The Gameplay of Cyberpunk 2077 on a Switch: An Upgraded Pokémon Violet, Mario Kart World, and Other Open-World Games

TheSwitch was not comfortable to hold for an extended time, and the larger size of the Switch 2 could remedy that. The Switch 2 might actually be worse for me.

There are some elements I still need to test properly for our full review — like the mouse controls and GameChat social features — but after an entire weekend spent playing a lot of Mario Kart World, Cyberpunk 2077, Street Fighter 6, and a bunch of other games, I can also tell that it’ll be pretty hard going back to the original Switch.

One of the promises of the Switch 2 is that larger games, particularly big open-world titles, can now run much better on the beefed up hardware. I’ve been testing this so far by putting a few hours into Cyberpunk 2077. And while it obviously doesn’t look as good as it does on a high-end PC, PlayStation, or Xbox, it still looks and runs pretty great. I haven’t noticed any major issues with the game either in docked or handheld mode. The game doesn’t look as sharp when playing on a portable, and I spotted the odd blurry texture on in-game billboards, but it ran nice and smooth otherwise.

The bigger screen and heavier hardware have not been 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 also spent two hours playing the upgraded Pokémon Violet and claimed it was a comfortable experience, but that might’ve just been a ploy for more screentime.

Is No Man’s Sky Better than the Switch? Why the Switch 2 is not as good as the PS5 or the Switch OLED?

This may be a niche issue, but as someone who knows a lot about video games, it is great that they are now easier to share with the general public. Before, I had to scan two different QR codes to get them on my phone. They appear in theSwitch mobile app when I click the upload button. It works essentially the same way as on the PS5, which is good news for posters like me.

But I’ve also been spending a whole lot of time in No Man’s Sky (to nobody’s surprise), and it really is a noticeable difference. The game was slower and worse on the original hardware 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.

But the Switch OLED already solved a few of those issues. And while reasonably bright, the Switch 2’s screen can’t compare to the Steam Deck OLED’s amazingly bright and colorful HDR panel. —Sean Hollister, senior editor

The Switch 2 is white with red and blue accents, but as a man who likes all the colors and is bad at managing his money, it wasn’t good news. It saved me from spending even more at launch, but that’s only delaying the inevitable.

Does it mean future Joy-Con designs will be similarly understated, with pops of color below the control sticks? Will we have to live with the knowledge that future colored controllers will not match the hardware on the console? I want to know if I will be able to stop my collection compulsion this time around. Dominic, news editor.

I want to apologize to the game developers because I spent a lot of time cursing them for long loading times, overly complex menus, and a lot of slowness. All of which turned out to be the Switch’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’s just because of the way I work: my desk is usually an overflowing pile of various gadgets and cables, so I like having the extra port on top for charging or plugging in a webcam for some Mario Kart (which I’m definitely only testing for work, pinky promise). —Jay Peters, news editor

The Joy-Con 2 controllers are a bit bigger, but they are not like larger third party game pads or bigger 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 noticeable discomfort after playing Mario Kart World in this position for less than an hour. It was so bad by the end of my session.

Maybe my soft hands aren’t strong enough. I complain about uncomfortable cameras on the record. I think the move from the Joy-Cons rounded borders to the hard edge of theswitch 2 is a small downgrade. The reviewer is Antonio G. Di Benedetto.

I agree with my colleague Andrew Webster who said in his in-progress testing that it’s “a pleasant upgrade, as opposed to a next-gen shift.” I was disappointed that the charisma didn’t stick around as long as it used to. The possibilities are even greater when a handheld doubles as a Linux PC.