The Nintendo Swap 2 has been revealed, here is all the things we all know up to now

Because the world turns, so do the console generations. The Nintendo Swap is over seven years old, so it’s due for a refresh. Nintendo Swap 2 rumors have been swirling for years, however now we now have some indicators of life. The corporate officially revealed the sequel to its most profitable house console ever in a quick trailer on January 16.

The Swap 2 appears to be like functionally similar to the unique system, albeit with a bigger show, magnetic Pleasure-Cons and a sleeker design. The corporate additionally reaffirmed that the upcoming console will probably be backwards appropriate with Swap video games.

Whereas the reveal did affirm some rumors and have a couple of attention-grabbing particulars for individuals who had been paying shut consideration, Nintendo remains to be largely maintaining its playing cards near its chest. We’ll have to attend till a particular Nintendo Direct on April 2 for all of the juicy info. Annoyingly, that date is a Wednesday and never a Two-sday.

The Nintendo Swap 2 was introduced on January 16

The rumor mill had heavily suggested that Nintendo would pull again the curtain on the Swap 2 on January 16, and that turned out to be the case.

The corporate hasn’t modified the core type issue. It is a moveable console with removable Pleasure-Cons. The Swap 2 could be positioned in a dock for big-screen gaming. There are some important variations from the unique console, nonetheless.

The obvious one is that the next-gen Pleasure-Cons will now not slide into place mechanically. As an alternative, they’re going to connect to the primary unit magnetically. There’s a small connector that is probably used to cost the controllers and maybe take away the necessity to hyperlink them through Bluetooth. It is unclear at this level if Pleasure-Cons from the unique system will probably be appropriate with the Swap 2.

One different massive (and really welcome) change is the addition of a second USB-C port on the highest of the machine. That ought to make it a lot simpler to plug in equipment whereas the Swap 2 is docked. It is nice to see that Nintendo has saved the headphone jack as properly. Let’s simply hope that Bluetooth headphone help is reside from the soar this time and Nintendo does not depart everybody waiting four years for that characteristic.

The kickstand is getting an improve as properly. As with the Swap OLED, it spans the size of the console. However, in keeping with the trailer, this one appears to be like totally adjustable, so you’ll be able to tweak the viewing angle to 1 that works for you.

Nonetheless, there are nonetheless a terrific many unknowns concerning the upcoming console. We do not actually know the specs but, or what sort of show it makes use of. We additionally do not know something about battery life, the UI or launch video games. We’ll probably be taught a complete lot on April 2.

When will the Nintendo Swap 2 come out?

2025. That is all we all know for certain at this level.

It is extremely unlikely that Nintendo will launch the console earlier than the devoted Direct on April 2, and never solely as a result of that is at the beginning of Nintendo’s subsequent monetary 12 months. Nonetheless, accent producer Genki, which has been a significant supply of leaks in current months, claims the console will be released in April. Different reviews have put the discharge window someday in June.

In any case, we must always be taught the discharge date throughout the April 2 Direct if we have not already by then.

When can I strive the Nintendo Swap 2?

Nintendo is planning a worldwide roadshow to let avid gamers go hands-on with the console. These occasions begin in New York and Paris on April 3-6, with others going down all through the next two months. That lends credence to some ideas that Nintendo will launch the Swap 2 in June.

Ticket registration for the Swap 2 Expertise occasions within the US (in New York, Los Angeles and Paris) starts on January 17 at 3PM ET and can stay open till January 26. A Nintendo Account is required to enroll. Nintendo will randomly choose the recipients of the free tickets.

The complete checklist of Nintendo Swap 2 Expertise occasions is as follows:

North America:

• New York, April 4-6, 2025

• Los Angeles, April 11-13, 2025

• Dallas, April 25-27, 2025

• Toronto, April 25-27, 2025

Europe:

• Paris, April 4-6, 2025

• London, April 11-13, 2025

• Milan, April 25-27, 2025

• Berlin, April 25-27, 2025

• Madrid, Could Sep 11, 2025

• Amsterdam, Could Sep 11, 2025

Oceania:

Asia:

• Tokyo (Makuhari), April 26-27, 2025

• Seoul, Could 31-June 1, 2025

• Hong Kong, To be introduced

• Taipei, To be introduced

Will the Nintendo Swap 2 have some weirdness?

Every thing we have seen and up to now about this console has been pretty, properly, conventional. It appears to be like like the unique Swap, however higher. That is superior, however will there be any of that unpredictable Nintendo magic? Possibly! There are two puzzling additions that people cannot make conceal nor hair of.

Eager eyes may have seen a brand new button on the underside of the proper Pleasure-Con. It it not but clear what this does. May it provoke voice chat throughout gameplay? May it calibrate the controllers? May it create a room-sized hologram of Bowser in your lounge? We’ll have to attend and see.

Now onto the up to date Pleasure-Cons. There seems to be a brand new sensor on the connecting facet of every controller. It appears to be like a whole lot like an optical sensor, which is what a pc mouse makes use of. This has led to hypothesis that gamers will have the ability to flip the Pleasure-Con over and use it like a mouse. Of notice: the trailer exhibits the Pleasure-Cons shifting alongside a flat floor, connector facet down and searching suspiciously like a mouse.

However why would anybody even need this? I can consider three phrases. New Mario Paint.

Is the Nintendo Swap 2 backwards appropriate?

The corporate confirmed in November 2024 that the Nintendo Switch 2 will be backwards compatible. It can additionally characteristic entry to Nintendo On-line, so customers will have the ability to play all of these outdated retro titles.

Within the preliminary Nintendo Swap 2 press launch, Nintendo reiterated that bodily and digital Swap video games will work on the brand new system. Nonetheless, it famous that “sure Nintendo Swap video games is probably not supported on or totally appropriate with Nintendo Swap 2.” Extra particulars about which video games these are will probably be revealed later.

Will outdated video games be enhanced in any means?

The unique Swap has, to place it mildly, struggled to run some of the late-generation software that is come down the pike. May these video games be enhanced to reap the benefits of the elevated horsepower of the Swap 2? We do not know. We additionally do not know if any of those releases will obtain graphical upgrades, maybe benefiting from upscaling tech.

What’s going to the cartridges style like?

Chances are you’ll keep in mind that the unique Swap cartridges taste absolutely awful. This was on objective, to discourage people from placing the video games of their mouth. Will the successor comply with swimsuit and proceed to dip cartridges in a foul-tasting bitter coating? Solely time will inform.

What about specs?

The rumors concerning specs are in all places, so it’s powerful to pin down. We all know one factor for certain: It’ll be extra highly effective than the traditional Swap {hardware}, which was already antiquated again in 2017. One analyst allegedly acquired a maintain of a spec sheet from the Korean United Every day Information that mentioned the Swap 2 would boast an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of inner eMMC storage. This tracks for me, as these specs are about as underpowered in 2024 as the unique Swap was in 2017. Nonetheless, some reviews do indicate that the console will embody 12GB of RAM.

One other supply means that the eight-core CPU will probably be packaged inside an NVIDIA-produced Tegra239 SoC (system on a chip). Given the present Swap runs on an NVIDIA chip, that makes numerous sense. The CPU will probably be extra highly effective, however it’s the Swap 2’s new GPU that will probably be a significant differentiator. It is all-but-confirmed that the Swap 2 will help DLSS, NVIDIA’s “deep studying supersampling” upscaling tech, which might enable the console to render video games at a low decision internally whereas outputting a high-resolution picture. (Enjoyable truth: We really wrote about how perfect DLSS was for the Nintendo Switch 2 when the know-how was introduced alongside the RTX 20 collection again in 2018.)

There are nonetheless questions in regards to the Swap 2 and DLSS: Will the system help newer DLSS features like frame generation? Will current video games be robotically tidied up by NVIDIA’s algorithm? Whatever the precise implementation, DLSS upscaling will probably be an enormous leap over the rudimentary strategies out there to Nintendo Swap builders.

As for the show, there are various conflicting rumors. Early reviews from stable sources steered the Swap 2 would have an 8-inch show LCD show. The Swap 2’s show actually appears to be like bigger than that of the unique Swap in a side-by-side comparability within the reveal trailer. Some people have nervous that the Swap follow-up may actually be too big, particularly for youths.

Sure analysts have steered this could be an OLED display, whereas others have mentioned it will be a Mini-LED display. A Mini-LED show is mainly an LCD show that has a backlight product of (shock!) mini-LEDs somewhat than edge lighting. This enables for native dimming, making the blacks extra black. I’m hedging my bets right here. I believe it’ll be a regular LCD, to chop prices, with an OLED or Mini-LED mannequin coming later down the road. Nonetheless, Mini-LED screens are barely cheaper than OLED shows, in order that’s actually a chance at launch.

As for decision, current reporting means that the console will output 1080p in handheld and 4K when docked. That is a lot better than the OG Swap.

How a lot will the Nintendo Swap 2 price?

We do not have an excessive amount of info concerning value however we do have loads of historical past to work with. The unique Nintendo Swap launched at $300, which is just about the “magic quantity” on the subject of Nintendo console releases in recent times. The Wii U additionally got here in at $300.

Nonetheless, there are many rumors circulating that Nintendo may very well be upping the asking value for the Swap 2. Quite a few retailers have reported it’ll be $400, or probably even more expensive. Nonetheless, the identical analysts who say the console will probably be $400 had been additionally pretty sure it will be out by the tip of 2024 and, properly, that did not occur.

Dipping again into historical past, there’s some priority for a value uptick. The GameCube was $200 and the Wii was $250. The Wii U and Swap elevated to $300 and, properly, numbers wish to go up. A $400 price ticket would make it almost as costly as a PS5 and Xbox Sequence X. That will additionally put it on the similar value because the 256GB LCD Steam Deck.

Once more, we must always get affirmation of the value throughout the April 2 Nintendo Direct.

Can we find out about any launch video games?

Not a lot. The reveal trailer provided a peek at a brand new Mario Kart recreation. Nintendo launched Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U over a decade in the past and it has been milking that money cow ever since, having bought greater than 64 million copies of the sport throughout that console and the Swap. It is undoubtedly time for a brand new entry!

It is actually been a long time since we’ve gotten a correct 3D Mario journey as properly, so a brand new one may very well be a launch title. That will be one heck of a system vendor. Aside from that, your guess is pretty much as good as mine. Previous as prologue, we will count on one thing from Ubisoft and an off-the-wall title like 1-2-Swap.

If there’s a gimmick or hook concerned with the console, we’ll additionally get a recreation that takes benefit of that. A twin launch of Metroid Prime 4, similar to Breath of the Wild and Twilight Princess earlier than that, can be a chance.

It is all however nailed on that we’ll be taught far more in regards to the Swap 2 launch lineup throughout the April 2 Nintendo Direct. You will undoubtedly need to set your Alarmo for that one.

That is all the things we all know in regards to the Nintendo Swap 2 immediately. We’ll replace this text with rumors we belief and with info we collect straight from sources. Any adjustments made to the article after its preliminary publishing will probably be listed beneath.

Replace, January 24, 2025, 12:36 PM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate hypothesis about value, potential recreation enhancements and the style of cartridges.