After much anticipation and expectation, Nintendo this week finally announced the successor to the enormously popular Nintendo Switch.
The Nintendo Switch 2 promises a more powerful take on the first outing (which launched in March 2017). A bigger, stronger machine that’ll do everything the first one did… just much better. Behold its magnificence!
All Aboard the Nintendo Switch 2 Hype Train (Choo Choo!!)
It makes perfect sense for Nintendo to advance on the Switch. As such a perfect concept, it’d be a shame for the company to move away from it and try something new.
However, the decision does mark a change of tune for Nintendo. This is the first time in 40 years of developing games consoles it hasn’t innovated with a totally new concept. From the SNES to the N64, GameCube, and Wii, it has a long history of taking big creative risks.
But with the Nintendo Switch 2, we get a souped up take on what has, frankly, become our all-time favourite games console. The Switch is perfect, great fun, and the next one should build on that in so many ways.
Eight years ago, it was introduced to the world like this (whilst promoting the upcoming masterpiece that is Zelda: Breath of the Wild).
In other words, you can take the thing with you (it’s a handheld and home console unit). Want to play Mario Kart on the bus to work? Sorted! Want to plug it into your TV and play it like that? Also sorted!
Fantastic concept, bags of charm, and loads of flexibility.
What the Switch 2 will do with that is still unclear. Specs and other details will follow in an early April Nintendo Direct announcementβwe can expect the console this year, surely.
What’ll be interesting to see is how much Nintendo has advanced the concept on. The new joy con controllers have magnetic strips to clap into the side of the central console unit. With everything bigger, this should be the most powerful handheld console ever.
Although it’ll lag behind the likes of the PS5 (something graphics snobs will get snotty about).
More importantly for us, the console means a new era of Nintendo exclusives. The Switch 2’s trailer hints Mario Kart 9 could be a launch title, which is enough to make us want to wet ourselves. Overall, the announcement of the Switch 2 was a joyous thing for us, the gaming community, and Nintendo fans.
There’s much to look forward to in 2025!
The Switch’s Unusually Long Lifespan
Some gamers have criticised Nintendo for waiting eight years between consoles. Usually, the likes of the PS5 or Xbox will have a five year run and then a replacement will come along. For example, the PS6 will probably turn up around 2027 (if not sooner) with souped by features.
Nintendo has had the luxury of delaying a new console as the Switch has been so popular. In May 2023, it released Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and that shifted 10 million copies in a matter of days.
The mega fun Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold some 64.27 million copies, making it easily the best selling game on the system.
Whilst Nintendo’s critics claim the company release the same games over and over, what’s actually going on is Nintendo innovating within their established franchises. And the games they’ve launched have been, as with the last 40 years, of outstandingly high quality. The trademark creative genius that has helped the company stand out.
The fantastic Super Mario Odyssey (2017) is the last full-scale 3D Mario game. It’s sold almost 30 million copies and is, very possibly, the best Mario game of them all.
The Switch’s success followed the mistakes the company made when launching the Wii U in 2012. That resulted in the worst commercially received run Nintendo had ever had, with the console (which we actually loved, by the way) only selling 13.6 million units. A disaster by Nintendo’s standards.
For comparison, the Switch has sold over 150 million units worldwide.
This success has allowed Nintendo to take its time with a successor, instead releasing an endless series of exceptional games on the current system. But… with the big caveat the console is the least powerful on the market. That’s meant the graphics haven’t been tip top, something a big chunk of gamers take far too seriously.
We saw last year when Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launched some journalists call it “ugly”. It just made us realise how far removed we are from the main chunk of mainstream gamers, as we just don’t give a toss about playing games with the most cutting-edge graphics imaginable.
It’s the game quality we’re bothered about and Nintendo always delivers there.
But the legacy of the Wii U also confirms why Nintendo has taken this route. When the Switch concept is so perfect, there’s no need to retire the idea. There’s plenty more to do with its unique setup and we await, with much excitement, to see what the Switch 2 delivers.
