More expectations that you should consider for the Nintendo Switch 2

I has been a kind of a roller coaster week for the Nintendo segment of gaming fans since the announcement and presentation for the Nintendo Switch 2, and the almost immediate unrelated news about Trump Administration imposing new tariffs to Vietnam has prompted Nintendo on delaying preorders (not release date [yet]) to assess on how it will impact if Nintendo can have the price set or needs adjustments.

But I believe we are in another wave of ups and downs, depending on your perspective on some revealed expectations and that are new outside that Nintendo Switch 2 games will be distributed physically as Switch 1 games which generated of course, a interesting debate regarding people’s expectations on the technical capacities of the Nintendo Switch 2.

Now for the new things…

Nintendo Switch 2 will not have a favored anti-drifting detail

Nintendo Life confirmed that Nintendo acknowledged that the Joy-Con 2 devices of Nintendo Switch 2 will not have the Hall Effect design.

Hall Effect, named after US physicist Edwin Hall, is when you use magnets and electrical conductors to measure the position of the stick which makes them in theory and practice immune to drifting, one of the most hated “Achilles’ heel” of the original Nintendo Switch.

Nate Bihldorff answer Nintendo Life’s inquiry with this:

Let’s jump off the sensitivity stuff then and talk about the stick of the Switch 2 Joy-Con because it feels so different to the original Switch’s analog stick. So is it a Hall Effect stick? Were you inspired by the Hall Effect stick?
Well, the Joy-Con 2’s controllers have been designed from the ground up. They’re not Hall Effect sticks, but they feel really good. Did you experience both the Joy-Con and the Pro Controller?
Both!
So, I like both, but that Pro Controller, for some reason the first time I grabbed it, I was like, “this feels like a GameCube controller.” I was a GameCube guy. Something about it felt so familiar, but the stick on that especially. I tried to spend a lot of time making sure that it was quiet. I don’t know if you tried really whacking the stick around but it really is [quiet]. I’m thinking back to my Smash Brothers days, where you just whack it. [The Switch 2 Pro Controller] is one of the quietest controllers I’ve ever played.

Let’s hope that time treats this particular topic well.

If your only desire for the Nintendo Switch 2 is Achievements hunting, bad news!

Polygon brought the question if the Nintendo Switch 2 is going to support Achievements to proper make an appeal like Playstation does with its Trophies system or Xbox with their own Achievement Platform to Nintendo’s vice president of player and product experience, Bill Trinen.

Unfortunately, Trinen confirmed with a “nope”, that this will not be the case.

The confusion might arise because The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will both get Switch 2 editions, as well as a new app, Zelda Notes, which will be part of the Nintendo App.

And ironically, that app will have its own Achievements list, so in this perspective, I can assume that game developers can have their own Achievement within their game’s ecosystem.

Nintendo basically is already done with Nintendo eShop Music

Also via an inquiry by Polygon, Nintendo via Nintendo Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto, that eShop Music is not part and will not be part of Nintendo Switch 2 offerings.

Unlike back then, the eShop now has lots of videos that are showcasing the games. We didn’t want to intrude on that, so we don’t have music there.

Of course, it was acknowledge that Nintendo is focusing on improving the eShop experience ahead of the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.

Originally Nintendo Switch is not being phased out (as expected and for now)

This time and via The Washington Post, Nintendo of America president Bowser was asked about the original Nintendo Switch following the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 and while it is disingenuous to think that Nintendo will maintain a legacy platform (history speaks for itself), it will be remain to be supported while the transition period is in course.

What I would say is that we’ll continue to observe consumers and how they engage and enter into the platform at various levels to try to really understand what the future may look like.
Here’s the other point. We have an install base [for the Switch] of 150 million plus units. We’ll probably announce more on May 8, when we have our next earnings call. We want to keep those players engaged. Not all of them may be ready to jump to Switch 2.

In average, Nintendo has historically maintained support for its previous consoles for a few years after launching a new system and the average goes between 2 to 3 years, by just looking at past transitions:

Nintendo 64 → GameCube (2001): Nintendo 64 saw a gradual decline in support, with its last first-party game released in 2002.
GameCube → Wii (2006): GameCube support continued for a few years, with some late releases like “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” in 2006.
Wii → Wii U (2012): The Wii remained relevant for a while, especially with its strong casual audience, but first-party support slowed down significantly after 2013.
Wii U → Switch (2017): The Wii U had a short lifespan, and support faded quickly after the Switch’s success.

Now, with the Nintendo Switch 2 launching on June 5, 2025, Nintendo has confirmed that Switch 1 will continue to receive support as long as there is demand. This suggests that:

2025-2026: Nintendo will likely continue releasing some new titles for Switch 1, similar to how it supported the 3DS after the Switch launched.
2027-2028: Support may gradually decline, with fewer first-party releases.
Beyond 2028: The Switch 1 could still receive third-party games, but official support will likely phase out.

Let’s hope that I am wrong and Nintendo Switch transition to Switch 2 means more years of support for a previous generation and this is good news for gamers at all!