I play a whole bunch of hours of Madden NFL yearly, however one factor I have not performed in practically 20 years is play Madden on a Nintendo platform. To my recollection, the final time I performed the sequence on a Nintendo system was Madden 08. After that, I switched to taking part in the sport on Xbox consoles, and I’ve by no means seemed again, as Xbox turned my most well-liked platform. Just some years after I stop Madden on Nintendo, EA Sports activities stop Madden on Nintendo, too. However the Switch 2 guarantees a brand new starting for Madden on Nintendo platforms, and based mostly on a Madden 26 demo I performed on Switch 2, that future could also be brighter than the pairing’s lackluster previous.
The final Madden sport launched for a Nintendo system was Madden 13, launched in August 2012 for the Wii and Wii U. After that, EA stopped supporting the platform with its American soccer sport, seemingly as a result of technical limitations made it untenable to proceed. Within the Wii and Wii U period, the video games routinely underperformed critically, provided fewer new options than their counterparts on Xbox and PlayStation, and carried out worse graphically. I performed a sport of Madden 26 on Switch 2 in handheld mode–I did not see it docked–and although it did seem like a graphical step down from what I later performed on PS5, nothing else about it felt compromised by the platform.
Even within the case of the visible downgrade, it was no completely different than what I’d count on if I had been to play Madden 26 on my Steam Deck. Handhelds nonetheless include the baked-in understanding that you just’re shedding a little bit of luster for the comfort of the expertise, and understanding that, I was in a position to take pleasure in Madden 26 on Switch 2.
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The heftier Switch 2 felt higher in my palms than the unique Switch, and I was glad to see that Madden 26 presents function and mode parity with the opposite variations. Not did it appear to be “Madden, however…” The older Nintendo video games had been so usually Madden, however with out the brand new physics engine, or Madden, but without the foundational sim gameplay. I realized throughout my session that I had initially sat down with some skepticism, however it evaporated throughout my Pats-Chiefs conflict. Madden 26 on Switch 2 appears to be, nicely, Madden.
To the extent that Madden 26 might include its personal set of issues, it no less than does not seem to be I can pin the problem on Nintendo because the accountable occasion. Having stated that, I positively nonetheless need to see extra of the sport earlier than I finalize my opinion. I’d love to do a comparability of loading instances, each from menu to gameplay and likewise from menu to menu, as Madden’s laggy menus are a legacy ache for the sequence on any platform. However no less than now I’ve seen for myself that when I step onto the sphere with Madden for Switch 2, I’m not being requested to compromise on both my soccer know-how or the sport’s mechanical depth.
I play Madden in a enjoyable, pleasant, but nonetheless aggressive league of 32 gamers (which you’ll be able to sign up for here), and for these video games, I need to play on an enormous display. I additionally favor Xbox’s customary button format over Nintendo’s–which feels backward in my thoughts and value me two interceptions in my demo–so I will not be making Switch 2 my go-to platform for Madden this yr. However as a result of the sport now not seems like a port with lacking items, I can positively see a future the place I would get the sport on Xbox and Switch 2 if EA provided cross-save performance. In fact, for that, I’d additionally want to trace down a Switch 2, however you get it.
To have the ability to handle my roster, play observe mode, signal free brokers, and give my fake players cool names on the go can be greater than sufficient to get me to purchase into the Switch 2 model as a second choice. And for gamers who truly do favor Switch’s button format and would enthusiastically play it in handheld mode, this seems like the primary Nintendo-based Madden that holds as much as different platform variations in 20 years.
For extra on Madden 26, take a look at my impressions on one of the best function the sport presents (and took from School Soccer 25), and find out how the sport needed to change for one very particular rookie.