Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders are now officially open in North America. After (what felt like) a long delay after the original April 9 pre-order date, Nintendo finally opened up pre-orders in the US and Canada on April 24. The console will be widely available on June 5, but if you signed up ahead of time on Nintendo’s site, you should have received an email that will give you access to place your order via Nintendo.
If you didn’t get an email and you registered your interest with Nintendo, you’re not alone. The company updated its pre-order page to say that some may not receive their pre-order email until after the June 5 launch date.
Elsewhere across the internet, participating third-party retailers also opened up Switch 2 pre-orders. Stores including GameStop, Walmart, Best Buy, Target and others are both selling the $450 console and the $500 Mario Kart World bundle. But as of right now, most retailers have sold out of their stock.
Along with Nintendo, third-party retailers like Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart and Target opened their pre-orders on April 24 as scheduled. Best Buy, Walmart and Target pre-orders opened at midnight, while GameStop in-person and online pre-orders started at 11am. As of now, all of those retailers have either sold out of their stock, or list the console as “coming soon.” We also expect the Switch 2 to be available from Amazon, but links are not live on the site yet.
At this point, we recommend signing up via Nintendo’s website if you haven’t already. It’s free to sign up and you’ll eventually get an email that will allow you to order the console, even if you have to wait until after the June 5 launch day. We will continue to update this post as time goes on with the latest Switch 2 pre-order information.
Pre-order Nintendo Switch 2
Pre-order Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle
*As of 1pm ET on Thursday, April 24, Amazon has not listed either Switch 2 console package for sale. We will update this article with direct links when they arrive, until then we’re linking to the site’s Nintendo-focused hub.
The Switch 2 has a number of accessories that you can buy separately. While the console didn’t get a price adjustment when Nintendo announced the new pre-order date, many of these accessories did. The new Switch 2 camera now costs $55 instead of the original $50 price tag; the new Switch 2 Pro controller costs $85 instead of $80; an extra pair of Joy-Con 2 controllers will set you back $95 instead of $90 and a Joy-Con charging grip is going for $40 instead of $35. Check out Nintendo’s official statement for all of the accessory price adjustments. You can pre-order most of them now.
Samsung microSD Express Card – 256GB for Nintendo Switch 2 for $60
Joy-Con 2 bundle for $95
Switch 2 Pro Controller for $85
Switch 2 camera for $55
Hori Nintendo Switch 2 Piranha Plant Camera for $60
Joy-Con 2 charging grip for $40
Joy-Con 2 Wheels (set of 2) for $25
Switch 2 all-in-one carrying case for $85
*As of 1pm ET on Thursday, April 24, Amazon has not listed any first-party Switch 2 accessories for sale. We will update this article with direct links when they arrive, until then we’re linking to the site’s Nintendo-focused hub.
We knew from the teaser trailer for the Switch 2 that Nintendo’s new hardware would be bigger and would have a new approach to the detachable Joy-Cons. The new Joy-Con 2 have a new C button, mouse controls and a built in gyroscope for tilt control. The console has a built-in mic to support a new feature called Game Chat that will let you communicate with friends in-game. The device is indeed a bit larger, with a 7.9-inch LCD screen that supports a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR and a 1080p resolution.
When docked, you’ll be able to play at up to 4K on your TV, and Nintendo says it improved the consoles internal speakers as well. The new dock also has a built-in fan to keep the console cool and help maintain performance during long play sessions. The Switch 2 has dual USB-C ports for charging, and the base storage amount has increased to 256GB. The Switch 2’s storage can be expanded like the previous model, but it will only work with newer microSD Express cards.
During its most recent Direct presentation at the start of April, Nintendo showed off more of the Switch 2 than it ever had before. That included the reveal of the April 9 pre-order opening date, in addition to the original $450 starting price. Shortly after, President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on China and other countries, prompting Nintendo to delay pre-orders in the US and Canada.
In a reversal, President Trump then announced a 90-day pause on steep “reciprocal” tariffs affecting 75 countries, but also announced that the tariff imposed on China will go up even further (currently, it’s up to 245 percent for that country).
We now know that the original $450 price for the Switch 2 will remain the same in the US and Canada, but based on its official statement, it appears Nintendo is leaving the door open for potential future price increases.
We also know that Nintendo started moving some of its Switch console manufacturing to Vietnam in 2019. The reciprocal tariff for Vietnam was set to be 46 percent, but that appears to be on hold for now in favor of a 10 percent reciprocal tariff that’s now in effect for the 90-day pause period.
It has been speculated that Nintendo will boost production of Switch 2 consoles in Vietnam so it can stay on schedule, even if it sells the console at a loss in the short term. It appears the company will have to seriously ramp up production to keep up with Switch 2 demand: according to Nintendo, 2.2 million people entered the pre-order lottery in Japan alone, which is far more devices than it is expected to deliver in that region on launch day.
- “I jolted up in the middle of the night around… 4am? And couldn’t go back to sleep. I did not plan on pre-ordering the Switch 2 and this has nothing to do with it but I blame the Switch 2 pre-orders anyway.” — Cherlynn Low, Deputy Editor
- “I had Target accept an order and immediately cancel it. It then emailed me the cancellation confirmation before a then-false order confirmation. Then I got into about eight different queues at Best Buy for different SKUs, all of which timed out after 60-90 mins without ever giving me a chance to purchase something. (It’d just take me to an empty cart instead.)
- I did get both the normal SKU and Mario Kart bundle in my cart at Walmart several times, but it constantly declined my payment info. Later I found out it charged and immediately cancelled on me four separate times, which led my bank to lock my debit card. Then at roughly 1:40am I finally got one through at Target, which so far has managed to stick.” — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter
- “Walmart’s site put me into a waiting queue right after midnight, but I dozed off before seeing if I made it into the winner’s circle.” — John Falcone, Executive Editor
- “I was ready at my computer at 11:50pm. Had the sites for all the main retailers (Best Buy, Target and Walmart) open. And when things when live at midnight, it was just a big mess of pages timing out, waiting lines that didn’t work and order buttons that constantly errored out.” — Sam Rutherford, Senior Reporter
- A number of our Engadget staffers tried their luck this morning pre-ordering the Switch 2, to various degrees of success.
- “I had my ducks in a row at all three (Target, Best Buy and Walmart). Signed into all three at like 11:57pm. Target’s site crashed at like 11:59pm and I got shuttled to a queue for Walmart. Best Buy just said ‘coming soon.’ I refreshed and refreshed like a lunatic until Target came back and, lo and behold, there was a unit to preorder.
- However, every step along the way was precarious. Entering shipping information took a few minutes with many errors. The same for payment information. The worst was when it came time to pay. I had to click the ‘pay now’ option like 500 times for around 15 minutes before it went through. I got lucky. Many people got to where I got and Target actually cancelled the order afterward. All told, the process took around 40 minutes.” — Lawrence Bonk, Contributing Reporter
- Sam also got some play time with the new Donkey Kong Bananza game for the Switch 2. While he had some initial concerns about the level of button-mashing the game requires, he ultimately liked it enough to want to play it again. “Alongside Mario Kart World, it’s exceedingly clear that Donkey Kong Bananza is part of Nintendo’s giant punch that will carry the Switch 2 through its launch window.”
- Read more: Donkey Kong Bananza hands-on: A funky fresh take on Nintendo’s favorite ape
- GameStop is currently down for some who are trying to pre-order now, while others see a grayed-out pre-order button on Switch 2 product page.
- Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order GameStop (Engadget/GameStop)
- GameStop pre-orders are set to open at 11am ET — if you missed your chance at midnight, this might be your next best shot for today.
- Notably, Amazon doesn’t have any Switch 2 product pages live yet as of this posting. Big-box store shoppers may look to Costco, BJ’s or Sam’s Club as alternatives, but neither Costco nor BJ’s have a Switch 2 product page live yet, while Sam’s Club does but it’s listed as “coming soon.”
- Folks may have better luck with Switch 2 accessories. For example, the new Switch 2 camera is in stock and available to pre-order from Walmart, Best Buy and Target, as of this posting.
- As of 8am ET on April 24, the Switch 2 and the Mario Kart World bundle are listed as out of stock at Walmart and Target. Best Buy has both listed as “coming soon,” and GameStop’s online pre-orders are set to open at 11am ET.
- Welcome to our Switch 2 pre-order live blog! We’ll be keeping you up to date on all things Nintendo Switch 2 now that pre-orders are live in the US and Canada.
