Way back when the Nintendo Switch 2 was first properly unveiled, and we got a look at its scaled-up design, I was instantly struck by one small drawback to how Nintendo built its pro-level Switch follow-up. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been loving the handheld over the last couple of weeks, and it’s spent a whole heap of hours in my hands.
The main issue I have, though, is that its design is perhaps just a tiny bit boring visually. I don’t mean the new size or shape of the console, which I think is pretty close to perfect, but rather the colour choices. The Switch 2 is only available in one version right now, which is almost entirely black with a tiny splash of colour below the analogue stick of each Joy-Con 2 controller.
Those colours are callbacks to the bright orange and blue controllers that the original Switch came with (unless you opted for the grey version), and I’ve been missing how prominent they used to be, which is why I was so pleased that Dbrand has already launched a range of vinyl skins for the Switch 2 that can instantly alleviate that slight dullness.
I just spent 20 minutes very carefully fitting skins to my Switch 2, and the difference is night and day, in my opinion.
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The skins come in two versions, which you can choose between or pick up at the same time when you buy them. One style is a lot simpler, just a sticker that you affix to the front of your controller, and another for the back, but it leaves a black band around the side.
The other is harder to attach, but covers the whole surface of the Joy-Con with some careful flaps, and that’s the type I used. The results aren’t quite perfect if you’re looking closely, with some tiny gaps and wrinkles, but it’s more than close enough to make me glad I did it.
The biggest upgrade here is that I can now tell between my Switch 2 and my girlfriend’s – something that had been basically impossible unless you turned the console on, before. Given that the most affordable skins Dbrand makes start at just $15 (with international shipping adding a chunk, to be fair), I’d call that a price easily worth paying for a more interesting console that also makes it obvious whose is whose.
I have absolutely zero doubt that we’ll see new Joy-Con 2 variants from Nintendo within the next year, along with a version of the console that’s more colourful. It’s almost certainly concentrating on a streamlined supply chain to get as many Switch 2 units in people’s hands as possible before it considers variants. Still, to jump ahead of that wait, I can’t recommend a skin like this highly enough.
