Welcome Tour is a funny little game; this is weird Nintendo offering up tutorials and quizzes for the featurs of your brand new Nintendo Switch 2. The one glaring error on Nintendo’s part is it should have been a pack in game, because this is precisely the type of interactive tutorial you need for a new console. Today I’m going to get into my review of Welcome Tour for the Nintendo Switch 2.

First up, I want to say I like Welcomem Tour, and I think you should play it. Yes, it costs £7.99 (here in the UK, which is roughly $10) but it’s an interesting game from Nintendo showcasing off their brand new console like proud parents. Just why Nintendo decided to charge for it baffles me, and pretty much everyone else.

That paywall is a bit of a shame, because it’s going to reduce the number of people who get to experience Welcome Tour. And it should be experienced if you have a Nintendo Switch 2, even if just for the Maracas mini-game. You will explore the Nintendo Switch 2, walking across it’s JoyCon, skating across the screen as helpful characters explain the ins and outs of the Switch 2 features. Do you want to know how the rumble works? How about the colours related to HDR? And the magnets for the JoyCon 2 – it’s in here.

I’m not really used to Nintendo going into this much tecnical detail. Since the Nintendo Wii in 2006 it felt like Nintendo didn’t really care for technology. Their consoles haven’t been about the latest graphics, or great online systems – the technology has been a vehicle to deliver their great games. Looking back over the last 20 years, Nintendo has delivered some of the best games ever made on under-powered consoles like. Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, all delivered on systems inferior from a technology point of view when compared to their Xbox and PlayStation counterparts.

But that has all changed, Nintendo has joined the technological party, and you’re going to learn all about it in Welcome Tour. You are a little character who explores the Nintendo Switch 2 like a museum. You’ll explore the JoyCon 2, the screen, the console, inside and outside. Nintendo go to lengths to explain what the technology is, why it’s there and how it was developed. It’s all delivered with relaxing music and its fun, albeit with a little ‘f’.

This is an isometic exploration game where you control a little avatar who can walk or run around the Switch 2. As you walk around you’ll collect Stamps, which can feel a little restrictive at times as you have to collect all the stamps before you move onto the next section. Sometimes it feels like Nintendo saying “You will learn about this before you move on” in a kind of organised fun, work-team building kind of way.

There are also mini-games which allow you to experience the technology in your hands, rather than just read about it or get quizzed about it. There are little exhibits all over the Switch 2 console, where your avatar can approach and get involved in a mini game. The mouse oneks are particularly challenging. When it starts you think, “Oh, this is going to be easy” – then I seemed to fall short each time. The mouse games are particularly prevalent here, given it’s a new feature for the Nintendo Switch, it feels like Nintendo really want you to know about the mouse.

Other mini-games include shooting baloons, colouring within the lines (Mario Paint anyone?), detecting the strongest rumble and loads more. Their job is clear, demonstrate the new features of the Nintendo Switch 2. While the games are effective, sometimes I did wonder if they could have been a little more fun. Most are OK to good, but they didn’t jump off the console screen to me as too memorable, which felt unlike Nintendo.

Alongside the mini-games are information boards, which you read and then get quizzed. The quizzes aren’t very hard and often include silly answers, but they do the job, and makes it feel like a guided tour interactive museum experience. The quizzes do start out nice and eacy and get progressively harder as you work your way through the Nintendo Switch and the features, although reading felt like going through the motions towards the end.  

One thing that is very striking about Welcome Tour is just how much detail Nintendo go into. They really are opening up on the process of how they built Nintendo Switch 2. This maybe the counter arguement from Nintendo and why they are charging for this game. They clearly put a lot of effort into this game; they have documented their building of the Nintendo Switch 2 and created loads of digestable info and minigames.

I’m reminded of the Wii launch where Reggie Fils Amie has to fight for Wii Sports to be a free pack in game for the Wii in the US. Reggie won that fight, and the Wii went onto be one of the most successful Nintendo consoles ever. I do understand Nintendo put a lot of effort into Welcome Tour, but surely they could take the financial hit, especially given we’re coming off of the success of the Nintendo Switch and the hefty price rise of the Switch 2.

As you progress through Welcome Tour its hard not to be impressed by the detail, the tactile nature of this interactive demonstration of your new console. I don’t know about you, but when I got the Switch 2 one of the first things you notice is the quality. This thing feels like it’s built to a higher standard of quality when compared to the Nintendo Switch. It feels expensive, it’s heavier, it’s somehow the same width. That pristine quality shines through Welcome Tour and it’s the perfect introduction to the new console. Yes, it’s repetitive at times and yes, some of the mini games can be infuriating. However, seeing Nintendo talk about frames per second and 4k output is still mesmerising to me, thinking about where we have come from to where we are today.

Summary

Welcome Tour is the perfect introduction to the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s odd, entertaining and weird Nintendo going into technical details about their brand new console. There’s a ton of great information here, interactive turorials and mini-games to play with, and it will keep you busy for a surprising amount of time. Yes, you have to pay for it, but if you can afford it, I think it’s worth it. 100% it should have been bundled with the console itself, and Nintendo could have avoided this slight PR knock, in an otherwise pretty flawless launch. Overall, I’ll give it an 8/10.