In the event you’ve been searching social media for the previous few days (heck, let’s not child ourselves, previous few years) you will have seen loads of prognosticating in regards to the arrival of the Swap successor.
The newest whispers urged that Wednesday eighth January was the primary wise day after the vacations for Nintendo to lastly pull again the curtain on ‘Swap 2’. With everybody throughout all territories again within the workplace, it made sense to place all of the rumours to mattress with an official reveal in early January.
However right here we’re, knee-deep in information in regards to the console, but none of it is coming from Nintendo.
Nope, it is peripheral producers who’re delivering the products, or a minimum of the one particulars going. Accent maker Genki flagged final week that it deliberate to point out and focus on Swap 2 and its lineup of peripherals at CES 2025, and so they’ve made good on their promise. Actually, Genki’s trailer offers us most likely probably the most polished take a look at the unannounced {hardware} we have had.
Accent maker @GenkiThings has given us what seems to be our greatest look but at #NintendoSwitch2 pic.twitter.com/5UZWXGQovW— Nintendo Life (@nintendolife) January 8, 2025
The agency’s rendering of the system is of course enclosed in its upcoming “NS2” case — let’s not neglect the entire purpose so many accent makers are desirous to get out forward of an official announcement — however the common format conforms to the leaked particulars we have been seeing for the reason that first supposed {hardware} pictures appeared on-line again in September.
And it isn’t simply Genki. Peripheral firms everywhere are getting in on the act. Dbrand was the primary out of the gate, in fact, and right now Funlab has jumped on the bandwagon:
🤩We’re so prepared for the two!
❤️Keep tuned!#funlab #nintendo #change #supermario #supermariobros #gamergirl #desksetup #switchaccessories pic.twitter.com/FUwGF9Vpf8
— FUNLAB (@Funlab_switch) January 8, 2025
Elsewhere, Felipe Lima of Universo Nintendo claims to have an correct mock-up of the ultimate Swap 2 emblem, as supplied by a supply. It seems basically the identical as the emblem we have been seeing for weeks (a giant ‘2’ whacked beside the Pleasure-Con symbols) and there is a more-than-decent likelihood it is legit, too.
With this whole frenzy of particulars and hypothesis, the massive query is WHY AREN’T YOU JUST ANNOUNCING THE THING, NINTENDO!?!?!? Are you going to take a seat again whereas each case producer on the block pulls the identical stunt? Certainly because the platform holder you wish to get on the market and get a deal with on the messaging earlier than each chip has been torn down, each transistor counted, each secret revealed? Getting all of your geese in a row is ok, however the reveal was deliberate months in the past, certainly? You’ve got acquired the trailer sitting on a tough drive able to go, proper?
It is perplexing, infuriating, exhausting… however perhaps ‘frenzy’ is the important thing phrase there. The web is getting somewhat unhinged (effectively, somewhat greater than traditional, if that is doable), however you may’t purchase this form of advertising. #NintendoSwitch2 is trending very properly thank-you-very-much, and Nintendo’s crew has completed exactly nothing to get it there.
It is also price remembering that, from a sure perspective (and assuming the authentic-looking leaks are true), that is maybe the least thrilling Nintendo system reveal within the firm’s historical past. Do not get us improper – we’re vastly excited to see the ultimate product and drool over insanely hi-res official renders, and we can not wait to lastly get our arms on this factor and play new video games on new Nintendo {hardware}. It does not get a lot better than that!
However, from a plain outdated {hardware} perspective, it is wanting like precisely the factor we have been speculating was within the works 5 years in the past once we have been dreaming of ‘Swap Professional’. Larger display, extra energy, 4K upscaling within the dock – you title it, it was rumoured lengthy, way back.
That is what you get with an iterative replace with a smart title and a sound marketing strategy to make as many models as doable earlier than launch. New Nintendo {hardware} isn’t uninteresting, however this one does not even have the namesake gimmick of autostereoscopic 3D screens. This has been probably the most recognized of portions for ages.
But right here we’re, all on absolute tenterhooks awaiting the official acknowledgement and announcement. Nintendo should have deliberate for this — you do not manufacture thousands and thousands of machines and handle to maintain them completely beneath wraps — which suggests that is all a part of its plan. Nintendo is not going to be rushed.
And actually, what’s the rush when what you are revealing is basically ‘one other a type of’? Swap 2 has the potential to be up there with one of the best of gaming’s quantity twos: Sonic 2. PS2. Galaxy 2. We love a great ‘2’ (ahem), however being a recognized amount is the character of the beast with direct sequels.
Nintendo’s largest drawback is avoiding the reveal being a complete anticlimax, so it is pure that everybody — together with us — needs them to only get on with it. However having been on this state for thus lengthy, and with the console apparently precisely what we thought it could be half a decade in the past, maybe an anticlimactic reveal is inevitable and that is one of the best strategy they have. Like all good DJ, Nintendo is ready to drop the needle when the group simply cannot take it anymore.
Simply watch out on the market. Swap’s getting wild.
Gavin first wrote for Nintendo Life in 2018 earlier than becoming a member of the positioning full-time the next yr, rising by means of the ranks to change into Editor. He can presently be discovered squashed beneath a Swap backlog the dimensions of Normandy.
