Happy (And Sad) Tears Defined My Family’s First Moments With Switch 2

I stood in line last night to surprise my daughters with Mario Kart World, which became a whirlwind morning of happiness and disappointment.

My oldest read this note and asked “Why did you write “buth”? Good point.

I do not have a Switch 2 review for you today. That’s later. But I have a few stories.

Around 7am, I heard the familiar pitter patter of my five-year-old waking up and heading towards the family room, where she’ll often bark over a breakfast order (typically a waffle and mango slices) and watch her iPad before school. While clamoring over the couch, she paused. I was, of course, watching from a few feet away, waiting for her to realize what was really going on. Her eyes bulged. She whispered:

“Nintendo 2.”

The night before, I laid our Nintendo 2 Switch 2 (and their racing wheels) out:

Each of them got a racing wheel with the color closest to their favorite. (It stinks there aren’t more color options for both the racing wheels and the Joy-Con 2, however.)

It was as though she’d stumbled into the Holy Grail. Unsure what to do next, she sprinted into her sister’s room, excitedly told her what she’d discovered, and the two quickly threw on clothes to spend a few desperate minutes with Mario Kart World.

You can hear a little bit of the excitement in this clip below. Sorry that it’s so soft:

Dad is excited that he can finally play Bayonetta 3 at a real frame rate. (He’s been waiting literal years!) But my kids have been excited about a Switch 2 because of Mario Kart World. Besides Minecraft, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the game they return to over and over. They play the same characters and often the same tracks. It isn’t about making progression so much as it is spending time with each other. The prospect of a new Mario Kart—or, as my youngest put it when the Switch 2 was unveiled earlier this year, “Mario Kart 2“—was everything. My oldest kept asking when and if I would get a Switch 2 early (I didn’t), because it meant Mario Kart World would be in the house, too.

But in a sense, I did get a Switch 2 early, because as everyone slept, I spent a few hours in line at Best Buy to pick up a pre-order. Nintendo is, in fact, sending me a Switch 2, but as of this writing, it hasn’t shown up yet. (I’ll be sending any extra Switch 2s I end up with to colleagues who need one.) I have no idea what’s going to be in the box. Will there be a camera? A Pro Controller? I also wanted to surprise my kids, and pulling off that surprise meant hanging out at a Best Buy. My one regret over the experience is that I didn’t pour some beers into a thermos to keep me extra company.

If you want, you can experience that line with me on Bluesky. It was tiring but fun.

Anyway, back to Mario Kart World.

My five-year-old still struggles with controllers, while my eight-year-old is regularly hitting 1st place without breaking a sweat, suggesting she should probably, at long last, move past 50cc if she’s going to be playing by herself. When Mario Kart World was announced, the two were absolutely transfixed by what Nintendo calls the game’s “Free Roam” mode, a huge open-ended space where you can do whatever you want.

Most of you are wondering about whether the space has enough to do, but for my kids, the fact that the space exists was enough, and they have fantasized about it for months.

My youngest’s favorite animal is a penguin, too. A perfect match.

Naturally, when everyone sat down while the bagels were toasting, my eight-year-old immediately said “Free Roam” is what she wanted to do with her sister before school.

What we discovered—and what I expect a lot of other families to discover pretty quickly this weekend—is that Mario Kart World does not allow you to explore its “Free Roam” open world co-operatively on the same machine. It’s one person at a time. You can trick the game into a version of “Free Roam” by heading into “Wireless Mode” and selecting two players, which will allow two people on the same machine to explore that big space, but it comes without a minimap or other helpful elements. It appears technically possible, but right now, Nintendo isn’t making it a real option.

My children were crushed. Their dream wasn’t possible. I recorded our first moments with the Switch 2 on my phone, and have an edited version of how this all unfolded:

I’m reluctant to publicly share situations where my kids are frustrated, but in this case, I think hearing the experience we had together is instructive in understanding how children handle changed expectations, especially when disappointment occurs.

My oldest, for example, started rationalizing. 

• “That’s what they [Nintendo] said.”

• “I saw in the video that you could do two people, four people, five.”

Here’s how Nintendo described this concept in their Mario Kart World press release:

Fun with everyone, anywhere: Mario Kart World offers multiple ways to play together, locally or online. Up to four players can race split-screen on the same console. The game also supports local wireless play where up to eight players (with up to two players per Nintendo Switch 2 console) can race together. And players from around the world can join a race or battle in online play. In Free Roam, you can also meet up with your crew anywhere in this game’s world. Drive around, see where your friends are on the map and warp to them instantly. Then race, battle with custom rules or take a road trip to see the sights together.

I get there are questions about frame rate, progression, etc. But there are answers.

My youngest doesn’t really rationalize. She started crying and it broke my heart. 

While my oldest got her few minutes in “Free Roam,” I started frantically reading reddit and that’s where I read about how two people can engage in a version of “Free Roam” by starting a “Wireless Mode” multiplayer lobby. It’s not ideal, it’s not exactly what my children wanted, and it has a “waiting for players to join” message at the bottom of the screen that never, ever goes away, but it does let them play together!

For a few minutes, the dream was back. They were thrilled. My oldest stumbled into a group of dinosaurs and they worked together to meet up and drive past them together.

That moment was my own dream that I was trying to make happen for them. 

Smile on my face. Smile on their faces. But I am hoping Nintendo patches the game to make this better. We’ll see. I’ve contacted Nintendo but haven’t heard back just yet.

Oh, one last thing: being more powerful, the Switch 2 can make older games run better, even without the developers updating it. Despite its simple look, Minecraft has never run well on Switch, but on Switch 2? The frame rate seems way more stable now.

My kids prefer to play Minecraft on iPad, but I’ll be playing with them on my Switch 2.

If you have one, how’s your first day been with the Switch 2?

Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

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Also:

• I do not have a Switch 2 case, but forutnately, it looks like my Steam Deck case will work well enough. All the cases were sold out when I drove around today.

• The camera integration is, admittably, very cool. I’d recommend buying a cheap USB camera and checking it out. Watching their faces in Mario Kart was great.

• For a brief moment, I considered buying a second Switch 2 to resolve this problem, but that’s silly. I’ll just have to hold out hope Nintendo patches it.