This is a bit of an odd one. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is an interactive exhibit of sorts, detailing the technology and design decisions that went into the brand-new console. You walk a tiny person around giant versions of the Joy Con 2, Pro Controller, the new dock and of course the console itself. By engaging in quizzes, minigames and tech demos, you’ll learn how HD Rumble 2 works, what 120fps looks like, and why one of the feet on the dock is different to the others.
It’s a slick presentation, all told. The UI is snappy, efficient and easily digestible and the sound effects jolly, making moving through the exhibit a satisfying experience. There are a series of checklists to fill out and medals to receive, which helps track your progress through everything the Welcome Tour has to offer.
A lot of the minigames require use of the new mouse controls that the Joy Con 2 are capable of. It will be interesting to see if this is the first and last time I utilise the mouse control scheme in a Switch 2 game, but considering I was only using my leg as a mouse pad, it works surprisingly well. You’ll play mini golf, shoot targets as fast as possible, align shapes into the correct slots and much more. They’re all pretty simple, visually and mechanically, but there are a surprising amount of them and they effectively showcase the new tech.
There are also a number of tech demos. These are less gamified, but are still interactive and again do a good job of showing you what’s new about the Switch 2 and it’s peripherals. From shaking maracas to feel the way HD Rumble 2 can imitate various objects, to the noise-cancelling tech in the built-in microphone, to a fireworks display that illustrates the benefits of an HDR screen.
The catch, of course, is that Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is not a bundled-in title like Wii Sports, Nintendo Land or the delightful Astro Bot’s Playroom on PS5. Nope, you have to fork over 15 dollarydoos for this, which completely changes the conversation. If we imagine for a moment that this Welcome Tour was free with every Switch 2, I would have nothing but good things to say about it. The minigames are fun, tech demos interesting, and as someone interested in gaming tech, I genuinely enjoyed learning how the Switch 2 functions.
But for $15? You’re better off-putting that towards the whopping $120 it’ll cost you to pick up Mario Kart World. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is novel, engaging, informative and sporadically fun, but at its current price point it’s a hard title to recommend.
Rating: 5/10
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour was reviewed on Switch 2 with a code provided by Nintendo.