Madden NFL 26 (Switch 2) Review

It might be hard to believe, but the last time that Electronic Arts had the world of Madden grace a Nintendo console was the Wii U. I couldn’t believe it myself when researching past Nintendo Madden franchise games, but here we are, in the year 2025, with a full-blown Madden game on the Nintendo Switch 2.

The drought is now over, however, and the result is much, much better than I had anticipated. We are not getting a Legacy Edition, as the first Switch received with the FIFA and FC series, this is essentially the same experience you’ll get on all other major platforms. Of course, some compromises have been made to ensure it works properly on the Switch 2, but I was surprised to find that these were negligible when the ability to play Madden on the go works so well.

While you have your usual Quickplay and Head-to-Head modes that come standard in most sports games, the modes you’re most likely to be spending your time in comes in Franchise, Superstar, and Madden Ultimate Team.

Franchise mode has you picking a team, managing the team’s roster, and guiding them through a career. You begin by choosing a coaching philosophy, which determines the type of coaching path you’ll take as you go through multiple seasons. Seeing how your players develop, your scouts look for potential players for your team and seeing your team improve over time makes this mode worthy of investing a lot of time in.

It’s worth mentioning that Superstar mode has been a stagnant mode in previous entries on other platforms, however the first game for the Switch 2 coincides with EA injecting new life into the mode. Taking on the role of a single NFL player, and then guide them through their career. Feeling like similar modes in 2K games, there are chapters, branching storylines and decisions to make. You can befriend teammates, build your chemistry with them, and have your agent assist you when trades and drafts are coming up. I found it a lot of fun, and while it seemed a little WWE in terms of story, it’s still a deeply engaging mode.

Ultimate Team is likely very familiar to anyone who has played a sports title in the past five years. You are given several random cards of players, managers, and coaches, and then you need to take that team to beat challenges and earn rewards. It’s the game’s approach to micro-transactions, and paying real money obviously gets you more frequent and better rewards, but you can technically play for free, there’s just a lot of grinding involved.

The overall presentation looks fantastic. Games played are broadcasted as if they are on ESPN, complete with introductions, team entrances and halftime shows. Like on television, there’s literally advertising everywhere if you can handle it. A nice touch is that players also react to the weather, so if a game is being played during Autumn in Texas, chances are the conditions are warmer, and the players will tire out quicker.

Playing the game itself feels impactful. It is a joy to choose a specific play for your team to run, either offensively or defensively, and watch as the AI complete the play as you would expect a real NFL team to enact. Being a team game, you must have a lot of trust in your teammates, and rarely did I ever find my team mates not pulling their weight or missing tackles because they were in the completely wrong position.

The action itself feels intense as well. Tackles and hits feel like they have real weight to them. A successful offense sees your team spread your opponents to create running lines and passing to team members in the open feels really satisfying.

For those who haven’t played Madden since the Wii U version, the game does a tremendous job of incorporating a tutorial system amongst the other modes in the form of challenges. You can relearn the basics like passing, running, and choosing offense and defence. Rather than simply tackling someone 5 times and the tutorial ends; you must use your newfound tackling abilities to stop your opponents from scoring in a single set to pass. It’s a much more dynamic feeling tutorial system that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Performance-wise, I’m thrilled to say that EA are no longer offering Nintendo fans watered down versions of their sports games. The game targets, and hits for the most part, 40 frames per second. Graphically wise, the game dips at times to keep the frames up, but during a match, is difficult to criticise. For that reason, handheld mode looks and feels a lot nicer than docked, however it still runs and plays great when it’s docked.

It is worth noting that the Switch 2 version of the game does not support cross-play. The reason given is the disparity between players running at 60fps opposed to 40fps. It is one of the disadvantages of the Switch 2 game, so keep that in mind if you want to play online against friends.

Madden 26 on the Switch 2 is the first real handheld game that doesn’t compromise. Sure, there are PC versions that can be played on portable PCs, however many have reported to not run Madden well, if at all. If you’re in a family or commute to work and are looking for a handheld option, Madden 26 on the Switch 2 was made for you.

It really can’t be overstated how significant it is that we have a working, portable, fully-fledged edition of Madden on the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s incredible that the game works as well as it does. There are trade-offs such as lower resolution and lower frames than other consoles, but those don’t allow you to play the game portably this well. The on-field action is smooth, and every mode allows for significant investment. I highly recommend picking this up, especially to see EA continuing to support the Switch 2 with its sport games.

Rating: 4.5/5

Madden NFL 26 was not released physically in Australia and is only available via the eShop or by importing from the US. It is a Game Key Card release.