Nintendo has been in the gaming industry for decades, originally producing trading cards in 1889, followed by the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1983, and the revolutionary Nintendo Switch in 2017. The Nintendo Switch reached 155.37 million units at the end of 2025, becoming the company’s best-selling console ever, even competing with Sony and Microsoft. Of course, there are many ways to improve 8-year-old technology, which brings the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, featuring better internal components and hardware that make it more powerful than the PlayStation 4 even in its handheld form.
One of the largest and most noticeable improvements is the enlarged display, going from the former 6.2-inch 720p screen of the original Nintendo Switch to a whopping 7-inch 1080p 120Hz display, but that’s not all; following the larger display, the switch has also improved graphics, capable of reaching 60 fps at up to 4K in newer titles and 120 fps in optimized games.
In daily use, the Switch 2 feels like a completely different handheld console compared to the original Nintendo Switch, having improved Joy-Cons and a better feel in my hands being too heavy. The Switch 2 has also improved many fatal flaws present in the original, such as the kickstand, which used to be flimsy, but now the Switch 2 features a kickstand the width of the console, like the OLED model, but thinner, providing stability all around.
Games in the Switch 2 also look more detailed, with all 3D models in games becoming more polished with the improved hardware. Games such as Splatoon 3, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Zelda: Breath of the Wild have reduced lag while looking and running much smoother with the enhancements. The Switch 2 has also removed some multiplayer hardware limitations that limit all multiplayer games to only have 8 players on the original Switch. Now, games such as Animal Crossing New Horizons and Mario Kart World Tour have increased their player caps on players with the Switch 2, setting a new precedent in Nintendo Games, hopefully allowing more developers to create more experiences.
Students also have opinions about Nintendo as a whole. Senior Danny Janickovic feels that the push of the Nintendo Switch 2 is somewhat flawed. He says, “I feel as Nintendo is forcing user to ‘switch’ to the Switch 2, as a lot of games are now only being featured on the Switch 2 and not the original.”
Overall, the Nintendo Switch 2 offers many fixes for its predecessor, granting many improvements to the known issues, such as the unnatural handheld grip. Hopefully, in future models, Nintendo can bring forth a console bigger and brighter. However, the future for the original Nintendo Switch is somewhat unknown as the company continues to release more software and hardware.
