The launch date of the Nintendo Switch 2 was announced for June 5th. Let’s take a look at what innovative features the new gaming console will offer.

“You’ll be joining us as we step into a new era of Nintendo,” Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s president, told members of the press who were offered an exclusive opportunity to test out the new Switch.

New Gaming Features

A Nintendo Switch 2 console playing Mario Kart World at a hands-on event in New York City. NPR
A Nintendo Switch 2 console playing Mario Kart World at a hands-on event in New York City; Photo: NPR

Priced at $499.99, the graphical and computational capabilities of the new model reportedly far outweigh the first model. The Nintendo Switch 2 will have a 7.9-inch LCD screen with 1080p graphics, which is larger and better quality than the previous model. Nintendo has also stated that the new system is able to support 4K resolution for compatible games.

Apart from the larger size, video chats, audio chats, and game-sharing functions have been added to the new model. When users press the new “C” button on the Joy-Cons, it quickly takes players to the “GameChat” model which allows them to video conference with friends mid-game.

The feature is paired with a $50 camera that’s sold separately and can layer real-time footage of players into gameplay. This even opens up a new avenue for gaming as some new games will allow users to appear within the game itself.

Another new feature, “GameShare,” allows users to temporarily share games with other consoles that don’t have them. The console’s new Joy-Cons can also double as computer mice, a feature meant to appeal to PC gamers.

According to Takuhiro Dohta, the console’s director, said through a translator at the media event that the mouse feature can be used on a variety of surfaces and doesn’t require a mouse pad. Though this is certainly inventive, some members of the press who trialed this feature reported some slight glitches.

“Metroid Prime 4: Beyond invited me to place the right Joy-Con on a flat surface, which I could swivel and push to point Samus’ beam gun most accurately. I didn’t mind this method, but my attempts to swap between the mouse mode and more traditional controls frustrated me. Theoretically, the game detects how you’re holding the controller and responds accordingly — but when I gripped it normally, it glitched, apparently reading my fingers as another surface for its mouse sensor to roll over.” stated James Perkins Mastromarino of NPR after a trial of the Nintendo Switch 2.

Rather than sliding into place like the first-generation Joy-Cons, the new Joy-Cons will reportedly click into place magnetically. And, though the Switch 2 uses more energy than its predecessor due to some of the new interactive features, the developers believe the device’s larger battery will offset that.

Nintendo is rolling out some exciting games along with the new console, including Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Kirby Air Riders.