Is $450 really overpriced when the console standard for this gen was $500 to begin with and a base PS5 now costs $650 though?

The Switch 1's original price tag of $300 would cost $400 today adjusted for inflation, not much different from Switch 2.

On the other hand gamers need to accept reality, you can't have everything for nothing. There's no other industry in consumer electronics that's going to give you hardware subsidized and even at a loss at times. 

People want good tech, well then pay for it. You can't have it all. 

I remember my dad paid $85 (!) in Canadian (over $90 with tax) for Super Mario Bros. 3 in 1990, that would be like $220+ just for that game today and at the time we weren't swimming in money. 

You can't subsidize hardware the same way today anyway, there's far more retail investors in the stock market today because you can trade easily on the phone, the moment your revenue takes even a tiny dip your stock price will tank. 

Overpriced and expensive are two different things.  I don't think the S2 is overpriced, but I do think it is expensive for a huge portion of the general public.  Perhaps it depends on the country, but here in the States things are expensive, which makes a $450 console difficult for many.  Gas is at $4 a gallon, when it used to be $3.  My favorite fishing lures (mirrodine and shadow rap) were $5 and $8 respectively, now they are literally $9 and $13.  

50 % increase is a lot. It's not terrible (the game pricing for Switch 2 Editions is though) but I would consider the console itself just a smidge overpriced as well (at the time of its release).

Correct. Which is why we need multiple devices targeting different price points.

I believe it's overpriced, because it cannot definitively improve upon it's predecessor in every single way at a higher price. (Switch OLED)
It's got inferior battery life.
It's got a vastly inferior display, even when compared to the original Switch LCD.

And yeah. Everything has gotten expensive, which has eroded peoples disposable income, but this is a planetary wide issue, not a USA issue.
$4 a gallon for petrol in the USA?
$13.57 AUD a gallon here just last week. (Currency conversion puts it at about $9.50 USD)
For me, it's not a big deal, for others it's a massive financial impact bomb.

But the big issue is that wages haven't kept pace... And we need products/services to be aligned to wages, not inflation to be affordable.

This is where Nintendo has a massive strategic advantage compared to Microsoft or Sony, they can cost-cut hundreds of dollars off their handheld to appeal to other markets... The most Sony/Microsoft can do is die-shrinks, remove optical drives and play with storage capacities.
$1000 AUD consoles absolutely suck though.

And with physical on it's death-bed, even for consoles, the Switch 2 will likely be my last console.