The Switch 2 gets dragged nonstop for being underpowered, outdated and slow, which is not what you want to hear about a brand new 2025 console. And honestly, I get it. I had the same doubts when I bought it. Some of those criticisms are even fair. But then you see a third party studio push out a game that should be impossible on this hardware, and the truth hits you in the face. The Switch 2 is not the issue. The lack of effort is.
Look at Cyberpunk 2077. This is a game that struggled to run on actual home consoles during launch. It was a global meme for months. Yet somehow, CD Projekt managed to get it onto the Switch in a way that still looks shockingly good for a portable device. The lighting is stripped back, the textures take a hit, and Night City is not pushing ultra settings. But at the end of the day, it works and it works well. More importantly, it feels like Cyberpunk. The atmosphere is still there. The sense of scale is still there. The entire mood of the game carries over, and you can take it anywhere.
That should not be possible. But it is, because a team actually cared enough to make it possible. They optimized. They trimmed. They made smart compromises. They did something Nintendo refuses to do with its own franchises. If anything, Cyberpunk on the Switch is a slap to the idea that this hardware is only capable of cute platformers and low intensity RPGs. It can handle big games. It just needs developers who do not treat the system like an afterthought.
Then you have Star Wars Outlaws, which is another case study in developers proving a point that Nintendo never will. Outlaws is big. It is cinematic. It is filled with detailed environments, ships, open planets, and lighting that should force the Switch into early retirement. Yet the port works. Is it the prettiest version. No. But that is not the point. The point is that Ubisoft did not cheat their way out of making a real port. They did not handwave it and tell players to stream it from the cloud. They put in the hours to make it run.
And when you see both Cyberpunk and Outlaws running on the Switch, it becomes painfully clear that the system is not being pushed by the people who should be pushing it the hardest. Nintendo drops first party titles that look like they were built on training wheels, with empty open worlds and basic visual design, and everyone just accepts it because “the Switch isn’t as strong as a PS5.” Except here are two massive third party games completely disproving that excuse. A lot of the value for the Switch 2 comes from its seamless portability, helped by the fact that the product feels more polished and premium than the Switch 1.
The Switch can handle complexity. It can handle scale. It can handle worlds that feel alive instead of empty. It just needs studios willing to work for it. When you watch Night City running on the Switch 2 and then look at Pokémon Z-A or Metroid Prime 4, it becomes pretty clear the problem is not the hardware. The system is capable. The issue is that Z-A and Metroid feel hollow and barely tap into what the Switch 2 can actually do. The gap in ambition is too obvious to ignore.
It makes you wonder how many great first party titles we could have had if Nintendo actually aimed higher. If they treated the Switch like a real console instead of a playground for safe, risk free releases. Cyberpunk and Outlaws show that the system still has life in it. It can still surprise you. It can still punch way above what people assume.
And that is the real takeaway. The Switch is not being held back by its age. It is being held back by developers who do not bother. When studios actually try, the Switch transforms into something completely different. A machine that overachieves on what its price might suggest. A machine that proves power is not the only thing that matters.
The Switch is capable. Developers just need to stop pretending it is not.