Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour Reviews

With the release of any new video game console, there generally comes a means of testing out the hardware. The PlayStation 5, for example, came with Astro’s Playroom, while the Nintendo Wii had Wii Sports, which in itself turned into a huge phenomenon. You could even go all the way back to the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Game Boy, with games such as Mario Bros., Duck Hunt and Tetris.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is ultimately a curio that won’t live long in the memory. As a literal tech demo for the various components that keep the Switch 2 ticking, learning things about the system can be fun, and the demos and minigame challenges presented each offer something unique. The experience only lasts a handful of hours, though, and you will need a 4K TV and accessories like the Switch 2 Camera in order to see the game through to completion, which is more than a little cheeky in a paid release.

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 Kar...

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is packed with practically everything you would ever need to know about the ins and outs of the Nintendo Switch 2. The tech demos are a fun novelty, but they don’t go beyond that — a novelty. The minigames aren’t great, and the quizzes get old quickly, leading to a repetitive experience that is hard to recommend to anyone outside of die-hard Nintendo fans or tech enthusiasts.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour has some good minigames and technical demonstrations, but it feels like Nintendo is patting themselves on the back far too much. The technology here is impressive and I loved learning about it, and it could serve to teach people not plugged into gaming or tech what all these things do, but the game runs out of steam too quickly and becomes a paid advertisement.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is just decent, when you'd expect more for something designed to show a new system.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour has its charms, but on the whole feels like a strange set of contradictions: a casual primer for power users, and a pack-in game that isn't packed in.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour’s overall experience will depend on how many accessories you’ve picked up at launch. If you don’t have a Nintendo Camera, or a compatible USB 1080p camera, you won’t be able to experience any of the camera-related content. Same goes for the new Switch 2 Pro Controller. And while this makes sense, since Welcome Tour is all about letting users actually experience and learn about these new devices. But for completionists, who might not have every required accessory, it might be an annoyance.

If you really want to know all about the Nintendo Switch 2 and its various features as a product, there's no better way than playing Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. But if you're looking for a truly engaging experience, you're in the wrong place.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a sterile and uninteresting collection of what feels more like homework than fun and engaging games worth the price of entry.

In case I didn’t make myself perfectly clear in the title and subheading of this review, let me do so now: Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour should have been a pack-in title. It would have been perfect. Much like Wii Sports, Welcome Tour’s minigames, while not as fun as boxing or tennis, do a more than serviceable job of gamifying its native console’s functionalities. Despite that, $10 (which it turns out is only the starting price) is a bit of an ask for what is essentially an interactive instruction manual.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a collection of tech demos, mini games, and education that’s surprisingly not free and simultaneously worth the price of admission.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is an interactive exhibit of sorts that offers an inside look at the features and tech that power your gaming experiences. Look, touch, and feel your way through the different exhibits. Switch version reviewed. Review copy provided by company for testing purposes.

At reveal, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour seemed like a charming way to learn about the tech of the Switch 2. A lovely journey through the hardware that would feature some fun tech demos and minigames to show you what your new system could do. And then, like many others, I was shocked to learn that it would not be installed on every Switch 2, but would instead be sold as a separate game. After spending a substantial amount of time with it, I understand why Nintendo is treating it as a premium...

A bizarre attempt to celebrate the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 in the most boringest way possible, with a limp collection of unentertaining minigames made even duller by suffocatingly clinical presentation.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour takes place on giant versions of Switch 2 hardware. Players walk across massive Joy-Con 2 controllers, the system's touch screen, and various accessories, learning all about their functionality. Its basic concept brings to mind Astro's Playroom, which used 3D platformer gameplay to show off the unique features of the PlayStation 5 and its DualSense controller. But whereas Sony made a wildly entertaining, completely free tech demo full of personality and gorgeous visuals, Nintendo opted to make a mind-numbingly dull experience and decided to charge $10 for it.

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Nobody would be complaining about Welcome Tour if it was free. This little introductory experience to Nintendo’s Switch 2 feels like a perfectly Nintendo way to do things, turning the Switch 2 itself into a giant convention centre, filled with visitors who are there to check out the new Joy-Con 2, like they’re the latest exhibit in the Louvre. The thing is, we’re being charged £7.99 for this introduction, and while, yes, that also feels like a very Nintendo way to do things, it’s a bit too dry, too scientific, and comes with too little actual fun.

At times, Welcome Tour is Nintendo's Fantasia.

If you had asked me last month whether the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour should cost $15, I would’ve responded, “Wait, it’s not bundled with the Switch 2?!” When my family got our hands on the Nintendo Wii, Wii Sports was also included, and it showcased what the 2006 console could do without spending an extra dollar. So, it feels strange that this modern-day equivalent wasn’t included with the Switch 2. But after spending some time with it, roughly 12 hours after I got the console ...

Even if Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour were the pack-in game it feels like it was meant to be, the execution of its charming concept is a muddled collection of quaint tech demos and boring factoids dressed up as an uncompelling completionist checklist.

In the end, NS2 Welcome Tour feels like an interactive manual on how the Switch 2 works. It’s not entirely devoid of joy, but I also can’t recommend it. But, if you come from the camp of “hey, it’s just $10,” then by all means, have at it.