Nintendo has a history of knocking it out of the park with their console pack-in games: Super Mario Bros with the NES, Tetris with the Game Boy, Super Mario World with the Super Nintendo, and of course Wii Sports with the Wii. Riding the high of the Switch's success, Nintendo had the courage to release a standalone product called Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which straddles the line between charming curio and glorified instruction manual.

One way to sell consumers on a new video game console, especially one that's backwards compatible with your previous one, is to advertise all of the new bells and whistles that it has, and this seems to be the primary aim of Welcome Tour. The goal is to collect stamps from multiple areas of a model version of the console that represent its various parts, like the controller buttons, the console fans, and the dock ports, and doing so allows you to explore the next part of the console or the next peripheral. On each section there are info tidbits to peruse, requisite quizzes that test that knowledge, and mini-games to play, which shine a spotlight on the Switch 2’s new features and improvements. One of these is a more pronounced and effective HD Rumble, but many of these games focus on the added mouse controls. I was pleased to learn that using the Joy-Con like a mouse is quite seamless, even if the armrest of my recliner didn’t serve as the best test surface for it.

It’s equal parts understandable and frustrating that Welcome Tour’s breadth means that you won’t be able to complete all of the mini-games present without owning a compatible USB camera or the new Pro Controller, as those two sections each contain an activity that requires said peripherals. That said, the mini-games that require more than the Switch 2 console provides out of the box are minimal, and I was able to see most of Welcome Tour had to offer in my time with it. Adding to the title’s longevity are medals that you can earn from the mini-games to open up activities throughout the different sections of the game. A number of these trials are timed and so you can shoot for improving your high scores when you want to take a break from working towards exploring every part of the console and controllers.

My primary impression of Welcome Tour is that it’s more robust than I had initially expected, and it provides a comprehensive, hands-on experience with all of the upgrades offered by the Nintendo Switch 2. I’m eager to return to the game in small bursts to finish off more advanced versions of the mini-games I’ve unlocked, while also being a good student and “studying” for the numerous quizzes that help you learn about the new console and features. Just as the name implies, this tour lingers and doesn’t overstay its welcome. However, it does feel like it may have served as a very effective pack-in title, perhaps just outside the pantheon of those I mentioned earlier. I get it, though: in a world where many don’t have the patience for or interest in multi-page manuals, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour fills a role. Ultimately, I come away with a better sense of the capabilities of my new Nintendo console, and that at the very least helps ease the pain of my poor wallet.