Nintendo’s announcement of the Swap successor is imminent. Simply how imminent is anybody’s guess with the corporate stating that it could reveal info on the console earlier than the top of its fiscal 12 months in March. Rumors relating to the brand new Swap have been circulating for more than a year, however with lower than two months to go till the promised deadline, and within the absence of any actual info from Nintendo itself, hypothesis in regards to the console, its specs, bodily profile, and extra have reached a fever pitch. So earlier than the official reveal, right here’s every little thing we expect we find out about Nintendo’s subsequent console.
The one concrete, Nintendo-confirmed piece of data we all know in regards to the new console is that it’ll be backwards compatible with the Switch. All the pieces else has come by the use of leaks and data provided by third-party producers. Late final 12 months, one such producer, Dbrand, debuted its Killswitch carrying case meant for the Switch 2. Based on Dbrand CEO Adam Ijaz, the Killswitch relies on the “precise dimensions” of the brand new console obtained from a “3D scan of the actual {hardware}.” However in an interview with The Verge, he declined to say precisely how or the place Dbrand obtained such info.
If the Killswitch’s design is certainly derived from the actual factor, the brand new console will probably be bigger than the Swap OLED with an 8-inch display screen, and have a kickstand that can span the size of the console just like the OLED mannequin. That the brand new Swap will probably be bigger than earlier iterations is supported by leaks and info from other accessory manufacturers in addition to the concept that the Joy-Con controllers will attach via magnet as a substitute of sliding and snapping into place. The brand new controller design may also incorporate magnets within the joysticks to fight towards the dreaded “Pleasure-Con drift” that plagues the Swap even now.
CES 2025 supplied much more fodder for the rumor mill, with accent producer Genki showing off a 3D printed mock-up of the console on the present flooring. In an interview with The Verge, Genki CEO Eddie Tsai went into element about what he is aware of in regards to the new Swap reaffirming rumors relating to its bigger dimension, magnetic Pleasure-Con, and extra.
Whereas there’s numerous hypothesis and potential proof about what the brand new console will appear to be, there’s much less circulating about what it could possibly really do. Past an alleged photo of the console’s motherboard, there hasn’t been a lot on the market in regards to the console’s {hardware} specs. As a result of Nintendo has by no means made consoles on the bleeding edge (or, honestly, even the cutting one) of graphics or processing energy, it’s exhausting to guess how effectively the console will carry out or what further options, like a microphone, it’ll have.
Although the console’s internals stay a thriller, we do know that it’ll be backwards suitable with Swap video games. We will additionally fairly guess at the least one sport that’ll be a launch title: Metroid Prime 4. Introduced in 2017, and undergoing a change of studio and a development reboot two years later, Nintendo debuted gameplay footage for the primary time final 12 months and shared a comfortable launch window of 2025. When Twilight Princess launched in 2006, it debuted on each the GameCube and served as a launch title for the Wii. Breath of the Wild was additionally cross-gen, debuting on the Wii U whereas launching with the Swap in 2017.
Realizing that the brand new Swap and Metroid Prime 4 each launch in 2025 and with Twilight Princess and BotW as examples, it’s speculated that the explanation for Metroid 4’s lengthy stint in growth hell was, at the least partly, as a result of the sport was being tooled for both the Switch and its successor. Additionally, you simply can’t have a brand new Nintendo console and not using a Mario sport. Super Mario Odyssey was a Switch launch title, and although there’s been different new releases like Super Mario Wonder, there hasn’t been a brand new, standalone (put down your pitchforks Bowser’s Fury followers) 3D Mario sport since then. It’s all however assured one will probably be introduced with the brand new Swap. The just lately introduced Pokémon Legends: Z-A can also be an excellent launch title candidate as Nintendo curiously worded the sport’s debut trailer with “releasing concurrently worldwide on Nintendo Swap in 2025.”
For all of the rumors and cheap guesses supported by more and more convincing proof, it’s useful to do not forget that on the finish of the day, we’re nonetheless speaking about Nintendo. The corporate has at all times tread a separate and unpredictable path from the opposite two main console producers and that oddball technique has largely labored very effectively. Although the corporate is not immune to the same layoffs and delays (the Swap 2 was initially pegged for a 2024 release) plaguing its friends and certainly has its personal manifold issues with the way it treats and pays its workers and contractors, of the main publishers, it appears to be the one that’s greatest navigating the present disaster ravaging the trade.
It’s folly attempting to foretell what Nintendo will do, and that applies to its new console. All we will depend on is that it’s coming quickly, and when it arrives, it’ll be massive.
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