Originally released in North America on March 3rd of 2017 (really, almost 8 years already?), the Nintendo Switch has seen rampant success. In a day and age where some manufacturers are wondering whether to continue at all (*cough* Microsoft), Nintendo has managed to move 146.04 million Nintendo Switches.
To put it into context, that's easily more than one and a half times the total sales of the PlayStation 5 (56 million as of April 2024) and Xbox Series X (31.2 million as of November 2024) put together. And apart from the Nintendo DS family, that's also more than any of Nintendo's previous consoles in their history.
As any major corporation does on a Thursday, Nintendo has shadow dropped a new trailer announcing a whole new console: the Nintendo Switch 2.
A new Mario Kart title was briefly shown in the video. It looks to support more than the usual 12 players.
It's clear that Nintendo is not necessarily trying to reinvent the console this time around like with the Wii for example and the original Switch itself. What we can glean from the video is a lot of polish and refinement:
- Bigger screen and console as a whole
- Console is made out of a new material/compound
- A new lever and magnet mechanism for separating and attaching Joycons
- A new much sturdier looking U-shaped kickstand with adjustable angle
- New USB-C port next to the 3.5mm headphone jack
- Larger triggers (ZL and ZR)
- Potentially the ability to use a Joy-Con as a mouse
- New rounded design for the dock
- New button next to home button
Backwards compatibility has been confirmed, with "most" Nintendo Switch 1 titles (digital and physical) being compatible. The new Switch will be using the same format of flash cartridge.
It will obviously feature new hardware on the inside as well, with some rumors saying performance while docked will be roughly on par with a base PS4. This is the main area Nintendo could improve on; while their recipe has been a success so far, performance that is more on par with other consoles with make multiplatform game development much easier for third-party developers.
The Joy-Cons have received a refresh with a new magnetic latch system and a new button next to the home button.
It remains to be seen whether Nintendo has addressed the stick drift issue from first-gen Joy-Cons. The video did show one of the joysticks stylishly rotating in circles, leading some to believe it was a subtle nod to the issue. Some rumors have pointed to Nintendo switching to hall effect sensors, remedying the issue. A Joy-Con grip was also seen making a return in the video.
A new entry in the Mario Kart series can be seen in the brief video, with what looks to be more players together in one session than normal. I'd also like to note that the gameplay looked awfully smooth for a Nintendo platform.
No specific release date has been mentioned aside from "2025." Nintendo is streaming a new Nintendo Direct on April 2nd, when we assume they will offer more details. Knowing this and the tendency for big releases to come out closer to the holidays, our bet is sometime in the second half of 2025.
Nintendo is also holding in-person events in three cities:
- New York City from April 4th to April 6th,
- Los Angeles from April 11th to April 13th,
- and Dallas from April 25th to April 27th.
Check out the trailer from Nintendo themselves below. They introduce new changes/updates in a very cheeky Nintendo-like fashion, and I love it.
What are your thoughts on this? This could be a "soft start" to the tenth console generation, with new entries from Microsoft and Sony arriving in 2026 at the earliest (although 2028 is more likely). Feel free to drop a comment below. You can also check out a short list of games confirmed or likely to release on Nintendo Switch 2 here.
