Hi there, Switch 2 community!

I just wanted to introduce myself, and show off my Switch 2. For the sake of the community, I will introduce myself by my Switch profile name: R-Zone. I’ll be honest when I say I haven’t played it in a while since getting it, I believe I beat Undead Nightmare again a couple months back but I have since been dry. I bought this with Metroid Prime 4, but somehow never touched it really.

That’s the moment I realized I was just buying games all Willy Nilly, and not even playing them. Why? Just because they were new, or I had a fear of missing out? I have this huge Switch library that never got touched because I had other things and other consoles going on. Then I saw it… or THEM… just standing there, with his beam katana out and holding her close. Travis Touchdown and Sylvia Christel. No More Heroes.

Don’t want to get too TL;DR, so I’ll sum it up: No More Heroes is fantastic. A unique hack and slash experience with memorable characters, some raunchy humor here and there, and just straight up anime wackiness. Years it had sat there, and finally I have played it, enjoyed it, and I can’t recommend it enough. However, I’m currently mixed on Travis Strikes Again. NMH1 was great, NMH2 was excellent and likely Suda’s magnum opus, TSA kinda feels jank in some places. I’ll get to 3 soon enough.

So yeah, that’s where I’m at. I love the Switch 2, and I’m even more glad I got it pre-price hike, and will I be taking this for granted like the previous model OLED? I hope not. I just wish I gave Travis the chance before upgrades.

Before The Support Ticket:

I have had my Steam Deck since December of 2022, and I’ve played it regularly and have taken care of it quite well. The only issue I have had with my Steam Deck before the RMA issue was an unresponsive right trigger (which was horrible for me due to it being used mostly for Custom BO3 Zombies). That, I was able to fix myself with great results with zero trigger issues after.

However, I’ve also had issues with my power button being unresponsive. It would only work when it wanted to and I really had to force it to function. I’ve tried a lot of remedies like placing alcohol within the button or the paper trick I’ve found online, even the screwdriver squeeze trick, but all of those were only temporary.

I knew it would cost a pretty penny to repair it since it’s way out of warranty, but I was scared of messing up the device even worse trying to fix it myself. So I bit the bullet and sent a message to Steam Support looking to send it in for Out of Warranty repairs. This is how it went for those who are looking into it themselves. Of course, my experience is and will be different from others sending their devices in for repair.

The Steam Deck RMA Saga

04/16/2026-04/17/2026:
Sent in my support ticket. Steam was very responsive with me, however did the usual diagnostic trying to see if it was a software issue before hardware. I knew it was hardware, it was for the power button. Anyway, they sent out the information for the RMA.

04/18/2026-04/20/2026:
The RMA took a pause as I went to Las Vegas for WrestleMania Weekend with my brother.

04/21/2026-04/27/2026:
Once I got back in town, I went to my local FedEx to print the shipping label and barcode sent to me by Valve. Due to it being Out of Warranty, my unit would be sent to Reconext in McAllen, Texas. It took a week to get there, and would only take longer to get to the next step.

04/28/2026-05/06/2026:
Communication went dry this week, so I decided to play my other game consoles. Some Rock Band 4 at first, but then I decided to start a new series on my Nintendo Switch 2, No More Heroes. During this time period, Travis Touchdown and Sylvia Christel kept me company as I beat NMH and NMH2 during this time. Currently on Travis Strikes Again heading into NMH3.

05/07/2026-05/13/2026:
Received the invoice from Reconext for a Level 2 Repair that cost around $185. A yikes on paper, but much better than buying a competitor at full price or waiting for an OLED to become available in this chip shortage era. It only took a day to receive the tracking information for the return shipping, and a week after that to receive my unit.

Post-RMA

It has only been a day since I got it back and so far, it works very well. The power button is functional, the triggers are responsive, the fans are whirring. Only issue is having to reinstall everything that wasn’t on my SD card, but that was to be expected. However it’s not about what I got back, I knew it would come back to me, but it’s what I did while I waited.

Without sending my Steam Deck in for repair, I would have missed out on No More Heroes, which had been sitting in my Switch library for years. It also allowed me to be more hands on with my Switch 2, a console I spent a lot of money on but let sit. As a matter of fact, this whole RMA saga taught me a valuable lesson about spending on video games.

I will be taking special care of this unit moving forward, more than I already was. I will use it docked most of the time, only use it portably when I am truly out, I will put it back in its case when done, and I will enjoy what is already in my library instead of buying new games due to FOMO or just looking cool. I will also play my other consoles in between to let it rest as not to wear it out, and go through those libraries.

Again, everyone else’s experience will be different. Some may have to wait longer, some may get theirs stolen in shipping, some may still be under warranty; but my experience was overall good, even if there was a ton of silence in between. So if you have the time and resources, and are looking to send it in for repair, I say go for it if you know what you’re getting yourself into. If you’re feeling confident yourself, then I’d suggest iFixIt of course. But just like me, not everyone may be confident enough.

TL;DR Version (Edit):

Had issues with my power button, so sent Steam Deck for RMA. Out of warranty, so went to Reconext, a Valve partner, for repair. It cost $185 and took three weeks, but it came back to me in working order. Will take better care of it from now on to prevent another RMA.