I bought a Switch Lite instead of a Switch 2
The Switch Lite is the true PSVita successor I always wanted.
I won’t try to explain why I needed a Switch Lite. I didn’t, I just wanted a new toy. I could try to justify this purchase by remembering how I battled to fit my Switch Oled in my backpack for the many travels I took it with me, but this thought could easily be countered with “just get a bigger backpack for way less than the 170€ you’d spend on a Switch Lite”.
But I’m not in the business of collecting videogames because I listen to reason. I bought a Switch Lite, in the year 2026, because I like to treat myself to things I find neat. And neat the Nintendo Switch Lite is.
I always wanted this smaller version of my favorite handheld. Yes, the oled model is way more premium: it has a way better screen, it can switch to the TV, it has rumble, a kickstand, auto brightness… and most importantly, I already have one. But every time I use it, I miss how my old PSP and PSVita felt in my hands. They weren’t as flimsy and heavy and big. If only they could play beefier games.
Still impressive
Almost 9 years after the launch of the Switch, I’m still impressed by the games it can run. I never would have thought that Skyrim, the game that made my Xbox 360 scream, would look and run better on essentially a small tablet 6 years later. And yet it did, with ease. Same for Red Dead Redemption, Batman Arkham City, Metro… And even when we jump to the following generation: Warframe, The Witcher 3, Doom (2016), No Man’s Sky, Hellblade… these Switch ports look and run good enough for portable play. Not every port is great, there are definitely some duds (I’m looking at you Arkham Knight), but the examples above are just a fraction of the great ports we’ve had.
Sure PC handhelds, that can run all of these games way better, are a thing now. But when the slickest of them all is still way bigger, heavier and its battery life is still shorter than the Switch’s, I just can’t be as impressed.
Nintendo hit gold by balancing portability, performance and battery life. It just becomes silly (in a good way) when you miniaturize this impressive hardware to the size of a PS Vita,. This little thing can run Crysis.
Size matters
If we compare the Switch Lite to its bigger brother side by side, the size difference doesn’t seem as drastic, but the difference becomes evident when you hold it in your hands.
Holding it with one hand shows you how light, yet sturdy, it is. There are no wobbly joycons here to make it feel more fragile than it is. The feeling of holding one solid piece of gaming hardware is something I missed since the PSVita.
In fact, the Switch Lite is way closer to the PSVita, by being only 2 centimeters wider, about half a centimeter taller and actually thinner than the cult Sony handheld.
It just feels great
Something I didn’t like about joycons, and I’m about to sound extremely picky, is that the sounds of the ZL and ZR triggers were different. One sounds more “metallic” than the other, and it was the same on every pair of joycons I ever tried. It doesn’t make it unplayable by any means, but it makes it feel like an unpolished product.
The Switch Lite’s triggers on the other hand, sound way more similar. They make less noise and they’re more muffled than the joycons’, and also have a tiny bit more travel. The differences are subtle, but the first time you press them, you can feel they’re more quality.
The D-Pad and the mushy face buttons remind me a lot of the DS Lite. Softer and mostly silent buttons isn’t something I thought I wanted, but now, I prefer them over the clicky buttons Nintendo puts on most of its handhelds.
Thanks to its lighter weight and smaller size, some touch focused games can be played way more comfortably on the Switch Lite:
To play Voez on a regular Switch, I had to lay it on a desk and play it like a piano. Now, I can just play it using my thumbs, without stretching my hands to an uncomfortable level.
Severed was a great game on the PSVita, but when it was ported to the Switch, even though it’s the same game with the same input method, the experience was way worse. Holding the Switch with one hand and touching the screen with the other felt clunky, especially when the obvious place to hold it is on the wobbly joycon, and it never feels secure. On the Switch Lite, I can enjoy this game just like I used to on the Vita.
Collecting stars on Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 in handheld mode is way easier now that I can use my thumbs to touch the whole surface of the screen.
However, the highlight of my experience with the Switch Lite has to be the flip cover: this official Nintendo case makes it the perfect travel accessory.
It hugs the console leaving all the buttons accessible, the fabric texture is comfortable to hold and has a nice grip, and the flip cover shuts securely with magnets. While playing, the cover sits on your hands, behind the Switch. It’s an elegant way to protect a Switch Lite that doesn’t sacrifice its portability. I can toss it in my bag without thinking twice. And because it’s so small and light, it won’t be a battle anymore to find a place for it while packing, like it was with the oled model.
The screen is better than I thought
On every Youtube video I’ve seen about this portable console, the screen doesn’t look good. There’s always a blueish or greenish tint to it. Turning on the Switch Lite for the first time, I can see that the white background of the home menu looks tinted, but it’s way less visible than in those videos. My Samsung TV has a similar issue where it always look blue on camera.
Changing the theme to black makes you instantly forget the less than ideal tint, and while playing games, there was never a moment that I said to myself “these colors don’t look right”.
The smaller screen comes with the benefit of higher pixel density. The resolution is the same (720p) and only has a 1.5” difference from the regular Switch’s, but here, everything looks extremely sharp, and the jagged edges are slightly less visible.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not comparable to the oled, but it is a quality panel.
We’re not exclusive
Even though I love my new toy to death, my oled model will remain in my rotation for games with a darker art direction that are still on my backlog. Games such as Hollow Knight, Diablo 3, Disco Elysium, Resident Evil 6 and any other horror game, since the superior screen is too good to let go off. For all else: RPGs, puzzle games, platformers, and especially Animal Crossing, the Switch Lite will be my main gaming device.