t1z4l

Astro’s Playroom on the PS5 set something of a standard for console “tech demo” launch games and showpieces. It educated while also acting as a genuinely pleasant and compelling platformer. Especially since it ended up being a free pack-in for the system. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is the equivalent for Nintendo’s newest console generation and, while it is education and enlightening, it is nowhere near as enjoyable. Especially since it comes with a $9.99 price tag.

The setup for Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is one of the things I genuinely appreciate about this application. It’s set up in the same way as the sort of console experiences for this system ahead of launch. You pick an avatar for yourself out of a line of pre-generated folks waiting to get into a Nintendo Exhibit. Once your time comes, you head out onto a show floor organized on top of a giant Switch 2 and its peripherals. So the experience begins on Joy-Con 2 (L) Area, with more opening up as you collect stamps and unlock new difficulty levels for the minigame tech demos or additional locations. You can also chat with other attendees. The concept is sound, the design is great, and I love the style.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is broken down into two types of experiences. One involves short quizzes taken after reading an article describing either an element of the console or its one of its peripherals’ design. The other involves an interactive display of some feature tied to the device. So in Joy-Con 2 (L) Area, you can take quizzes about the construction of the controller, play Dodge the Spiked Balls: Survival Mode, and play Find the Strongest Rumble: Along a Line. The quizzes there cover things like the new rumble feature, while the activities show off the mouse-based elements of the new controller and HD Rumble 2. Once you do enough there to earn its stamps, you unlock Area B, which is Nintendo Switch 2 Console Area. 

The execution of everything is fine too. There’s a fast travel option that comes up after you reach Area B. The UI is clear, so it is easy to see how many stamps you collected. Since the minigames are all essentially tech demos, there are ample explanations and they’re usually quite educational. The quality isn’t something I’d call into question.

I’m just not a big fan of how Nintendo handled the content presented here. The information for the quiz sections is fascinating. I did feel like I understood the console, controllers, dock, and camera much better after going through them. They aren’t challenging either, so long as you pay attention. But while they’re novel, I would probably never gone through them if I didn’t need some easy stamps. They weren’t so interesting that I consider them required reading.

Likewise, the minigames present in Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour are nowhere near as joyful and fun as Astro’s Playroom. I think I might have had more fun with 1-2-Switch. I know I liked Nintendo Land better. None of the minigames here are memorable, and they all feel like tech demos manned by overly enthusiastic staff trying to manufacture a “good time” while nudging you along like, “Hey, see how this works here? Try this! Neat, right? Right?” Some are incredibly bland, like HDR Fireworks designed to show the difference between brightness in SDR and HDR. At worst, I felt like I did the thing and at least got a stamp out of it. At best, I thought the educational element of it ended up being worthwhile. Especially in Super Mario Bros 4K, which helped show how many pixels the original Super Mario Bros 1-1 level took up, the way HD Rumble 2 mimics sensations in Maracas Physics, and appreciated how Open the GL/GR Locks got me used to using the new buttons on the Switch 2 Pro Controller. 

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour works fine. It’s totally functional and educational. It just isn’t fun in the same way games like Nintendo Land and Astro’s Playroom are. Considering this is a product that costs real money, I feel like there needed to be more to it in order to make it worthwhile. If it was even $4.99, rather than $9.99, I might consider recommending it for the insights and experiences that can sometimes be fascinating. As-is, you’ll probably pick out the more novel elements and upgrades to the new system while playing better games like Mario Kart World. 

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is available for the Switch 2. 

The post Review: Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour Is Disappointing appeared first on Siliconera.

Recent console launches tended to include a piece of software that might feel a bit more like a tech demo than a game. With the Nintendo Switch, we got 1-2 Switch. The PS5 came with Astro’s Playroom as a free install. Nintendo decided Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will be a paid app that launches alongside the console on June 5, 2025, and after playing it I really am surprised it will be n additional purchase.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is structured as something like a museum tour, with players’ avatar wandering around the console’s parts and learning about it as they do. You can talk with other visitors, with most of them hyping up the system by expressing their excitement or trying to encourage the person playing to take part in the “experiences” within the app. My trial session lasted 15 minutes, but that still meant I got to try some minigames, a tech demo, and a quiz.

The quiz is one of the most basic of experiences, and these can be taken to earn medals. So the one I went through involved the Joy-Con 2, asking things like how many cameras it had, details about buttons, and so on. Basically, you commit to a quiz, read a handful of signboards with insight about them, then go answer. If you miss a question, the signboard with the correct response will be highlighted so you can retake it and get the answer “right.”

In the case of the tech demo, I tested out one in the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour preview. It involved shaking the Joy-Con 2 controllers like maracas. Since this wasn’t a traditional game, which would award medals based on performance, it instead listed some testing objectives. One involved rolling the beads in the “instruments.” Another involved changing its appearance. Yet another tasked me with switching the insides from “beads” to “balls.” It’s essentially a means of seeing how the HD rumble and haptic changes and mimics certain sensations. It’s fine and all, as well as an easy way to earn a medal, but I wasn’t excited to test it out.

As for the minigames, I got to play three. However, one felt like another tech demo disguised as a minigame, while another seemed like a quiz in disguise. One of these involved dodging spiked balls, with medals awarded for surviving 20 and 30 seconds. However, the mouse controls were used to move a UFO out of the way of the hazards. Clearing it unlocked a part two that added stars to collect to the mix, with points awards earning more medals. It was the most game-like of the three and fine? Again, I wasn’t excited and after earning medals, I doubt I would return to it. 

The quiz-like minigame was an FPS test. Various balls, like ones used for soccer, tennis, and basketball, would go past on the top and bottom of the screen. I had to determine what the framerate was. In the case of tennis, it was much trickier due to the speed. But this wasn’t exactly fun. Especially as the medals were only awarded if you got all the answers correct.

As for the other minigame that felt like a tech demo, that was a rumble test that also involved the mouse mode. When it started, I’d need to move the Joy-Con 2 on a surface and feel the rumble. When I found the point where it was strongest, I’d need to press a button. Between one and two medals are awarded based on how “close” your guess was. Well, I got two medals on the first try, so I was done.

So why do you earn medals? Because some of the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour experiences are locked away behind them. 

I’m not impressed with Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. It isn’t captivating in the way that Astro’s Playroom on the PS5 was, and that was a free experience. Yes, the Japanese eShop lists it as a 990 yen application at the moment. I just worry there isn’t enough there after spending 15 minutes with it and testing out a selection of its activities.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will come to the Switch 2 on June 5, 2025. 

The post Preview: Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour Is Underwhelming appeared first on Siliconera.