. There’s a bunch of games to play, too, including a new Mario Kart and nice updates to older games.

I still don’t test properly the mouse controls and GameChat social features for our full review, but I was able to play a lot of other games over the weekend, and I can tell that there are some elements I still need to test.

The flipside is that the Switch 2 now has some pretty hefty file sizes to deal with. Street Fighter 6 is the largest game with nearly 50 terabytes of space, followed by Cyberpunk 2077. That’s smaller than on a PS5, for example, where blockbuster games are often pushing 100GB, but it does mean I’ve already had to manage my software to make things fit.

The biggerscreen and heavier hardware aren’t an issue for me so far. I sat out in the sun playing Mario Kart World until the battery was nearly dead, and I didn’t really notice any discomfort, aside from the sore right thumb that is the price of playing Mario Kart with any degree of intensity. My 12-year-old spent two hours playing an upgraded version of the game and thought it was a good experience, but it might have been just a ploy for more screen time.

The Switch 2 isn’t just a touchscreen, but the Switch is a good platform to play games in the Mushroom Kingdom

This may be a niche concern, but as someone who takes a lot of screenshots while I play games — so I can share important details about public transportation in the Mushroom Kingdom — it’s great that they’re so much easier to share now. Before, I had to scan two different QR codes to get them on my phone. They appear in the mobile app, when I click on the upload button. It works in the same way as on the PS5 and that is good news for posters.

I have been spending a long time in No Man’s Sky and it is a noticeable difference. While the game technically worked on the original hardware, it was also much slower and uglier than on any other platform. The Switch 2 version isn’t the best-looking, of course, but it still looks and runs great, even in portable mode.

I wish the Switch 2 had an OLED screen, particularly considering the price, but this 7.9-inch, 1080p 120Hz panel absolutely makes my original 6.2-inch Switch seem like a bargain basement tablet by comparison. It is more real estate than ever and it is easier to navigate theUI thanks to the high refresh rate.

Speaking as a man with a bona fide Joy-Con collecting problem — I racked up six pairs for the Switch because I like all the colors and am bad at managing my money — it was bittersweet news that the Switch 2 only comes in black with tiny red and blue accents. It saved me from spending even more at launch, but that’s only delaying the inevitable.

Does it mean that future Joy-Con designs will not have the same amount of color in them? Will we have to live with the fact that the controllers will not match the accents on the console? Most importantly, will I be able to curb my collection compulsion this time around? —Dominic Preston, news editor

I would like to apologize to a bunch of game developers, because I’ve spent the last several years cursing them for interminable loading times, unnecessarily complicated menus that take a second to register every button press, and a lot of overall slowness. It all turned out to be theSwitch’s fault.

To my surprise, my favorite change for the Switch 2 so far is the extra USB-C port on the top of the console. Maybe that is because I like having the extra port on my desk to charge my gadgets, and I also like to use it for Mario Kart, so I’m testing it out for work. —Jay Peters, news editor

The slightly bigger Joy-Con 2 controllers give you a little more to wrap your fingers around in handheld mode, but they’re not contoured like larger third-party gamepads or chunkier PC handhelds. The hard edge along the bottom of the Joy-Con 2 controllers digs into my palms when I’m leaning back on the couch. I felt very uncomfortable while playing Mario Kart World for less than an hour. It was unbearable before the end of my two-hour session.

Maybe my soft hands just aren’t burly enough. I am complaining on the record about uncomfortable cameras. The Switch Joy-Cons had a rounded borders, but the Switch 2 has a hard edge. Antonio G. Di Benedetto is a reviewer.

I agree with my colleague that it is a pleasant upgrade, as opposed to a next-gen shift. However, I’m disappointed that the mystique didn’t stick around a little longer, like it did with the Steam Deck. Turns out, when a handheld doubles as a Linux PC, the possibilities feel limitless.