The Nintendo Switch has been an integral part of this website since its inception. We’ve covered the system’s entire lifespan, from reviewing Super Bomberman R back in early 2017 to a deluge of titles to this very day. It’s been more than a thousand Switch game reviews, and we’re now ready for its successor, the Switch 2. More horsepower, more possibilities. But at the same time, there just isn’t a lot of exclusive content to tackle, at least for now. With the exception of Mario Kart World and Survival Kids, the Switch 2’s launch lineup is basically comprised of ports of slightly older games. And also the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which we’ll talk about today. Unenthusiastically so.

At first glance, the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour doesn’t look like something we’d be bummed to tackle. It’s obviously meant to be a tech demo to showcase the power and capabilities of the Switch 2, and there’s nothing wrong about that. I mean, Astro’s Playroom, which has been (and still is) packed in with every single Playstation 5, is excellent. It’s short, but looks great, takes advantage of every single feature the PS5 has to offer, and is really fun, despite being a bit short. But it’s also clearly a tech demo, thus it’s a free product. Perception of value makes us not mind about its length when it’s clearly meant to be a free sample for us consumers. Nintendo did not take the same route with the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour.

You already know that the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a paid product, so this completely changes our perception of value, and as a result, expectations towards it. It’s not an expensive title, mind you, but it still costs a few bucks. Money that could have been spent elsewhere. And there just isn’t enough of a justification as to why this “game” has a monetary paywall, as its content is sparse, and honestly, not very fun.

So, the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour takes place in a pseudo-E3 conference of sorts, shaped like an actual Nintendo Switch 2. After choosing your avatar from a shockingly large range of underwhelming “cheap indie game vibes” models, you arrive at the first pavillion, shaped like one of the joycons. In order to unlock new areas, you gotta walk around an awkwardly designed, isometric-perspective area, clicking on every single feature of the joycon (as in, all of its buttons, gimmicks, pieces of hardware) in order to fill out a stamp card. Only after filling out a stupid stamp card will you be allowed to proceed to the next area.

This is collectathon done wrong. It didn’t feel like I was collecting stamps, it felt like checklisting, like busy work. But sure, it wasn’t particularly hard to collect these stamps, even if the overworld controls (especially the camera) felt underwhelming. It would take me a few minutes to collect all stamps and proceed to the next section. In the meantime, the game would offer me a handful of minigames and extra activities to give the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour some semblance of substance.

These minigames are meant to showcase the power and features of the system. For instance, a small tech showcase is included as a demonstration of how good the joycon’s HD rumble features are (even though we know half a dozen games will ever take advantage of it), by letting you shake them as maracas. Thanks, but we already have Samba de Amigo for that. Another minigame has you playing the original Super Mario Bros, in its original resolution, on a huge 4K display, just to showcase how far we’ve come since 1985. It’s an amusing concept, but not particularly fun. A better showcase of 4K would have been giving me the ability to zoom into a picture with immense amounts of detail instead of having me play a game at a microscopic resolution.

Sadly, this is not a collection of memorable minigames. They wouldn’t even be worthy of an inclusion in a WarioWare title, which would have easily been more creative with this usage of the Switch 2’s hardware. Furthermore, in order to pad out the collection’s content, and in order to properly teach us how the system works, Nintendo has decided to include quizzes throughout this minuscule campaign. Yes. Quizzes. As if we were being forced to partake a mandatory training course at work. Sure, one or two questions feature dumb-but-funny answers… but they’re still quizzes. In no moment was I having fun with any of these wastes of time.

Finally, I need to point out that, sure, the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is relatively “cheap” (mind you, being cheap doesn’t mean it’s offering enough value), but some of its content is paywalled. It sounds obvious, sure, but in order to access the minigames and content dedicated to the brand new webcam, well, you need to own one. And they ain’t particularly cheap, either. I wouldn’t call them DLC, but it’s still a paywall of sorts.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour‘s biggest problem isn’t even the fact you gotta shell out some cash in order to experience it. The problem is that, sadly, it is an incredibly lame title, with just a few memorable minigames  which aren’t enough to make me forget about the sheer amount of befuddling quiz sections, annoying collectathon mechanics, and the overall sensation that you are not playing a game per se, you feel like you’re witnessing the company patting itself on the back with this brand new system. I guess it’s not as offensive a tech demo as 1-2 Switch was, but it’s not worth your time, let alone the few bucks being charged for it.

Graphics: 5.5 This might be a technical showcase of the Switch 2’s gameplay capabilities, but it certainly isn’t a showcase of its graphical potential. It looks like a ton of cheap indies released for its predecessor.	Gameplay: 8.5 I guess I have to admit that the minigames created to showcase some of the hardware’s features work as intended. The overworld exploration isn’t as polished, however, with the camera controls feeling clunky.
Sound: 5.0 Just like the visuals, it does nothing to showcase the improvements on the system’s sound performance (as in, not having to compress audio files like crazy). The music just isn’t memorable either. It’s the videogame equivalent to elevator music.	Fun Factor: 3.0 Even as a tech demo, this is just interesting for a couple of minutes at a time. The mandatory stamp completion and inclusion of quizzes felt baffling and condescending. As a tech demo, it would have already been considered underwhelming. As something you gotta pay in order to experience, this is inexcusable.
Final Verdict: 5.0

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is available now on Switch 2. Naturally.

Reviewed on Switch 2.