On the other hand, I am underwhelmed by AC:NH on Switch 2. I was hoping for a framerate boost. Alas, it’s still just as slugish as on Switch 1. Coming off Mario Kart World, it’s quite obvious. Oh well.
I got my switch 2 preorder on Wednesday since I'm on the West Coast they released them at 9pm as their midnight launch since they based it off of EST time. I got my preorder from Best Buy and the line was so long on the preorder side but it was worth it! I found transferring my games from the switch to the switch 2 was much faster compared to when I transferred my PS4 games to the PS5. The only mistake I made was not preordering a switch 2 SSD card since my memory was almost full once everything got transferred over and the bummer is the only one available that I can trust is the 256 Nintendo one so I got that yesterday along with a screen protector and ordered a carrying case. I plan on maybe trying to get the 526 or 1TB SSD card sometime in the future, I'm just hoping the prices go down or I may wait for a black friday sale!
I was able to get one launch yesterday. I took a half day at work then drove to my GameStop store afterwards. There was a line and it ended up being an hour and half long line before I was finally at the front and able to pick up my preorder. As I was paying it off, I took a peek in the bag and confirmed everything was there and when I got home, I saw that they gave me the wrong controller! I preordered the pro controller since the one I have is started to break down. Instead, I got a Hiro controller. Luckily, I was able to go back today and fix it.
POV YOU SURVIVED A HELLISH WORKDAY AND COME HOME TO YOUR SWITCH 2 BUT YOU’RE SO BUSY GETTING READY FOR A TRIP THIS WEEKEND THAT YOU HAVE TO PUT OFF SETTING UP THE SWITCH 2 UNTIL YOU’RE ON YOUR TRIP. BUT YOU FOOLISHLY FORGET TO BRING YOUR OLD SWITCH (WHICH OBVIOUSLY YOU NEED EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE A NEW ONE, IDIOT) SO YOU CAN’T TRANSFER YOUR SYSTEM DATA, BUT AT LEAST YOU HAVE A DOWNLOAD FOR MARIO KART WORLD, EXCEPT YOU FOR SOME REASON NEED TO SYNC A “”” VIRTUAL GAME CARD “”” FOR A SWITCH TWO GAME FROM YOUR ORIGINAL SWITCH WHICH IS NOW FOUR HOURS AWAY BY CAR. SO YOU CANNOT PLAY YOUR $80 GAME UNTIL SUNDAY AT THE EARLIEST
I wasn't going to get one.
Truly.
I was going to wait till an Animal Crossing was announced.
But... then my nephew expressed interest in going to Target before they opened in the hopes of snagging one.
This sounded like a fun Adventure, so he slept over the night before and we woke up at 3:30 in the morning. Or, at least, I did. He slept straight through the alarm. The Vltava river was practically gushing through the room and he just kept snoring away.
I woke him up at four and we bustled over to Target soon after that, arriving around 4:30. There was already a line of twenty or so people. We waited outside (had a very convenient planter box to perch on) and the line slowly grew behind us. People discussed many nerdy things -- and it sort of warmed the soul to hear a bunch of people talking about wholesome things they are so passionate about (there was a large discussion about Ninja Turtle action figures.)
At 6:30 Target employees came out and began walking down the line. They asked each person "Bundle?" and each with glowing eyes simply nodded and took a ticket like proper Charlie Buckets.
And I was one of them. I couldn't control myself.
A techie guy actually took one apart and compared the two. It turns out the new magnet connection would interfere with the more drift resistant "hall effect" thing I keep hearing about.
I am currently trying to avoid using Joycons just because I will always have that fear that a drift will happen. I do have a nintendo switch pro controller for the first switch which is working great. I'm just really bummed that I'm unable to wake up my console with the switch 1 pro controller, and I've heard really good things about the pro controller for the switch 2... I am considering buying one eventually or sometime soon since I think the improvements I have seen are worth it.
I’m honestly surprised by how fleshed out Welcome Tour is. I didn’t expect it to be such a robust game with progression, achievements, and unlockables. Mario Kart is fun, but there’s just…so much going on with it. The learning curve is much steeper than I’d expect for Mario Kart of all things.
I'm having a lot of fun with it! it feels much sturdier than the first and the screen looks great. I haven't had a chance to use the mouse feature on a flat surface but it works surprisingly well on my lap or bed, it'll be interesting to see if it's utilized in games like Splatoon in the future. I was really hoping we'd get an updated UI and some music so sad that's not the case, but the eShop is much better to use, it's so much speedier now
so far I've mostly just been playing the new Mario Kart and I love it! I haven't quite gotten the hang of some of the new things like riding on the rails and walls but I'm having fun roaming around, collecting costumes, and trying to unlock all the characters. the game looks beautiful. I had $10 in Best Buy certificates expiring today that I didn't know what to use on so I also bought... Welcome Tour. I think it's really cool getting a look underneath things and seeing how they're made and the minigames are fun and clever so I'm enjoying it, but I still think it would've been perfect as a free pack-in with the console
I've just finished setting up my console, and transferring data. I'm currently waiting for Welcome Tour to finish downloading! I'm probably going to hold off until tomorrow to play Mario Kart World since I'm planning to start it with a friend, but I'll see!
I'm going to reserve my opinions on the Switch 2 for a little longer, since I've had it for a grand total of an hour!
I've had more time to spend with my Switch 2, so I have some thoughts now!
I picked up my Switch 2 on release day when the store opened (7 AM), and it only took ~20 minutes to get my console and leave. I ended up getting the Switch 2 console alone, Mario Kart World physical copy, a Charging Grip, an additional AC adaptor (I like to play in handheld, so it helps to have another), and an SD card. I also ordered Split Fiction (code only), however it hadn't arrived. On release day, I purchased Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour and Split Fiction from the eShop.
Console: I was surprised by how much larger it looked than the Switch, and thought maybe it was going to be too big to enjoy handheld, but I've been enjoying it. I like how sleek the Joy-Cons look, with the more subtle blue/red accents (though I'm still hoping for coloured Joy-Cons in the future). I find the magnetic snap-in satisfying to do (!), and it's interesting how you can snap them in upside-down and back-to-front for no reason, lol. Sometimes I held my Switch in one hand without a second-thought, but with the Switch 2, I was worried that I was putting added pressure on the Joy-Con connection. It felt less stable than the slide-and-lock of the Switch. Apparently it is quite secure, but I'm still cautious with it, since I'd rather not take the chance of bending or breaking anything. One small gripe I had was that the back cover for the dock isn't on a hinge, which isn't a big deal, but something I would have liked to see. I found the console slow to start up the eShop/NSO on the first day, but that resolved. I haven't had any issues with the console so far, and overall, I like it a lot! Edit to add: I agree with others that the battery life is not great in handheld mode!
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour: I've enjoyed it so far. Artistically, I thought character selection was quite lovely, in that you scroll through characters waiting in line at the museum, but it can be tedious if you're looking for a certain design. The tour itself is easy enough to get through. I found it a bit tedious to collect all the stamps at certain stations, but for the most part, it's interesting and informative. I'm enjoying learning about the different hardware aspects, though I still have a long way to go to complete the game. There are a few things that I can't complete because I don't have those accessories, for example, a 4k HDTV, a Switch 2 Pro Controller, or a camera, so it's unfortunate there's no way to acknowledge that you don't have a certain accessory in the game. For AUD$15, I thought it was worth it.
Mario Kart World: Wow! It has honestly been really neat so far. The open world is huge, and I found myself getting turned around and getting lost at times. I definitely went around in circles in some areas. Free roam has been quite fun, and I love collecting all the stickers and exploring the courses. I've been enjoying playing multiplayer. I'm still getting used to maneuvering the camera to take pictures, but you can make silly poses, which is fun. Learning/doing the tricks has been neat. Cow is perfect. Moo Moo Meadows is perfect. The crown your character gets to wear (not me) for winning is glorious and a nice touch! Honestly, I only have such good things to say. No gripes at all. The highlights for me so far have been exploring Moo Moo Meadows as Cow (because that's my fam), and exploring Boo Cinema. Going through cinema screen into the film roll was beautiful. I let out an audible "ooooh" at that! the courses and areas I've explored so far have all been phenomenal, and I'm looking forward to exploring the rest!
Turnips and cows
Look at that crown
Cow fam
There was a lot of falling in lava
Overall, so far I have really been enjoying the Switch 2, whether it's for the newer games or older games. I'm really looking forward to playing more games, especially more MKW, playing Split Fiction, and getting Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar in August!
I forgot to note this in my own post! The battery life is a bit shorter than I anticipated too, and hence I'm glad I bought the additional AC adaptor so I can plug it in and use it in handheld mode (without having to use the cord from the dock). It's fine for me, since I won't need to take it anywhere, but it may be more problematic for someone who wants it for its portability.
Oh dear, my right shoulder ZR button on joycon is already losing sensitivity. If I press it lightly so that it just clicks, sometimes it doesn't register...
Unfortunately games that haven't received some sort of update are mostly going to just have better load times on Switch 2 as frame rate limitations are often put on the game itself and would need to be “unlocked” in an update to take advantage of the power of the new console. Same thing goes for resolution. Here’s hoping there are more updates coming for more games like AC.
The Mario and Pokemon games you mentioned are amazing now thanks to the updates they’ve received.
I only play while docked, connected to my TV, but I will say that so far the joy-cons battery life is way better than the original joy-cons. At least I think! I kept expecting to have to plug them in to recharge but they seemed almost fully charged still after a long day of playing MKW.