Everything we know so far about the Nintendo Switch 2

No Man’s Sky is about to take flight on yet another new platform: developer Hello Games announced today that the sci-fi exploration game will be getting a free update that will enhance it for the Nintendo Switch 2, which launches on June 5th.

The game came to the original Switch in 2022, and Hello Games says getting it crammed onto Nintendo’s previous console was “a bit of a technical miracle,” while calling the Switch 2 version “a huge leap forward.” On the Switch 2, the game will improve both the amount and quality of stuff on screen at any given moment. “We’re rendering significantly more than before, at a higher resolution and improved framerate,“ the developer says.

I recently did something sort of unusual: I went to a preview event for a game that’s been out for almost three years.

I’ve played around 400 hours of Pokémon Scarlet, according to my Nintendo Switch, since it was released in late 2022. It’s safe to say I know the game pretty well. And yet, when I was invited to preview Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on the Nintendo Switch 2 ahead of the new console’s launch, I gladly took the opportunity to see three-year-old games I already own. I wanted to find out just how much they’d improved.

If you’re picking up a Switch 2 this week, resist the urge to remove the screen protector you’ll find applied to the console out of the box. This is actually a “film layer designed to prevent fragments scattering in the event of damage,” and the Switch 2’s European safety manual, spotted by fan site NintendoSoup, specifically warns not to peel it off.

This advice might sound familiar, because the Switch OLED had a similar anti-scattering layer with the same warning. In both cases, the goal is to minimize the spread of glass splinters if the screen gets smashed. Foldable phones also commonly ship with protective anti-scratch films that mustn’t be removed, which infamously caused problems when the first Galaxy Fold reviewers did exactly that.

Following a brief delay stemming from the Trump administration’s on-again, off-again tariff policy, Nintendo officially opened up preorders for the Nintendo Switch 2. As expected, the initial rollout process at Walmart, Best Buy, and other retailers on April 24th was an absolute mess — and GameStop didn’t fare much better later.

As of right now, none of the aforementioned retailers are accepting reservations for the $449 gaming console ahead of its release on June 5th. Nintendo is still accepting sign-ups for those looking to secure a Switch 2, though, if you do go that route, be aware that there are strict requirements. Nintendo also can’t guarantee an invite ahead of launch due to “the very high demand” for the console. Surprising, I know.

Nintendo released an update to its Switch Online mobile app yesterday renaming it to simply the Nintendo Switch App and adding support for the Switch 2, which releases on June 5th. Alongside Switch 2 support comes new features, first announced in early April, making it easier to access screenshots on other devices and adding mobile notifications for GameChat invitations.

The most useful update to the app is that the Switch 2 will be able to upload screenshots and videos to it through the cloud. The Switch 2’s album will have a new Upload to Smart Device option for manually sending screenshots, as well as an automatic uploads feature where the 100 most recent screenshots and videos on the console will be available in the app.

It is as inevitable as a sunrise that in the hours after the Switch 2 launch next week, third-party sites like eBay will be filled with listings for the new console. But in Japan, Nintendo has announced a new partnership with Japanese third-party retail sites to combat fraudulent Switch 2 listings.

Mercari, Yahoo Auctions and Yahoo Flea Market, and Rakuten Rakuma are the participating websites that will, according to a machine translation of Nintendo’s announcement, “proactively remove listings” and establish “a collaborative system for sharing information.” Nintendo says only “fraudulent listings” that violated the sites’ terms of service agreement would be targeted for removal.

You’ll be able to use a USB mouse with the Nintendo Switch 2 in at least one game, as a Koei Tecmo developer commentary video for the upcoming Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition revealed this week. That’s great news if your wrists, like mine, started preemptively cramping the first time you saw video of someone tipping a Joy-Con 2 controller on its edge for mouse mode.

While demonstrating the game’s use of the Joy-Con 2 as a mouse, producer Michi Ryu stops and plugs in a USB mouse. The Switch 2 displays a message that says a mouse has been connected, and he continues to play with both a mouse and his left Joy-Con 2, switching between them seamlessly, the same way you’ll be able to go back and forth between gyro and mouse control in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

The wireless GameCube controller that’s for use exclusively with the Nintendo Switch 2 can now be pre-ordered by those who have a Switch Online account. The controller costs $64.99, and is currently limited to one per account. For those who’ve bought one, you’ll get it on Switch 2’s launch date, which is June 5th. There’s no waiting room this time, unlike Nintendo’s previous rollout of preorders on May 13.

While GameCube controller support on the original Switch is nothing new (made possible thanks to the GameCube controller plug-to-USB adapter, or with newer third-party USB versions based on the original controller’s design), game support for the new wireless version is quite a bit more limited. It won’t be compatible with Switch backwards compatible titles that work on the Switch 2, including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, or at least support hasn’t been confirmed yet. Instead, its use is limited to the GameCube games that are coming to Switch Online’s Expansion Pack tier, which at launch will include The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Soulcalibur 2, and more.

GameStop will have additional Switch 2 stock available in-store and online when the console launches next month, according to a post on X.

In-store launch events will begin at 3PM local time on June 4th, according to the company. Pickups start on June 5th at 12AM EST / June 4th at 9PM PST.

Nintendo announced last month that it would be updating a handful of Switch games to run better on the Switch 2, and now some details about the planned improvements are available on its website. The improvements vary per game, but they include things like optimizing visuals for the Switch 2’s larger screen, better frame rates, HDR support, and GameShare support.

The full list of games getting free updates is below, and you can see the specific updates on Nintendo’s website. The updates will all be available on June 5th, the same day the Switch 2 launches:

If you don’t have a Nintendo Switch 2 preorder, Best Buy might still be able to help you get a console on launch day. For the retailer’s midnight openings for the Switch 2 launch, “most stores will have limited inventory of systems, games, and accessories for in-store purchase,” according to its website.

Most Best Buy stores across the country will be opening up at 12:01AM ET on June 5th for the launch, per the website. (If you’re on the West Coast like me, that means your store will open at 9:01PM PT on June 4th.) People who snagged preorders for in-store pickup can also get their consoles when the stores open. As part of the midnight launch, Best Buy also says that customers will “have the chance to receive a Nintendo collectible.”

Console modding enthusiasts beware, Nintendo might take away your system. According to a recently updated account services user agreement and privacy policy, Nintendo reserves the right to, “render the Nintendo Account Services and / or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part.” The change, first reported by Game File, came with a May 7th update and centers on Nintendo’s policy regarding how players use their consoles and Nintendo accounts.

Previously, the agreement called out the usual suspects of prohibited activities with users not allowed to, “lease, rent, sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble all or any portion of the Nintendo Account Services.” The new agreement has been expanded to include two additional subclauses of proscribed behaviors:

Nintendo will give Switch 2 owners the option to sacrifice a little per-session playtime in the interest of battery health longevity. The company announced, via its Nintendo Today news app, that the console will have a setting to slow the console’s charge as it approaches 90 percent capacity, then maintain it around that amount.

Such a feature has made it to smartphones in the past, and is even something Valve is testing for the Steam Deck. The reason for such a feature is that rechargeable lithium batteries like those found in so many gadgets can have their lives shortened if they’re kept in a charge state outside of a sweet spot — either too much charge or too little — for extended periods of time.

The Nintendo Switch 2 will have an option to set a PIN to unlock your console when you turn it on. You can see the new “System Lock” option in a new video in the Nintendo Today app that’s actually about a battery-preservation feature.

The lock setting “locks your system with a PIN to protect it from people who don’t play on it,” according to the description in the menu shown in the video. “You’ll need to enter your PIN when you wake the system from sleep mode.”