Nintendo Switch 2 – Review

Nintendo’s new portable toy keeps the company’s DNA and remains an innovative, different, sometimes frustrating but, without question, fun product…

We waited for the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 like the second coming of… Mario!? We were a hair away from turning into evangelists dressed in red and white, Pro Controllers in hand, preaching the holy day of 5 June 2025. It’s been a good year, and it still looks promising, but we felt the need for a change in gaming. We’ve been spoiled with very good titles, but what we wanted was a new and fun experience — the kind only Nintendo knows how to deliver.

Well, the big day has already come and gone. The Switch 2 has launched and, thanks to a lot of effort from shops across the country, such as JocuriNoi, Altex and eMAG, but above all the sustained distribution work of CD Media România, we got our grubby little hands on the… Nintendo Switch 2 here in the GRIND office!

We did an unboxing with Vlad, and we’ve posted reels on our Instagram page showing some of the accessories, but something was missing: a proper, old-school (or rather magazine-style) review! Now that we’ve spun the fans in the console, and especially the ones in the dock, up to full whack, it’s time to give you our verdict.

Now… given how well the Switch 2 has sold, in record numbers of units and days, compared with the Steam Deck and the other handhelds on the market, it’s clear Nintendo doesn’t really need reviews to shift units. Like Apple, Disney and other famous companies, the Japanese at Nintendo know how to package magic as a product. Of course, it isn’t all rosy… controversies and leaks keep cropping up, but we have to admit: these guys know how to deliver experiences, even if it sometimes stings the wallet a bit.

We kept thinking about how to make this review as interesting as possible for you, especially as the internet is flooded with opinions about the Switch 2 right now. So we went for a slightly unusual format: we gathered around the same table in the office — Tudor, Vlad and Leo — the three luminaries of GRIND, each with their own tastes and obsessions when it comes to gaming, but with one question in mind: “Is the Switch 2 the console we were really waiting for?” What came out of it? We invite you to find out below. Let’s-a go!

What did you think of the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch price?

Tudor: After seeing the new console’s technical specs, I expected a price somewhere between 350 and 400 euros (the equivalent of 1,750–2,000 lei). The official price announcement came as a shock to everyone, and 2,500 lei struck me as a bit steep for what it offers. After three weeks, I’ve changed my mind a little. I no longer think 400 euros would have been a fair price, but 450 euros (the equivalent of 2,250 lei).

Vlad: I expected it to cost around 2,500 lei, so I wasn’t caught off guard. Bearing in mind that the PlayStation Portal sells for 1,100 and doesn’t include the processing, RAM or storage, I think Nintendo has picked a competitive price for the 2025 market.

Leo: As they say on the internet: “not great, not terrible.” The maximum budget I was ready to sink into the Switch 2 was somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 lei. I expected the standard bundle to come in at around 2,250 lei, and the one with Mario Kart World at around 2,500. The fact that the actual price in Romania turned out about 200 lei higher than my estimates wasn’t a dealbreaker. Apparently, going by how many units have sold in just a few days, the price has proved fair, or at least decent, for a premium Nintendo product.

What’s the first thing you noticed when you took the console out of the box?

Tudor: Speaking from a technical perspective, the first thing I noticed was the look. The console looks far more professional, whereas the old Switch felt more like a toy. On the software side, the first thing that jumped out at me was the new UI, an improved version of the old one. I was also pleasantly surprised by the speed of the Switch 2, which runs much more fluidly and loads significantly faster than its predecessor.

Vlad: Compared with the original Switch, everything (from the controllers to the power system) is more refined. The second iteration looks less like a toy.

Leo: If you owned the first Switch, then unboxing a Switch 2 doesn’t offer anything special, but it doesn’t disappoint either. What I did notice was the quality of the accessories and of the console itself. From the first few seconds you feel you’ve bought a premium product. As Vlad says: if the first Switch was more of a colourful, cute toy, well, now we’re dealing with an iteration taken to the next level — in every respect. I almost forgot! The best moment was clicking the first Joy-Con 2 onto the console with the new magnetic system. Magic.

What do you make of the new Joy-Cons? Are they more comfortable, more stable, or just a cosmetic innovation?

Tudor: I don’t even know whether I can still call them Joy-Cons. They do the same job as the ones from the previous generation, but the ergonomic design and the mouse function put them at the top of all current controllers. Not many people know this, but the new ability can also be used in the Switch 2 menu, not just in compatible games. As such, I expect to see plenty of PC games ported to this little console, and I hope we’ll soon hear about a Warcraft III version for the Switch 2.

Vlad: Honestly, the quality of the materials is excellent. They’re harder to drop, the buttons are bigger and easier to reach, and there’s also a nicely refined built-in mouse function. The new Joy-Cons bring improvements I’d been wanting, but I wouldn’t have been able to list them as well as they’ve come out of the factory.

Leo: They’re exactly what I expected them to be, maybe even better. Not only are they more comfortable and stable, but in every respect they surpass any Joy-Con from the first Switch. Although I was a little sceptical about the mouse mode, after trying Cyberpunk 2077 and going through the Welcome Tour, I can say I’m completely won over by this new feature! Even if the Joy-Con 2 doesn’t have the ergonomics of a classic mouse, for short play sessions it’s exactly what you need. I can’t wait for the new Metroid Prime to arrive so I can enjoy the new toys even more.

The screen is bigger, clearer and brighter, but can you feel the difference in gameplay?

Tudor: Honestly, I haven’t played enough in handheld mode to form a clear opinion. I usually play docked. In the little time I spent button-mashing in handheld, my eyes didn’t get tired, but that could come down to several factors, not just the larger screen.

Vlad: Absolutely! Once you’ve seen the Switch 2 screen, it’s hard to go back, even to the OLED version of the original. HDR and the 120 Hz refresh rate really make all the difference, and the colours are more vivid too. If you don’t believe me, try The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in the Depths on both systems!

Leo: My first Switch was the Lite. Although I was completely hooked on games like Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild, I suffered badly because of the small screen. My next purchase was a Switch OLED – and I didn’t regret it for a second! Now, back to the Switch 2: even without OLED technology, games look excellent. HDR is a welcome addition, and 120Hz is the real cherry on top. In short, it’s the best premium handheld on which to enjoy Nintendo’s creations.

How is the overall performance?

Tudor: It feels like it runs much better than the first Switch, even beyond my expectations. On the old console I had problems almost every time I opened the eShop, but here I haven’t had a single frame drop or stutter.

Vlad: For now, the Switch 2 is the best way to play releases from the original Switch. That’s wonderful, because there are dozens of games that stuttered or weren’t well optimised at launch. Don’t believe me? Try Bayonetta 3 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3!

Leo: The cynics would say the performance is good, but it costs you. And they’re right: if you want to play Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom in 4K at 60fps, you have to pay for the two upgrades. But Nintendo made an unexpected move before the new Switch launched: it offered free improvements for some of its most popular titles. I tried Super Mario Odyssey and Pokémon Violet, and I can tell you both run superbly, in the best versions they’ve had so far! Odyssey looked good anyway, but Pokémon Violet surprised me most – a game that suffered badly from poor performance and visuals that did the series no favours. Well done, Nintendo!

Which launch game convinced you the most, and why?

Tudor: The launch game that won me over most is Bravely Default – Flying Fairy HD. I played one game from the series on Switch 1 (Bravely Default II) and I’ve wanted to get my hands on this legendary original, where the whole franchise began, for a very long time. Aesthetically it looks like it was lifted from a children’s storybook, yet it runs better (4K/60 fps) than most AAA games on the consoles for “real gamers”, like the PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X.

Vlad: Clearly, Cyberpunk 2077. It’s a technical marvel when it comes to optimisation, and it reminds me of the Resident Evil 2 port for the Nintendo 64. The folks at CD Projekt Red managed to fit the most complete version of the game onto a 64 GB game card, without major compromises on performance. It runs absolutely incredibly, even in handheld mode!

Leo: No contest – Mario Kart World! It’s the game I couldn’t wait to play with my daughter Iris, who’s a huge Mario Kart 8 Deluxe fan. Still, the first-party games I’m most looking forward to are Donkey Kong Bananza and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Especially after watching the recent Nintendo Direct, which went through all the details of Bananza, I’d say it has a real shot at being my GOTY this year!

What do you make of the docked experience on a TV?

Tudor: The docked experience on a TV seems flawless to me. The Switch 2 is quick and fluid, and the new animations show any player that Nintendo has got very serious about the “console war”. Most games run at 4K/60 fps or 1080p/60 fps, depending on the game’s settings, and honestly, I can’t imagine how else you’d experience masterpieces like Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom than on a television.

Vlad: The new dock is impressive and the extra performance it adds is remarkable, but the real magic is enjoying the console’s built-in screen on a bus, a train or in a waiting room. When you put the Switch 2 in the dock to watch the action on a big screen, the fidelity is clearly a step below a PlayStation 5. But play it in handheld mode and you’ll discover joys that Romanian literature has yet to describe.

Leo: As with the first Switch, docked mode remains my favourite. I use the console that way about 80% of the time when I’m at home, glued to the sofa, so the boost from 1080p to 4K is excellent for a user like me. Both the Switch 2 exclusives and the previous-generation games that got upgrades look great at the new resolution. All in all, it’s a pleasure to play your favourite Nintendo games on the new console.

Compatibility with old games and accounts – how easy was the transfer?

Tudor: I had a few headaches with the transfer. Once I'd installed the launch-day update on both consoles (Switch 1 and Switch 2), a laborious process of migrating data from one system to the other began. It was a slog, mostly down to the Wi-Fi chip in the old console, which couldn't hold the connection as well as the one in the new model. In total, it took about an hour to sort out all the settings and transfer the data, and then another hour to download the games from the cloud. When I finally settled comfortably in front of the TV, ready to carry on with my adventure in Super Mario RPG, I had the unpleasant surprise of discovering that all the gamecards were “stored” on the old Switch. So I had to bring the old console over next to the new one again and manually select absolutely every title to load it onto the new system. What should have been an hour-long process turned into a Herculean three-hour chore. Once all that torment was over, I had a pleasant time with the old titles, which seem to have enjoyed an unofficial upgrade thanks to the Switch 2’s extra processing power. I didn’t notice any 4K or high-def textures, but most games ran at 45–60 fps, Bayonetta 3 included.

Vlad: I only transferred what I specifically wanted to play – 90% of my games stayed on the 2017 Switch. But the transition went very smoothly, like going from an iPhone X to an iPhone 16: nothing revolutionary, but a more refined experience in places.

Leo: Unlike the less pleasant experience Tudor described, my transfer was as smooth as it gets. I followed the steps of the onboarding process and, in just 10 minutes, successfully “transplanted” everything from my old Switch OLED to the new Switch 2. The only annoyance was that it started downloading almost all my digital games, and I had to cancel each one manually. That's probably my own fault — I rushed and didn't untick an option to disable automatic downloads.

Battery life: do you feel a real improvement, or are we still stuck on the charger after a few hours of intense play?

Tudor: I can't comment on battery life, because I don't play in handheld mode. What I did notice is that the Switch 2 gets quite hot when you play something demanding for a few hours. Both new versions of Zelda (Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom) put the system through its paces, even in docked mode. It doesn't get too hot to touch, but it can be uncomfortable, especially if the console is sitting close to where you are.

Vlad: I used an early Switch 1, from the first production batch. Its battery life never went beyond 3 hours, although later models offered extra playtime between charges. Honestly, the Switch 2 feels exactly the same to me. The battery drains faster if I play Cyberpunk 2077, but I can hear the fans spinning and I completely understand why I have to head for a socket fairly often. Every device is bound by the laws of physics, and for its slender form (at least compared with the Steam Deck or the ASUS ROG Ally), the Switch 2 offers respectable battery life.

Leo: Sadly, battery life is no better than on the OLED model of the original console. Fortunately, it doesn't affect my experience — as I said above, 80% of the time my Switch 2 sits quietly in its dock. That doesn't mean I haven't prepared for handheld sessions when I'm out and about. I bought two essential accessories: an official charger, so I can top the console up quickly, and a carry case. Thinking about it, a play session rarely lasts more than two and a half hours for me, so the chances of the battery dying while I'm “in action” are pretty slim. And if it does happen… as I said, I'm prepared! Hehe.

What score would you give the Switch 2 right now, and what would it still need to become the “perfect console”?

Tudor: Right now, the Switch 2 gets a 7 from me. That score is down to the price, and to the console's tendency to overheat when running certain first-party games (the two new versions of Zelda and Mario Kart World). If the price were friendlier, if the cooling could cope with games that are already 8 and 2 years old respectively, and if the launch library of exclusives were richer, then the Nintendo Switch 2 would be close to “perfect console” status and would deserve a 10 without hesitation.

Vlad: I'd say 8.5 going on 9. But what it needs to become a 10 isn't a hardware upgrade, it's a collection of exclusives that can match the prestige of the original Switch.

Leo: The Nintendo Switch rekindled my love of playing, and my interest in gaming, at a time when I felt the magic had rather faded. Now the Nintendo Switch 2 has taken the best of it and moved it up to the next level. It looks good, it works brilliantly — all it needs is a library of innovative games to bring back the magic and the smiles when things go sideways and we need an escape. For now, the Switch 2 gets a 9 from me. I'm ready to give it a 10 once Donkey Kong Bananza arrives — a game I can't wait for and which, I'm convinced, will go down in Nintendo history alongside The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is, quite clearly, a step forward from the first generation. The new portable toy keeps the company's DNA and remains an innovative, different, sometimes frustrating, but, without question, fun product. After all, what's the point of games if they don't make us smile? Or even cry, when the story is genuinely good and moving. Even Dan Bittman admitted that “boys (gamers) cry sometimes too”.

Now, tears aside: do we like the Nintendo Switch 2? Absolutely. Do we want more? Of course! It's only the beginning: it hasn't even been a month since launch and we already have a few super-tasty titles arriving from next month. Mario Kart World was just the starter. We can't wait to taste the other main courses and, above all, we're curious what Nintendo has cooked up for… dessert.

It remains to be seen whether, in the long run, it will manage to win over “serious” gamers — the ones who thumb the buttons of high-horsepower consoles and RGB-lit PCs — and not just the devoted fans from Mario's gang.

But if you ask us? It’s worth adding to your wishlist. If not now, then at least for the holidays. I’d go as far as to say it’s a must-have for anyone who has never owned a Nintendo console and wants to try something new, or for those with little ones at home who want to introduce them to the “brave new world” of gaming!

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