The Nintendo Swap 2 has been revealed, this is every little thing we all know to date

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 have now some indicators of life. The corporate officially revealed the sequel to its most profitable house console ever in a short 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 likely be backwards suitable 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 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 kind issue. It is a transportable console with removable Pleasure-Cons. The Swap 2 may be positioned in a dock for big-screen gaming. There are some vital variations from the unique console, nevertheless.

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

One different huge (and really welcome) change is the addition of a second USB-C port on the highest of the system. 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 stored the headphone jack as properly. Let’s simply hope that Bluetooth headphone help is stay from the bounce this time and Nintendo would not depart everybody waiting four years for that function.

The kickstand is getting an improve as properly. 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’ll be able to tweak the viewing angle to 1 that works for you.

Nonetheless, there are nonetheless an important many unknowns relating to the upcoming console. We do not actually know the specs but, or what kind of show it makes use of. We additionally do not know something about battery life, the UI or launch video games. We’ll possible study a complete lot on April 2.

When will the Nintendo Swap 2 come out?

2025. That is all we all know for positive 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 first of Nintendo’s subsequent monetary 12 months. Nonetheless, accent producer Genki, which has been a serious supply of leaks in latest months, claims the console will be released in April.

In any case, we should always study the discharge date in the course of 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 options 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, Might 9/11, 2025

• Amsterdam, Might 9/11, 2025

Oceania:

Asia:

• Tokyo (Makuhari), April 26-27, 2025

• Seoul, Might 31-June 1, 2025

• Hong Kong, To be introduced

• Taipei, To be introduced

Will the Nintendo Swap 2 have some weirdness?

The whole lot we have seen and to date about this console has been pretty, properly, conventional. It appears like the unique Swap, however higher. That is superior, however will there be any of that unpredictable Nintendo magic? Perhaps! There are two puzzling additions that folk cannot make disguise nor hair of.

Eager eyes may have seen a brand new button on the underside of the best Pleasure-Con. It it not but clear what this does. Might it provoke voice chat throughout gameplay? Might it calibrate the controllers? Might 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 a whole lot like an optical sensor, which is what a pc mouse makes use of. This has led to hypothesis that gamers will be capable of flip the Pleasure-Con over and use it like a mouse. Of be aware: the trailer reveals the Pleasure-Cons transferring 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 suitable?

The corporate confirmed in November 2024 that the Nintendo Switch 2 will be backwards compatible. It’ll additionally function entry to Nintendo On-line, so customers will be capable of play all of these previous 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 might not be supported on or absolutely suitable with Nintendo Swap 2.” Extra particulars about which video games these are will likely be revealed later.

What about specs?

The rumors relating to specs are in all places, 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 acquired a maintain of a spec sheet from the Korean United Each day Information that stated the Swap 2 would boast an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of inside eMMC storage. This tracks for me, as these specs are about as underpowered in 2024 as the unique Swap was in 2017. Nonetheless, some experiences do indicate that the console will embrace 12GB of RAM.

One other supply means that the eight-core CPU will likely be packaged inside an NVIDIA-produced Tegra239 SoC (system on a chip). Given the present Swap runs on an NVIDIA chip, that makes a whole lot of sense. The CPU will likely be extra highly effective, but it surely’s the Swap 2’s new GPU that will likely be a serious 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 reality: We really wrote about how perfect DLSS was for the Nintendo Switch 2 when the know-how was introduced alongside the RTX 20 sequence 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 routinely tidied up by NVIDIA’s algorithm? Whatever the actual implementation, DLSS upscaling will likely be an enormous leap over the rudimentary strategies accessible to Nintendo Swap builders.

As for the show, there are various conflicting rumors. Early experiences from stable 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 analysts have advised this might be an OLED display, whereas others have stated it might be a Mini-LED display. A Mini-LED show is principally an LCD show that has a backlight manufactured from (shock!) mini-LEDs fairly 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 a typical 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 definitely a risk at launch.

As for decision, latest reporting means that the console will output 1080p in handheld and 4K when docked. That is a lot better than the OG Swap. In the meantime, it is not but clear if the Swap 2 will ship efficiency or visible upgrades to authentic Swap video games.

How a lot will the Nintendo Swap 2 price?

We do not have an excessive amount of info relating to worth 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” with regards to Nintendo console releases in recent times. The Wii U additionally got here in at $300.

Nonetheless, there are many rumors circulating that Nintendo might be upping the asking worth for the Swap 2. Quite a few shops have reported it’ll be $400, or doubtlessly much more costly. Nonetheless, the identical analysts who say the console will likely be $400 had been additionally pretty sure it might be out by the tip of 2024 and, properly, that did not occur.

Dipping again into historical past, there may be some priority for a worth uptick. The GameCube was $200 and the Wii was $250. The Wii U and Swap elevated to $300 and, properly, numbers prefer 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 identical worth because the 256GB LCD Steam Deck.

Once more, we should always get affirmation of the worth in the course of the April 2 Nintendo Direct.

Can we find out about any launch video games?

Not a lot. The reveal trailer supplied a peek at a brand new Mario Kart sport. 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 definitely been a long time since we’ve gotten a correct 3D Mario journey as properly, so a brand new one might 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 anticipate 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 sport 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 be a risk.

It is all however nailed on that we’ll study rather more in regards to the Swap 2 launch lineup in the course of the April 2 Nintendo Direct. You may undoubtedly wish to set your Alarmo for that one.

That is every little thing we all know in regards to the Nintendo Swap 2 at present. We’ll replace this text with rumors we belief and with info we collect instantly from sources. Any modifications made to the article after its preliminary publishing will likely be listed under.

Replace, January 15, 2025, 12:10 PM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate rumors a couple of potential console announcement for this week.

Replace, January 16, 2025, 10:33AM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate official particulars in regards to the Nintendo Swap 2 from the reveal trailer and press launch.