This article was originally published on April 4, 2025 - read the full issue here

By Sam Loveridge

The Grand Palais in Paris is a sumptuous setting for the full reveal of Nintendo's Switch 2. That this iconic building, with its art exhibitions and ballet dancers dressed as slender, impeccably French clowns, should house the first hands-on with Nintendo's next console certainly sets the tone. The company is serious about this one.

Between us and the hardware, though, stands Nintendo Direct. The gaggle of European media is ushered into a dark, cosy auditorium to watch. Multilingual chatter underlines the excitement – even nervousness – in the room.

Mario Kart World opens well, with childish glee rippling through the crowd with every new track, the open-world exploration reveal, and almost every playable character – the cow from Moo Moo Meadow proving a particular hit.

But the whispers start when the presentation turns to GameChat. Why would one of the headline Switch 2 features be locked behind a subscription? After long teasing of the mysterious C button on Nintendo's part, the eventual unveiling is marred by conversations of financial gain rather than it being applauded as Nintendo finally catching up with the specifics of modern online gaming.

Other than palpable excitement for titles such as Donkey Kong Bananza, FromSoftware's The Duskbloods, and the Kirby Air Riders remake from Smash Bros and Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai, the GameCube titles being added to Switch Online + Expansion Pass inspire the loudest cheer in the room. Here, Soul Calibur 2 receives the biggest reaction out of anything revealed during the Direct presentation, which probably speaks more to the average age of journalists in attendance than a barometer of broader audience hype.

As the Direct show wraps, talk among attendees focuses on the console's unsurprising release date, with Nintendo's own Switch 2 public showcase schedule being an obvious hint. It doesn’t take long for the launch price – mysteriously absent from the presentation – to become the focus of discussion. It’s only by collectively rattling through inboxes, official sites and social media that actual numbers came to light. Feedback is mixed, some suggesting that the cost is actually lower than expected after the full specs reveal, while others draw comparisons to Steam Deck, PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Outside of the Paris event, it's clear that consumers have turned on Nintendo somewhat, with Nintendo's Treehouse live stream chat filling with thousands chanting "drop the price". But it isn’t the sentiment at the event as the doors open to hands-on demos. Nintendo has an entire floor of stations set up for Mario Kart World, with the first two hours of play dedicated to the revamped Grand Prix circuits before shifting to the new 24-player battle-royale-inspired Knockout mode.

Across two vast floors of demo space, it's easy to see just how popular Mario Kart World is with the 90+ members of the press in attendance, the session accompanied by a constant stream of whoops not dissimilar to what you'd hear waiting in line for a rollercoaster. Barely is a station ever empty for this expanded spin on an old concept, with demo handlers taking any opportunity to jump back in when media attendees take a break.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond also draws crowds (if not the hollers) because of its new Performance mode. It's not a feature formerly associated with a Nintendo console, but here is Samus Aran running at 120fps in 1080p via the new Switch 2 Dock. Lured in by the promise of high-end visuals, players are then hooked by the mouse-like functionality built into Samus' latest adventure. The word 'gimmick' had been thrown around earlier in the day in relation to JoyCon mouse control, but Metroid Prime 4 seemingly becomes a point of conversion.

Meanwhile, it's the Switch 2 hardware's display – beyond talk of where everyone placed in Mario Kart World's Knockout mode – that proves to be the lasting impression as the media disperses. Bigger, brighter, and benefitting from 1080p resolution and HDR support, the high-quality LCD panel finally brings Nintendo closer to parity with its peers.

With the media leaving the Paris showcase drunk on a new Mario Kart and the public mood turning sour over pricing, it's going to be an interesting couple of months until the Switch 2 launch on June 5.

You can read more from Sam Loveridge in her GamesRadar+ hands-on preview, including why she thinks Nintendo has another winner on its hands with Switch 2.

This article was originally published on April 4, 2025 - read the full issue here