We had the chance to play a bunch of SEGA and ATLUS games on Switch 2, and it's about what you'd expect

Can you believe we're only about 2 weeks away from the Nintendo Switch 2 launch? I can, but only because of the dread that comes from the system's launch coinciding with Summer Game Fest early next month. Thankfully, at least some of that dread has been dissipated thanks to SEGA being kind enough to invite RPG Site for a chance to get an early look at some of the titles that will be launching on the system at launch. We had a few hours to check out Yakuza 0 Director's Cut, Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S.

For brevity's sake, I'll go in order of what we played. First up was Yakuza 0 Director's Cut; this was by far the most impressive conversion, at least within the constraints of how we got to play the system - docked, with a Switch 2 Pro Controller. A few things to note, here; while we played the game with a Pro Controller, we were unable to test out the grip buttons. This is handled by the system software, and things were locked down tight to the point where during our session Nintendo of America employees were overseeing all of the press playing the pre-release builds of the games shown.

With that being said - Yakuza 0 seems like a very solid conversion. I can't say if it's a native 4k60, but it certainly looks close enough, and handles itself quite well. Compared to some of the other games we played, the higher internal resolution made itself very apparent. The new English dub is nice, even if I won't feel the need to make use of it, and Red Light Raid and its dozens of enemies on-screen at once is a showcase for the hardware, if nothing else. I don't know if I'll go back to replay Yakuza 0 with this release, but for anyone looking to get started with the series this will be an excellent option to do so.

Next up, Raidou Remastered. We already put up multiple previews about the state of the game yesterday, so we'd recommend you read Cullen and Mikhail's articles about the game first. On Switch 2, it feels a little early to make any judgments. While the game does run at 60 FPS on the system, in docked mode it seems to only target 1080p - in stark contrast to the much, much sharper visuals from Yakuza 0. Now that's not necessarily a demerit for the port as a whole; if the game runs at the same fidelity and performance in handheld mode, this might just be my ideal way to play the game. We'll just have to wait and see how things stack up. At least performance was nice and smooth, and even if the resolution was lower than I would've hoped while docked, it still holds up well enough. I only had a little under half an hour to play the game, so let's move onto the next game I had the chance to check out.

While it's not exactly a graphical showcase, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S is a landmark showcase for some of the Switch 2's other features. I know what you're going to ask, and unfortunately I can't speak to the quality of the new Pro Controller's dpad. For Puyo Puyo, we were told to play with single joycons. This emphasized a few things; one, we got to briefly try mouse mode which is definitely interesting for Puyo Puyo, but more than that the much larger joycons are significantly more comfortable to use on their own. The new shoulder buttons feel actually usable too, which is a major plus.

One neat new mode for 2S, which might be exclusive to this release, is the ability for teams of players to go against each other 2v2 with teams playing on the same board. Friends, this is a chaotic mess in all the best ways. There's friendly fire; if both players are trying to place their pieces, they will bump into each other. Trying to craft chains in Puyo Puyo between two players on the same board is a glorious, glorious mess. I wish the same mode would come to other platforms; but at least it's not a dud, and absolutely something I would actually play outside of the preview.

While it's not within our scope (at the moment, at least) I would've liked a chance to check out some of SEGA's other releases - namely, Sonic X Shadow Generations. What we did get a chance to play, however, does leave things feeling rather promising for the Switch 2 once we finally get a chance to go fully hands-on with the system early next month. Stay tuned for more impressions of Switch 2 games in the very near future.