If I could spend the rest of my life simply dedicated to learning new things, I’d be a happy man. Capitalism dictates that I exchange my labour for money to live, which gets in the way of my hunger for knowledge. Still, I relish any chance to learn something from someone far smarter than me.
I think that’s why I’m so charmed by Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour; it’s an interactive digital museum that cleverly details the design process behind Nintendo’s new console.
Except that every museum I can recall visiting offers free entry. Controversially, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour does not. It costs $15 in Australia, charging an admission fee to anyone wanting to learn more about their $699 console.
It’s a bizarre move considering there’s precedent for including a small-scale software experience with new hardware. Sony’s PS5 got Astro’s Playroom, a delightful tech demo that showed off the console and its new controller.
Admittedly, Nintendo did nothing of the sort with the original Switch in 2017, but it does have history. A version of its ill-fated Wii U console came with Nintendo Land, serving as a cute way of showing off the screen-adorned gamepad. And who could forget Wii Sports, a living room staple of the late 2000s – although its inclusion as a bundled Nintendo Wii game wasn’t without boardroom drama.
So, is Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour worth $15? Let me answer that with a question: would you pay to learn more about the pricey hardware you’ve just bought, still fresh with that new box smell?
May I remind you, that I’m a sicko who enjoyed counting pixels with the PS5 Pro. Do with that information what you will.
Welcome to the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour
Everything about Welcome Tour is slick. Maybe a little too slick, to the point of coming across as slightly sterile. By controlling a custom avatar, you venture between clinically clean exhibits consisting of giant Switch 2 peripherals. As you clamber atop controllers, skate across screens, and burrow into circuitry, cheery virtual attendants enthusiastically share technical details about the console and its accessories at every turn.
It’s not a thrill-a-minute ride. In fact, there’s not much in the way of interactivity beyond exploring extremely big hardware interspersed with the occasional mini-game. Reading is the primary activity on offer, accompanied by sets of diagrams that explain how the Switch 2 dock works, what VRR does, and so on.
In-game attendants routinely quiz your knowledge, helping solidify your newfound knowledge after reading several panels of text. Pop quizzes may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but these tests are genuinely delightful. Each one follows a multiple-choice question format, including some deeply unhinged options I found hilarious.
Aside from the quizzes, some of the mini-games introduce new concepts, like the Joy-Con 2 mouse mode, through a range of quirky puzzles. Some task you with dodging a flurry of obstacles for as long as possible, while another mini-game required speedily putting a golf ball into a hole.
They’re a nice novelty, rewarding you with in-game medals to go alongside Welcome Tour’s stamp rally, but there’s nothing attention-grabbing in the same way bowling or golf was in Wii Sports.
Again, everything Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour presents is in the pursuit of learning. Anything else you gain from the experience is secondary.
Compounding peripheral interest
As has been mentioned plenty of times elsewhere, getting the full Welcome Tour experience requires owning the full swag of Nintendo Switch 2 accessories. In addition to the console and Joy-Con, Nintendo’s interactive exhibit dedicates time to optional peripherals, like the new Pro Controller and camera.
What starts as a $15 game quickly balloons out exponentially once you factor in these extra devices. Not that there’s a huge incentive to complete everything in Welcome Tour – unless you’re a hardcore completionist.
Nintendo sent me the whole kit and caboodle for review purposes, so I didn’t have to shell out for all of the optional items. My takeaway is this: it’s not worth buying a whole bunch of accessories just for Welcome Tour. But if you planned on getting them anyway, you do glean some interesting morsels of information about how they work.
Which brings me to that pursuit of knowledge I’m so obsessed with. Unlike the user manuals of yore, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour isn’t just an operational guide. It presents information in an accessible format without completely losing technicality.
Playing Welcome Tour didn’t make me any better at playing the Nintendo Switch 2. But I did learn many things I never would’ve known otherwise.
I wouldn’t have known about the subtle design changes in the dock that make it easier to connect the console. The minutiae of the Joy-Con’s magnetism would’ve been completely lost on me. And the clever camera-based approach to mouse controls might have remained a mystery.
For those reasons and many more, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour was a worthwhile jaunt.
But I also believe that free education is the best education.
Nintendo provided a code of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour for review.
The post Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour review: The best education is free appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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