The Switch 2 launch feels like the death of the console launch as something special. For better and worse.

I stood in line to get a Switch 2. Not at midnight, I'm way too old for that, but yesterday morning when I went to pick up my unnecessary preorder. I think the last time I did that for a console was the Dreamcast, since the only consoles I have gotten since then were bought for delivery. The line outside the Best Buy was wrapped halfway around the block, but it wasn't a party atmosphere. The vibe was more people irritated by having to wait. When I got inside there were big piles of accessories and Amiibo but not really games. It felt more like the launch of a new phone or laptop than a game console. People wanted the device, but they weren't excited for the new possibilities it might bring.

And my post launch experience with Switch 2 was even more so that. Setup was quick and easy, transferring my profile from my OG Switch, downloading Mario Kart World, and figuring out what games I wanted downloaded to the much smaller storage space on the new device (since I didn't get an SD card with it.) But once my Switch 2 was up and running it felt almost excactly the same as the Switch 1. The Joycons and Pro Controller are slightly different, but feel mostly the same. The UI is snappier but otherwise almost exactly the same. Switch 2 even imported my play times for my Switch games so when I sort that way all my old favorites are still on top. This is one of the reasons that digital backwards compatibility feels different from the physical media version we'd seen previously. Yes you could pull out your old Gamecube games and put them in your Wii, but you had to make a choice to do that. With the newer consoles it's all just there, integrated directly with the new stuff, even to the point of having all your saves and even play stats automatically transfer over.

The plus sides for this are obvious. Because I have a substantial Switch collection I automatically have stuff to play on my new machine, much of it upgraded and running better. Some games have cheap paid upgrades that add features or new content. If I feel like playing a roguelite or platformer I already have a big library to choose from.

The downside is the lack of that new console feeling of new possibilities and a whole new experience. I remember when Switch came out and I populated the library with my first couple games. It felt like starting a journey with the machine. There were also a bunch of exclusive launch titles to choose from, ranging from the excellent (Snipperclips!) to the huge waste of money (1-2 Switch!) It felt like a blank slate. The Switch 2 does not. If you only had a Switch when you do have some exciting ports that are new to Nintendo, but if you own other consoles then this is one of the most barren launches in history, so much so that I would not have even bothered picking one up yet if my Switch hadn't needed replacing for over a year.

And I think it's this lack of new software that's making the response to the launch so muted. Influencers are trying to make content, of course, and some people are genuinely excited about the new tech in the same way you might be excited about a new phone, but otherwise it just doesn't seem to be garnering a lot of excitement. It feels like a soft launch, and outside Mario Kart and the oddity of that $10 Welcome Tour, there isn't really much being discussed. It's a very iterative console, not so much buzzy as inevitable, even though it's Nintendo's first new system in almost a decade, the longest gap between new platforms they've ever had.

I'm sure people will say part of it is that I'm just old and for kids it's still exciting, and that's probably true to some degree, but I was in my 30s when the Switch launched and that was still an exciting time. The PS4 and the Xbox One were also big deals for me. I think it's that gaming has matured and these machines are all converging. The hardware just doesn't matter like it used to. Many of the games we'll all play on Switch 2 can run on Switch 1 just fine. The PS5 has been out for almost 5 years and the PS4 is still very well supported, getting brand new marquee releases like Elden Ring Nightrein and Deltarune. There's never been a time like that in console gaming.

It's great to not have to build your collection from scratch, waste money on threadbare launch stuff, or have to buy all new accessories (old joycons and pro controllers working on the new system is a huge and underrated perk.) I love a lot of my Switch games and have plenty I haven't finished or even started, so I will be using backwards compatibility constantly. But every time we go through this I remember what launches used to be like and the excitement behind them and I feel like we've lost something. Maybe something worth losing, but something valuable all the same.