Nintendo announced the new Switch 2 console with a trailer. There will be an official presentation on April 2nd in which, most likely, the launch date and price will be announced. What we know about the hardware features and games of the Japanese hybrid console.
The Nintendo Switch 2 hybrid console. Credit: Nintendo
On January 16th it was officially announced with a trailer Nintendo Switch 2the long-awaited heir to the current Switch, hybrid console – both portable and fixed – very successful. The official presentation, with probable launch date And priceit will be done Wednesday 2 April during a Nintendo Direct special, the time of which has not yet been defined. What we know is that it is a similar console but bigger and more powerful of the Switch, with some new solutions regarding i Joy-Conthe peculiars controller on the sides of the screen, which can be released and used individually by two players or combined to obtain a joypad more traditional. In the Switch 2 they will no longer be attached via a physical cart like in the Switch, but via a magnetic connection And wirelessFurthermore, as the trailer images suggest, the Joy-Cons should be able to be used as curiosities mouse.
In the trailer of about two minutes they were not announced video gamesbut in the final part of the video it is probably shown Mario Kart 9a new chapter in one of Nintendo’s historic series. The announcement of January 16th had been anticipated by so-called “leakers” and sector journalists, who evidently were aware of the Japanese company’s plans. Also the other rumors on form, dimensionsdoors and other details, such as the name and logo of the console, had already been widely anticipated. Now there is official confirmation that it was all true, even if there are still many details missing on the hardware features and above all on the launch line-up.
When Nintendo Switch 2 comes out: the official date
There is still no official launch date for Nintendo Switch 2. Today’s announcement trailer postpones everything to the presentation on April 2nd, when it will most likely be announced when the console will be available on store shelves and at what price (or prices, should there be versions or bundles with different characteristics). What is certain is that it will not be released in the month of March, among those previously considered most likely (the same in which the Switch was launched in 2017). At this point the console could be released between the end of April and the beginning of summer, or a launch could be hypothesized in the autumn to attack the Christmas holiday market.
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Nintendo announced a promotional campaign called “Nintendo Switch 2 Experience” to try Switch 2 in preview. In Italy it will be possible to Milan between April 25th and 27th. To participate you must register between 17 and 26 January and have a Nintendo accounts free. As regards the price, rumors speak of 449 or 499 dollars bundled with the new Mario Kart for the American market, but at the moment these are just speculations.
The hardware features of Nintendo Switch 2
The hardware characteristics of the Japanese console are still shrouded in mystery, but if the previews on the shape, dimensions and details of the Joy-Con were extremely precise, those on the power could also be. We’re talking about one ARM A78C CPU eight cores and one video card (GPU) Nvidia based on the RTX 30 (Ampere) architecture with support for upscaling technology DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), which allows you to increase the resolution thanks toartificial intelligence. From a performance point of view, it shouldn’t be comparable to the current generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony, but Nintendo isn’t even playing on the “same field”.
From the trailer of about 2 minutes we know for sure that Switch 2 will be larger than the current one, with a screen probably of 8 inches against the 6.2 of the current Switch. The Joy-Cons are also larger and, as anticipated, connect to the sides of the screen via a magnetic system rather than a physical one. The video shows a “mouse” use of the controllers, which can probably be used in this mode – thanks to a optical sensor – for strategic games and similar. At the top of the console there is a new USB-C port which, according to rumors, would be used to charge the console when used in portable mode instead of inserted into the dock (the base station). It shouldn’t be possible to use the Switch’s one to charge the new console and connect it to the TV, due to differences in power supply. But these too are rumors.
As far as games go, Nintendo has announced that the Switch 2 is backwards compatible with i physical video games And digital (those purchased with a Nintendo account) of the previous Switch, but “some games may not be supported or fully compatible”, as underlined by the Japanese company. Nothing is known yet about the new titles, except that a new Mario Kart is expected, in light of what was shown in the trailer. For information on the first parties of Nintendo studios we will probably have to wait for the official presentation on April 2nd, while those of third parties could already be announced from today onwards, after the announcement of Switch 2.
