Switch 2 is available – Reviews are a long time coming
The Switch 2 is available, as are its launch titles. However, interested parties still have to wait for reviews of the console and games.
(Image: Nintendo)
For many it is the logical conclusion to the success of the first Switch, for others a sign that Nintendo has become boring: the Switch 2 is now available. Nintendo's new console will be delivered from June 5 and can be purchased locally in electronics stores.
Because interest in the Switch 2 is high, you have to be lucky to buy it. The console is also sold out online at many retailers. The Heise service Bestell.bar, which checks the availability of the Switch 2 at numerous online retailers, can therefore help with the purchase. The retailers are monitored almost in real time.
No test reports
The trade press can get started today at the same time as many gamers: Nintendo has decided not to send out any test samples of the Switch 2 to the media in advance. This means that no detailed test reports can be published for the launch – either of the console itself or of the games that will be launched on the market.
In addition to Nintendo's own titles, “Mario Kart World” and “Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour”, this also includes titles from independent manufacturers that are available on the Switch platform for the first time: “Civilization 7”, “Cyberpunk 2077” and “Hogwarts Legacy” are among them.
Free upgrades
Other games will receive upgrades to make better use of the Switch 2's additional hardware capacity: Games such as “New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe”, “Pokémon Crimson”, “Pokémon Purple”, “Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury”, “Super Mario Odyssey”, “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom” and “The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening” are getting free upgrades – exactly “No Man's Sky”, whose Switch 2 upgrade was announced by the developers shortly before the launch.
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For other upgrades, such as those for “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” and “Tears of the Kingdom”, players have to pay extra. In principle, most Switch games will also run on the Switch 2 – with a few exceptions, which Nintendo lists on its website. What else you should know: The protective film on the display of the Switch 2 should not be removed, warns Nintendo.
The first users got their hands on the first Switch 2 consoles last week. However, they couldn't really do much with it: Games can only be started after installing a Day 1 patch, which will be released at market launch.
(dahe)
