Don't buy the Nintendo Switch 2 at launch. There is practically only one first-party launch title, Mario Kart World, and that will be infinitely replayable for years to come, you don't need to play it upon launch. Wait for Holiday, at least.
The only reason I am personally pre-ordering is beacuse I have been waiting for this system for a long time now, and I have never been able to do a Day 1 console launch. I'm in a silly point in my life where I don't have any bills, I have a part time job ($13.10/hour and I work around 4 days a week right now), and I'm going to school for a higher paying job (hopefully) upon graduation. While I should be a smart person and start putting more and more money into savings, I would prefer having fun with the money I earn. I can't wait to go to a midnight launch for a new system, it sounds like so much fun. I watched CND's Switch 1 Launch Vlogs as they were airing, and I've always wanted to do it sense watching those (8+ years ago!!). Again, this is an incredibly stupid decision & I wouldn't recommend anyone doing the same (it's also a very privilleged position too). So, again, do not buy the Nintendo Switch 2 at launch.
The system should fail upon launch. The system's price is, fine. The system's software price is, delusional. I knew we were moving to $70 MSRP for AAA first party games with the release of Tears of the Kingdom for Switch 1, but $80 is pushing it entirely too far. I really hope the consumer market reacts to this push to $80 too, I hope software with this price tag undersell like crazy. I want to see Nintendo backtrack on this so bad, in reality I don't think they will but I would love to see it happen. People keep bringing up the 3DS's poor sales performance at launch and how Nintendo backtracked on that, but that wasn't because of just price. The 3DS had a terrible launch lineup with practically no releases after it, which lead to poor sales and the price cut. The Switch 2 has a brand new Mario Kart game, it's going to sell just fine.
NOBODY SHOULD BUY Nintendo Switch 2: Welcome Tour. No matter the cost, nobody should buy it. End of story, don't pay for a tech demo. It's not even a video game, it's a tech demo, it calls itself a tech demo, don't pay for tech demos.
Mario Kart World is the flagship game for the Switch 2, it's what's going to be the Switch 2's system seller for years to come. At launch, there will be a Nintendo Switch 2 console bundled with the game for $500 USD, with the game valued at $50 in this bundle. This is a no-brainer, obviously everyone should go for this bundle at launch. However, this bundle isn't a guarenteed offer. As seen on the How To Buy Nintendo Switch 2 page on Nintendo's website, "[the Mario Kart World bundle is a] Limited-time production through Fall 2025 (available while supplies last)." Right now, we don't know the confirmed Digital price for the title, except for a Geoff Keighley tweet which I'm taking with a grain of salt. Basically, nobody should be buying this for $80 at launch, just go for the system bundle.
$70 for Donkey Kong Bananza is fine. It'll only be not fine if the game is incredibly short, from the trailer we got at the Direct it seems like it'll be a large enough game to justify the price point.
$80 for some ports??? Actually wild. I understand exactly what they're doing, with Super Mario Party Jamboree for example, they're charging $60 for the base game and adding the "Upgrade Pack" pricing on top of that ($20). But this just feels incredibly scummy to me, I wouldn't even pay $20 on the Switch 1 for the added content in that game, let alone paying $10-$20 for some graphical improvements. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is in the exact same boat. I have a feeling they are justifying these $20 upgrade packs because of these added side story modes that nobody is really fiending for. If there was an option to just pay $10 for only graphical upgrades, I would do that with these two games. I suppose I'll get Super Mario Party Jamboree one day, it seems really fun, but I don't think I'll pay for the upgrade and just play it under the backwards compatibility mode.
Both Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom's upgrade packs are going to be included with an active Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership. This is good, but kinda just wish they were free upgrades in the first place. All the BOTW & TOTK upgrade packs do is improve performance and resolution. I paid for the system to have improved performance and resolution, now I have to double dip on upgrading the software too?
The PlayStation 5 does something similar. I bought Gran Turismo 7 for my PlayStation 4 for $20 (on sale) and that game retails (for the PS4) at $40. The PS5 version retails at $70. This game is cross-gen, and released on PS4 & PS5 simultaniously. I paid $10 to upgrade my PS4 copy to the PS5 version. I was plenty happy to do this upgrade, it felt very cost efficient. Nintendo's way of doing these upgrades don't feel that way at all. They shouldn't force us to pay up for a mandatory $20 DLC to upgrade the software's version to the newest console. Ports should max out at $70 to an upgraded system. These Switch 2 Edition games aren't cross-gen games, these are ports with tacked on DLC. They already ported half of the Wii U's library to Switch, and charged $60 for all of those games, are they about to release upgrade packs for those too?
Anyways, this was kinda a ramble but I just wanted to put all of my thoughts on the Switch 2's pricing in one place, and to start using my Blog more.
