WEBVTT

00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:07.359
The Nintendo Switch 2 is finally here, and so far opinions are mixed. I and

00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:12.000
several members of the team have had them for about a week now, and it's

00:00:09.440 --> 00:00:16.000
clear that Nintendo got a lot right, but it's also clear that there are some skid

00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:20.400
marks on the rainbow road of Nintendo's most expensive console ever. First

00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:25.359
impressions, at least for me, were extremely positive. The new HDR screen

00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:30.480
absolutely dwarfs the original Switch and even the Switch OLED. And the whole

00:00:27.680 --> 00:00:34.960
device feels significantly more premium with a much better magnetic detachment

00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:39.760
mechanism for the Joy-Cons, soft touch plastics, more tactile buttons, bigger

00:00:37.440 --> 00:00:45.600
joysticks, and an ergonomic situation that, okay, is still far from ideal, but

00:00:42.800 --> 00:00:48.160
is worlds ahead of the original. DBR, who sponsored this video, has you

00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:52.079
covered there, by the way, with their Kill Switch protective ergonomic case

00:00:50.239 --> 00:00:54.960
and screen protectors. We'll be showing those in more detail at the end of this

00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:58.480
video. But from what I've heard from them, you might not want to wait that

00:00:56.559 --> 00:01:04.080
long to get an order in because Switch 2 accessories are moving very quickly at

00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:07.040
my hands are very small.com. And I can

00:01:04.080 --> 00:01:11.520
see why. The screen on the Switch 2 is not tough, as our friend Zach from

00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:15.119
JerryRrier Everything discovered. But to Nintendo's credit, even though they

00:01:13.360 --> 00:01:18.080
maintained the same thickness as the original, once you throw on a screen

00:01:16.720 --> 00:01:22.880
protector, it seems like they've delivered a pretty rugged, albeit

00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:26.400
difficult to repair console here. I just wish I could say the same about the

00:01:24.320 --> 00:01:31.439
Joy-Con controllers, which appear to still be susceptible to drifting. More

00:01:28.880 --> 00:01:36.560
on that later. First, I want to talk a bit more about the console itself. The

00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:42.159
OG Switch was obsolete before it even launched 8 years ago, but still, I'm

00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:47.119
really impressed with how much more powerful the new one is. With double the

00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:52.479
CPU core count, triple the amount of usable RAM, and 10 times the graphics

00:01:50.320 --> 00:01:57.040
processing, assuming none of it is fake frames, we ended up with a generational

00:01:55.119 --> 00:02:03.439
performance leap, the likes of which we haven't seen in a very long time. All

00:02:00.240 --> 00:02:05.439
those miracle ports that barely clung to

00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:09.759
playable frame rates at sub540p resolution run effortlessly here with

00:02:08.160 --> 00:02:14.239
some more than doubling their performance while also managing to

00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:18.080
appear much sharper because they no longer require dynamic resolution

00:02:15.920 --> 00:02:22.319
scaling. And I haven't even talked about the games that got one of Nintendo's

00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:28.319
Switch to upgrade patches, which so far seem to look and run great, which does

00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:32.239
matter to me. To the utter dismay of all the Zelda fans in my life, I've tried

00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:36.080
multiple times to get into either of Link's most recent openw world

00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:39.360
adventures, but every time I've abandoned them, feeling like the

00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:44.080
experience on the original Switch's hardware was holding it back. I could

00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:48.000
have emulated, but as you guys know, it's not my favorite way to experience a

00:02:45.920 --> 00:02:53.360
game, especially not for the first time. So, I decided to wait for the better

00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:59.360
Nintendo approved way to explore Hyrule. And now that it's here, I am pleased to

00:02:55.440 --> 00:03:01.760
report that wow, I'm in. Finally, the

00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:06.000
Switch 2 has got me stoked about Nintendo gaming again. You and a lot of

00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:10.319
people, like everyone else, we lean on awesome channels like Digital Foundry

00:03:07.760 --> 00:03:15.599
and GVG to really get into the fine details of visual upgrades like these.

00:03:12.959 --> 00:03:19.200
But to our PC gaming eyes, both from a cross-platform and firstp party

00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:23.440
perspective, we feel like Nintendo has struck an outstanding balance with the

00:03:21.200 --> 00:03:27.599
Switch 2's performance. both maintaining a power envelope that keeps it handheld

00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:32.239
while upgrading the performance to the point where both docked and even on the

00:03:29.760 --> 00:03:38.480
smaller handheld screen. It's hard not to see the improvements. Guys, this

00:03:34.480 --> 00:03:40.239
ain't no PS5 to PS5 Pro. Oh yeah, I

00:03:38.480 --> 00:03:45.840
think that Pixel looks a little better shaded. This is more like going from the

00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:47.519
PS3 to the PS4, which coincidentally is

00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:51.840
about where I would place the visuals overall, except that thanks to more

00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:55.599
modern rendering paradigms like gray trace lighting, not to mention

00:03:53.440 --> 00:04:00.159
Nintendo's do more with less visual style, I think it's fair to say that if

00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:03.519
Mario Kart World, which I remind you is a launch title and surely hasn't

00:04:01.920 --> 00:04:07.840
unlocked its full potential yet, is anything to go by, especially the first

00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:11.920
party games are going to end up looking better. And that's not the end of the

00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:17.199
good news. The increase in processing power and the faster flash storage, both

00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:21.359
in terms of the internal 256 gigs and the expandable micro SD Express slot,

00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:25.840
both make noticeable improvements to load times and the UI snappiness, which

00:04:24.080 --> 00:04:30.639
is fortunate because the game acquisition experience can be a bit

00:04:28.320 --> 00:04:34.400
unoptimized. I immediately bought a year of Nintendo Online Plus expansion pack

00:04:32.880 --> 00:04:37.840
so I could get access to the Zelda upgrade packs without an additional fee

00:04:36.479 --> 00:04:41.919
and found out that I could still download the game without the upgrade,

00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:46.080
but could also download the upgrade without the game. Whoops. And while

00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:50.160
we're on the negatives, I got to talk about the joysticks on the Joy-Con.

00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:54.560
Obviously, Joy-Cons aren't meant to be the world's best controller. I mean,

00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:59.120
these shoulder buttons are what passes for an upgrade. But as much as I'm

00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:03.840
willing to accept smaller face buttons, these joysticks kind of suck. And I

00:05:01.919 --> 00:05:06.960
think that's partially due to the rubber skirt that's meant to prevent dust and

00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:11.360
debris from finding a way into the mechanism. It seems to fold over

00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:15.600
occasionally, making them feel kind of off. So, if you're a handheld hero, you

00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:20.160
might find yourself eagerly awaiting third party options from the likes of

00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:23.919
Hori. However, if you're the type to throw out the kickstand and grab a Pro

00:05:22.080 --> 00:05:29.440
Controller, it might not bother you as much. Your old Pro Controller is forward

00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:33.840
compatible, which is super nice. But the even better news is that the new Pro

00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:37.280
Controller is actually really good. And I found myself enjoying the Switch 2

00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:42.240
most from my couch with one of those in my hands. It's the first Nintendo

00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:44.720
console that looks great on a modern 4K

00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:48.960
HDR display, which makes it all the more frustrating that Nintendo couldn't quite

00:05:46.479 --> 00:05:52.479
find the 96 Exit. While the built-in screen supports variable refresh rate,

00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:57.120
which reduces tearing artifacts and enhances animation smoothness during

00:05:54.080 --> 00:05:59.440
frame rate dips, this feature is not

00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:03.759
supported via the DAW, seemingly because HDMI output relies on DisplayPort alt

00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:08.400
mode, and NVIDIA G-Sync doesn't play nice with this conversion. It's possible

00:06:06.400 --> 00:06:12.560
that Nintendo will address this at some point in the future. They did eventually

00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:17.600
add Bluetooth support to the Switch One after all, but I wouldn't expect it to

00:06:15.280 --> 00:06:23.520
happen overnight, which is a bit of a downer. The question is though, does

00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:25.520
that get in the way of fun? Well, that

00:06:23.520 --> 00:06:29.520
depends on your perspective. I mean, it's Nintendo, so obviously there's fun

00:06:27.919 --> 00:06:33.600
to be had. I mean, they're one of the only developers that is still pumping

00:06:31.520 --> 00:06:38.000
out phenomenal single player and couch co-op game after another across a

00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:43.280
multitude of genres and generally without ongoing monetization. So, I

00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:48.160
think the small stuff like a sometimes locked refresh rate shouldn't make

00:06:44.960 --> 00:06:51.840
anybody that mad at them. But what about

00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:54.479
charging $20 more per game? H, that

00:06:51.840 --> 00:06:58.960
might do it. Each like for a single game? That's right. If, like my son,

00:06:57.520 --> 00:07:04.720
you've somehow missed the online discourse, Nintendo is now asking $80 US

00:07:02.479 --> 00:07:09.599
for their marquee titles, which has left a lot of gamers feeling left out. And

00:07:07.599 --> 00:07:15.360
that's a perspective that's super easy to understand. Nintendo has been

00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:18.000
extremely profitable at just $60 per

00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:23.039
game. So, for them to act like, "Oh, wo is me. Inflation has suddenly forced our

00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:26.880
hand." I get why that feels like the kind of outofouch move that big

00:07:24.960 --> 00:07:32.240
corporations make when they're getting a little too comfy on their throne. Adding

00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:37.599
insult to injury, many switch to game boxes are just that, decorative boxes

00:07:35.440 --> 00:07:42.080
with either a download code or a hardware license key inside rather than

00:07:39.840 --> 00:07:47.039
a full physical copy of the game. Something that harms resale and

00:07:44.080 --> 00:07:50.720
therefore affordability for many gamers. It also contributes to the game

00:07:48.479 --> 00:07:57.840
preservation issues that purely digital consoles introduce. With that said, I

00:07:54.960 --> 00:08:01.360
definitely prefer paying upfront for a good game instead of getting the

00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:06.080
microtransaction written slop we've been subjected to in recent years. So, while

00:08:03.440 --> 00:08:11.120
it definitely sucks paying $20 more for Nintendo games that will likely never go

00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:12.960
on sale, if my only options are pay what

00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:16.960
Nintendo demands to keep creating unique gaming experiences or accept a future

00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:21.199
where everything is a live service game with tons of microtransactions, the

00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:25.360
choice becomes pretty clear. For me personally, I'm going to be paying that

00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:28.960
Nintendo tax for now, but I'll be doing it very selectively for expensive

00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:33.279
flagship titles and allocating more of my gaming budget to those smaller team

00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:37.200
AA titles that I've been getting a ton of enjoyment out of lately. Coming back

00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:41.919
to the hardware, we've got, you guessed it, another Nintendo choice that has

00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:45.920
divided the community. The bad news is you're getting an LCD screen on a

00:08:43.839 --> 00:08:50.080
console that costs more than the Switch OLED, leaving room for Nintendo to

00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:55.680
introduce a higherpriced Switch to down the road. The good news is that the LCD

00:08:53.440 --> 00:09:01.839
screen you get is pretty darn good for an LCD. It's 7.9 in, exhibits almost no

00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:05.279
distracting motion blur, and actually looks better in real world usage than

00:09:03.680 --> 00:09:11.760
its raw brightness measurements would seem to indicate. We measured it in SDR

00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:13.440
at only about 380 nits. And while we

00:09:11.760 --> 00:09:18.240
don't have a test for HDR for this device yet, it seems to my eyes that

00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:23.360
between Nintendo's art design for Switch 2 and remastered titles and or the HDR

00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:28.560
capability of the display, it seems to get a bit of extra punch in HDR. One

00:09:26.560 --> 00:09:32.399
area where it clearly falls behind a well-tuned OLED display, though, is in

00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:36.480
minimum brightness. And there's just no other way to put this. The Steam Deck

00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:40.399
OLED clobers this thing when it comes to late night gaming if you don't want to

00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:45.920
sear your retinas along with pretty much everything else. The last big spec is

00:09:43.040 --> 00:09:49.440
the 120 Hz refresh rate which was both a surprise for me personally given

00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:53.279
Nintendo's allergy to high performance and also pretty exciting for me

00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:56.640
personally. I mean there's the obvious stuff like it's going to be cool that

00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:01.120
some games are going to use it for spectacularly smooth gameplay. But what

00:09:58.959 --> 00:10:05.279
I'm secretly hoping for is that we're going to see NVIDIA's advanced video

00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:10.240
transcoding engine, which we know is in here, turned on, enabling some kind of

00:10:07.760 --> 00:10:15.040
remote gameplay on the Switch, too. That could potentially unlock a whole world

00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:18.560
of non- Nintendo games. To be clear, I'm not holding my breath for that. I'm just

00:10:16.800 --> 00:10:24.079
saying that because they made this hardware choice, technically it would be

00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:28.240
possible to play Game Pass games on Xbox Cloud Gaming or something like that. And

00:10:26.079 --> 00:10:33.120
high refresh rates in those cases really cut down on the latency, turning it from

00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:36.800
this is quite playable to this is quite enjoyable, at least for me. And that

00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:40.800
would be especially cool because of what it would do for battery life. Streaming

00:10:39.040 --> 00:10:45.200
is way less energy intensive than rendering locally. And at the moment,

00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:48.959
the Switch 2 uh is going to have you selecting your gaming seat based on

00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:54.160
proximity to an outlet rather than based on comfort. It's not bad. It's certainly

00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:58.240
not worse than a typical handheld gaming PC and is even a little better than the

00:10:56.399 --> 00:11:02.959
OG from our quick and dirty early testing, but it falls well short of the

00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:07.120
Switch OLED, which is going to feel like a major step back if you're coming from

00:11:04.800 --> 00:11:10.640
that. Oh, I couldn't finally find a spot to talk about this before, so I'll also

00:11:09.040 --> 00:11:16.560
discuss the regression in portability here. It is still slim, which is really

00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:20.240
nice, but I was down in LA for the ROG Xbox Lax announcement, and I was like,

00:11:18.640 --> 00:11:23.600
"Oh, well, whatever. It's only 20 minutes. I'll just walk to the IHOP for

00:11:21.760 --> 00:11:27.279
my midnight waffles. Oh, I should bring the Switch, too. And then I realized

00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:31.200
it's really late at night and I'm on this random street in LA with the

00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:34.800
hottest launch hardware of the year and no pocket large enough to accommodate

00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:39.440
it. Not even on my cargo pants from ltstore.com. So, I quickly looked around

00:11:37.839 --> 00:11:44.079
and I tucked it into my framework hoodie, also from ltstore.com.

00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:47.279
Smooth, right? But not as smooth as it'll eventually be to tuck it into our

00:11:45.680 --> 00:11:52.000
upcoming cross body bag from ltstore.com. Bottom line, if you want a

00:11:50.160 --> 00:11:55.839
Switch only to play the big Nintendo games, this is the best way to play

00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:59.120
them. But it's probably okay to wait for a few more of them to come out. Maybe

00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:04.320
next month Donkey Kong will push you over the edge, or maybe it'll be Metroid

00:12:00.640 --> 00:12:07.040
Prime 4 next, something, but like

00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:09.600
there's no hurry in my opinion. And I personally want to see if Nintendo is

00:12:08.560 --> 00:12:14.800
going to action some of those questionable policy changes before giving them any more money. like

00:12:12.800 --> 00:12:20.160
breaking consoles for stepping out of line, even if that stepping out of line

00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:24.000
is just trying to fix it yourself. And I'd also keep an eye on Nintendo's

00:12:21.839 --> 00:12:28.079
behavior around subscriptions. They might not have microtransactions in the

00:12:25.680 --> 00:12:33.519
games, but they sure as heck have them. And it seems like Nintendo is Nintendo

00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:36.880
Switch Online to be an integral part of Switch ownership this time around. So,

00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:41.120
you're going to have to add that to your bill along with their iconically never

00:12:38.880 --> 00:12:44.800
on sale library of $80 games and ludicrously priced probably going to

00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:49.519
drift accessories. All of which means that if I hadn't needed to buy this like

00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:54.079
to make this video, I wouldn't be stoked on the value I'm getting right now. Not

00:12:52.079 --> 00:12:59.360
only is the library of exclusive launch titles extremely small, and I got to

00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:03.680
say, personally, as a nonsweaty online gamer, not enjoying Mario Kart World

00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:08.000
that much, like many of you, I have a deep library of other not Switch 2 games

00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:12.079
that I haven't played. And like many of you, I probably got most of them on sale

00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:15.920
from one of the many other storefronts on other platforms, platforms that don't

00:13:14.560 --> 00:13:20.480
charge a subscription to back up your save games to the cloud. So, I agree

00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:25.279
that the Switch 2 is probably going to be a wait for most people at the moment.

00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:30.720
But even if I wasn't stoked on the value, I'd still be stoked on the

00:13:26.959 --> 00:13:32.639
hardware. It's a Switch. Except it is

00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:37.200
better than my old one in just about every meaningful way. I mean, the

00:13:34.800 --> 00:13:41.440
haptics, even the speakers, they sound so much better to the point where just

00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:45.200
holding this thing and looking at it, it's enough to make me want to jump

00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:49.440
right back into Hyrule to finally play that game on hardware that does it

00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:53.839
justice. Agreed. The Switch One had arguably the worst ratio of library

00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:57.680
greatness to hardware greatness of all time. It was bad enough that I passed

00:13:55.760 --> 00:14:01.680
over some pretty incredible games, even though I owned a Switch. I just didn't

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:07.279
want to tolerate Nintendo's cheaped out hardware. So, I guess this is a classic

00:14:03.839 --> 00:14:09.680
case of careful what you wish for. I

00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:13.760
wanted more expensive hardware and I got it. Which means now you're going to need

00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:17.600
a way to protect it like with this kill switch from our sponsor Dbrand. As

00:14:15.920 --> 00:14:21.440
usual, they showed up with a big bag of money. And as usual, that's the only way

00:14:19.680 --> 00:14:26.160
that they can keep a piece of ass this fine in their life. Speaking of fine

00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:31.120
pieces of, got to say, kill switch case for the Switch 2 honestly pretty nice.

00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:36.639
It's kind of like the Kill Switch case that they made for the Steam Deck and ROG Allay, but with a bunch of smart

00:14:34.800 --> 00:14:41.279
modifications that enhance the Switch's whole hybrid gaming console concept. So,

00:14:39.920 --> 00:14:47.199
you know, imagine you're on a flight. You want to play your Switch, too. I mean, right, that's a thing. Those

00:14:44.880 --> 00:14:51.519
JoyCons not super comfortable to hold for a long time. Well, Dbrand added

00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:56.320
these ergonomic handles to their case that make it way more comfortable to use

00:14:53.839 --> 00:15:00.240
for long stretches of time. But wait, there's more. See that seat tray in

00:14:58.560 --> 00:15:03.839
front of you? Well, hey, maybe you want to put your Switch down on it. Well,

00:15:01.839 --> 00:15:08.160
unlike many Switch 2 cases right now, Dbrand designed their case with

00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:12.079
detachable JoyCons in mind. So, you can still reach the kickstand even when

00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:17.360
you've got the case applied. So, you just pop that down, detach your JoyCons,

00:15:14.800 --> 00:15:20.079
and boom, you are off to the races. Then, all of a sudden, you're landing,

00:15:18.560 --> 00:15:24.399
they're like, "Put your damn away." And I'm like, "Ah, wait one sec. I just got

00:15:21.839 --> 00:15:28.160
to get my crush proof travel cover." It's got a built-in game card tray and

00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:32.399
secures to the Switch 2 with this cool bungee latch. And boom, once that's

00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:36.399
done, you can throw it in your bag with whatever else you've got in there. No

00:15:34.160 --> 00:15:39.360
worries. Honestly, there's too many features of the Kill Switch to cover in

00:15:37.760 --> 00:15:46.320
a single sponsor segment. So, if you want to go take a look at what Dbrand's cooked up for the Switch 2 and save $35

00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:48.240
while you're at it, just visit Oh. Oh,

00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:51.920
that is a new vanity URL, isn't it? My hands are very small.com. If you guys

00:15:50.160 --> 00:15:55.759
enjoyed this video, why not check out Microsoft's desperate effort to gain a

00:15:53.839 --> 00:16:01.199
foothold in the handheld space with the ROG Xbox Ally X. To be clear, I'm not

00:15:59.199 --> 00:16:05.920
saying it's bad. I'm legitimately extremely excited about the gaming tuned

00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:11.959
Windows that's launching alongside it. But I will say this, if you thought the

00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:11.959
Switch 2 was expensive,