Man, it felt weird downloading a 70GB game onto a Nintendo system, but this just made me a bit more excited to review NBA 2K26. For the past few years, I’d stick to reviewing those games on a PS4 or PS5, and they’d always be the same damn thing, be it in terms of visuals, underwhelming soundtracks, bureaucratic bootups, or immense amount of microtransactions. The act of booting an NBA 2K game up for a few matches was getting less and less exciting with each new version. This is why I was hoping for the first game in the series to come out on the Switch 2 to, hopefully, feel like a moderate breath of fresh air when compared to the previous, say, 5 or 6 years reviewing these games. And somehow, I got just that.

Playing a few rounds on-the-go is the optimal way to have fun with NBA 2K26.

I’m slowly starting to get more and more fascinated with these PS4 Pro / Xbox Series S-leveled visuals running on a Nintendo portable, and with games coming out for the Switch 2 at a state that doesn’t make them feel too gimped when compared to the ports seen in more powerful consoles. Portability makes some of NBA 2K26‘s shortcomings feel less annoying; hopping into a match or two, whenever I want, on-the-go, felt as fresh as when I first reviewed another NBA 2K game on the original Switch, eight years ago. That’s not to say that NBA 2K26‘s Switch 2 port looks and plays as well as the PS5 version, for instance.

It looks good, a vast improvement over any other Switch version, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a catch: the game is locked at a 30fps cap. It might feel a bit disappointing to see such a limitation when we could have had, at the very least, an option between Fidelity and Performance, but I have to say that the framerate is still very stable, running quite well on portable mode. I wasn’t able to notice any issues regarding input delays, even at the reduced framerate; the same difficulty-based complexity on the controls, featured in NBA 2K25, remains present in 2K26. A welcoming and understandable case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

I actually enjoyed the story mode, but LOATHED the protagonist.

Mode-wise, it’s got everything you’d expect, for better and for worse. A brand new story mode features a really nice plot regarding a nobody from Vermont becoming an NBA star, hampered by some truly awful voice acting. A lot of arcade modes felt like the perfect fit for a portable with much better (but still somewhat long) loading times than previous Switch versions. And yes, a lot of predatory microtransactions and insane amount of product placement that still annoy me to this day. It’s one of those things you know won’t change, as, like I’ve mentioned countless times over the past few years, there’s just no competition for the franchise to face. They can do what they want and get away with it because we have no other alternative.

Activate a special move during a match to improve your stats momentarily.

Still, I liked NBA 2K26 a bit more than its predecessors. The locked framerate and predatory monetary practices are, as always, a disappointment, but hopping into it on a portable, playing a few arcade rounds, and listening to what’s possibly the best soundtrack in a sports game ever, somewhat made up for these shortcomings. Is it better than the PS5 version? I don’t think so. Technically-speaking, it can’t even compete in the same terms. But did I have more fun with it than on a bigger console? Yep, without a doubt.

NBA 2K26 is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC, Switch and Switch 2.

Reviewed on Switch 2.

A copy of NBA 2K26 was provided by the publisher.