The Nintendo Switch 2 thread

[kaioshade]

Unfortunate luck. Switch 2 has a bad LCD and I'm basically stuck with it.

Called Best Buy to get an exchange and of course the item is out of stock. I was told I need to check the website for stock, magically teleport to the store in the 15 seconds it will be available (no they will not hold it) and then get an exchange. Absolute madness.

Now I get to try my luck with Nintendo and play refurb roulette. 4 days in. Yay.

 

[PotentPeas]

Unfortunate luck. Switch 2 has a bad LCD and I'm basically stuck with it.

Called Best Buy to get an exchange and of course the item is out of stock. I was told I need to check the website for stock, magically teleport to the store in the 15 seconds it will be available (no they will not hold it) and then get an exchange. Absolute madness.

Now I get to try my luck with Nintendo and play refurb roulette. 4 days in. Yay.

That stinks. I can't tell you how many devices I've received with a display defect that I had to have fixed — including my current MacBook Pro — I must have really bad luck (or maybe I am just extra picky). Fortunately, my Switch 2 seems to be fine.

What's wrong with your LCD exactly? Just curious.

I remember getting a Nintendo DSi at launch and immediately noticing a stuck red pixel on the screen. I was able to get it repaired by Nintendo directly, for free, under the hardware warranty. It did require shipping the unit to them and waiting a bit.

 

[Macalicious2011]

That stinks. I can't tell you how many devices I've received with a display defect that I had to have fixed — including my current MacBook Pro — I must have really bad luck (or maybe I am just extra picky). Fortunately, my Switch 2 seems to be fine.

What's wrong with your LCD exactly? Just curious.

I remember getting a Nintendo DSi at launch and immediately noticing a stuck red pixel on the screen. I was able to get it repaired by Nintendo directly, for free, under the hardware warranty. It did require shipping the unit to them and waiting a bit.

Are there two different suppliers for the LCD?

 

[kaioshade]

That stinks. I can't tell you how many devices I've received with a display defect that I had to have fixed — including my current MacBook Pro — I must have really bad luck (or maybe I am just extra picky). Fortunately, my Switch 2 seems to be fine.

What's wrong with your LCD exactly? Just curious.

I remember getting a Nintendo DSi at launch and immediately noticing a stuck red pixel on the screen. I was able to get it repaired by Nintendo directly, for free, under the hardware warranty. It did require shipping the unit to them and waiting a bit.

I wish it was just a few pixels LOL. It's an entire line through. I'm sure Nintendo will do right, I just didn't want to be without it a few weeks. But it's probably going to be faster than waiting for stock at BB. And I know it's being a bit (a lot) extra of me, but I wanted to get a new unit, not a potential refurb. At least not within a week in of ownership.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I wish it was just a few pixels LOL. It's an entire line through. I'm sure Nintendo will do right, I just didn't want to be without it a few weeks. But it's probably going to be faster than waiting for stock at BB. And I know it's being a bit (a lot) extra of me, but I wanted to get a new unit, not a potential refurb. At least not within a week in of ownership.

Depends on where you are, but I was at 2 targets last night and they both had multiple Switch 2's in stock.

At this point, I think the Pro Controller is harder to come by than the Switch 2 itself.

 

[PotentPeas]

Depends on where you are, but I was at 2 targets last night and they both had multiple Switch 2's in stock.

At this point, I think the Pro Controller is harder to come by than the Switch 2 itself.

Yeah, I guess if you could just *return* it to Best Buy and buy a new one somewhere else... (Maybe not in that order, so that you can do a system transfer.)

I had no trouble picking up Pro Controller pre-orders on April 24, hours after the actual consoles had long since sold out. Glad I did that, I guess. (I wanted four of them so I had to pick them up from multiple vendors, as everyone had a cap of one or two. I got two from Walmart and two from Best Buy.)

 

[rumz]

Depends on where you are, but I was at 2 targets last night and they both had multiple Switch 2's in stock.

At this point, I think the Pro Controller is harder to come by than the Switch 2 itself.

Man. I don't know where you live-- no Switch 2 inventory at Target anywhere within 100 miles of where I live-- probably a dozen and a half Targets. But the Pro Controller 2 is available to order for shipping at least at Target & Best Buy, unlike the Switch 2. Pro Controller might eventually become hard to get... sure seemed like the original was frequently hard to get at retail prices.

 

[PotentPeas]

Second dock arrived. I can play in the bedroom.

Switch 2 doesn't seem to support the USB audio adapter that I was using with Switch 1 — SoundBlaster G3. This would be to plug into headphones. Hopefully they get parity with USB audio support with a firmware update soon. I can just use the 3.5mm jack on the Switch 2 itself for now, but a USB DAC is convenient as I can just leave it plugged into the dock and not have to deal with any extra cables plugged into the Switch itself when docking/undocking.

 

[maflynn]

Switch 2 users report online console bans after running personal game “backups”

"My Switch 2 test has been banned after using the Mig [Flash] with perfectly legal dumps of my own cartridges, so it would seem that Nintendo can detect something," popular hacking news account Switch Tools posted on social media Monday (along with a follow-up showing a stack of legitimate Switch games they said they had backed up using the device). "I strongly recommend that you do not use the Mig [Flash], it was already very risky to use but it is even more so on Switch 2."

Nintendo doesn't play around, I forget where I read it, but they already mentioned that they'll drop the ban hammer on people who alter their hardware or software.

 

[rumz]

Switch 2 users report online console bans after running personal game “backups”



Nintendo doesn't play around, I forget where I read it, but they already mentioned that they'll drop the ban hammer on people who alter their hardware or software.

I would not be surprised if Nintendo weren't terribly sympathetic to "legal dumps". But, I would imagine that the number of users using these Mig carts is relatively small compared to Nintendo's overall customer base.

Second dock arrived. I can play in the bedroom.

Switch 2 doesn't seem to support the USB audio adapter that I was using with Switch 1 — SoundBlaster G3. This would be to plug into headphones. Hopefully they get parity with USB audio support with a firmware update soon. I can just use the 3.5mm jack on the Switch 2 itself for now, but a USB DAC is convenient as I can just leave it plugged into the dock and not have to deal with any extra cables plugged into the Switch itself when docking/undocking.

Nice! I'm pretty sure I'll be picking one up soon as well. I've been spoiled by the multi-dock Switch 1 lifestyle 😂

Are they pretty much only available directly from Nintendo right now?

 

[rumz]

Speaking of dumps and docks... 😂 Does anyone else run their Switch (or other game console) through their Mac in order to use their Studio Display / Pro Display XDR? I've been playing my dumped Wind Waker HD on my MacBook Pro since someone did some work to get Metal support into CEMU and have been enjoying playing on the Pro Display XDR. Would be nice to play the Switch 2 on there, though I'm curious what kind of display latency I'd run into going through the MBP.

 

[PotentPeas]

Are they pretty much only available directly from Nintendo right now?

Yes, despite being on the official accessories list with a price and everything, I've only been able to find them for sale at the main Nintendo site.

I also had a "Genki Covert Dock" for my Switch 1. It was great for traveling, much smaller than a regular dock... It's basically like a USB-C charging brick, but also with an HDMI port. You plug it into your Switch via USB-C and then into a TV via HDMI and you have your Switch "docked" and playing on the TV.

Not sure if something like this will be possible with Switch 2, since I guess it also expects some degree of active cooling from the dock... And, Genki is in hot water with Nintendo right now.

Speaking of dumps and docks... 😂 Does anyone else run their Switch (or other game console) through their Mac in order to use their Studio Display / Pro Display XDR? I've been playing my dumped Wind Waker HD on my MacBook Pro since someone did some work to get Metal support into CEMU and have been enjoying playing on the Pro Display XDR. Would be nice to play the Switch 2 on there, though I'm curious what kind of display latency I'd run into going through the MBP.

I've played around with emulators, including Switch emulators. Ryujinx works (for Switch 1 games) on macOS but there are performance issues (mostly shader compilation stutters, and long waiting time to boot a game if you have a large shader cache). So yeah, for now, sticking with a "real" Switch (2).

(I only played games that I dumped myself... but even doing that is technically against the DMCA, since you have to "bypass" the "protection measures" that they have in place. I don't like it, but Nintendo isn't in the wrong [legally] to ban players using flashcarts even if they dumped the games themselves.)

I haven't used Cemu much, but I'll say that Dolphin is an amazing project for Gamecube/Wii games, it plays everything that I've thrown at it perfectly. I use Retroarch for stuff older than that.

I've also evaluated HDMI input solutions via USB 3/USB-C. I'd be interested in playing Switch games on my laptop display. But, I've always found the latency to be higher than I would like for real-time gaming.

 

[Abazigal]

Switch 2 users report online console bans after running personal game “backups”



Nintendo doesn't play around, I forget where I read it, but they already mentioned that they'll drop the ban hammer on people who alter their hardware or software.

It's apparently nothing new (seems other consoles have a similar clause in their TOS). Nintendo is probably the first company to actually dare enforce that particular section.

 

[rumz]

Yes, despite being on the official accessories list with a price and everything, I've only been able to find them for sale at the main Nintendo site.

I also had a "Genki Covert Dock" for my Switch 1. It was great for traveling, much smaller than a regular dock... It's basically like a USB-C charging brick, but also with an HDMI port. You plug it into your Switch via USB-C and then into a TV via HDMI and you have your Switch "docked" and playing on the TV.

Not sure if something like this will be possible with Switch 2, since I guess it also expects some degree of active cooling from the dock... And, Genki is in hot water with Nintendo right now.



I've played around with emulators, including Switch emulators. Ryujinx works (for Switch 1 games) on macOS but there are performance issues (mostly shader compilation stutters, and long waiting time to boot a game if you have a large shader cache). So yeah, for now, sticking with a "real" Switch (2).

(I only played games that I dumped myself... but even doing that is technically against the DMCA, since you have to "bypass" the "protection measures" that they have in place. I don't like it, but Nintendo isn't in the wrong [legally] to ban players using flashcarts even if they dumped the games themselves.)

I haven't used Cemu much, but I'll say that Dolphin is an amazing project for Gamecube/Wii games, it plays everything that I've thrown at it perfectly. I use Retroarch for stuff older than that.

I've also evaluated HDMI input solutions via USB 3/USB-C. I'd be interested in playing Switch games on my laptop display. But, I've always found the latency to be higher than I would like for real-time gaming.

Yep I’ve got both of Genki’s covert docks… and they then were showing off that Switch 2 dummy unit and Nintendo is suing them, right? Ugh. Yeah I feel like the active cooling is the hangup to a portable dock (or that will be Nintendo’s official stance anyways).

Yeah I don’t have any need to emulate Switch / Switch 2 (technically I don’t need to emulate my Wii U either, it’s just so slow and again, portability of the Switch has spoiled me), but I was interested in the video capture solution for an actual Switch / Switch 2. I’ll have to take a whack at it and see how it goes. (Already had to tackle a couple latency problems… for some reason on Mac OS there’s some unnecessary input lag when using a Switch 1 Pro Controller via Bluetooth with the Mac. Apparently was an issue introduced in Sonoma or something and has not been fixed. Xbox and PS4/5 controllers don’t suffer the same input lag I hear, so I’ve just been playing wired.)

Re: emulation… 3DS will be the next one I tinker with. Basically for the games I don’t have on Switch or Wii U! Haha.

 

[PotentPeas]

Yeah I feel like the active cooling is the hangup to a portable dock (or that will be Nintendo’s official stance anyways).

I was thinking about this a bit more... and I looked at the dock... and I'm not thinking that the fan in the dock could really be doing much to cool off the Switch 2? There's hardly any space in the dock "cavity" where air could possibly be moving from the fan to the Switch 2, just a few small holes at the bottom of where you slide the Switch down into, and the fan is on the back side of the dock, not the bottom. I suspect the fan is more for cooling the dock components than for cooling the Switch components.

So, if that's the case, someone just needs to make a dock that doesn't need cooling. Which seems possible? What is the dock doing that really needs a fan? Genki Covert Dock 2 (no fan) can already output 4K/60. It would need a bit more in order to support Switch 2, though. Switch 2 wants to output 1440p/120 (that uses about the same bandwidth/bitrate as 4K/60). HDR might kick the bitrate up a bit further. Covert Dock 2 also is capped at 45W power delivery, but Switch 2 wants something like a 60W power supply for docked play. (Doesn't have to be an official Nintendo power supply, though... I have my spare dock connected to an Apple 70W USB-C charger and it is completely happy with that. I'm using the Apple charger because it has the option to be grounded, and if I don't have the Switch grounded off of the bedroom outlets then I get a buzzing sound in my headphones.)

Regarding third-party dock options and what is actually "required" from the dock, I'm sure people will be coming to a better understanding of this over the course of the next few weeks/months.

 

[Abazigal]

Regarding third-party dock options and what is actually "required" from the dock, I'm sure people will be coming to a better understanding of this over the course of the next few weeks/months.

Do you think there will be any downsides to simply connecting a Switch 2 to a portable monitor via a thunderbolt cable?

This is what I am doing with my Switch 1 (have a 1080p monitor that I connect with a usb 4.0 cable), and it seems to run fine. It also makes me wish televisions started coming with usb-c ports. Actually, I have no idea why they aren't already doing this.

 

[PotentPeas]

Do you think there will be any downsides to simply connecting a Switch 2 to a portable monitor via a thunderbolt cable?

I actually didn't know that you can do this ... I was under the impression that the Switch was "picky" and would only output a display signal through the official dock, or through something pretending to be the official dock. (Maybe this portable monitor actually does pretend to be a Switch dock if it detects a Switch attached?)

I assume that your portable monitor delivers power to the Switch through the Thunderbolt cable ...?
If that's the case, the only thing that I'd be worried about is the Switch 2's increased power requirements for docked play and whether that can be delivered. It's now 60W instead of 38W.

[Edit] Realized I had the Switch 2 power supply wrong, it's just 60W, not 67W.

 

[salamanderjuice]

I actually didn't know that you can do this ... I was under the impression that the Switch was "picky" and would only output a display signal through the official dock, or through something pretending to be the official dock. (Maybe this portable monitor actually does pretend to be a Switch dock if it detects a Switch attached?)

I assume that your portable monitor delivers power to the Switch through the Thunderbolt cable ...?
If that's the case, the only thing that I'd be worried about is the Switch 2's increased power requirements for docked play and whether that can be delivered. It's now 67W instead of 38W.

The Switch 1 is picky. Lots of docks don't support it. It does seem like at least some portable monitors will work, but not all.

 

[PotentPeas]

I was excited for this game ........... now I am way more excited. I love a good buddy-duo platformer...

 

[Abazigal]

I actually didn't know that you can do this ... I was under the impression that the Switch was "picky" and would only output a display signal through the official dock, or through something pretending to be the official dock. (Maybe this portable monitor actually does pretend to be a Switch dock if it detects a Switch attached?)

I assume that your portable monitor delivers power to the Switch through the Thunderbolt cable ...?
If that's the case, the only thing that I'd be worried about is the Switch 2's increased power requirements for docked play and whether that can be delivered. It's now 67W instead of 38W.

My portable monitor came with 2 usb-c ports (one solely for power delivery, the other is a legit usb-c which allows for full data transfer). So I would connect the first port from my monitor to a usb-c charger (think it's 60w), and the other to my switch. I don't know how much power is supplied to my switch 1 console, but it's enough to keep it charged while playing.

From couple of years ago.

 

[PotentPeas]

I don't know how much power is supplied to my switch 1 console, but it's enough to keep it charged while playing.

Switch 1 is not picky about the power adapter in portable mode — It will take a low-power adapter like 5W or 12W and just "do the best that it can", which might mean that the battery is still discharging during gameplay even though there is some power coming in.

But it is picky about the power adapter in docked mode, it outright just won't start up if the connected power adapter can't provide sufficient power. If the power is too low, it just shows an error asking you to connect the AC adapter that came with the system. (It wants at least 38W and it won't even accept a 35W ... I tried it.)

All this to say, the portable monitor that you have must be able to provide at least 38W to the Switch for it to be working in this configuration. Also, I doubt that this specific setup will work with the Switch 2, as Switch 2 is going to want much more power.

[Edit] Switch 2 also has two USB-C ports. You could connect additional power directly to the system, but I'm not sure if it would be happy doing power input and "docked" video output on two different ports?

[Edit 2] This article has a few details, it looks like "third-party" docking solutions for Switch 1 won't work on Switch 2 without adjustments (perhaps more than a "firmware upgrade" to boot). https://gonintendo.com/contents/496...vercome-in-creating-switch-2-compatible-docks

 

[Pezimak]

Bought a Switch 2 to try out over the weekend, I returned it already. Felt a little cheap to me, it’s it fast and responsive though, E Shop is miles ahead, joycons do feel a lot more solid now. But my thumb had no chance of using those D pad buttons! And mine was a bit faulty too. Also I found the screen to look great on the Home Screen but in game it was very dark I thought. Not really into Nintendo first party games either. Speakers are not loud enough either.

Still I tried it. Overall it is a nice system if you are a Nintendo fan I will say that.

 

[fgengineer]

I have the Switch 2 and have been playing Zelda TOTK. The game plays very smooth, but the battery life is very short. I get about 2 to 2.5 hours. Even my aging Switch could last more than that.

I also do feel the weight a lot more. The switch was a lot more comfortable after extended sessions.

My other complaint is the screen. It should have had OLED or at least have two versions. The blacks look washed out. I think this was purely a move to double dip by Nintendo.

Not a fan of the dock either. I struggle to get the dock to turn on with my switch pro controller. I know the home button won’t turn it on, but I press the power button on the Switch and I will get output on the screen for a second and then it will go dark again. In order to get it to work I have remove the joy cons from the Switch 2 and use those to start the system up.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I have the Switch 2 and have been playing Zelda TOTK. The game plays very smooth, but the battery life is very short. I get about 2 to 2.5 hours. Even my aging Switch could last more than that.

Is this battery life true for all games or just the very demanding ones?

 

[diamond.g]

Is this battery life true for all games or just the very demanding ones?

Seems like a lot of games (even Switch 1 titles) drain the battery quite fast. I've been playing Zelda Link Awakening and I get maybe 3 hours of battery life.