Nintendo’s announcement of the Swap successor is imminent. Simply how imminent is anybody’s guess with the corporate stating that it could reveal information on the console earlier than the tip of its fiscal yr in March. Rumors relating to the brand new Swap have been circulating for greater than a yr, 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 thing we predict we learn about Nintendo’s subsequent console.
The one concrete, Nintendo-confirmed piece of knowledge we all know in regards to the new console is that it’ll be backwards appropriate with the Swap. Every little thing else has come by the use of leaks and information equipped by third-party producers. Late final yr, one such producer, Dbrand, debuted its Killswitch carrying case meant for the Swap 2. In keeping with Dbrand CEO Adam Ijaz, the Killswitch relies on the “precise dimensions” of the brand new console obtained from a “3D scan of the true {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 true factor, the brand new console shall be bigger than the Swap OLED with an 8-inch display screen, and have a kickstand that may span the size of the console just like the OLED mannequin. That the brand new Swap shall be bigger than earlier iterations is supported by leaks and information from different accent producers in addition to the concept the Pleasure-Con controllers will connect by way of magnet as a substitute of sliding and snapping into place. The brand new controller design may also incorporate magnets within the joysticks to fight in opposition to 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 exhibiting 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 measurement, magnetic Pleasure-Con, and extra.
Whereas there’s loads of hypothesis and potential proof about what the brand new console will seem like, there’s much less circulating about what it could actually really do. Past an alleged picture 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, truthfully, even the reducing one) of graphics or processing energy, it’s exhausting to guess how properly 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 appropriate with Swap video games. We will additionally moderately guess at the very least one recreation that’ll be a launch title: Metroid Prime 4. Introduced in 2017, and present process a change of studio and a improvement reboot two years later, Nintendo debuted gameplay footage for the primary time final yr and shared a tender 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.
Understanding 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 rationale for Metroid 4’s lengthy stint in improvement hell was, at the very least partly, as a result of the sport was being tooled for each the Swap and its successor. Additionally, you simply can’t have a brand new Nintendo console and not using a Mario recreation. Tremendous Mario Odyssey was a Swap launch title, and although there’s been different new releases like Tremendous Mario Marvel, there hasn’t been a brand new, standalone (put down your pitchforks Bowser’s Fury followers) 3D Mario recreation since then. It’s all however assured one shall be introduced with the brand new Swap. The not too long ago introduced Pokémon Legends: Z-A can be a great 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 keep in mind that on the finish of the day, we’re nonetheless speaking about Nintendo. The corporate has all the time tread a separate and unpredictable path from the opposite two main console producers and that oddball technique has principally labored very properly. Although the corporate shouldn’t be resistant to the identical layoffs and delays (the Swap 2 was initially pegged for a 2024 launch) plaguing its friends and certainly has its personal manifold points 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 making an attempt to foretell what Nintendo will do, and that applies to its new console. All we will rely on is that it’s coming quickly, and when it arrives, it’ll be huge.
