By Anna Trevathan, Managing Editor
On June 5th 2025 at 8AM, I was standing in line at the Costco in Farragut waiting for the Nintendo Switch 2 to hit the shelves. Surrounded by families looking for something to occupy their children for the summer, and other adults with nostalgia infused joy, I noticed that the buzz around this Switch was just as prominent in person as it is in the conversations happening online. I have never been a person to wait in line for a release of anything, let alone a gaming system, but the Nintendo Switch 2 promised to deliver so much that the wait seemed completely justified.
Three months earlier on April 2nd, Nintendo hosted “Nintendo Direct,” their yearly online presentation announcing new content for the upcoming year. This year’s Nintendo Direct was anticipated to be featuring the Nintendo Switch’s successor: the Nintendo Switch 2, and it delivered, showing off everything that players were wanting to know about the Switch. Along with confirmations of the prices, the upcoming games, Nintendo promised a full upgrade to the pre-existing console with refined controllers, nostalgic throwbacks to Gamecube games, an immersive new Mario Kart game, and phenomenal battery life. Let’s see if Nintendo keeps their promises, and if it’s worth the price.
First, a discussion on the price is absolutely warranted.
The base model for the Nintendo Switch 2 in the United States retails for $449.99, which was a surprise for most gamers as the first Nintendo Switch originally retailed for $299.99. The first Switch was released in 2017, and lacks the bells and whistles that the new Switch offers, but the new console’s price still seems like a punch to the gut for most looking forward to purchasing the system in today’s economy.
Worse, was the reveal that the game prices would be so high for this new console. Mario Kart World, arguably the game that gained the most traction on social media, retails for $79.99 from Nintendo for both the digital and physical versions of the game.
Some fans were quick to blame the tariffs for the jump in pricing, and others were quick to blame the hardware with this console’s inclusion of a higher quality screen and new processor. However, I contribute part of this jump as just another sign of the times. While Nintendo’s Mario Kart pricing is obviously a hot topic, they seem to be following suit on the price of video games. An excellent example of this is Ubisoft’s pricing of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, retailing at a whopping $69.99. 2K has also contributed to setting this industry standard in game pricing, with NBA 2K25 sitting at $69.99 as well.
To me, this should be prompting a deeper look into the gaming industry, as gamers in this economy are simply having to scale their day to day spending back to afford the latest and greatest. I have to wonder what this means for current generations of children as well. As a kid who grew up on the Wii and the Nintendo DS, I know that I would have been excluded and pushed out of gaming culture with prices like these. This is pricing children out of their childhood, especially with the current economy already causing struggles for many families.
Regardless, I have to admit that the Nintendo Switch 2 might just be worth the jump, especially for those that don’t have the previous Switch.
The New Hardware:
The Nintendo Switch 2 brought the heat, featuring several physical upgrades over the previous model. The actual console itself is larger, with a bigger battery and bigger Joy-Con controllers. The Joy-Con 2’s are bigger and better, connecting magnetically and featuring a new mouse sensor on the side that’s usable as a mouse for gaming.
When the Joy-Cons are removed from the Switch and used in standalone mode, players will find enlarged shoulder buttons that are easier to use. The kickstand on the back of the Switch 2 is also wider, which resembles the OLED model from 2021 that previous Switch owners have fallen in love with. Aesthetically, there is another improvement for the Joy-Cons as they have changed to an all-black design with color highlights accented.
The Switch 2 also features some new connectivity and storage options, starting with two USB Type-C ports, that will finally allow players to charge and connect accessories simultaneously. Previously, the original Switch had some trouble in tabletop mode where it was unable to charge (or would be awkward at best), but Nintendo fixed this as well and introduced a charging port at the top of the console. This makes it easier for the Switch 2 to be an aesthetically pleasing staple on any TV stand or desk.
Although many of these changes bring improvements that most would not argue against, some players are finding issues with the system requiring a new type of storage. The Nintendo Switch 2 requires a Micro SD Express card for expanded storage, which some gamers might find necessary as they accumulate more games and expand their collection.
The Micro SD Express cards offer much faster transfer speeds, which is convenient especially when dealing with digital download games, but this speed comes at a steep price. A 1TB Micro SD card is retailing at Wal-Mart for $289.90 compared to around $100 for non-Express Micro SD cards. The previous models were able to use regular Micro SD cards, which were much more affordable and convenient for players. This is a get-what-you-pay-for type of situation, but it’s hard to justify with the Switch 2 already being quite an expensive console.
The display on the Switch 2 is possibly my favorite thing about it. The screen takes bigger and better to a new level with a larger 1080p LCD screen that has a 120Hz refresh rate. Comparing this to the original Switch that had a 720p display, I found a night and day difference. This was a fantastic surprise with traditional Switch games too, as the Switch 2 let me experience games that I had previously loved already in a much brighter and larger way.
The downside is that choosing the LCD means sacrificing some of the color capabilities that the OLED had. The Switch 2’s LCD display also seems to exhibit significant ghosting issues. Ghosting, for those unaware, is when a trail is left behind by an image, and in a game this can look like a blurry duplicate that is there for a millisecond. I have not personally experienced this, but it’s something to be cautious of in deciding to upgrade or not.
Finally, the Switch 2’s biggest upgrade is the custom T239 chip from NVIDIA, which doubles the CPU cores of its predecessor and includes a GPU that uses the Ampere architecture from 2020 as opposed to 2014’s Maxwell architecture. Previously, the original Switch was using a Tegra X1 chip (also from NVIDIA) that was not made specifically for the Switch, and instead was previously made for tablets and lower power consoles. This customization for performance’s sake is probably the biggest cause for the uptick in price as well, but the quality and speed of the performance is well worth it.
Featured Game – Mario Kart World:
Firstly, this game had been a long time coming; the last installment in the series, Mario Kart 8, was originally released for the Wii U in 2014. With a decade of time passed, the technological innovations since then in terms of gaming has been unreal. Mario Kart World had big shoes to fill to catch itself up to present times.
If I could describe Mario Kart World in one word, it would be seamless. Everything loading between title screens, the races themselves, and especially the free-roaming feels like this new level of smoothness. Opposed to the previous games where you would have loading screens between each track, Mario Kart World lets you drive directly between each track. This is what really caters to that “world” feeling that the title promises.
For those that have mastered the art of memorizing the tracks and winning each race, this game promises a completely new challenge forcing racers to test their driving on a completely unexpected track. There is still some strategy needed, especially when it comes to drifting at these higher speeds, but there are so many obstacles on the track that a racer can go from first to eighth in a matter of seconds. For me, this is what makes it so fun to play with friends. It doesn’t matter who grew up playing what, we can all be taken out with a blue shell in the blink of an eye.
The real star of the show with Mario Kart World is the Free Roam mode. Free Roam takes the race out of the equation completely, letting drivers explore the Mario Kart tracks like never before. On the highway, you can even transform into a semi truck and play an almost GTA level of destructive game. On the water, you can bounce and do tricks off of waves and boats. Then, in case being able to freely roam a graphically incredible world wasn’t enough, there are integrated minigames that keep your blood pumping.
There are also tons of characters and costumes to unlock within the game, making it feel all that more worth playing and practicing at. One of these characters was a surprising crowdpleaser, with Tiktok’s and Instagram Reels of people playing as a cow from Moo-Moo Meadows going viral overnight following the release. There are so many delightfully adorable characters and cars to choose from within the game, but admittedly the Cow is also a favorite of mine.
The Verdict
Nintendo delivered something that justified the hype with Mario Kart World, but the Switch 2 system itself is a hard ask at the price. If you’re someone with more than enough money to go around, then I definitely recommend it. Similarly, if you’ve never treated yourself to a Switch or hand-held console before this I also think it is a wonderful experience.
Especially because Nintendo has increased the prices of their original Switch and OLED models, leaving many customers hoping for a cheaper option paying more for an outdated system. Even with that, at the current asking price I would not recommend that the average student go out and buy this. Mario Kart World is unfortunately worth every penny, but that doesn’t justify the hefty price on the Switch 2.
