Across our 17 published reviews, docked averages 4.15 out of 5 and handheld averages 4.12. That's basically a tie, so neither mode is the better one. It depends on the game, and the games fall into a few patterns.
Big landscapes and bright colors look better on the TV
Some games are about looking at things, and those are the ones I want on the TV. Breath of the Wild is soft and painterly, with warm light and gentle outlines, and the distant views look like postcards, especially around sunrise or sunset. On Switch 2, Digital Foundry measured it at up to 1440p docked and up to 1080p handheld, so the TV shows it sharper too.
No Man's Sky works the same way. Every planet has its own colors, weather and odd animals, and on a big TV it's just insane. It's my favorite way to play it. In Smash Bros., the arenas feel huge on a TV and that's where the game shines, and the big pixels of NES Nintendo Classics look great on a big screen with a friend next to you.
Why some games feel more immersive docked
Dave the Diver pulls me in the most. In a dark room, docked, with headphones, I'm in Dave's world straight away, and the colors look better on the TV. Headphones work in handheld too, so I don't think they're the reason. The picture and the room are.
It isn't simply that a TV is bigger. Nintendo lists the Switch 2 screen at 7.9 inches and 1080p. Held about 40 centimeters from your eyes, that fills roughly 25 degrees of your view, and a 55-inch TV from 2.5 meters fills roughly 27. That's rough arithmetic with typical distances, and it puts the handheld at nearly as much of your view as the TV.
What changes is everything else in your view. Docked in a dark room, the screen is the only bright thing and the edges of the room disappear. In handheld you can still see your hands and the console around the picture. That's my guess, but it fits why Dave the Diver and No Man's Sky, the two games I most want to get lost in, are the ones I prefer on the TV.
When the TV helps you read and follow
A bigger picture also helps when a game puts a lot on the screen at once. In Dave the Diver the recipes and menus are full of tiny words, and planning a restaurant menu on the handheld screen is a squint. In Tears of the Kingdom the building and the menus feel small. In Smash, small characters and busy fights are hard to follow in handheld. In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe the split screen is small too, which is why multiplayer belongs on the TV.
The two games we say need about an hour to be worth starting, Hogwarts Legacy and Tears of the Kingdom, are both best docked. An hour is a proper sit-down.
Short visits, the sofa and bed: handheld
Balatro is the clearest case, with handheld at 5 and docked at 3.5. It's my way to play it, for five minutes or an hour, and mouse mode on Switch 2 makes picking cards quick. NES Nintendo Classics is perfect for ten minutes at a time. Limbo I played all the way through handheld and it was perfect that way, and Airport Hero Haneda is where I play most, and it's perfect there too.
Road 96 works from the sofa or from bed with headphones on. I haven't played it docked, so I can't say how the big skies look on a TV. The handheld games for bed collection has more like it. Across our reviews, none of the games where handheld wins needs more than 30 minutes to be worth starting.
Where the TV loses
Grim Fandango Remastered is the odd one. It's a 4:3 frame, and the black bars on a big screen can bother you even if it's made pretty. The frame fits better on a small screen, so handheld is my pick there.
