Wii Sports was a phenomenon for the Wii. Can Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour replicate its success?
If you’re the type of person who does not like to read the manual, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour just might be what Dr. Mario ordered.
Think of it as a Trojan horse, if you will.
Behind its polished presentation, interesting game mechanics and, at times, goofy high jinks is a wealth of knowledge about Nintendo’s new Switch 2 system. Let’s just say that going through this not so little exercise is enough to give you a Switch 2 PhD.
In fact, even as someone who does read manuals and misses all the colorful literature and packaging from games and consoles of years past, Welcome Tour represents a huge step up from the very Spartan pieces of paper that now come with gaming products. And yes, we’re really leaning heavily into the Greek references so far in this article.
In that sense, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is akin to Wii Sports. For new owners of Nintendo’s then revolutionary Wiimote-based console, it was the best introduction to the gadget and its features.
So is Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour the new Wii Sports? Well, yes and no. First let’s go over what the game is all about.
Like going to Switch 2 university
At its heart, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is an interactive and fun introduction to the successor of the original Switch.
The game’s layout itself mirrors that of an expo or theme park. In fact, it can be eerily reminiscent of the Osaka World Expo 2025 that’s going on in Japan this year. I literally had flashbacks of seeing long lines for stamp rallies while going through Welcome Tour.
Basically, you have an in-game character making the rounds at various stops within this entertainment space that’s shaped like a Nintendo Switch 2, featuring everything from its detachable controllers and large middle screen all the way to every little button on the device. Along the virtual Switch 2 map are different points of interest that you can interact with. These can require multiple clears or earning a high score in order to receive medals, which can then be used to unlock other areas of the map.
Some points can give you interesting trivia about the Switch 2, such as how its rumble features works and how it differs from the original Switch. I actually found the trivia to be quite interesting. As someone who started gaming as a kid during the Atari days and lived through every console launch since then, I’ve been conditioned to pay attention to the new features of every console — like parallax scrolling and rotoscoping to name a few.
In the case of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, I actually learned a bunch of stuff that I didn’t know about despite reading a bunch of articles about the console prior to its launch. It was information that was actually super helpful when it came to writing up my in-depth Switch 2 console review. I can even see this feature potentially roping in those aforementioned folks who don’t like to read manuals.
Then again, I can also see the trivia stuff turning off some folks who just want to play games. This is especially true given how the game has a ton of these trivia stations to go through. They were fun during the first area or two when you were just starting out. By the time you get to the third area, however, they can start to wear out their welcome a bit, no pun intended.
Some of the interactive trivia also require things that you might not have, such as a 4K TV, for example. Fortunately, the game has a way for you to skip such obstacles and still receive points to unlock other areas in the game. You actually learn about this secret skip code by talking to one of the NPCs. By the way, the unlock trick requires a combination of long and short presses of the Y button — short-short-short, long-long-long, short-short-short. For you sharp-eyed amateur radio operators and military folks, that is indeed an homage to the morse code for SOS.
How are the mini games forNintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour?
In addition to trivia, some of the virtual booths and stations also have you playing mini-games, which are creatively used to introduce the console’s features.
One such game is called “Dodge the Spiked Balls.” The game introduces the new Joy-Con controllers’ mouse function, which lets you use them like you would a regular mouse by turning it sideways and setting it on a surface. You then use the Joy-Con to move a UFO on the screen and dodge countless spikes raining down on the screen.
Games such as “Dodge the Spiked Balls” are what make Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour really shine. I didn’t think it would be interesting at first but soon found myself spending almost an hour just trying to get the highest rating I could. It actually reminded me of the fun I had with the more engaging games from the Wii Sports lineup.
Other games include a touch sensitivity exercise where you guess where the strongest rumble feedback can be felt while moving your cursor on the screen. Another has you guessing frame rates.
Admittedly, the mini-game selection can be hit or miss. While it serves up some gems such as the spiked ball game, other games feel more like a glorified tech demo instead of an actual fun game. It’s during these activities that Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour starts to wear a little thin.
This is also where it falls short of the standard set by Wii Sports. While Wii Sports can be considered a glorified tech demo as well, it actually felt like a real game right off the bat. It also baked in multiplayer quite well, giving it a ton of replay value even among casual players as well.
Then there’s the fact that Wii Sports was free, at least in the U.S. In contrast, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour requires folks to fork over $10. Granted, that’s not a lot but this really should have been included as free pack-in software for the Switch 2. This would have made it great as an introduction to the new console while putting the game in more people’s hands. It also would have been a great way to build up goodwill for Nintendo, especially given the Switch 2’s higher cost compared to its predecessor. Heck, I still remember when including a free game was standard practice for Nintendo with every console launch.
All in all, I think Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a pretty cool game. Is it cool enough to be worth paying for? Personally, I’d pay $10 for it. For some folks, though, they might opt to use that extra money toward subsidizing Mario Kart World’s higher $80 price tag. That would be a shame as there’s a lot of neat stuff to experience in Welcome Tour 2 but that would all be a moot point if someone decides to skip it.
Final thoughts Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a fun little introduction to the industry’s newest console, complete with a selection of mini-games plus trivia that helps users get to know their new system better. It would have been nice if it was included as a free game with every Switch purchase as it gives off the vibes of a pack-in game. The included mini-games can also be hit or miss while the heavy use of trivia can wear out its welcome after a while. It’s undoubtedly a great demonstration of what the Switch 2 can do. At the same time, charging for it means some folks will also have to decide whether to spend $10 on Welcome Tour or use that to make up for Mario Kart World’s higher price instead.