Should You Buy a Nintendo Switch Now or Wait for the Switch 2?

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An image composition with a picture of a Nintendo Switch split into two equal parts. On the left, the Switch OLED is showing a screenshot from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The right half is obscured in black, as if to express that it’s Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2.An image composition with a picture of a Nintendo Switch split into two equal parts. On the left, the Switch OLED is showing a screenshot from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The right half is obscured in black, as if to express that it’s Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2.Image make-up: Cameron Faulkner/Polygon|Source pictures: NintendoCameron FaulknerCameron Faulkner ( he/him) is Polygon’s business editor. He started covering technology and video gaming in 2013, and moved from The Verge in 2023.

The Switch 2 is virtually right here, and yet almost every little thing regarding it still continues to be a secret. In May 2024, Nintendo lastly verified the presence of the Switch follower, and guaranteed followers that it will certainly make an official news of it within the , or to put it simply at some point in the past very early 2025. That’s a broad home window of time, without a doubt. It leaves a sensation that a statement might go down anytime.

I initially created this explainer in very early 2024 to aid respond to a concern that a great deal of individuals were asking online, which was whether they need to obtain a Switch or await the updated equipment. Months back, it was a lot easier to draw the line in the sand. I recommended that, if you had not played Nintendo’s big, banger-filled brochure of first-party Switch games, playing those need to be your primary concern. I hesitated to recommend awaiting a Switch 2, partly, due to the fact that it does not make good sense to keep a lot pure delight from oneself.

We’re closer than ever before to the long-awaited introduction on the Switch 2, and it makes good sense if Nintendo’s verification of the brand-new Switch follower has actually cooled your interest for acquiring 7-year-old equipment. But up until (and possibly also after) the main launching occurs, the responses listed below need to still have the ability to aid people that are rapt with indecisiveness. We will, naturally, upgrade this blog post once the Switch 2 is revealed and concrete details is offered to aid understand its resemblances (fingers went across for in reverse compatibility and microSD card assistance) and benefits over the normal Switch.

So, should you get the Switch or await the Switch 2? Let’s check out a couple of circumstances listed below.


Four Inklings hang out in a screenshot from Splatoon 3Image: Nintendo

Have you played any one of the Switch’s game collection?

If not, simply go get the dang console now. We just have a lot time on this valuable world, so do not wait any type of longer to obtain captured up on the previous 7 years of amazinggames We go to the impulse of Nintendo to introduce its following console (it’s actually taking its time), yet you can take control and play via or present some outstanding games while you wait.

Do you require to have the current and best modern technology?

If you responded to “yes,” there’s a big component of me that comprehends this sensation. It would certainly draw to get a Switch currently, just to have Nintendo launching the warm brand-new version in the coming months. Thankfully, the normal Switch is still a completely great method to experiencegames With a couple of exemptions, many Nintendo- released games run splendidly on the console, so attempt not to allow FOMO enter your method if you simply wish to play thegames In instance it aids you choose, Nintendo frequently launches tentpole games for its more recent console on the previous console, which fad might proceed with the future generation of its equipment.

The regular Switch (top) and the Switch OLED (bottom).
The normal Switch (top) and the Switch OLED (base).
Photo: Russ Frushtick/Polygon

Are you searching for outstanding efficiency in a portable?

Then you possibly currently understand that the Switch will not please your food craving for high-resolution graphics (not that the Steam Deck OLED and its contemporaries are best in this classification, either). I will not protect the Switch excessive; its graphics chops really felt obsoleted when the console released in 2017.

Even so, its ideal games have excellent art that greater than offsets the absence of power, and the Switch version that can aid you obtain one of the most aesthetic grandeur out of elegant games like Splatoon 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and a lot more is the$349.99 Switch OLED It has the majority of the very same elements as the various other versions yet with a bigger OLED display. The OLED itself has the very same 720p resolution as the LCD display in both the $299.99 Switch and $199.99 Switch Lite, yet every little thing looks far better, from comparison to illumination and image top quality.

Nintendo Switch OLED

$ 349$ 349

The Nintendo Switch OLED upgrades the portable console with far better sound, a 7-inch OLED screen, and an enhanced kickstand.

$350 at GameStop$350 at Best Buy$349 at Amazon

Are you bothered with Nintendo in reverse compatibility?

It’s uncertain whether the Switch’s follower will certainly collaborate with all preexisting Switch games, given that Nintendo hasn’t shared a peep regarding the reported console. Obviously, we really hope that complete compatibility with Switch games will certainly linger, due partly to the console’s large success. It simply makes good sense that Nintendo would certainly lean on the Switch’s amazing existing collection to improve the worth of the brand-new console, in addition to brand-new gamers that desire a relatively countless supply of games to play.

As for accessing older titles, it’s feasible that Nintendo will certainly remain to use a registration that supplies SNES, Game Boy, and various other titles for a month-to-month price. For extra considerable remasters launched on Switch, such as Mario vs. Donkey Kong and Metroid Prime Remastered, ideally they’ll remain to be offered on the eShop for the Switch 2.

In regards to Switch devices, I would certainly picture much of those (other than those that fit based upon the existing Switch’s physical measurements) need to collaborate with the more recent version also. Things that connect into the console by means of USB-C or right into its dock with USB-A, I picture, would certainly function simply great with a future tool.

Related:

  • The ideal Switch games for grownups (no children enabled)
  • The ideal Switch games for the entire family members

There are some edge-case circumstances where it makes good sense to hold back on acquiring aSwitch For circumstances, if you have actually currently been waiting years for the Switch 2 so you can experience the Switch’s best hits with higher-fidelity graphics, you may also maintain waiting.

Then, there’s the group that is fed up with acquiring brand-new Joy-Con controllers, several of which are susceptible to establishing “Joy-Con drift,” a broken state where the analog sticks will certainly wander in an instructions with no input. I recognize your irritation, and I also really hope that this isn’t a concern progressing, need to Nintendo pick to repeat on the Joy-Con rather than changing it totally. Plus, suppose the firm shocks all of us with a very early 2024 launch?

If you have actually reached completion of this short article sensation certain that you need to simply get the normal Switch, Switch Lite, or Switch OLED that are out currently, I totally sustain this choice. Even if it might practically be obsoleted the minute Nintendo debuts the following Switch, it’s still efficient in playing some extraordinary games that you can not experience on any type of various other console.

See More:

  • Gaming
  • Nintendo
  • Shopping
  • Switch 2
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Source: Polygon

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