A Nintendo Switch 2 costs $499.99 at Nintendo’s own US price. That is the console on its own, with no game. Nintendo of America announced the figure itself: “Beginning on September 1, 2026” the MSRP moved from $449.99 to $499.99, while “Pricing for the Nintendo Switch system is not changing.”
If you are buying one as a present, though, $499.99 is not the number to budget. The box has no game in it, the console has no second pair of controllers, and the thing everybody buys three months later is a memory card. A realistic Switch 2 present is nearer $600, and a four-player household ends up around $750.
Here is the arithmetic in full, at Nintendo’s own published prices, so you can decide which of the extras you are buying now and which can wait.
What $499.99 actually gets you
Nintendo’s own store listing names every item in the box: Nintendo Switch 2 Console, Joy-Con 2 (L) in Light Blue, Joy-Con 2 (R) in Light Red, Nintendo Switch 2 AC Adapter, USB-C Charging Cable, Nintendo Switch 2 Dock, Joy-Con 2 Grip, Joy-Con 2 Strap (×2), Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable.
Read that list for what is noton it. No game. No memory card. One pair of controllers, which is two players. The dock and the HDMI cable are included, which is better than some rivals manage, and on the inside Nintendo’s features page says the system “comes with 256 GB of internal storage—8x the capacity of Nintendo Switch” behind a 7.9-inch 1080p screen “featuring support for HDR, VRR, and up to 120 fps in compatible games”.
The three things it does not include
1. A game — $59.99 to $79.99. This is the one that catches people on Christmas morning. Nintendo prices Mario Kart World at $79.99 and Donkey Kong Bananza at $69.99; original Switch games, which run on the Switch 2, are mostly $39.99 to $59.99. A console with no game in the house is an unopenable present, so treat one game as part of the purchase rather than an extra. Our Switch 2 games list and Bananza versus Mario Kart World both help pick the first one.
2. More controllers — about $90 a pair. Not needed for one player. Essential if the point of the present is four people on a sofa, because the box contains two controllers and every four-player game assumes four. Our controller-counting guide does the arithmetic per console, and it is the single most common gap between what a gift buyer pictures and what happens on the day.
3. Storage — around $59.99. 256 GB sounds like plenty and it is, for a while. It stops being plenty quickly on a console that buys games digitally: Nintendo lists Mario Kart World alone at 22.2 GB. The catch is that the Switch 2 only accepts microSD Expresscards — the card from an older Switch will not save or load games on it — and Nintendo’s own store lists a 256GB Samsung microSD Express at $59.99. Our Switch 2 memory card guide covers which cards qualify and when to bother.
The bundles are genuinely cheaper
Nintendo sells the console with a game attached, and the discount is real rather than cosmetic.
- Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle — $549.99 MSRP, described by Nintendo as “system, full game download, and 3-month Nintendo Switch Online individual membership”.
- Nintendo Switch 2 + Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Bundle — $529.99 MSRP, available 10/22/26, on the same terms.
Against $499.99 plus $79.99 for Mario Kart World bought separately, the first bundle saves roughly $30 and adds three months of online play. If the game in the bundle is one they would have picked anyway, the bundle is simply the correct purchase.
The thing to watch is the other direction: a bundle built around a game they do not want is a bad deal at any discount, because a digital download cannot be sold on or given away.
And the recurring cost nobody mentions
A Nintendo Switch Online membership is not required to use the console. It is required to play with other people over the internet, and it carries cloud saves and the classic NES, Super NES and Game Boy libraries. Nintendo prices it at $19.99 a year for an individual and $34.99 a year for a Family membership covering up to eight Nintendo Accounts.
The Family membership is the one worth knowing about as a gift buyer, because $34.99 across a whole household is less than two individual memberships and it covers every Nintendo Account in the owner’s family group. Our guide to whether you need Nintendo Switch Online sets out exactly what it does and does not unlock, and our guide to sharing Switch games explains how one purchase can cover two children in the same family.
Three realistic totals
All at Nintendo’s own published prices, so you can sanity-check whatever a retailer is showing you.
- The minimum viable present — about $560. Console at $499.99 plus one older Switch game at around $59.99. One player, offline, nothing else needed.
- The realistic present — about $570 to $600. The Mario Kart World bundle at $549.99 plus a year of Nintendo Switch Online at $19.99, or the console plus a new game bought separately.
- The household present — about $750. Add a second pair of Joy-Con 2 controllers at around $90 and a 256GB microSD Express card at $59.99. This is where a family with three children genuinely lands within the first few months.
None of this includes sales tax, which varies by state and is why so many people search for the price “with tax”. And none of it includes a retailer markup or discount — the live prices below are pulled from the real Amazon listings with the date they were checked, which is usually a better guide to what you will pay than any MSRP.
If that total is too much
It is a lot of money for a present, and there are two honest cheaper routes.
Buy the older console. Nintendo explicitly did not raise the original Switch’s price in the same announcement, and the Switch Lite is cheaper again. The game library overlaps almost entirely, and for a young child the difference is close to invisible. Our Switch 2 versus Switch Lite comparison is the version of this decision with the models side by side, and which console to buy as a gift widens it out to PlayStation and Xbox.
Buy toward a console somebody else is buying. If a parent is already getting the console, a game, a controller or an eShop card is a present that lands on the same day and costs a fraction. Our Switch 2 accessories list is built for exactly that, and eShop cards explained covers the card route.