It doesn’t really feel like Nintendo simply launched a brand new console. Final yr round this time we have been inundated with weekly leaks concerning the Change 2. All of them pointed to the identical factor: it could be a much bigger, extra highly effective model of the console we already knew and cherished. Nintendo kicked 2025 off by exhibiting us a Change 2 that was precisely that. It launched in June to vital fanfare and hype, and there was surprisingly little to say concerning the Change 2 ever since.
It seems to be lean, feels modern, and runs older blockbusters and even some newer ones surprisingly nicely. However its boldest innovation is a video sharing characteristic that feels plucked out of 2006 and which I by no means hear anybody discuss. The quintessential smartphone improve of online game consoles, the Change 2 set launch gross sales information however dominated the dialog lower than anybody anticipated.
Nintendo’s newest flagship console doesn’t break the mould. It stays, in the beginning, a machine for enjoying Nintendo video games, most of that are sequels to franchises which were round because the final millennium. And it does that splendidly, even when the video games themselves haven’t at all times cleared the lofty bar set by the Change 1’s first yr. Do I sound just a little disenchanted? I’m making an attempt to not be.
2025 was a transition yr for Nintendo’s {hardware}; one which feels much less like a transparent passing of the baton than an prolonged farewell the place everybody spends an additional quarter-hour gossipping on the door whereas placing on their coats earlier than really saying goodbye. The Change 1 was a must-buy in 2017. In 2025 the Change 2 is extra of a nice-to-have.
The {Hardware}
You possibly can inform when a sure line of {hardware} has matured by what individuals deal with. The uncooked specs? A refined type issue? New software program options? With the Change 2, it’s a satisfying however largely inconsequential gimmick. One of many first issues anybody will do with the brand new gadget is really feel the tug of magnets as the brand new Pleasure-Con click on into place on the edges of the console. 100 instances later, it nonetheless delights me and yields an unwarranted flash of pleasure. If solely the thumb-stick nubs weren’t nonetheless rubbish.
The opposite factor that stands out most concerning the Change 2 is how a lot quicker it fees. Whereas the battery life total isn’t very spectacular, and continues to be sapped surprisingly rapidly even in sleep mode, it’s now attainable to get a largely full cost in only one hour. This isn’t a motive to improve a console, nevertheless it’s one of many issues I spend essentially the most time doing with my Change 2 apart from enjoying it.
The display, barely bigger than that of its predecessor, additionally feels surprisingly revelatory. It’s such as you’ve been driving with the solar visor down and then you definitely carry it as much as reveal the remainder of the horizon. The addition of these few inches of area looks like having a blast protect lifted out of your face. It’s not OLED, however the decision is sharp, the colours are vibrant, and the general construct high quality feels good. Setting HDR accurately, although, is a ache.
Most significantly, the heart of the machine delivered the kind of next-gen improve you’d need from a tool that prices $150 greater than its predecessor did at launch. It stored up nicely with fashionable third-party blockbusters like Cyberpunk 2077 and Star Wars Outlaws, and ran first-party Nintendo video games with sprawling worlds, like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, with no main points, a minimum of in docked mode.
The previous Change, in the meantime, is more durable than ever to return to. The display is small, the bezels really feel that a lot bigger, and the OS lags greater than my two-year-old on a one-mile stroll across the neighborhood. The {hardware} has held up nicely mechanically, however is hanging off the sting of a cliff in terms of precise sport efficiency.
Followers have been seeing the unique Change present its age with new releases for years now, however Pokemon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4: Past are prone to function the ultimate nails within the coffin for anybody making an attempt to stay it out on the much less succesful last-gen machines. Are the video games busted on Change 1? Under no circumstances. Are you able to get pleasure from them? Undoubtedly. Would I like to recommend simply holding off till you ultimately purchase a Change 2? Completely.
It’s price noting that, just like the Change 2, the unique Change additionally noticed a value hike in 2025. It now prices $40 greater than it did at launch. The used costs for the previous {hardware}, fortunately, have remained surprisingly low. A secondhand Change Lite for $100 was most likely the most effective deal in video games this yr.
The Software program
The Change 2 interface stays stubbornly barebones in an period when the Xbox Collection X/S and PS5 proceed so as to add new bells and whistles to their dwelling display experiences. Customization choices are minimal. The row of icons continuously jiggles round based mostly solely on what you performed final. Tons of clean actual property above and under continues to be a wasteland, with no backgrounds to swap to apart from night time mode.
GameChat, the Change 2’s precise large back-of-the-box characteristic, performs advantageous, however feels unmoored from the broader console expertise. In the meantime, the console itself can play Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Minecraft higher than its predecessor, however in comparison with PS5, Xbox Collection X/S, and PC, the Change 2 stays simply as basically tired of being a social hub because the Change was.
It’s the one main gaming platform to not be built-in with the most important communication platform for gaming: Discord. Sharing sport seize and pictures now requires a devoted smartphone app from Nintendo’s ever-growing repository of console options outsourced to second screens. It’s not a horrible thought in precept, nevertheless it doesn’t really feel sane or streamlined in observe.
2025 was the yr that Nintendo tried to divorce itself from the more and more unstable broader web. It arrange a devoted Nintendo In the present day! information app that’s generally the one place to search out out about issues just like the upcoming Zelda film, however is as a rule only a glorified calendar for sharing current character artwork.
There’s additionally a devoted app for parental controls, music, and extra. None of it’s organically built-in into the precise gadget followers simply spent a ton of cash on. The whole setup is, frankly, insane.
There have been some vivid spots for Nintendo’s on-system user-experience in 2025, nevertheless. It established digital card sharing to permit customers to lend out digital video games throughout completely different gadgets so long as they’re linked by a household group or share a person profile. It’s a course of that appears extra sophisticated on paper than it feels in observe.
It makes the expertise of leaping forwards and backwards between the unique Change and the Change 2 much more seamless than it was with any earlier generational leaps in Nintendo’s historical past. The one draw back is that cloud save syncing can’t at all times sustain. It’s a step in the correct path, however nonetheless a far cry from Microsoft’s courageous new “play anywhere” future.
One other bone Nintendo threw to older Change homeowners was GameShare, a manner to make use of multiplayer throughout a number of gadgets in the identical room. Whereas GameShare works on-line through GameChat for Change 2 homeowners, it additionally works domestically for these with the previous handheld hybrid. It really works surprisingly nicely for issues like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment multiplayer, streaming the sport to an previous Change for participant two. It runs at decrease decision and framerates, however is a pleasant choice that provides utility to the older {hardware}, even when it’s most likely going to remain a distinct segment characteristic over the long term.
The Providers
Change On-line expanded in a giant manner this yr with the addition of GameCube video games. Unique to Change 2, the brand new basic console expertise kicked off with F-Zero GX, Soulcalibur II, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker in June, adopted by Tremendous Mario Strikers in July, Chibi-Robo! in August, Luigi’s Mansion in October, and Wario World in December.
Video games like Tremendous Mario Sunshine and Hearth Emblem: Path of Radiance stay MIA for now, and it’ll be attention-grabbing to see how a lot the library expands into third-party releases. It added numerous worth to the prevailing $50-a-month Enlargement Pack subscription, which additionally gained entry to paid Change 2 upgrades for Change video games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
However one factor Nintendo didn’t do was deliver again Digital Console, or another mechanism for purchasing previous video games a la carte. Total months nonetheless go by with none new classics added to any of the console again catalogs. And evident omissions like Tremendous Smash Bros. 64 elevate questions on whether or not some video games will ever be added to the service.
Change On-line, which continues to be simply $20 a yr, will develop into obligatory for GameChat entry beginning after March 31, 2026. On the similar time, customers are getting different advantages like new music in Nintendo’s Spotify-like app for sport soundtracks. Virtually each week will get new tracks for video games starting from Metroid 2 to Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, although apparent albums like Mario Kart World are nonetheless lacking.
In the meantime, different advantages have been dropped from the service. Simply in time for the brand new console’s launch, Nintendo ditched its gold cash system that gave gamers money again on eShop purchases, and is equally sunsetting its Change Recreation Vouchers program, a collection of coupons that permit followers get new video games at a reduction. Completed proper, it was one option to hold gaming on Change extra reasonably priced. As an alternative, being a Nintendo fan is simply getting costlier amid tariffs, $80 video games, and Change 2 improve charges.
The Video games
It was an eclectic yr for Change and Change 2 releases, if not one which will likely be remembered like 2017, when Nintendo launched a brand new console into among the finest lineups in its historical past. Mario Kart World initially dazzled however doesn’t really feel as full-bodied as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe does after years of post-release updates and DLC. Regardless of issuing plenty of stability updates, the corporate has been bizarre about really letting followers play the sport the way in which they wish to on-line.
New add-ons for Mario Celebration Jamboree and Kirby and the Forgotten Land have been good improve incentives however hardly groundbreaking. Kirby Air Riders, for all of director Masahiro Sakurai’s pre-release hype, was good, enjoyable, advantageous. Donkey Kong Bananza, an surprising spotlight, supplied a novel gimmick and a crowd-pleasing ending to bookend an in any other case B+ expertise. Metroid Prime 4: Past, regardless of the practically decade-long wait, was additionally lower than transformative.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A delivered for Pokémon followers, bolstering what would have been an in any other case disappointing inaugural vacation season for the Change 2, nevertheless it didn’t fairly remodel the franchise the way in which Change 1 iterations of some long-standing collection did. There was actually no scarcity of recent Nintendo releases in 2025, from Mario Galaxy remasters to Tears of the Kingdom upgrades, however nothing that fairly lived as much as the sky-high expectations hooked up to the brand new {hardware} round this time final yr.
However Nintendo has achieved a superb job of build up the Change 2’s preliminary base of third-party help. Ubisoft confirmed up with ports that underpromised and over-delivered, at the same time as others like Borderlands 4 have been indefinitely delayed. Cyberpunk 2077, Hitman: World of Assassination, and Road Fighter 6 all confirmed the breadth of what followers may count on heading into this new Nintendo console era, which is entry to most of the largest fashionable video games round, accessible with fewer compromises than anticipated, a minimum of early on.
In case you have a look at the ten highest-rated releases of the yr in keeping with Metacritic, seven of them can be found on Change and 4 of them, together with Hades 2, are console exclusives. It’s not onerous to see the remaining, together with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Blue Prince, ultimately coming to the platform in 2026. A minimum of for now, Change 2 is shaping as much as have a broader powerhouse library of video games than its predecessor. The one actual query is whether or not Nintendo can elevate the bar once more, or has hit its present ceiling.
The Future
There have been 4 issues that made the primary yr of the unique Change so particular: portability, indie video games, a fantastic Mario sport, and a groundbreaking Zelda. The Change 2 benefited from none of these issues in fairly the identical manner. It nonetheless looks like we’re within the warm-up section. Nintendo isn’t one to relaxation on its laurels, nevertheless it’s additionally trying past simply video games nowadays.
Nintendo’s largest launch of 2026 most likely received’t be on Change 2. If it performs in addition to the primary one, The Tremendous Mario Galaxy Film will, by way of cultural attain and field workplace prowess, outshine something that the corporate can stick on a cartridge. It opened a brand new Tremendous Nintendo World theme park location in Orlando this yr, and continues branching out into real-world experiences, new shops, extra toys, and different transmedia merchandise.
The Change 2 feels just like the Change 1 all grown up, and it’s each extra helpful and extra boring consequently. It wears a half-zip, pays its payments on time, and at all times exhibits up on time on the bar. It has its shit collectively. Give it your cash. It’s the gaming equal of investing your 401k in an index fund.
However can Nintendo nonetheless flood it with imaginative prospects that shock and delight the way in which it did with releases like Labo and Ring Match on the Change in its early years? Will it give us recent gameplay concepts and new franchises, or reinvent the previous ones to the purpose the place they really feel nearly unrecognizable? That would be the check for the Change 2 in 2026 and past. Particularly if Nintendo goes to start out charging extra for it, as some analysts are currently speculating aloud.
The Change 2 is sweet sufficient, nevertheless it nonetheless has quite a bit to show.
