Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour (Switch 2)

When getting a new video game console, many gamers are quick to just dive right into a game without considering the new hardware’s features too deeply. Some quirkier systems like the Wii can command some attention with their menus, but as long as it can play video games properly, some people won’t pay attention to how it works more than necessary. It’s hard to blame a craftsman then for wishing they could more deeply show off the fruits of their hours upon hours of careful consideration and experimentation in design, and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is essentially an interactive museum tour of all the thought and care put into crafting this video game console.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour really is structured like a museum in some ways, but with the potential of the video game medium allowing it to be richer and more elaborate than a boxy building with plaques and artifacts. Instead, the welcome tour takes place atop a giant version of the hybrid handheld itself, the Nintendo Switch 2 now a gigantic structure that people can walk across to observe its pieces in finer detail. Similarly, since you are playing this tour on the very video game system you’re having explained to you, there are moments where you get to play minigames meant to demonstrate specific features and improvements, although it does feel a touch disingenuous to say the gameplay offerings are substantial enough to be a draw on their own. This is a tour meant for the curious mind, for the kind of player interested in hardware development and nifty features but without the need to understand specific jargon or specifications. It is approachable and only rarely throws a term at you unexplained yet doesn’t bog itself down with unnecessary details, this Switch 2 museum experience curated to provide interesting demonstrations and quick, approachable, and informative trivia.

All across the giant Nintendo Switch 2 console and even eventually inside it you will find people to speak to to learn more about the Switch 2’s features, hardware, and even the history of Nintendo as it ties to this system. Usually, you’ll get a few quick little explainers with related pictures or diagrams to help contextualize what’s being said, ideas like frame rates and screen resolution presented in ways that make sense to those who may not be too familiar with how such things work. While some details may be a bit obvious to some, the Nintendo Switch 2 also has a lot of unexpected new ideas that could have likely been overlooked if not for the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour drawing specific attention to them. It compares how the HD Rumble 2 of the system works mechanically, it reveals that the Joy-Con 2’s mouse functionality actually relies on little cameras rather than the usual means of mouse sensors, and you even learn about incredibly small details that might not really register to a person despite it providing a much better user experience. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will show you how the screen of the system is recessed ever so slightly so if it’s dropped screen down, the frame of the system takes the hit instead of the screen. It will explain how the wrist straps are sewn in a special intricate way to make adjusting them a bit more convenient. You also get answers on more important things like people’s concerns that magnetic connectors on the system might be at risk of damage, it clear that Nintendo’s teams put a great deal of thought into preventing such things. It’s fascinating to see the degree of thought put into solving issues some people might not even consider, and since the explanations are so accessible and quickly relayed to you, rarely does it feel like it’s dry or prattling on.

After getting a small batch of features explained, a small quiz will be provided for you to test how well you retained the information. These are not all that difficult, and in fact, part of their appeal is actually seeing the wrong answers in the multiple choice questions. While sometimes a question might get a little tricky, a good deal of them feel more like they’re just reinforcing key points in your memory rather than really asking you to think too hard about what you just learned. The funny answers makes the quizzes actually a bit of a highlight, it amusing to imagine some of proposed wrong answers like a player having to ask their Joy-Con 2 very nicely to swap from mouse mode back to regular play or use telekinesis to detach them from the console. The information centers and quizzes are definitely where you’ll learn the most about the creation of the Switch 2 and the incredible amount of attention given to elements like how the microphone has been designed to cancel noise besides human voices and clapping, but Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour can also be a bit frank at times. It’s not against admitting the original Nintendo Switch’s inferiority or an issue it had, normally not as a full on problem or insult to its predecessor but as a starting point to explain an improvement. More impressive though are the peripheral areas, the museum having sections for things you may not necessarily have like the Pro Controller or official branded Nintendo camera. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will tell you outright its camera may have difficulty detecting things on the edge of its view, the game oddly upfront in admitting such compromises even if it was deemed ultimately the best course of action. Considering you already bought the system and this game it’s not like Nintendo necessarily needed to sell you on it with self-directed puffery, so moments where it provides a more honest and full picture of the systems functions makes this an even more interesting trip through what this game console is and can do.

As you travel across the Switch 2 system, there are hidden stamp stations to find, the player needing to locate these to unlock new areas. Mostly just a way to get you exploring it entirely and showing you the specific spots on your system to be explained elsewhere, it does feel like these could have been a chance to share little bits of trivia too, but admittedly, you don’t exactly need to explain an A button, so it’s perhaps best these are quickly done on your path to opening up more of the tour. A bit more eye-catching though will be the game areas and tech demos meant to help you explore new features or understand them. Tech Demos are identified as such and even the attendant standing beside them will be upfront about saying they’re not really games. You might do something like fly a little helicopter around, appreciating the Switch 2’s 3D audio in handheld mode that can make it sound like the helicopter is behind you. You might see an image at different resolutions and with various image enhancing features enabled or not, these really just more interactive demonstrations than what the little video clips in the information areas used as teaching aids. It can still be neat to hear the the controller rumble can be used to make recognizable sounds, but they do run into one little element of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour that might be a touch contentious. Not all of the games can be played unless you do have peripherals like that camera or the Pro Controller. Medals can be collected from the minigames and tech demos and these are used to unlock harder variations of the true minigames on offer, although there is a little code you’re taught to skip ones you can’t play and get the medals for free. Admittedly, the idea behind including something like the first level of Super Mario Bros. in 4K resolution doesn’t make much sense to play if you don’t have the 4K T.V. necessary to display it, but it can make your checklist of welcome tour activities feel a little less compelling when you know there will likely be gaps despite the tasks you missed out on not being the main draw of this experience.

The minigames in Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, as mentioned, aren’t necessarily the reason to get this game, but they can be fun ways to experience unique features of the system. While the system will boast about the controllers’ ability to be used as a mouse on most any surface, what can really cement that assertion is playing something like the spike ball dodging minigame where you need to weave your UFO around a bevvy of falling hazards. You get to see the control is more precise than you maybe expected, and while you can usually earn a single medal just for playing the game reasonably well, minigames offer up to three medals, with the second and especially the third requiring mastery of the little amusement. The shape of these games varies wildly, like one that actually has you use the easily forgotten adjustable system kickstand to make specific angles that the system can detect accurately. You don’t just hear the touch screen can sense ten unique touch points, you are invited to play Twister with your fingers as you try to tap different colored circles without lifting your fingertips. Many of the minigames are quick and straightforward in design meaning they’re very easy to try over and over until you get them down and earn all those medals, although some like the mini-golf game aren’t the best. The mini-golf game is almost too sensitive to your mouse inputs, the player certainly learning the controllers can be precise but with the medals being so tight in the time needed to sink your putts, learning through inflicting a bit of frustration was likely not the best choice. Some like Color the Shapes almost feel like they could have been divorced from the medal system too, a little low pressure coloring game feeling like it could have been satisfying on its own at least as an alternative way to play.

THE VERDICT: Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a fascinating plunge into how even the smallest details of a piece of hardware can be born from so much thought and care and yet come out feeling natural. You’ll hear about your system being filled with hundreds of wires or how it cools in a very specific way, marveling at these features that make your Switch 2 better but you won’t be bogged down by overwrought explanations or indecipherable lingo. It’s an approachable museum stroll with fun little minigames peppered throughout so it’s not all just information, but the deep dive into the sometimes private process of creating a game console still shines through as the main appeal here because it is what is focused on most of all.

And so, I give Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour for Nintendo Switch 2…

A GOOD rating. I’ve seen a few museums in my life with little interactive exhibits that are tiny bit of fun but not the main draw, and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is essentially that in video game form. The focus is on the very system you’re playing it on, meaning it can do neat little tricks with the tech demos or make features feel more tangible by providing minigames that make use of them. Fun little trivia bits and the ridiculous wrong answers in the quizzes help the reading sections have their own appeal even if you might normally not be too interested in how hardware is made, but don’t let the presence of little games fool you. This is primarily going to be about learning about a Nintendo system, how it was made, how features were planned or altered in lieu of reality, and while it could have done it more often, even the history bits provided to show how Nintendo has attempted features in the past all create a tour worth taking. It’s a learning game, almost edutainment save for the fact it might be hard to label a system explaining its features as worthwhile education. Still, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour does use interactivity well at parts, it doesn’t feel like it’s self-important or too glowing in its description of itself because it can be frank, and yet it does provide some ideas that pique imagination or make you potentially interested in games later down the line. A Balloon Hunt minigame shows that using one Joy-Con 2 like a controller and another like a mouse at the same time can be pretty cleanly executed, and at other times you might find yourself hoping other developers for the Switch 2 play this and learn about some functionality like the 3D audio that could be used to creative effect. It is certainly more a game for video game hobbyists rather than a common player and also the kind of experience where hearing its premise likely does a lot of the legwork in convincing you on whether it’s going to interest you specifically or not, but while there was definitely room for more interesting demos and amusements, this welcome tour is definitely doing its job when you inviting you into a surprisingly intimate look at Nintendo’s hardware.

One thing that perhaps dominates the discussion around Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour a bit too much is that it has a ten dollar purchase price, meaning on top of the hundreds you already spent on the system, you then need to pay a bit more for this explainer of what it can do. It certainly feels like it would have worked as a pack-in with the console, but the fact that it caters more towards people who have the particular urge to learn about the small details of game hardware development might partly be why it was kept apart. This isn’t Wii Sports or Astro’s Playroom where people of all ages can immediately grasp the fun of the game that came with their console, it’s a leisurely tour through information with a few little ways to play to nail in the feature demonstrations. Kids might not like the reading, some adults may not care to learn, so this being your first Nintendo Switch 2 game might rub people the wrong way since it’s not aiming for immediate fun. For those interested in the chance to better understand the thought process behind gaming hardware design as well as those wanting to know what less obvious features their new system might be capable of, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour can delight and surprise despite that small price for entry.