The Switch 2's first year was better than the original Switch's in every way

The Switch 2 is one year old, and it's had quite the first 12 months of life. It wasn't as flashy as the original console's opening year, and some have pointed to the earlier system's 3D Zelda and Mario launches as evidence the Switch 2 fell short. Those comparisons miss important context and take a rose-tinted view of the Switch's 2017 rollout.

When the original Switch launched, Nintendo was recovering from the Wii U's commercial failure and needed big franchises to regain trust. Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey were major wins, but the months between them were filled with spinoffs and ports — Fire Emblem Warriors, Disgaea 5, Skyrim, Doom and Minecraft among them — and only Minecraft made the top 50 best-selling Switch games from that in-between slate.

Third-party support didn’t broaden in earnest until 2019, when ports like Divinity: Original Sin 2 and The Witcher 3 showed the hardware could handle more ambitious titles. With the Switch 2, Nintendo had room to experiment.

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