After revealing on April 2 the release date of the Switch 2 (June 5 for 470 €) and revealed what wood the Mario firm had heating up, Nintendo worked to deepen the presentation by offering the media to come and see the beast more closely. In Paris first and, very lately, in Berlin.
It is at this second grip on the old continent that Lematin.ch was invited. This was happening on Friday April 25 at the Berlin station, a space luxuriously furnished for the occasion. It all starts with a brief discourse of presentation without major revelations. A prelude to the opening of many thematic stands where the Switch 2 was manipulated in all its seams for a few hours at the noise of the crackling of eager smartphones, babbin of influencers and under the assistance of a horde of Nintendo employees placed strategically near the copies sometimes under bells, sometimes secure in the open air.
What we discovered? A console which is a very clear evolution of the Switch, first of the name. Even if there is no radical transformation here with big risk -taking, as had been the case when the Wii had become the Wii U.
The Switch 2 takes up all the characteristics of the Switch by improving them. It remains a hybrid console, with a screen, employable in nomad mode or connected to a TV via an HDMI cable. It is therefore an evolution.
The machine thus remains a console made up of a screen surrounded by two blocks called Joy-Con. The screen is larger (7.9 inches against 6.2 for the original switch) and the comfort of use seemed to us superior without flagrant buttresses. We were finally able to discover how the joy-cons joy magnetic system worked.
We forget the rails of the previous model, the controllers literally stick on the edges of the screen with a small “key” which suggests that the stowage is solid. And this is indeed the case. There is no game when trying to rush them. And if we try to separate them without going through the button provided for (it activates a picot which has a lever effect), you have to get up early. The system seems impeccable. A long-term use will have to confirm this, but as on this aspect, Nintendo has little right to make mistakes, a possible false step is very improbable.
The weight of the whole seemed completely pleasant to us and the thickness of the Switch 2 is comparable to that of the first name. We were of course not able to estimate the autonomy of the console, all the exposure models being connected to the sector. Even in nomadic mode, they had a leg thread.
A joy-con like a mouse
Bright, high definition (1080p against 720p previously), offering excellent contrasts, the Switch 2 screen seduced us. The displayed games (which all aimed seem to be the 60 images per second and even the 120 for some) did not seem to be pulled down when the nomadic display is preferred. We still had the impression that on a TV screen or a state -of -the -art monitor, the graphics were even better highlighted. The console being able to export a 4K and HDR signal (for High Dynamic Range), this explains that.
Another novelty seemed interesting to us on paper, the possibility of using a joy-con like a mouse. We spent a few minutes on two games that managed this feature.
The first, “Drag X Drive” (released this summer) is a basketball game whose participants are on wheelchairs. Placed vertically and sliding on a flat surface, the joy-consments allow you to move the wheelchair. A learning is required, but use is precise and effective.
An employee of Nintendo told us that in the event of use on a sofa, the Joy-Cons could be slipped on our thighs. It was checked, it works, but the amplitude of the movements takes a hit. We will retry in other conditions.
The other game to recognize the Joy -Cons transformed into mice was none other than “Metroid Prime 4 – Beyond” (released in 2025 on Switch and Switch 2, we assume towards the end of the year).
On Switch 2, this highly anticipated shooting game in subjective view (FPS) can certainly be completely played with the controller. But the aim can be done with the Joy-Con placed in mouse mode vertically, as if we practiced the FPS on PC. Again, precision impresses. What undoubtedly satisfy the PC gamers which swear by the use of the Mulot. Not belonging to this category (even on PC, we generally prefer to use a joypad) we confine ourselves to recognize that this double implementation has a strong potential.
In summary, satisfactory screen, some innovations, good weight, good measures, autonomy to experiment, but obvious upmarket … The Switch 2 easily passes the test of the first meeting. As an accomplished professional, Nintendo did everything to create the ideal climate. Only the sifted light and a violinist lacked. It is nevertheless considered that the intrinsic qualities of the new playing machine are sufficient to allow not to be influenced by these exceptional framework conditions.
The Switch 2 thus seems to demonstrate that it will no longer be distanced as before by the power monsters that are recent PCs, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
In addition, in nomadic mode, it seems capable of keeping high -end smartphones at a distance or mobile PCs (from the Steam Deck category, for example). If the Japanese giant’s ability to host third -party games is accelerated and if the production of ambitious homemade productions is maintained, its future has the potential to be shiny.
