What kind of accessories do you need for a handheld? Obviously, if you want to do anything extensive with said handheld or don’t have a heavy-duty computer case for it, you need a nice protective case. Something to protect your system from falls, hold some game cartridges, power cords, etc. Basically to throw everything you need for it into a nice little inexpensive baggy.

I’ve been pretty light on Nintendo Switch accessories thus far, outside of that stand for Tabletop Mode. I do plan on getting more, especially the Pro Controller for console play, but I’ve put far more money into actual games to review than accessories. Well, that and there are 2 hardware reviews coming this next week or two so that took a bit of cash.

Since Splatoon 2 just came out at the same time as a beautifully-splatoon-themed travel case that has room for the system, games, and more, I decided to grab it for my travel. Here is my review of the Nintendo Switch Game Traveler Deluxe Travel Case!

Design

The design is pretty simple, overall. The outside of the bag is shaped like the Switch in Handheld Mode, but covered by rubber padding on the bottom, and a nice, felt front with the box art of Splatoon 2 plastered onto it.

The rest of the outside design is mostly how you handle and interact with the case. The top has a handle for you to carry it with, and the border has a zipper which closes and opens the case. To add onto the Splatoon 2 theme, the zipper is actually made as a rubber Squid-Form Inkling. It doesn’t add more protection or features, but just something cute.

The inside is what’s more important for efficiency. In my opinion, every handheld device needs to have room for 3 things, with a 4th as a maybe-maybe-not. And we’re going to look at what this case has for each of those things.

First of all, you need room for the unit itself. Once the case is opened and a small pouch is lifted, there is a soft area that the Switch in Handheld Mode will perfectly fit into. Now, I said in Handheld Mode, not Tabletop Mode or TV Mode. This case is meant for Handheld Users, so you need to have your Joy-Cons attached to the console for it to fit in here. It fits in quite snugly, with the rubber underneath it to protect it from falls and the soft pouch above to protect the screen.

Second, you need room for games cartridges. Beneath where the Switch rests in the case, there are two square indents with two plastic game holders. These open up and can hold up to 4 Switch Game Carts a piece, meaning that you can have a maximum of 9 different games in the case at once (8 in the cases and 1 in the Switch, itself).

This aspect has an extra surprise, though. Each of these cases has a plastic case the size of a cartridge that opens up to reveal two areas for Micro SD Cards. So, even if you’ve gone all-digital, there’s plenty of space here for up to 4 separate memory cards. I was expecting game cases, but not cases for MicroSD.

Third, you need room for a charging cable. This is especially important for the Nintendo Switch, given it’s low battery life for most games. If you’re going on a trip and want to play Zelda, you can’t go without a charger or your Switch will die within just a few hours of play. This case has a spot for this, but at the same time, it doesn’t have a spot for this.

The soft pouch I mentioned earlier has a zipper and it actually meant to hold extra cartridges and an extra set of Joy-Cons. Obviously, it’s way too thin to hold the hefty AC Adapter that comes with the Switch. But if you have a small USB-AC Adapter and a separate USB-C cord (like the one that comes with the GPD Win Handheld PC), you can slip those in the pouch and have everything you need. Just make sure you’ve got a decent AC Adapter so you get a substantial charge gain to be able to play and charge at the same time.

Performance

The case performs well, overall. There’s just a couple things to mention.

First of all, the Switch and Games fit into the case perfectly. It feels snug and secure every time I put it in there, and the handle on top makes it extremely easy to carry around. The fact that everything is so lightweight makes it even better, cause I’ve got something that weighs very little and is guaranteed to have lots of padding to absorb falls in case I drop the case.

The only thing is that pouch. Technically, the case doesn’t have any compartment for a charging cable, but the method I mentioned above makes it so you can. But considering it’s only deep enough for the Joy-Cons, you need a very, very thin AC-USB adapter to make this work. I have a pretty thin one and it still sticks up a little past what the case is supposed to do. Granted, it still zips up easily and snugly, but there really should’ve been a place to put a charger, considering this case is clearly geared towards handheld environments and not places where you’d use it as a console.