More than eight years after its predecessor was released, the Nintendo Switch 2 is finally in some gamers’ hands. The video game system went on sale at midnight at select Annapolis retailers.

“Every time we’ve done this, we’ve learned, we’ve gotten more organized, and we’re very good at it,” said Rick Morgan, Best Buy’s Annapolis market director, who was working Wednesday night. “Customers have fun with it. Employees have fun with it. I think it’s just a generally good time.”

The last major gaming hardware releases, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, took place in late 2020 during the height of the pandemic. That meant those consoles did not get a midnight release, at least at Best Buy, which did not sell them in-store until 2021.

Morgan said employees undergo additional training to be part of a midnight release. He’s been with the company for 25 years, long enough to see large-scale releases like the Nintendo Wii in 2006 and the Xbox 360 in 2005.

The new console boasts more powerful parts, allowing for more complex games at better fidelity than the previous console, among numerous changes.

Best Buy had customers form two lines, the first of which was for those who managed to secure a preorder by navigating a cutthroat online process back in April.

“I, like everyone else, had every single possible order location open on three tabs, and was just jumping between them and hitting refresh. I was unsuccessful,” said Tyler Yeatman while standing in Best Buy’s preorder line Wednesday night. “Hit one last refresh on Best Buy at 12:40 (a.m.) because they had their servers down, and (it went through).”

Yeatman’s mother managed to get a console for him that night, so his preorder went to his friend, Ava Rauch.

“I was never able to afford a console when (midnight releases) like these were happening in the past,” Rauch said. “Maybe it seems inconvenient, but the people here are nice, and I have my friends with me, so I’m happy.”

The other line, which nearly reached Dick’s Sporting Goods next door, was for those without a preorder who were hoping to snag one of the dozens of extra consoles sent by Nintendo for the release. Matthew Johnson was second in line, arriving at the store at 2 that afternoon. He, like many others, had reservations about the Switch 2’s price, which was 50% higher than the Switch 1 when it was released in 2017, going from $300 to $450.

“We kind of went back and forth on that for a little bit, wondering if we were actually going to purchase it, especially with the game prices being so expensive,” said Johnson, referring to the new Mario Kart World game, which costs $80 compared to the industry standard of $70. “But we decided, you know, why not? Because eventually, when the new (Legend of) Zelda game comes out, we know we’re going to buy it anyway, right?”

While the price was a deterrent for some of those in line, their love and nostalgia for Nintendo products meant they were willing to pay whatever the company charged.

Though console and game prices were unaffected, Nintendo increased the prices of several accessories in response to tariff threats. There is also the threat of early adopter tech issues, like the infamous Xbox 360 “red ring of death,” a hardware failure caused by rapid heat changes that broke circuitry, though customers in line said they were willing to take the risk. Just hours after the release, Reddit users began reporting dead pixels on their units, though it is unknown if this is a widespread issue.

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