Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour: Paid User Guides Review
▼ Summary
– Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a paid $10 tech demo that replaces what is typically a free introductory feature for new consoles.
– The demo is criticized for its poor quality, featuring dull minigames, uninspired visuals, and patronizing quizzes instead of engaging content.
– Unlike free tech demos like Astro’s Playroom (PS5), Welcome Tour lacks charm and fails to showcase the Switch 2’s capabilities effectively.
– Some features, like the HDR demo, are so poorly executed they misrepresent the console’s potential, leaving users unimpressed.
– The product was initially locked behind additional hardware requirements (peripherals, 4K TV), further highlighting its anti-consumer approach.
Nintendo’s latest offering, the Switch 2 Welcome Tour, has sparked outrage by charging players for what should be a free console introduction. This paid “experience” fails spectacularly at showcasing the system’s capabilities, instead delivering a shockingly lackluster collection of uninspired minigames and patronizing tutorials.
Priced at $10, the Welcome Tour abandons all pretense of value, presenting users with a sterile, joyless walkthrough of basic Switch 2 features. Unlike Astro’s Playroom, which came free with the PS5 and became a beloved tech demo, Nintendo’s attempt feels like a cynical cash grab. The so-called “games” included are embarrassingly primitive, some resembling early 2000s Flash browser titles, while others barely qualify as interactive at all.
One particularly baffling segment tasks players with guessing framerate differences without visual comparisons, potentially leaving users underwhelmed by the hardware. Another “game” consists solely of shaking the controller to feel rumble, hardly a selling point. The presentation is equally dismal, with generic avatars, lifeless environments, and grating elevator music looping endlessly.
What makes this worse is that Nintendo initially locked content behind peripheral purchases and 4K TV ownership, a move later patched but indicative of the company’s tone-deaf approach. The Welcome Tour doesn’t just fail to impress, it actively makes the Switch 2 seem unremarkable, a staggering misstep for what should be a system-selling showcase.
This isn’t just lazy; it’s insulting. Charging for a glorified user manual sets a dangerous precedent, and the execution is so poor it borders on self-sabotage. If this is Nintendo’s idea of welcoming players to their new console, they might want to reconsider their approach before customers decide the door isn’t worth opening.
(Source: Jimquisition)
