Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour pulls off at least one neat magic trick

Nintendo was smart to turn its demo of the Switch 2’s new capabilities into a virtual immersive experience, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. It’s a fun, occasionally delightful way to learn the ins and outs of Nintendo’s new hardware. But Nintendo’s virtual spin on popular real-life exhibits like the Museum of Ice Cream, Meow Wolf, and teamLab’s dazzling, Instagrammable installations sometimes feels a little too sterile, with minigames that feel like they’d be better off wrapped in a wackier, WarioWare-like presentation.

Still, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour can be successful at showing what Nintendo’s new hardware can do; it pulls off a few very impressive tricks, based on an hour of hands-on time with the Switch 2 launch game. The most magical trick involves vibrating the next-generation Joy-Con controllers to play a 1-UP sound effect.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is presented as a giant, Switch 2-shaped exhibit that can be explored as a tiny visitor. As a wee museum goer, I took a virtual escalator onto a left Joy-Con 2, visiting kiosks that explained how buttons and other input functions on the controller worked. Then, I could take a quiz, earn a badge, find hidden exhibits, earn more badges, and eventually move on. The goal of Welcome Tour is to find all of its little secrets, while Nintendo flexes the Switch 2 hardware upgrades and entertains players enough to make the collection’s $9.99 asking price seem justified.

There are plenty of fresh and familiar minigames to help spice up the virtual museum tour. One game was a spin on party game Twister, in which I was asked to place the Switch 2 system flat (which the system detected), then place my fingers, one by one, on a series of colored dots. I wound up with a pair of pretzel hands, and almost completed the task before a pinky slipped off a yellow dot. Another experience was based on a wire loop game, in which I had to carefully move a ball through a maze with “electrified” walls. This exercise was meant to show off the Switch 2’s new mouse controls, which are indeed quite sensitive and responsive.

I also played a game of speed mini golf and a game where I piloted a tiny UFO, avoiding a rainfall of spiked balls, both of which showcased how the Joy-Con 2 controllers can behave like (or better than) a computer mouse. Other minigames showed off things like the system’s 120 fps video output, with bouncing balls scooting across the screen at different refresh rates; and the Switch 2’s HDR support, which was exhibited in the form of a fireworks display where I could swap between normal lighting and HDR to convey the (minor) differences.

Easily the most impressive feature of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour was how it showed off the next-generation of “HD rumble” force feedback. First, Welcome Tour explained to me how Nintendo has changed the hardware that makes rumble work on Switch 2, and how the vibrating hardware is attached to the Joy-Con 2 controllers differently this time. Then, it asked me to… listen. Welcome Tour then vibrated the right Joy-Con 2, which emitted a low, audible thrum. Then it vibrated at high frequency, changing the note the Joy-Con 2 played. Then, it practically said, “Check this out.” The right Joy-Con 2 vibrated at higher and higher frequencies, until it played the two-note Super Mario Bros. coin sound. Then, as a bigger flex, it played the six-note 1-UP sound from Super Mario Bros., purely by vibrating the controller. Admittedly, I may be easily impressed by music-making, but this little demonstration alone nearly won me over on Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. I’m still weighing whether or not I want to pick it up at launch.

I’m hoping that there are many more little surprises like this in Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. I did spot some other moments of small cleverness, like how running through the museum, I would occasionally slip and fall on the Switch 2 LCD screen floor; or when my little museum visitor climbed inside the Joy-Con 2 controller and was greeted by other visitors who marveled at having the privilege to inspect the circuit boards housed within.

As minigame experiences go, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour may be Nintendo’s most short-lived. Once you experienced its demos and minigames, and maybe felt compelled to achieve a high score in each, it doesn’t seem to have the staying power of a WarioWare or a Mario Party. A lot of Welcome Tour feels like a “one and done” experience. But for new Nintendo Switch 2 owners interested in getting a slick, if sometimes sterile peek under the hood of their new system, it’s probably worth a few hours of your time.