When I was growing up, it was Harry Potter. With each book release, the lines got successively longer until the point that it kind of became a thing. Waiting in a midnight line wasn’t just a means to an end; it was, for better and for worse, a part of the experience. That was partially out of necessity—the days of ubiquitous e-commerce were still on the horizon back then, and Amazon had yet to sink its fangs into the unsuspecting flesh of book retail.
But it was also about more than just embarking on the pre-transphobic thrill of J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world; it was about fandom, and few things nowadays can evoke that level of fervor. Among those few things are Nintendo and its long-awaited Switch 2, apparently.
See Nintendo Switch 2 at Walmart
See Switch 2+ Mario Kart World Bundle at Walmart
ICYMI: the Switch 2 dropped, and people were just a little excited. While plenty of us ordered the console online and patiently, or impatiently, waited for it to either arrive or get canceled by Walmart, many more who didn’t get in on that pre-order convenience were sent pouring out into the streets to do it the old-fashioned way. That’s right, they brought their corporeal, fluid-filled meat sacks out into the real world to wait for a real person to put a real console into their real hands. And the results? UTTER CHAOS. Just kidding, it kind of looks like everyone had a chill time.
Line of people waiting to get Switch 2 but people online says nobody cares about Switch 2 and how it's gonna flop pic.twitter.com/WzpmAO9qQr
— Lil Al (@LilAl85855) June 5, 2025
Holy fucking shit. Came to my GameStop in the mall for the 3pm Switch 2 Pre-Order payoff and the line’s INSANE.
I’m assuming it’s a combo of people paying theirs off like me, and others who are to try getting a new one.
Don’t let them tell you “tHeRe’S nO HyPe” cuz they LYING! pic.twitter.com/e7wwQbdCGy
— Rob (Ro2R) (@Ruleof2Review) June 4, 2025
Sure, the lines were long, and standing for hours isn’t exactly what I would call a blast, but look at you guys out there in the real world being excited for something. It’s giving early iPhone levels of excitement. And not only that, but from the looks of it, many of you actually got your hands on a console, which, to be honest, is not what I was expecting. In the era of frequent chip-fueled console shortages, I was bracing for mass disappointment, but instead we got mass Switch-appointment. Hell yeah.
Obviously, I don’t have a God’s-eye view of all the Switch 2 launches across America, but I didn’t see a single fight, either. No Black Friday-level stampedes and, generally speaking, no shenanigans or tomfoolery, even if we got some scalpers. Alright, one GameStop employee did staple into the screen of potentially more than one Switch 2, but that seems more like an honest mistake than an act of Switch aggression. Maybe I’m a sucker for old gaming nostalgia, but I know some of you out there feel the same as I do, too. Look at all you beautiful nerds making friends. I could shed a Mountain Dew Code Red-colored tear for you all.
Dearest brethren camping out to buy a Switch 2 at midnight:
Cherish these memories. Make friends on line. Someday you'll feel too old and may look back wondering where the good old days went, but the hype was always, and will always, be real. Gaming is a wonderful hobby. https://t.co/YKSDjuPJ8h
— George Alexopoulos (@GPrime85) June 5, 2025
Sure, ordering things is still the easiest way of getting what you want on-demand, and lord knows most of us are busy enough to justify the convenience 10/10 times, but there’s also something to actually getting your butt out there and co-mingling with fans of the same thing as you. Maybe you’ll make a friend, maybe you’ll have some laughs, or maybe you’ll just get a leg cramp. There’s no telling what your experience will be, and in a way that’s kind of the point.
The fervor is ongoing today, too, by the way, even if the midnight marauders got their Switch 2s first. So, if you can justify the expense, the time, and the tedium of waiting in line, it might be worth bringing your lazy ass over to a Best Buy near you and seeing if you can wrap your trembling, Nintendo-addled hands around a console and hop on the Switch 2 train like your sweaty gamer kin. The Gizmodo crew just might do the same, and you know what? We just might have fun doing it.
