Nintendo Switch 2: Our Hands-On Impressions of Mario Kart World, Metroid Prime 4, and More
From Mario Kart World’s thrilling Knockout Mode to the return of GameCube classics, we went hands-on with the Nintendo Switch 2. Here’s what you need to know before launch.
Nintendo has finally lifted the curtain on the Nintendo Switch 2, giving us our first in-depth look at its upgraded hardware, new gameplay innovations, and a lineup of must-play titles. At a special premiere event in Manhattan, we got to test out the console for ourselves—diving into Mario Kart World, Metroid Prime 4, and even third-party heavyweights like Hades 2 and Street Fighter VI. Plus, Nintendo dropped a bombshell for retro fans: GameCube classics are coming to the Switch Online subscription.
GameCube Games on Switch 2
Nintendo GameCube games are coming to the Nintendo Online Subscription service, starting with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, and Soulcalibur 2. If you want to get super nostalgic, Nintendo will also be selling a Nintendo GameCube controller that's compatible with the new console.
3rd Party Developers (Play Demos)
At the premiere, Nintendo set up two entire floors of Switch 2 demos for people to try out. As part of my hands-on time, I tried several third-party demos, including Street Fighter VI: Years 1-2 Fighters Edition, Split Fiction, Yakuza 0: Director's Cut, and Hades 2.
They all played smoothly and looked great, at least from Nintendo's perspective, which was why they were included on the show floor. The Switch 2 clearly has enough processing power to hang with the current generation of Microsoft and Sony consoles. And since it's likely that the Xbox Series X and PS5's successors won't launch until 2027 at the earliest, it opens the door for stronger third-party exclusives (like the upcoming Duskbloods) as well as faithful cross-platform ports.
However, the games that I found most engaging were the first-party titles, featuring the characters and creative properties that Nintendo has made iconic. Here are the five major Nintendo Switch 2 games that I played at the premiere, along with my thoughts on each.
Hands-On Impressions: Mario Kart World (June 5 Launch)
Nintendo dedicated a floor-and-a-half to Mario Kart, and for good reason. It is a gorgeous game, and it's the main reason why many players will be buying this console in the first place.
The Grand Prix races feature 24 racers instead of the traditional 12. While this may sound overstuffed and congested, it didn't feel that way when I played it; the developers widened the roads to accommodate more drivers. In fact, I could have used more congestion; the road felt so open that at times, the metagame was less about jockeying for position and more about drafting behind other racers. Perhaps other race tracks will require rougher, more aggressive driving.
Nintendo touts the new Free Roam option; you can now wander off the track, explore the surrounding area, and even travel to another race track in another part of the "world." What was once cosmetic dressing is now fully explorable. I made two discoveries while free-roaming: first, that you could travel on top of the water like you're water skiing. Second, there's a stack of coins hidden behind one of the Toad Houses. Who knows what else is hidden? No doubt, there's more where that came from.
Knockout Mode
I also got to play the new Knockout Mode, against 23 other gaming journalists in the room with me simultaneously. The gimmick is this: you have to lap a track six times. And each time you complete a lap, the handful of players who finish last are eliminated. It's Mario Kart reimagined through an Among Us/Battle Royale lens, and it plays exceptionally well. Traditionally, Mario Kart works under the premise that you can have a bad lap and still recover on the next one. Knockout Mode adds immediacy and urgency to every powerup, every mistake, every swing in momentum. You can't afford to have a bad lap. I got eliminated in the third lap, but I was in a fight for the final spot, and it was thrilling when I lost by inches.
The trailer shows players grinding on rails and walls. The first time I did this in a real race, it was an accident, but I was able to do it somewhat reliably afterwards. I wasn't able to figure out how to strategically apply it in the time I had, but it was organic and definitely fun.
Mario Kart World Feels Harder to Cheat
Drifting sparked a bit quicker than it did in Mario Kart 8, but it also resulted in a smaller speed boost. Racers also seemed to recover more quickly from being stunned. Mario Kart World feels "stable," in that it is harder to "cheat" your way into the Top 5 of any race than in other Mario Kart games.
I can see Nintendo patching the game once millions of players provide the prerequisite raw data. We don't want Mario Kart Wii-level chaos, where the outcome comes down to luck, but this more measured, sober racing experience doesn't fit quite right either. Again, it's a matter of finding the right balance, and I have no doubt that Nintendo will find it. This is the flagship game for the console, after all, and it can't afford to fail.
Hands-on Impressions: Drag x Drive (Summer 2025)
Drag x Drive is a futuristic wheelchair basketball experience, in which youuse the Joy-Con 2 controllers as dual mice, one in each hand, to propel yourself forward. Nintendo installed a large mousepad table in front of each station for this purpose.
You drag both Joy-Con 2 controllers across the pad, from backwards to forward in a smooth motion, to accelerate and pick up speed. If you just drag the left controller, your player will turn right. If you just drag the right controller, your player will turn left. Eventually, your intuition kicks in, and you can make turns and spin on a dime, all while moving, by dragging the controllers in different directions at different rates. The Rumble technology really gets a workout here, and you can feel the grit and tension as you roll down the court to pick up speed.
The basketball component of the experience is a bit under-explained; you shoot by flicking your wrist, and whether you make a basket depends on whether you're facing the basket and how smoothly you flick your wrist. But the actual metric is hidden from you; this is not an NBA 2K-type scenario, where you're told whether you're close enough for a high shot probability, and the game visually evaluates your timing so you can reliably hit your perfect "green shot." You're meant to figure these things out organically by feeling, which could be frustrating to someone who values precision or wants to improve quickly.
My arms were a little tired after my play session, and the average play session with this game would be less than an hour long. Although I enjoyed this game, it seemed to serve more as a tech demo than a full-fledged experience that I'd pay $70 for. From that perspective, the game proves its point—that the new mouse controls are a viable way to play and enjoy a game. But similar to the waggle gimmick that defined Wii Sports, will Nintendo or its third-party partners take the time to explore and really dig into the new tech? Time will tell.
Hands-on Impressions: Metroid Prime 4 (2025)
If developers do incorporate mouse controls, the Metroid Prime 4 demo demonstrated the easiest, most commercially viable way to do it—by treating the Nintendo Switch like a PC. You use one Joy-Con 2 controller as a point-and-click mouse and the other as the"keyboard" to control movement and manage inventory.
I played Metroid Prime 4 for about 15 minutes—not enough time to do more than the fundamentals of aiming, shooting, and morph balling through confined spaces. But Metroid Prime 4 was fantastic, from what I could tell. Playing the keyboard/mouse setup on a PC is second-nature. Playing it on a home console feels liberating, especially for a game like Metroid Prime 4, whose 1st-person perspective lends itself to this control scheme and ensures accuracy; where you click is where you shoot.
Hands-on Impressions: Mario Party Jamboree TV (July 24)
This station was also set up as a tech demo. I played a series of minigames that incorporated the players' full bodies into the action via the Nintendo Switch 2 Camera peripheral, which read my movements and graded me accordingly. There was one minigame where I punched an augmented reality ?-Block. There was another minigame where I balanced Goombas on my head—I watched myself on camera and moved myself to "catch the Goombas as they fell, Tetris-style, from the top of the screen. The final mini-game—which young kids will love—required me to yell and move about as much as I could. The person who yelled and moved the most won. Bowser burnt the loser to a crisp.
This was fun, but limited; the technology seems best-suited for the sorts of low-stakes mini-games that Mario Party provides. At its best, I could imagine a Just Dance-esque rhythm game takes advantage of this new tech and makes the gameplay more interactive. It's a cool perk, but not a console-seller, per se.
Hands-on Impressions: Donkey Kong Bananza (July 17)
Along with Metroid Prime 4, this was the highlight of the play session. Donkey Kong Bananza was loads of fun, and dumb in the best possible way. You play by punching everything and anything in sight—the enemies, the walls, the boxes. The environment is fully destructible, meaning that if you want to punch through the hillside that you're about to climb? You can probably do that. If you want to punch the ground beneath you to create a crater, or perhaps tunnel down to an underground part of the level? You can do that too. You could also rip out a piece of the ground and hurl it at a target.
Playing this game was a liberating stress relief—the punch mechanic "felt" good and had excellent haptic feedback and on-screen visuals. And the potential for secret areas and hidden items felt limitless. This was just solid, fundamental game design. There's no gimmick, no high-end graphics that can compete with that.
