NintendoIn short: the Switch 2 is a genuine, felt-everywhere upgrade over the original console — a bigger, sharper screen, a real jump in game performance, and backwards compatibility so good that old Switch games often run noticeably better than they used to. The catch, and reviewers are unanimous on this, is battery life: Nintendo's own 2-6.5 hour estimate has proven optimistic in real-world testing, and it's a clear downgrade from the original Switch. A year on from launch the game library has filled out considerably, but at least one major reviewer still tells existing Switch 1 owners it's fine to wait. Here's what testing found.
Buy it if…
- You don't yet own a Switch and want the best current version of Nintendo's hybrid console
- You have a library of original Switch games and want them to load faster and often look better with zero extra cost
- You mostly play docked, on a TV, where the battery-life downside doesn't apply
Skip it if…
- You mainly play handheld, away from a charger, for long stretches — the battery life is a genuine step down from the original Switch
- You already own a Switch and are buying mainly for the exclusive game library — NBC Select's year-later review suggests waiting for more exclusives
- Joy-Con stick drift has put you off Nintendo controllers before — Nintendo has confirmed the new sticks still aren't Hall-effect
Price last checked: 28 July 2026
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What's good
- Vivid, genuinely sharp 1080p 120Hz LCD screen — 'a monumental upgrade' over the original's 720p panel, per TechRadar
- A real, felt performance leap: Mario Kart World runs a clean 1440p docked at 60fps, and older Switch games load and run dramatically faster
- Excellent backwards compatibility — some original Switch games are visibly improved even without an official patch
- Satisfying magnetic Joy-Con attachment that both TechRadar and Nintendo Life praised without reservation
- A much wider, more adjustable kickstand than any previous Switch model
Worth knowing
- Handheld battery life is a genuine downgrade — TechRadar measured around 3 hours in testing against Nintendo's own 2-6.5 hour estimate, well below the original Switch's 4.5-9 hours
- Thin launch game library largely made up of ports, called out as a formal con by TechRadar
- Joy-Con drift risk appears to carry over, and Nintendo has confirmed the new sticks are still not Hall-effect sensors
- Noticeable Bluetooth audio delay of around half a second with wireless headsets, in both docked and handheld modes
- Reviewers are genuinely split on the new mouse-mode Joy-Cons — some call it smart and precise, others 'weird and undercooked'
A closer look, category by category
Screen and performance
The 7.9-inch, 1920x1080, up-to-120Hz LCD screen is unanimously praised as a huge step up from the original Switch's 720p panel — TechRadar called it 'a monumental upgrade' and said it had 'no complaints' about the display. The one dissenting voice is What Hi-Fi?, whose review is headlined 'I love this console — but I'm not buying one until it gets an OLED screen,' a reminder that Nintendo chose LCD deliberately for burn-in resistance rather than as a cost-cutting downgrade. On performance, the difference is dramatic and consistent: Mario Kart World holds a clean 1440p docked / 1080p handheld at 60fps throughout, and backwards-compatible titles benefit hugely — Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, which TechRadar called 'a mess' on the original Switch, now runs 'a solid 60fps and targeting 4K docked' without any developer patch.
Battery life
This is the console's clearest weak point, and every source we drew on agrees. TechRadar's hands-on testing found it couldn't match Nintendo's own 2-6.5 hour handheld estimate: 'even with original Switch games, I struggled to get more than three hours at full charge,' rising to around five hours only with genuinely light titles. NBC Select's ten-months-later review confirmed the same 2-6.5 hour range and explicitly contrasted it with the original Switch's 4.5-9 hours — a clear, named downgrade rather than a one-off testing quirk. If battery life away from a charger matters to you more than raw performance, this is the single biggest trade-off to weigh up.
New features: GameChat, mouse mode and Joy-Con
GameChat's audio quality was rated a 'big improvement' by TechRadar over Nintendo's previous online voice tools, though the screen-sharing feature initially shrank the game view with black borders (since patched with fullscreen options) and friend video renders at a noticeably low framerate. Mouse-mode Joy-Cons, which let you use a Joy-Con like a computer mouse in supported games, split reviewers cleanly down the middle: TechRadar called the implementation 'extremely smooth with no unnecessary acceleration,' while other outlets in Nintendo Life's review round-up described it as 'weird and undercooked' or 'too novel and unergonomic.' There's no such disagreement about the new magnetic Joy-Con attachment system, which every outlet we checked praised as satisfying and precise compared to the original's rail-slide mechanism.
Backwards compatibility and library
Nintendo's backwards compatibility is 'excellent' according to TechRadar, with faster load times across the board and genuine performance upgrades for some unpatched Switch 1 games. It isn't total, though: Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04's VR Kit doesn't physically fit the new console, Ring Fit Adventure needs the original Joy-Con specifically because Joy-Con 2 dropped the IR motion camera, and original Switch Joy-Con grips and charging docks don't fit the new magnetic Joy-Con 2 design. At launch, TechRadar flagged the game library itself as thin and port-heavy, and its 'don't buy it if' guidance explicitly told buyers waiting on more first-party exclusives to hold off. A year on, NBC Select's follow-up review found the library had grown meaningfully with titles like Donkey Kong Bananza and Kirby Air Riders, but still recommended existing Switch 1 owners wait for more exclusives before upgrading — a genuinely different conclusion from TechRadar's more bullish original review, worth knowing before you decide.
Price
UK RRP is £395.99 console-only, or £429.99 bundled with a digital Mario Kart World code. TechRadar recorded a brief low of around £385 at UK retailers in November 2025, but by mid-2026 the console has mostly held close to its launch price rather than dropping significantly — treat any 'discount' listing with some scepticism and check a live retailer price before buying.
Price last checked: 28 July 2026Real-world use cases
Docked, TV-based play
This is where the Switch 2 is least compromised — up to 4K docked output, strong sustained performance, and none of the battery-life downside that affects handheld sessions.
Reviving an existing Switch game library
Backwards compatibility is a genuine highlight: faster loading and, for several titles, visibly better performance than on the original console, at no extra cost for games you already own.
Long handheld sessions away from power
This is the console's weakest use case — real-world testing found battery life well short of Nintendo's own estimates and a clear downgrade from the original Switch.
Where it sits in the market
The clearest comparison for existing owners is the original Nintendo Switch, which remains on sale at £259.99 with a smaller 720p screen, weaker Tegra X1 chip, and roughly double the handheld battery life. NBC Select's year-later review frames the performance leap as the single biggest reason to upgrade, but explicitly recommends existing owners without a strong pull toward Mario Kart World wait for the exclusive library to grow further — a more cautious take than TechRadar's launch review, and worth weighing given it's a genuine, named reviewer disagreement rather than a one-off opinion.
How we reached this verdict
This verdict combines TechRadar's original launch-week review with NBC Select's follow-up review published roughly ten months after launch, so it reflects both first impressions and how the console has held up with a fuller game library. Battery-life findings are corroborated independently across both outlets using different test conditions, which is why we're confident calling it a genuine downgrade rather than one reviewer's experience. Where TechRadar and NBC Select reach different conclusions about whether existing owners should upgrade now, we've reported both positions rather than picking one, since it reflects a real difference of opinion roughly a year apart rather than an error in either review. UK pricing checked against Nintendo Life's own pricing guide, July 2026.