I've played 8 Nintendo Switch 2 launch games — here's the 3 I'd buy first (Mario Kart World isn't one of them)
The Nintendo Switch 2 is out in the wild, and the first question most early adopters will be asking themselves is 'Which launch games should I buy first?'
The obvious answer is Mario Kart World, but I'm going to be controversial here and say that Mario's latest karting adventure isn't the most essential title on the Switch 2 at launch. Don't get me wrong, it's plenty of fun, but I'm not convinced some of its changes are for the better, and I currently prefer the familiar comforts of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
During my first 24 hours with Nintendo Switch 2, I have played more than half a dozen titles that have convinced me this hybrid system already has a pretty healthy library right out of the gate. From Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition to the surprisingly enjoyable console showcase Nintendo Switch Welcome Tour, there are plenty of great games on Switch 2.
After testing eight different games on my first day with the Nintendo Switch 2, here are the three that I recommend you pick up first if you've just secured the hybrid console for yourself.
And if you're struggling to score one, check out our Nintendo Switch 2 restocks live blog for the latest stock update.
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition was already a phenomenal game on platforms like PS5 and PC, so it's hardly a surprise that it's fantastic on Nintendo Switch 2.
The open-world RPG from The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red sees you play a mercenary named V in the dark sci-fi megalopolis Night City and is packed with intense missions to complete and memorable characters to meet. It's pretty widely considered one of the best RPGs of recent times for a reason.
What makes it such a standout in the Switch 2's launch library is that it's a pretty demanding title. It infamously ran atrociously on PS4 and Xbox One at launch in 2020. The fact that it's running, and running seriously well on the Nintendo Switch 2 — even better than on the Steam Deck — is the first sign that Nintendo's new hardware has some serious horsepower under the hood.
Yes, it's not as visually lush as on a top-end gaming PC, or a PS5 Pro, and you won't get a 60 fps framerate, but the graphical compromises on Switch 2 are surprisingly slight, and having such a vast experience on a handheld is still awesome even in an era of gaming where powerful portables are becoming pretty standard.
Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch 2 is the definitive way to enjoy CDPR's critically acclaimed first-person open-world RPG on the go. You play a mercenary named V, completing missions in the dark city of the future, Night City, though your main aim is surviving the chaos that surrounds you. This Ultimate Edition also includes the essential Phantom Liberty DLC expansion, which opens up a new area of the map, the ruthless Dogtown.
Am I cheating here by listing both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as a single list entry? You bet I am, but it's my list, I make the rules.
Okay, if pushed for a single choice, I'd opt for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but the games are so closely linked that I think you can make the case for them being included in a single entry. Plus, Nintendo has been grouping them together in marketing materials, so don't @ me!
Regardless of your first pick, these are two of the best games of all time, Breath of the Wild was my first ever Zelda game back in 2017 on the original Nintendo Switch and it's focus on largely unguided exploration, coupled with ingenious puzzles and surprisingly tricky combat resulted in an experience that very few titles since have managed to match in the past almost decades.
Meanwhile, Tears of the Kingdom builds upon Breath of the Wild in seriously interesting ways by expanding your arsenal of abilities, and includes some of the most satisfying head-scratchers I've ever encountered in a video game. Just being able to manipulate objects and stick them together to create all sorts of inventions is pure Nintendo brilliance.
The problem with these games was always the hardware they were confined to. The original Switch just wasn't powerful enough for such vast games, with so many physics-driven systems at its core. Blurry textures and framerate drops were an all too common problem. But thanks to their Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrades, both games now play with a near-perfect framerate and look better than ever.
Frankly, Tears of the Kingdom is so good on Switch 2, I'm tempted to return to my 4.5 out of 5 review from 2023 and now bump it up to a perfect score.
The original Switch's definitive launch game has returned for the Switch 2, and now it's been enhanced for Nintendo's new hardware. It's the masterpiece you (probably) know, but looking and running better than ever. If you've never played Breath of the Wild, there really isn't a better time to jump into Hyrule than via this Switch 2 Edition.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the incredible direct follow-up to Breath of the Wild, and sees Link once again exploring a vast open Hyrule, as he hunts for answers regarding the mysterious gloom infecting the lands. whereabouts. This Nintendo Switch 2 Edition boosts both image clarity and framerate, making it the definitive way to enjoy one of the best games of recent years.
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour took a lot of punches when it was revealed during the Nintendo Direct event. This collection of tech demos and micro-games is designed to showcase the unique features of the Switch 2, like the Mouse Mode and Joy-Con 2 controllers' HD rumble 2.
The internet (and to be honest, myself as well at the time) declared that it should have been a free pack-in title ala Astro's Playroom on PS5 or Wii Sports on the Nintendo Wii. I do still think Nintendo probably should have given this game away for free with each Switch 2 console. However, after playing it myself, I'm pleasantly surprised. Is it worth the $10 cost? I think so (just).
The whole experience is set within a giant Nintendo Switch 2, which has been retrofitted to be a museum-like hub. You pick a basic avatar and then run around collecting stamps and medals by completing mini-games and acing quizzes that test you on a series of fact files you just read. Granted, the latter activity does feel quite a lot like completing a training module at work!
One micro-game, which casts you as a mini UFO trying to avoid falling objects using the Joy-Con 2 Mouse Mode, had me hooked for a good 15 minutes, as I was eager to beat the preset high score. Yes, it's a simple experience, but the clean art style is appealing, and it's very novel in concept.
I've also already found Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour to be a great game to pick up if you want to showcase the console to your non-gamer friends and family, as it can be picked up and enjoyed with basically zero familiarity with gaming and controller experience.
The $10 price point also makes it appealing if you're looking for an extra launch game that won't cost you a full $60-70.
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour serves as a fantastic way to get familiar with the brand-new console. Set within a giant Switch 2, you walk around a Museum-like setting and complete micro-games and tech demos that showcase the console's new features, and also learn more about the technology that powers the Switch 2.
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WIRED
4 hours ago
- WIRED
Everything You Need to Know About MicroSD Express
What is the latest MicroSD iteration, and why does your Nintendo Switch need it? All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. I just got my Nintendo Switch 2, and my internal storage is already filling up with all my old games and saves! If you're in the same boat, you may have also noticed you can't just jam in the SD card from your original Switch and keep rocking. Instead, you'll need a new MicroSD Express card. This Express standard was introduced in late 2023, and it enables write speeds in the hundreds of megabytes, but until now it was used only for high-end digital cameras and niche use cases. As a result, the cards are few and far between, and they carry a significant price premium over the more common MicroSD cards. Before I get too caught up in the price and availability though, let's just go over what the difference is between Express and standard MicroSD cards and what it means for your Switch 2. Express Lane As you might have guessed from the name, MicroSD Express cards are faster, but to understand exactly what that means, we need to break down what we mean by speed and how it's measured and displayed on MicroSD cards. Normal, non-express cards use three metrics with some overlap in performance. We've got an in-depth technical guide if you want to know more about the non-express cards, but I'll give the short version here. There are three ranges: Speed Class, denoted with a C, UHS Speed Class, as marked by a U for Ultra High Speed Class, and Video Speed Class, with a V. Regardless of how it's displayed, the number indicates that the card is able to read and write at least that fast. For the Circle and the V, it's a direct comparison, so a circle with a '10' in it has a 10MB/s sustained write speed. There are two U variants, 1 and 3, which correspond to 10MB/s and 30MB/s respectively. Cards are almost always compatible with slower devices, so you may see multiple symbols and numbers on each card. The indicator for Express cards is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a stylized EX or E, sometimes with a number next to it. Once again, this represents the card's sustained write speed, with officially supported ranges from 150MB/s up to 600MB/s. Remember that these are minimum speeds, so you may see manufacturers quote even higher numbers, but whether you'll be able to support those speeds will depend on the device reading and writing to the card. That means your MicroSD Express card will also work as a V30 device when installed in a device that supports that standard, for example. Make sure not to confuse the actual new standard of Express with the performance adjective Extreme that many manufacturers use. Speed isn't the only difference. The overall card shape is the same, but the pins on the back have a different configuration. Most standard MicroSD cards use the UHS-I or UHS-II standard, with one or two rows of pins. The new Express card's pins have two rows in a more compact shape, but are still compatible with slower readers via the top row. If you aren't shooting high-resolution video, the main reason you'd want a MicroSD Express card is for the Nintendo Switch 2. A detailed page on the Nintendo website lists compatibility and requirements for the new device. While you can load images and videos from a regular MicroSD card onto the Switch 2, you'll need a proper Express card to use it like normal for save files and game data. One detail missing is the actual sustained write speed needed. There's a Nintendo-licensed Samsung MicroSD Express card listed with a release date of June, but it doesn't have detailed speeds listed either. We've reached out to Nintendo for more information and will update here when we hear back. Hands On If you just search for standard MicroSD cards on Amazon, the most common result will be cards with a 30MB per second write speed. A 128GB version of one of these cards starts around $10 and goes up to almost $20, and you can often find discounts if you buy multiple. A MicroSD Express card, on other hand, will run you upwards of $50 for the same 128GB capacity, a significant price jump for the extra speed boost. I was able to get my hands on two MicroSD Express cards at launch, one from SanDisk and one from PNY. While there are 128GB versions available, you only have one slot on the Switch 2, and games are quickly getting larger, so I'd recommend at least the 256GB models. The models I have tried so far are the SanDisk 256GB MicroSD Express for $72 and the PNY 256GB MicroSD Express for $56. This is normally where I'd show you some measurements from software like CrystalDiskMark with read and write speeds. Unfortunately the MicroSD Express standard is so new that I was only able to find one USB card reader on the market that supports it. While I work on acquiring one, I did a quick and dirty stopwatch test moving some games back and forth on the Switch 2. The Switch 2 was able to move Rocket Leauge, a 20.3 GB game, from the system's internal storage to the SanDisk in four minutes and 12 seconds, while the PNY took six minutes and 46 seconds to accomplish the same task. There wasn't as much of a gap to move the game from the card back to the system, with the SanDisk taking three minutes and 35 seconds, and the PNY taking three minutes and 22 seconds. 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Forbes
5 hours ago
- Forbes
Is ‘Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour' Really Worth $10?
In the 1990s, the immortal ad campaign once declared that 'Sega does what Nintendon't'. Fast-forward to 2025, and it's slightly different — Sony did what Nintendidn't by bundling Astro's Playroom with its PS5 to showcase its new tech, while Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is locked behind a $10 payment. Still, I bit the bullet and bought it anyway — after all, this is a Nintendo release. There's bound to be plenty of value in there, and surely much more than the minuscule $9.99 fee suggests, yeah? Well, no, not really. On balance, the pricing is accurate — the effort that went into this package was done with care. Still, it represents one of my biggest regrets as a day-one console owner, as playing Welcome Tour for this review means I've still not started Mario Kart World, which was the sole reason I ordered the damn Switch 2 in the first place. 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Still, what becomes almost instantly clear is that you can't equate the Switch 2's technical genius with a $10 experience that explains why that's the case, especially one that goes to great lengths to make you feel like you're on a school trip. I'm not going to review the Switch 2, especially not through the lens of Welcome Tour's light propaganda. You start Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour on the left Joy-Con 2, exploring its wonders. You need to collect all the stamps in your given zone, which pop up for every button or feature of that piece of tech, to move to the next area. Collecting stamps for the up, down, left, and right buttons individually feels like a chore, and they're right next to each other. There's no fanfare or fun animation for any of these — it's very much a case that these inputs exist, and you should be happy they exist. 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In a perfect world, it would have ditched the crap quizzes, streamlined the minigames and tech demos, and introduced itself as part of the installation and syncing process to get you excited for the games you really want to play. At the very least, this should've been a freebie for pre-orders to sweeten the deal, especially given all the flak Nintendo has received for the pricing of Mario Kart World (which, if I'm being honest, isn't something I agree with). Hell, bundle it in with Nintendo Switch Online — given the depth of additions going on there, specifically the GameCube expansion, it's a surefire winner, and I'd wager that it would've earned better long-term income for Nintendo. But for $10, is the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour worth it? Objectively, yes — a lot of effort has been put into it, and there are five or six hours of play time if you want to complete it fully. Nobody's expecting another Wii Sports, but if you're going to show off all the hard work you've put into your hardware on such a technical level — and with broadly forgettable rewards — the experience should be part and parcel of receiving your Switch 2, especially when you realize, after around an hour, you'd have so much more fun playing Mario Kart World instead. Not that I can confirm that, of course. I still haven't played Mario Kart World.
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