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NintendoSwitch2

Nintendo Switch 2

The Nintendo Switch 2 is Nintendo’s ninth home video game console, set to release on June 5th 2025, marking Nintendo’s entry into the the ninth generation of video game consoles.

It succeeds the original Nintendo Switch, which was released on March 3rd 2017, over 8 years before its successor's release.

Leaks and reveal

Early Rumors (2021)

Rumors of a Nintendo Switch successor started in 2021, with industry insiders reporting of an upcoming Nintendo Switch model with improved specs and an OLED display.

However, these leaks ended up being only partially true, as the Nintendo Switch OLED Model, which released later that year, had next to no hardware improvements aside from an increase in internal storage space (going from 32GB to 64GB), a brighter and bigger OLED display, and a stronger kickstand.

The revised console's tech specs were identical to the 2019 "red box" model Nintendo Switch, which was just a more power efficient and non RCM Bug vulnerable variant of the original 2017 model.

BRECCIA’s Design and Gamescom Rumors (2023)

In 2023, images of an alleged Nintendo Switch successor started spreading online, including pictures of the console’s instruction booklet and Joy-Con design. This ended up being a fake render made for fun by the Italian designer Riccardo Breccia.

A few months later, major gaming news sources reported that Nintendo allegedly showed a prototype of the Switch successor running an improved version of "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and the "Matrix Awakens" Unreal Engine 5 Demo to developers behind closed doors during Gamescom 2023.

Furukawa's Announcement and the leaked factory images (2024)

On May 7th 2024, the CEO of Nintendo, Shuntaro Furukawa, revealed that the Nintendo Switch's successor was in development, and that the company would share more details about the console by the end of the 2024 fiscal year, ending on March 31st 2025.

That September, images of the Switch successor's CAD designs, motherboard layout and controllers were leaked online by an unknown Chinese factory worker. While these images dated back to late 2023, and were therefore prototypes, they ended up closely matching the final Nintendo Switch 2 hardware. Some of the changes are:

  • The final console has a thinner kickstand compared to the prototype's, which looked identical to the Nintendo Switch OLED Model's kickstand.
  • The top USB-C Port sits proud of the housing in the final console, while in the prototype it's flush with the rest of the case.
  • The cooling slots are larger, leaving more of the internal heat fins exposed, while the prototype's are basically identical to the Nintendo Switch OLED Model's.
  • The power button, volume buttons and 3.5mm audio jack are unlabeled on the prototype.
  • The console and Joy-Con 2 controllers are completely black and lack the red and blue accents of the final console. It's possible that the color accents were planned from the start, but were simply omitted from the prototypes to save on manufacturing costs. The plastic used for the cases also looks rougher and unpainted, likely for the same reason.

Tech specs for the console were also leaked at this time. While some of these are still unconfirmed as of April 26th 2025, they mostly seem to match up with official statements from Nintendo and NVIDIA:

  • An NVIDIA Tegra SoC with an Ampere-based GPU;
  • 12 GB of dual-channel LPDDR5X RAM running at 7500 MT/s;
  • A 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage chip;
  • A built-in microphone.

CES Leaks and Official Announcements (Early 2025)

With the Switch successor's announcement allegedly being delayed internally from late 2024 to early 2025, people started growing more desperate to see Nintendo's new console.

During the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show, gaming accessory manufacturer Genki showed off some cases for the then unannounced Nintendo Switch 2, alongside an extremely accurate mockup of the console.

Around this time, many leakers also confirmed that the console was officially called the Nintendo Switch 2.

Nintendo responded to these leaks by simply stating that none of the mockups shown were "official", without explicitly saying that they weren't accurate. Many industry insiders believed that the CES leaks enraged Nintendo executives.

On January 16th 2025, Nintendo posted an official reveal video for the Nintendo Switch 2, showing off the console's design, the new Joy-Con 2 controllers (while also hinting at their IR mouse functionality) and a new Mario Kart game.

The teaser also confirmed backwards compatibility with most existing Nintendo Switch games, both digital and physical.

A series of worldwide hands-on events for the console, called "Nintendo Switch 2 Experiences", were also announced. These events would be hosted throughout the months of April and May of 2025. Access to these events was regulated by a lottery system hosted on Nintendo's website.

More details on the console and its games would be revealed on a special Nintendo Direct, scheduled for April 2nd 2025.

The C button

The C button seen on the right Joy-Con 2 in the leaked September 2024 images was blanked out in the January 2025 teaser.

This was seemingly done to hide its purpose, however a leak alleged that the C stood for "Chat", as the Nintendo Switch 2 would have built-in voice chat functionality which used the internal microphone.

This leak also ended up being accurate, and the C button was officially shown shortly before the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct in the Nintendo Today! app. The C button can be used to activate the GameChat feature, which allows for real time voice chat and game streaming on the console itself.