Some of the best hype in life is waiting for a new console announcement, especially a new Nintendo hardware announcement. Talking online about the code names from Dolphin to Cafe and most recently NX. I didn’t think the hype for the Nintendo Switch 2 or “Ounce” would come close but the long wait from reveal and announcement has surely made speculation go wild and that’s part of the fun. Now that it’s been officially unvealed let’s take a look at the presentation and the console launch itself. Spoiler alert, the Nintendo Direct presentation was not great, it reminded me of some bad presentations from the Wii/3DS/Wii U era.
I’ll begin with some of the things we already knew before it. I hate the logo, it feels old since it’s just the original one with a distracting ugly gigantic 2. I don’t like the name either but it’s not something that bothers me. As far as the console, it does feel uninspired with it being a bigger switch but at the same time it’s a fine formfactor so I don’t mind updating it. I just still wish we had an actual D-Pad like I did with the original Switch 1, no one ever used the joycons as controllers.
As far as the color, I’m also not loving it. All black seems too similar to the Switch 1, and the subtle colors are less fun than having the actual joycon being all color. I don’t feel it makes it more “professional” it just looks boring. It has grown on me but I wish there was something else. The mouse functionality could be great, the C button likely won’t be used much for me. I’m happy of all the improvements but in reality they’re what you’d expect.
As far as pricing, we’re back to full cocky Nintendo which is not something new from them, but it’s always disappointing to see when they get so greedy. The console could’ve been $50 less, but that’s something I can forgive and expected. The big jump in game prices isn’t. Switch 2 editions pricing also seems much. This has come to hurt Nintendo in the past and it could happen again.
Let’s talk games. Glad we’re seeing Gamecube come out on NSO. Mario Kart World looks like a lot of fun. I’m happy to see Donkey Kong Bananza, it didn’t wow me but I’m hoping it can be great. Besides that not much to be excited for me at the moment. I’m sure that will change, but yeah this direct didn’t wow me at all.
Let’s see how this new era plays out. I’ll get the console during the launch of course, it’s always worth it to get a console at launch, even during the Wii U era. And nothing beats a Nintendo console at launch.