An honest opinion, and a genuine question for anyone else who owns one.
I have had the Nintendo Switch 2 since launch day and I love it. That is the short version. The longer version has an asterisk on it, and I want to hear whether anyone else feels the same way.
Here is the asterisk: I love the Switch 2 docked, with a Pro controller. In handheld mode I cannot stand it.
For context, I am not a casual owner. I have somewhere around 15 Switch consoles across every form factor Nintendo has made, plus nearly every other Nintendo console and handheld going back decades. This is not an outsider’s take. I have held all of these in my hands, and I have the game collection to match the hardware.
The docked side, where I live
Almost everything I have played on the Switch 2 has been on the TV with the Pro controller in my hands. I finally started my first playthrough of the Switch 2 version of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and based on my save history I have put close to 250 hours into it over about 75 days, all on that single game and almost every minute of it docked.
It is fantastic. Performance is great, the visuals are great and the game itself is the kind of thing I disappear into for an entire evening without noticing. This is the Switch 2 at its best for me, and it is genuinely one of my favorite ways to play anything right now.
I have also spent time with Super Mario Maker 2, Star Fox and a handful of others. Same story every time. On the TV with the Pro controller, I am happy.
The handheld side, where it falls apart
Then I try handheld mode, and it lasts a few minutes before I put it back on the dock.
To be clear about what the problem is not: it is not performance and it is not the screen. Both are great. The screen looks excellent and nothing about the way it runs bothers me.
The problem, for me, is the Joy-Cons and how they feel in my hands. Held as a handheld, the shape and the grip of the Joy-Cons just do not work for me. The size and weight of the Switch 2 add to it, but the heart of it is the feel of those small controllers compared to a real one. Within a few minutes it stops being fun and starts being a chore, and I give up and go back to docked.
It is not a specific game either. Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Maker 2, Star Fox, it does not matter. The moment it is in my hands as a handheld, the same discomfort shows up.
For me it is really about how a controller feels
I have always been sensitive to controller ergonomics, across every brand. Years ago I moved away from Xbox, and a big part of it was that the controller never felt right in my hands. It always felt a little off to me.
PlayStation controllers have always felt good to me, the PS5 one especially. To be clear, I am not a Sony fan. I do not care which logo is on the box. I care about good games and hardware that feels right, and I will play on whatever platform delivers that.
The Switch Pro controller, on both the original Switch and the Switch 2, sits in that same good category for me. It feels close to the Sony controllers. It just works in the hand. That is the clearest sign that my problem with handheld mode is the Joy-Cons themselves, not the console, the screen or the games.
It is not new, but it is worse
I had a milder version of this with the original Switch. Handheld was never my favorite, but I could tolerate it. The Switch 2 is bigger, and for me that made it worse rather than better. More screen is nice on paper, but a larger body and wider grip is exactly the wrong direction for my hands.
The odd part: the Switch Lite was actually not bad for me. It is smaller and more compact, and that suited how I hold a handheld better than either full-size model. For me it comes down to the Joy-Cons and how the whole thing feels in the hand, not the screen or the specs.
I actually love handheld gaming
This is the part that convinces me it is the Joy-Cons and not handhelds in general. I use an Analogue Pocket all the time for Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games, and I love it. A dedicated handheld with a layout that fits my hands is a joy to use.
So this is not about holding a screen and playing on the go. I do plenty of that and enjoy it. It is specifically about how the Switch feels in handheld form, which points right back at the Joy-Cons.
Maybe part of it is me
I will put this out there too. I am in my 50s, and I have always preferred playing on the big screen in the living room. Give me a couch, a TV and a Pro controller and I am a happy man. That might be part of what is going on here. Maybe my hands and my habits are simply wired for a controller and a couch rather than a slab held up in front of my face.
I am honestly not sure how much of this is the hardware and how much is me, which is exactly why I want to hear from other people instead of assuming my experience is universal.
What I would actually buy
Here is the thing I keep coming back to. I wish Nintendo would sell a standalone home console again, the way they used to. Just a box that plugs into the TV. No screen, no battery, no Joy-Cons. Just the console and a controller.
For someone like me that would be far more appealing, and it makes practical sense. I already play docked with a Pro controller, so the screen and the Joy-Cons are cost and hardware I never touch. Dropping the battery too would cut the price further, remove the shipping restrictions that come with lithium batteries and take away the one part that quietly degrades and needs replacing years down the line. A home-only model like that could come in at a much lower entry price, and I think it would appeal to far more people than Nintendo might expect. Plenty of us live on the TV and never wanted the handheld part in the first place.
I get that the hybrid design is the whole identity of the Switch, and that is fine. I am not saying replace it. I am saying give the couch crowd a cheaper door in.
So I have to ask
I know I am not the target of every design decision, and plenty of people clearly love playing the Switch 2 on the go. That is why I want to open this up rather than just complain into the void.
- Do you play your Switch 2 mostly docked or mostly handheld?
- If you play handheld, do the Joy-Cons feel comfortable in your hands, or does their shape and feel bother you the way it does me?
- Do you have a controller-feel preference across brands? Xbox never felt right to me, PlayStation and the Switch Pro controller do. Curious if others notice the same.
- Do other dedicated handhelds feel better in your hands than the Switch does in handheld mode? My Analogue Pocket certainly does.
- Did you also find the Switch Lite more comfortable than the full-size models, or is that just me?
- If you had the same discomfort, did any grip, case or accessory actually fix it, or did you just move to docked like I did?
- If you are in your 40s, 50s or beyond, or you just grew up playing on a TV, do you lean docked too?
- Would you buy a home-only Switch with no screen, no battery and no Joy-Cons if it meant a lower price, or is the hybrid the whole point for you?
I am not looking to talk anyone out of loving handheld mode. I genuinely want to know if this is a me problem or a more common one that just does not get talked about much, because on paper the Switch 2 is close to perfect for me and in practice half of its whole pitch does not work for my hands.
Tell me in the comments. If you have a grip or setup that made handheld bearable, I am all ears.
A slice of the collection
Since it came up, here is a small piece of the Nintendo history behind all of this. This is not everything, I have boxes more, but it is the short version of why I feel qualified to have an opinion on how Nintendo hardware feels in the hand.
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