It’s been a week since we got hands-on with the Nintendo Switch 2 at the reveal event in New York City, and whilst it was a whirlwind day where I went hands-on not only with the console, but majority of the major games that were in the Direct that morning, I thought I’d do a quick-fire post of all of the games that I played and a brief impression.
Just in case you missed them, there’s more in-depth previews for the system and a bunch of games below:
- Nintendo Switch 2 Hardware Preview
- Mario Kart World Preview
- Donkey Kong Bananza Preview
- Mouse Joy-Con Preview
- Zelda BOTW/TOTK Switch 2 Preview
Every Nintendo Switch 2 Game That We Played At The NYC Reveal Event
I’m listing these in the order that I played them to give a bit of an overview of the entire experience and what I got to play:
MARIO KART WORLDS
Mario Kart Worlds comprised of two main demos. The first was in docked mode playing local co-op against another player in Grand Prix mode taking on the new levels, new characters and new items. I then had the opportunity to go hands-on in some single-player Grand Prix races in handheld mode which was my first experience with the new Switch 2 handheld.
Then, I was able to go upstairs and that’s where the fun really began. I waited for 23 other players to join me in the new Knockout Tour mode which basically sees 4 players eliminated every lap until there’s only one left. Whilst waiting to play through this mode, I got to explore Free Roam mode, which really did allow you to go anywhere on the map. I cam second in Knockout Tour which was extremely frantic and I can’t wait to go hands-on at launch as I really think this mode will have great longevity.
METROID PRIME 4
Next it was time to go into the main demo area where almost all of the demos were situated, and I walked up to Metroid Prime 4 which was running at 1080p/120 FPS and it looked absolutely gorgeous and silky smooth. We were encouraged to start in mouse mode, and I consistently shifted between that and controlling with regular analogue controls (which you can do freely) and absolutely warmed to the mouse controls which suited this game perfectly.
As far as the actual demo went, this felt like the start of the game, so it didn’t hold too many surprises and definitely felt like Metroid Prime, although a lot better looking, so I’ll be keen to see how it plays out when it launches later this year.
MARIO PARTY JAMBOREE + TV
Next it was onto Mario Party Jamboree + TV which took place in two different demos. The first was utilising new Switch 2 camera to play a number of games that felt very reminiscent of the PS2 Eye-Toy. One of the mini games involved us using our heads to stack blocks and the other relied on us making the most noise/movement posible.
Then it was onto another area to test out the new mouse mode mini games, with one of them using the Joy-Con like an actual mouse to stack toys, another one being literally air hockey and the third one relying on winding up the Joy-Con to use as a little toy kart. I can see this being a lot of fun, and whilst it’s definitely a little gimmicky, it’s the type of gimmicky that Nintendo can perfectly pull off.
DONKEY KONG BANANZA
Next, I noticed that Donkey Kong Bananza was playable in a room near the exit, so I wanted to make sure I got over to that. This was a 20 minute demo and it was two separate areas, with one being more closed off and really about destructing your way out of a cave, and the other being more open with a lot of different areas to explore. I definitely took a little bit of time to understand what was happening and get used to the destruction mechanic and how combat/exploration works, but the longer the demo went on, the more I was enjoying it.
This was a great showcase of the Switch 2’s increased performance, as graphically it’s very similar to Mario Odyssey, but it just looked so much more impressive and the physics at play were fantastic as well.
GAMECUBE GAMES
Then I went back into the main area and noticed that all the Gamecube games were playable. I more wanted to test the new controller and oh it felt so good to have the Gamecube controller back in my hands. I started with Wind Waker which looked super sharp and vibrant with the increased resolution, then I tried out Soul Calibur 2 and Super Mario Strikers which both had 16:9 versions as well.
CYBERPUNK 2077
This was one I was eager to play, just purely because it’s still the most graphically intense game to release and it really puts even the latest GPUs through its paces, let alone any handheld that I test it on. I got to play it in docked mode and I was super impressed. It was running at 30-40FPS and definitely at some kind of dynamic resolution, but considering it’s only been in development for 7 weeks it definitely felt like a more than sufficient Cyberpunk 2077 experience which paves the way nicely for third-party on Switch 2.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA BREATH OF THE WILD/TEARS OF THE KINGDOM
This was another nice little showpiece of what the Switch 2 is capable of. I played about 20 minutes of both of these games both in handheld and docked modes and both ran absolutely flawlessly. Tears of the Kingdom in particular had quite a bit of slowdown on the original Switch but it was a flawless 60FPS on the Switch 2 and looked to be running at a dynamic resolution.
KIRBY AND THE FORGOTTEN LANDS
Kirby and the Forgotten Lands is another game that I didn’t play too much of on the original Switch, but it looks absolutely gorgeous here and I’ll be jumping back into it on the Switch 2 with the new expansion. This feels like a game that deserves another go on Switch 2. It was a real moment for Kirby, and this feels like the power needed to really bring the visuals to life.
WELCOME TOUR
The Welcome Tour really taught me a lot about the Switch 2 features just in the short 15-20 minute demo that I had with it. It was surprisingly technical and went into what framerates are, what HDR is and a bunch of other really techie features that I think it’s great Nintendo want to teach the average gamer.
It’s a mix of tutorials, little tests and minigames that use all aspects of the Nintendo Switch 2 console. It’s hard to say how deep it’s going to be, and it definitely feels like it should be included, as it’s going to be worth playing.
DRAG X DRIVE
Drag x Drive was the game that probably interested me least purely from watching the Direct, but playing it, it uses the Joy-Con functionality really cleverly and makes the wheelchair controls super responsive. The core gameplay seems fun enough for those that are into Rocket League and such and it’s longevity will probably come down to price and how many people are playing it long-term.
SPLIT FICTION/YAKUZA/STREET FIGHTER/HOGWARTS LEGACY
Whilst I didn’t get hands-on with these due to time, I did watch a good amount of them all being played, and they all looked to run super smoothly, probably not looking quite as good a PS5, but definitely better than PS4, so far just as I said with Cyberpunk 2077, the Switch 2 is going to be a third-party powerhouse.
The author of this article attended the New York City Nintendo Switch 2 experience as a guest of Nintendo.
