Alright, so I dove into this Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour thing, and seriously, I was all over the place with my expectations. Nintendo is known for pulling wild stunts, so when they said this game was gonna be like an instruction manual you could play with, I was like, “Okay, Nintendo, show me what you got.” But then I heard it’d cost ten bucks, and honestly, that crushed my spirit a bit. I still decided to give it a shot—what’s the harm, right? Spoiler alert: My excitement fizzled out faster than a cheap firework.
Picture this: You’re walking on these ginormous Joy-Con controllers. Yeah, I know. Sounds mind-blowing—at least, it did in my head. But it was more like stumbling through a slightly dull tech exhibit. I couldn’t help but compare it to Astro’s Playroom, which by the way, set the bar way up there with its charm and sparkle, not to mention it was free. I mean, how did Nintendo manage to make something feel so, uh, meh?
The mini-games, if we can call them that, were like quick shots of nothing special. Most didn’t last a minute. And yeah, I get it, things get tougher as you go, but they really didn’t throw in much fun. There’s this UFO game, where I’m dodging spike balls and collecting stars, but beyond that—nada. I actually found myself kind of zoning out. Ever had that feeling where your brain just checks out? Yeah, my switch was flipped to standby.
Oh, and then they threw in some real head-scratchers. Mini-games that are locked because you need extra stuff—accessories, a camera. You ever pay for a game that then asks you to buy more to play it fully? Baffling. One game needed me to mess around with the stand, another had me searching for a USB-C camera that didn’t want to cooperate. Took me forever to get it going—like, what even?
Now, I’ve got to admit, a couple of tech demos managed a wee bit of a spark. There was one with the Joy-Con that felt like revving an actual motorcycle. That was cool. But let’s keep it real—it’s mostly about this feature parade rather than feeling like you’re actually playing something.
Quizzes. Now, those were a thing too. Seems I signed up for a game and got treated to trivia school instead. I started skipping them because they made me yawn more than they entertained. Who knew learning console facts could feel like pulling teeth?
Oh, and those stamps. You wander around finding them. Was this supposed to be fun? Because it just felt like going through the motions, trying to find a point in the monotonous. By the end of it, I realized I was just being sold on paying more for accessories and barely getting my money’s worth back.
So, would I tell you to buy this Welcome Tour? If you like paying for ads disguised as games, sure thing! It was like Nintendo dared us to see if we’d pay for what should’ve been a freebie. It left me feeling a little jaded, to be honest. At least I wasted only three hours on it, no thanks to the stubborn camera.
In a nutshell? I think you’re better off saving those ten bucks for something with more meat—or at least more entertainment. Unless you’re into oversized novelty consoles that leave you feeling a tad shortchanged.
