Because the world turns, so do the console generations. The Nintendo Swap is over seven years outdated, so it’s due for a refresh. Nintendo Swap 2 rumors have been swirling for years, however now we have now some indicators of life. The corporate formally revealed the sequel to its most profitable dwelling console ever in a quick trailer on January 16.
The Swap 2 appears 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 verify some rumors and have a number of fascinating particulars for individuals who had been paying shut consideration, Nintendo remains to be largely holding its playing cards near its chest. We'll have to attend till a particular Nintendo Direct at 9AM ET on April 2 for all of the juicy data. Annoyingly, that date is a Wednesday and never a Two-sday.
The Nintendo Swap 2 was introduced on January 16
The rumor mill had closely advised 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 kind issue. It's a conveyable 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 not slide into place mechanically. As a substitute, they'll connect to the primary unit magnetically. There’s a small connector that's doubtless used to cost the controllers and maybe take away the necessity to hyperlink them by way of Bluetooth. It's 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's nice to see that Nintendo has saved the headphone jack as nicely. Let's simply hope that Bluetooth headphone help is reside from the soar this time and Nintendo doesn't go away everybody waiting four yearsfor that function.
The kickstand is getting an improve as nicely. As with the Swap OLED, it spans the size of the console. However, in line with the trailer, this one appears absolutely adjustable, so you possibly can tweak the viewing angle to 1 that works for you.
Nevertheless, there are nonetheless an incredible many unknowns concerning the upcoming console. We don't actually know the specs but, or what sort of show it makes use of. We additionally don't know something about battery life, the UI or launch video games. We'll doubtless study an entire lot on April 2.
When will the Nintendo Swap 2 come out?
2025. That's all we all know for positive at this level.
It's extremely unlikely that Nintendo will launch the console earlier than the devoted Direct on April 2, and never solely as a result of that's at the beginning of Nintendo's subsequent monetary yr. Nevertheless, accent producer Genki, which has been a serious supply of leaks in latest months, claims the console will probably be launched in April. Different stories have put the discharge window someday in June.
In any case, we should always study the discharge date throughout the April 2 Direct if we haven't already by then.
When can I strive the Nintendo Swap 2?
Nintendo is planning a worldwide roadshow to let players go hands-on with the console. These occasions begin in New York and Paris on April 3-6, with others happening all through the next two months. That lends credence to some recommendations 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) begins 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 total listing of Nintendo Swap 2 Expertise occasions is as follows:
North America:
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New York, April 4-6, 2025
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Los Angeles, April 11-13, 2025
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Dallas, April 25-27, 2025
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Toronto, April 25-27, 2025
Europe:
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Paris, April 4-6, 2025
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London, April 11-13, 2025
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Milan, April 25-27, 2025
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Berlin, April 25-27, 2025
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Madrid, Might 11th of September, 2025
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Amsterdam, Might 11th of September, 2025
Oceania:
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Melbourne, Might 10-11, 2025
Asia:
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Tokyo (Makuhari), April 26-27, 2025
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Seoul, Might 31-June 1, 2025
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Hong Kong, To be introduced
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Taipei, To be introduced
Will the Nintendo Swap 2 have some weirdness?
Every little thing we've seen and to this point about this console has been pretty, nicely, conventional. It appears like the unique Swap, however higher. That's superior, however will there be any of that unpredictable Nintendo magic? Possibly! There are two puzzling additions that people can't make conceal nor hair of.
Genki, the equipment producer, simply revealed a touchdown web page for his or her Nintendo Swap 2 equipment. This touchdown web page contains a video that features a very detailed have a look at a Swap 2 mockup. pic.twitter.com/Db7RSk4YlQ
— Bob Wulff (@BobWulff) January 8, 2025
Eager eyes could have observed a brand new button on the underside of the appropriate 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 front room? 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 an entire 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 observe: the trailer reveals 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.
Genki reveal isnt a mockup, its straight up simply the Swap 2, optical sensor is actually flashing on this shot @Stealth40k #Switch2 pic.twitter.com/COeLsonqMd
— Ash (@Ashinarii) January 8, 2025
Mouse management isn’t the one “too unusual for any firm however Nintendo” rumor floating round. A patent filed by the corporate suggests you possibly can swap the Swap 2’s Pleasure-Cons, snapping them onto both facet of the console. That may align with the magnetic Pleasure-Con attachment scheme.
However very similar to the bizarre mouse rumors, it doesn’t essentially align with, nicely, any logical motive for why you’d wish to try this. The patent suggests it may permit for extra person alternative in the place the headphone jack is. However because it’s Nintendo, the corporate that introduced us Labo cardboard peripherals and the Sport Boy Advance e-reader attachment, we have now to surprise if there are… quirkier designs at hand.
Is the Nintendo Swap 2 backwards appropriate?
The corporate confirmed in November 2024 that the Nintendo Swap 2 will probably be backwards appropriate. It’ll additionally function 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. Nevertheless, it famous that "sure Nintendo Swap video games will not be supported on or absolutely 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 approach?
The unique Swap has, to place it mildly, struggled to run a few of the late-generation software program that's come down the pike. May these video games be enhanced to benefit from the elevated horsepower of the Swap 2? We do not know. We additionally don't know if any of those releases will obtain graphical upgrades, maybe benefiting from upscaling tech.
What is going to the cartridges style like?
It’s possible you’ll do not forget that the unique Swap cartridges style completely terrible. This was on goal, to discourage of us 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 everywhere, so it’s robust to pin down. We all know one factor for positive: It’ll be extra highly effective than the traditional Swap {hardware}, which was already antiquated again in 2017. One analyst allegedly obtained a maintain of a spec sheet from the Korean United Every day Information that stated 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. Nevertheless, some stories do point out 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 quite a lot of sense. The CPU will probably be extra highly effective, however it's the Swap 2's new GPU that will probably be a serious differentiator. It's all-but-confirmed that the Swap 2 will help DLSS, NVIDIA's "deep studying supersampling" upscaling tech, which might permit the console to render video games at a low decision internally whereas outputting a high-resolution picture. (Enjoyable truth: We truly wrote about how excellent DLSS was for the Nintendo Swap 2 when the expertise 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 options like body era? Will present video games be routinely tidied up by NVIDIA's algorithm? Whatever the actual 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 lots of conflicting rumors. Early stories from strong sources advised the Swap 2 would have an 8-inch show LCD show. The Swap 2's show definitely appears bigger than that of the unique Swap in a side-by-side comparability within the reveal trailer. Some of us have anxious that the Swap follow-up may very well be too massive, particularly for youths.
Sure analysts have advised this might be an OLED display screen, whereas others have stated it might be a Mini-LED show. A Mini-LED show is mainly an LCD show that has a backlight product of (shock!) mini-LEDs slightly than edge lighting. This permits for native dimming, making the blacks extra black. I’m hedging my bets right here. I feel it’ll be an ordinary LCD, to chop prices, with an OLED or Mini-LED mannequin coming later down the road. Nevertheless, Mini-LED screens are barely cheaper than OLED shows, in order that’s definitely a risk at launch.
As for decision, latest reporting means that the console will output 1080p in handheld and 4K when docked. That's significantly better than the OG Swap.
Extra tenuous “leaks” have intimated that the Swap 2 may additionally help a quicker microSD card commonplace referred to as microSD Categorical. This permits for considerably quicker switch charges than the frequent UHS-I playing cards supported by the Swap at the moment. It’s technically been round for a number of years, however we’ve solely lately began to see microSD playing cards that benefit from the spec hit the market.
We truly examined one in all them from SanDisk for our microSD card shopping for information and located it may attain sequential learn speeds as much as round 900 MB/s. With the present Swap, microSD switch speeds prime out nearer to 100 MB/s.
So, in principle, all of this might deliver a large enhance in load occasions and basic storage efficiency for the Swap 2 (although it’s nonetheless not prone to be on par with the SSDs within the PS5 or Xbox Sequence X/S). However once more, these rumors are removed from concrete. It’s additionally price noting that microSD Categorical playing cards price considerably greater than what we normally see at the moment — the SanDisk card we examined, for example, begins at $45 for simply 128GB of storage.
Not too long ago-unearthed FCC filings additionally point out that the console will help WiFi 6 and NFC. The latter signifies that the Swap 2 will proceed Amiibo integration.
How a lot will the Nintendo Swap 2 price?
We don't have an excessive amount of data 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 lately. The Wii U additionally got here in at $300.
Nevertheless, there are many rumors circulating that Nintendo may very well be upping the asking value for the Swap 2. Quite a few shops have reported it'll be $400, or doubtlessly much more costly. Nevertheless, the identical analysts who say the console will probably be $400 had been additionally pretty sure it might be out by the tip of 2024 and, nicely, that didn't 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, nicely, numbers wish to go up. A $400 price ticket would make it almost as costly as a PS5 and Xbox Sequence X. That may additionally put it on the similar value because the 256GB LCD Steam Deck.
Once more, we should always get affirmation of the worth throughout the April 2 Nintendo Direct.
Will we learn about any launch video games?
Not a lot. The reveal trailer supplied 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's been milking that money cow ever since, having offered greater than 64 million copies of the sport throughout that console and the Swap. It's undoubtedly time for a brand new entry!
It's definitely been a very long time since we’ve gotten a correct 3D Mario journey as nicely, so a brand new one may very well be a launch title. That may be one heck of a system vendor. Aside from that, your guess is nearly 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, identical to Breath of the Wild and Twilight Princess earlier than that, can also be a risk.
It's all however nailed on that we'll study far more in regards to the Swap 2 launch lineup throughout the April 2 Nintendo Direct, which begins at 9AM ET. You'll undoubtedly wish to set your Alarmo for that one.
That's every part we all know in regards to the Nintendo Swap 2 at the moment. We'll replace this text with rumors we belief and with data we collect straight from sources. Any modifications made to the article after its preliminary publishing will probably be listed beneath.
Replace, February 24, 2025, 12:30 PM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate hypothesis about storage and details about the brand new microSD Categorical commonplace.
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.
Replace, February 5, 2025, 9:30AM ET: This story has been up to date to notice the time when the April 2 Nintendo Direct begins.
Replace, March 6, 2025, 2:30PM ET: This story has been up to date to notice latest FCC filings to point the presence of WiFi 6 and NFC help.
Jeff Dunn contributed to this report.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-is-launching-soon-heres-everything-we-know-so-far-153308958.html?src=rss