My original Switch was bought a week or so after release by a stroke of luck. I simply walked into Selfridges in London and asked if I could buy one. The guy behind the counter guffawed at my request, until he saw a lone unit sitting behind him. He sold it to me, we exchanged nods, and off I went. I’m almost certain it was an unlabelled pre-order, as there was more chance of being crowned King of the Universe by Earth’s leaders than just grabbing one off the shelf at that point in time. I played that original Switch to near death. It went everywhere with me, on my travels up and down this shoddy country, around the globe, and everywhere in between. So when the Switch 2 was announced, I was ready to dropkick people out of my way to get one.

Luckily for Nintendo, I had been actively paying for a Nintendo Online subscription for about nine years. Unluckily for me, I had completely forgotten I’d been paying for it. To stop scalpers from hoarding all the Switch 2 launch units, Nintendo sent an email to everyone who passed their internal checks asking if they wanted to preorder one. One of those checks was having an active Nintendo Online account that had been running for at least two years. That’s how I found out.

Nevertheless, I thanked Mario and preordered that shit before even consulting myself.

The first thing that struck me when I tore into the box to relieve it of its innards was the size and sturdiness of the thing. I wondered if I even had room in my life for something so vast, having stared at my original console for years and years and years. The difference was huge. The Switch 2 felt like a production-grade version of a games console, while the Switch 1 felt like a 3D-printed mockup several versions behind the final one.

The new Joy-Cons are larger, slap onto the console magnetically, and feel secure, ready for a good old “controller death squeeze” when you inevitably fly off Rainbow Road on Mario Kart. The original Switch always felt like they’d snap off their sliding rails if you so much as held the console up whilst gripping one, but thankfully they never did. I’d throw that console into my bag without a case when travelling, jangling about like a washing machine filled with plastic objects. But the build difference here is incredibly noticeable.

Stunningly, each Joy-Con, along with its usual gyroscopic abilities, is also a mouse. That’s right. A damn mouse. Not practical on the go, but you have the option to whip off a controller and start clicking about. I’ve got to say, it’s a genius idea.

I also noticed, while playing about before installing any games, that you can pop off the Joy-Cons, turn the screen upside down, and pop them back on. I’m not sure if there’s a way to rotate the display properly, as either the screen or the Joy-Cons end up upside down, but it’s a wonderful prank to play on your friends and enemies alike.

The kickstand on the original Switch was like a plastic scab you had to pick off. It sat on the left side only, and the thing would fall over if you so much as lightly prodded the screen. The only good idea it had was that it was designed to snap off and back on in case you, or a child, “broke” it. Clever, but still a rubbish stand. The Switch 2’s stand has been completely redesigned, however. It runs almost the entire length of the console and adjusts to just about any angle your heart could desire, unlike the original. I’m not sure if this one is designed to tear off as well, but kids, please do try this at home and let me know.

Now, I’m not a tech spec nerd. If you want to know how many teraflops this thing pushes in handheld or docked mode, go read some blog about numbers and shit because I haven’t got the time for that. I’m too busy playing Fallout 4, for the millionth time, on it.

My unscientific tests were simple. Install Cyberpunk 2077, FFVII, and No Man’s Sky, the latter of which ran like a slow flipbook on the original Switch, and just look at it with my eyes.

Cyberpunk 2077

First up was Cyberpunk 2077, which is still nuts that it runs as well as it does on a handheld system. I play it in Performance mode, which sits at a steady 40fps no matter what’s going on. There’s also a Quality mode that boosts the visuals but drops it down to 30fps, but I’m not a pixel peeper and would rather something run well than look like real life, as much as neon-soaked robo-humans can.

No Man’s Sky

It was a miracle that Hello Games managed to get their endless space adventure onto the original Switch, and I played the hell out of it. But it was often a painful experience. That version was always months behind the other consoles, understandably, and ran like someone flicking through screenshots of the game at a moderate pace.

The Switch 2 version, by comparison, runs like a smooth dream. The visuals are updated, and the latest updates arrive in parity with other platforms, usually, but you can Google that if you’re interested in reading about people losing their minds over how an update is behind the rest of the world.

Final Fantasy VII - Remake

“It can’t be done”, they said. As the same as with Cyberpunk, they did. Look good, plays good, is good.

Legend Of Zelda - Tears Of The Kingdom

Of course, Nintendo’s own games look and play perfectly, as you’d expect. TotK got a Switch 2 edition, with sharper visuals, a higher frame rate, quicker loading times, and so on.

By now, we know what the Switch 2 is: a handheld system that docks into a TV for extra horsepower. Slip it out of the dock, throw it in your bag, and suddenly you’ve got a proper console experience wherever you end up, be it a delayed train, a lunch break, or hiding from responsibilities for half an hour.

Nintendo have finally got this right. It’s far more welcoming to third-party games than the original Switch ever was, with enough headroom for proper ports alongside the usual stream of Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon. It feels less like a compromise this time and more like a fully realised version of the idea they had years ago.

For someone like me, who doesn’t have the time to sit down at a console or PC for hours on end, it fits in perfectly. Small windows of time suddenly become playable. A quick session here, another there, and before you know it, you’ve actually made progress in something.

Still mostly during work meetings, or in a car park, mind you. But now with better frame rates.