I keep my Nintendo Switch (not OLED) docked and connected to my home theater. There’s nothing like playing Super Mario Brothers on a 133″ screen; having grown up playing it on a Mitsubishi tube TV. I use a Nintendo Pro controller to play because my hands and fingers are too large and fat for the Switch controllers to be able to play. I used to take the Switch on the road with me during business trips in a big bulky travel case. I wasn’t one of the people you see on the Nintendo commercials that get to pull out the switch from their backpack while waiting for the bus and just start playing. I wish I could have done so. No, I had to wait to be in a room with a table/desk/floor where I could awkwardly balance the Switch on the kickstand so my hands could hold the pro controller. I was excited when Nintendo released the OLED model of the Switch but not enough to buy one because it failed to solve any of the real world problems I was having with the current model. Then came the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement.
Nintendo showcased the Switch 2 as having a much larger screen, larger controllers, a redesigned kick stand, a second USB port on the top of the unit. Legitimate problems I have with the Switch for my use cases that are solved with the Switch 2. Thank you Nintendo! It’s been around six or seven years since the Switch was released and while I’m still actively playing games on the Switch, I don’t travel for work much. When I do travel it’s no longer solo which means I’m not typically hanging out in the hotel room playing video games but rather out with my wife trying new restaurants. So what’s the Switch 2 do when it’s permanently docked? Nintendo decided to reward the stay-at-home-game-play experience with a new dock that supports 4K HDR. For someone who games on a 133″ screen, this is a welcome addition. What I did not bother to read about is that the Switch 2 Dock uses a 60W power supply. For comparison the original Switch comes with a 40W supply but typically never pulls more than 18W. That’s a critical detail I’ll come back to shortly. In other words, don’t try and use the original switch power supply with the Switch 2 dock. I pre-ordered the Switch 2 from Target, choosing the version that does not come with Mario Kart and a pre-ordered two of the new Pro Controllers.
Pro tip: Existing Switch accessories like the NES controllers require special consideration for use with the Switch 2. Nintendo’s support website at https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/68426#s1q2 documents the limitations. Pay special attention to how these accessories can be charged.
The Switch 2 arrived via Fedex shortly before the Fortnite Live Star Wars special gaming event this past Saturday. I’m still waiting for the pro controllers to arrive. We play Fortnite using the Sony Playstation 5, also connected to the home theater and a neighbor had come over to join me and my son for the Fortnite event. The Nintendo dock was not going to available for the first time Switch 2 setup, and replacing the current dock with the Switch 2 dock was also going to have to wait. We unboxed the Switch 2, basked in the glory of the much larger screen, which on paper doesn’t seem like much of a jump: 7″ up from 6.2″ but in person it’s a huge difference. Turning on the Switch 2 I began to first time setup wizard with the battery hovering around 85%.
The big decision during first time setup of the Switch 2 is a decision to permanently transfer your Nintendo account to the new system or just transfer the save data. Transferring only the save data allows moving between the two systems. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do this given all the hardware improvements on the Switch 2. What Nintendo fails to inform you about is that you need your original Switch physically next to the current one AND you need both systems connected to power during the process. Oh and they also don’t tell you that you need to make sure the original Switch has been updated with the latest system software update which is what installs the data transfer software. Nintendo should have included on the very first screen a message stating something like “make sure you have your original Switch available and make sure both systems are connected to power before moving on to the next step. But they didn’t. And that sparked the next 30 minutes of drama.
The Switch 2 comes with a single power adapter, which uses an entirely new design than the previous switch version. It’s easy to tell them apart but there’s nothing in the setup process that talks about using 60W vs 40W. The assumption is you just use the cord it comes with and you’ll be fine. Remember my brain is focused more on watching Fortnite more than on digesting the Nintendo setup screens. I make it to a screen where the setup wizard screen is telling me to bring the original Switch closer to the current one. Like an iPhone can trigger Airdrop by a user holding the iPhone near the top of another iPhone, the Switch 2 is supposed to do the same thing. Mine failed that magic trick and I had to run through a few more clicks for them to see each other. But it’s only after this step that the Switch informed me that both systems need to be connected to AC power. The Switch 2 comes with a single power supply. An extra $35 will get you a spare to keep in your travel bag for road trips.
When the home theater was installed, the installers did such an amazing job with cable management and cable ties that it’s damn near impossible to move or swap or change any cables connecting anything. This includes the Switch dock which is strategically locked into place on top of the entertainment stand, with about a millimeter of wiggle room. I joke that my home theater is very much an install once and never move or touch anything in it again because of all the cable ties. The original Switch now needs a power supply and the only one I’ve got is unavailable because to use the dock requires the screen which is currently being used to watch Palpatine force lighting a lobby of stormtroopers. The simple act of being able to unplug the dock and moving it elsewhere is not an option. So it’s off to find another power supply somewhere.
In a hurry to not miss a moment of the Fortnite event, and not thinking much beyond “it’s a USB-C cable” I run into my office chock full of dozens of USB-C cables. On my desk is a new Acer Chromebook which shipped with a 45W USBC cable. Mission accomplished. I grab it, run back to the theater, and connect it to the original switch. Data transfer begins and I turn my attention back to the event.
After the Fortnite event ends, I see the transfer process is complete and the Switch 2 is now ready to play. With the theater now free, my neighbor helps me swap out the Docking stations. It took the two of us 20 minutes to get the existing Switch power cable unhooked. I’m telling you this cable management is off the charts insane. Looks amazing! Just don’t ever try and pull a wire out of it. I don’t even bother attempting to recreate the cable mangement, I grab the Switch 2 power cable, plug in into the wall and connect it to the new dock. We dock the Switch 2 and can’t get a signal on the projector screen.
The Switch 2 gives us error message “no signal, use the correct adapter.” I’m embarrassed to write that we spent the next 30 minutes changing HDMI cables, changing ethernet cables (yes I use Ethernet on the Switch 2 dock), changing HDMI inputs on the Denon receiver… changing power outlets… nothing. We hit Google and Nintendo support which all pretty much say to do exactly what we’ve been doing. We were at a complete loss why this was failing. “Are you sure you’ve got the correct power supply” my neighbor finally asks after we’ve plugged and unplugged the adapter into multiple power outlets to no avail. I swore up and down the answer is yes, but what else could it be????!!!! It’s at this point I walk over to where I had placed the two systems to do the data transfer and find in fact it’s not the correct power supply. It turns out I grabbed the 45W Asus power supply from the Chromebook instead of the 60W Nintendo power supply. I swapped power cables and in hindsight it’s hilarious how using the correct cable results in everything working.
We’ve wasted almost an hour due to my error and it’s finally time to sit back and play some Zelda. But no, Nintendo makes you pay another $10 per game to upgrade to the new HDR graphics using the Nintendo e-shop and as much as I hate this idea, the whole point for me buying this system is to get a better experience playing on this 133″ 4K 120Hz HDR10 projector. So I run through the QR-code assisted authentication process to get the e-shop working again and buy the updated graphics packs for the Switch 2 editions of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. 5 more minutes of wait for install and we can finally play some Zelda. At least until our wives called to remind us we were late for yard work. Ah well. Maybe Day 2 will go smoother.