Nintendo Switch 2: Everything we know so far

Nintendo finally revealed the successor to the Switch on January 16 showing off a number of features, including what might have been a look at a brand new Mario Kart game, which all went down incredibly well with fans.

The console was hit with a mountain of leaks in the run up to the announcement though and speculation and rumours continue to be in overdrive including what games will release with it.

Nintendo confirmed more about the console will be officially revealed at a Nintendo Direct event on April 2.

Here's the indy100 roundup of everything we know so far about the Nintendo Switch 2 console.

Nintendo

What official Switch 2 announcements have been made by Nintendo?

The reveal video showed the current Switch console morph into the Switch 2 and it confirmed a number of features that were previously leaked.

Two USB-C ports were shown on the top and bottom of the console, along with a kickstand that runs the full length of it.

Bigger Joy-Cons were shown in black with colour detailing on the rail and behind the sticks; it seems the shoulder buttons on these are bigger too and there is an optical sensor with the controllers shown being used in the way a computer mouse would later in the video.

It appears they will connect magnetically and there is a connector with pins in the middle of the Joy-Con rails.

The screen of the Switch 2 is much bigger than its predecessor and it goes much further towards the edges.

The logo is the same as the previous Switch one but with a number two added next to the Joy-Cons.

Mario Kart is shown as a game playing on the console and it's been heavily speculated this is the first glimpse of a brand new title in the popular series.

The dock was shown too and is similar to the current one but with more rounded edges and more of the top of the screen is visible when the console is docked.

Details of the console's backwards compatibility were confirmed too - Switch games will be playable on the console, including physical cartridges.

A Nintendo Direct event has been confirmed for April 2 where the company said a closer look at the console will be shown. A release window of 2025 was given.

Nintendo

When will Nintendo Switch 2 be released?

The console was given an official release window of 2025 but Nintendo may have given a bit more of a hint about that than first thought.

There are a number of Switch 2 hands-on events taking place around the world starting in April through to the start of June with a couple of places still to have their dates confirmed.

It seems highly unlikely Nintendo would host these events before releasing the console so it seems the release date for it will be from June onwards.

In an earnings report, French publisher Nacon, which publishes games such as Greedfall, RoboCop: Rogue City and Test Drive Unlimited, has said it expects the Switch 2 console to launch sometime between April and September.

How much will Nintendo Switch 2 cost?

Nothing has been confirmed by Nintendo on this front yet but in the past few months, there have been a few different rumours that the console will cost around $400.

Nintendo

What games will release on Nintendo Switch 2?

No games have been officially confirmed for the console yet but a new Mario Kart game appeared to be shown playing on the Switch 2 in the console's reveal video.

Popular e-tailer Newegg has a listing for a $50 Nintendo eShop Gift Card and it mentions a number of games releasing in 2025.

The product description said it will feature: "Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, new 3D Mario, new Mario Kart, a Legend of Zelda Remake / Remaster, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Editionand Pokemon Legends: Z-A".

It's been rumoured Halo, Starfield and Fallout 4 could all be on their way to Nintendo's consoles and those flames were fanned by Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, who said: "I'm really looking forward to supporting them with the games that we have."

Before the Switch 2 was officially revealed, Discord leaker Average Lucia Fanatic said: "Launch titles are Mario Kart 9, Red Dead Redemption 2 and an announcement trailer for a 3D Mario."

Another one was that a leaker has said a new main Pokemon game will be released from 2025 onwards that's not Gen 10 and would be in addition to Pokemon Legends: Z-A, the console's first major game which was leaked in its entirety due to a huge data hack at Pokemon developer Game Freak.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A is a follow-up to spin-off Pokemon Legends: Arceus which was praised by players for a new take on the franchise.

Further leaks also revealed Pokemon HOME could be making a comeback but it "will have a different host and developer".

Nintendo is said to be working on a new Zelda title for the Switch 2 and this could be a brand new entry, a remake or a remaster.

According to GAMINGBible, a leaker known as Midori posted on X / Twitter (which has since been deleted) Nintendo has a project under the codename of Edward which is believed to be in development for the new console.

It's not known why the post was deleted but fans are assuming this could relate to a new Zelda game as the codenames for these are often the likes of King or Richard.

After Metroid Prime 4 was announced to release in 2025 during a Nintendo Direct event in June, a video games expert said this could be a game that launches on both the Switch and Switch 2.

Nintendo

What are the tech details of Nintendo Switch 2?

Technical details are yet to be confirmed but when leaked images of the Switch 2 console circulated in September, which were said to be genuine by tech experts, some details were shared as part of that.

Some of the key technical details the Switch 2 is claimed to have are that it will feature 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, two cooling fans and support for HDMI 2.1.

Video game critic Laura Kate Dale said she was sent an image from a "trusted source" of the dock, adding: "[It contains] visible input and output voltage information. In addition, I have learned that Switch 2 ships with a 60W charger for use with the dock."

Images of what is claimed to be the Switch 2's motherboard were posted on social media too.

@CentroLEAKS, which regularly posts about Nintendo and Pokemon leaks on X / Twitter, first posted three images of what appeared to be the motherboard for the console.

Explaining what they think can be seen, the user said: "Based on the leaked SoC picture this appears to be manufactured by Samsung, meaning the 8nm node is likely, that's 2018 technology. A lot of people expected 4nm.

"This is just speculation based on the leaked photos, but if this ends up true, this would be terrible for Switch 2. We're talking bad performance and bad battery life."

It's also been leaked that Nintendo has filed a patent for upscaling technology.

The patent describes technology to upscale images using AI so that games that have storage sapping 4K assets can be decreased in size, reports Eurogamer.

For example, a game with native 4K assets that's 100GB in size could be decreased to 1080p with a smaller size but this new technology would then upscale the game to 4K resolution.

Further technical details have also been posted on Famiboards about the console's expected GPU clock speeds, which represent how many instructions the console can process every second.

The speeds when docked are said to be 1007.3 Mhz (3.09 TFLOPS) and handheld is 561 Mhz (1.72 TFLOPS).

@CentroLeaks said: "In comparison, Switch 1 reached a maximum 0.39 TFLOPS. Xbox Series S reaches 4 TFLOPS. It's looking really good on the GPU side and that's before DLSS."

DLSS is the technology Nintendo is understood to be using to upscale images so they have a higher resolution.

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