It's official: Nintendo Switch 2 revealed after months of waiting
Direct coming 2nd April, hands-on experience events announced.
After months of waiting and numerous social media posts about Donkey Kong, Nintendo has finally unveiled its highly-anticipated Switch successor, now officially known as Switch 2. Let's-a-go!
The Switch 2 was revealed this afternoon with a video giving us a brief look at its new design. This includes those magnetic Joy-Con and what looks like new confirmation of the previously-reported mouse functionality.
The console is due out sometime in 2025, with more news coming at a Nintendo Direct on 2nd April. You can check the Switch 2 announcement below.
As well as giving us a look at the new hardware, Nintendo also gave us a peep at a new Mario Kart game. This snippet showed Nintendo regulars like Mario (or course), Peach, Luigi and Bowser - to name just a handful - making their way on a number of karts and bikes. Alas, nothing on Metroid Prime 4 just yet.
Nintendo said the Switch 2 will play exclusive games for the console, as well as both physical and digital Nintendo Switch games. It did note, however, certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or "fully compatible" with Switch 2.
If you are keen to give the console a go for yourself before its release (which remains TBA away from that aforementioned 2025 window), the company will also hold Nintendo Switch 2 Experience events.
For those in the UK, this event will be held in London between 11th and 13th April.
"Tickets will be made available through a free-to-enter, randomly selected draw. Enter the draw anytime during the registration period for a chance to attend," reads the official line from Nintendo. "Registrations for the London event are open from January 17th at 14:00 (UK time) until January 26th at 23:59 (UK time).
"A free Nintendo Account is required to register. It is only possible to register for one event across Europe."
Today's announcement comes months, nay years, since reports about Nintendo's next console first started making the rounds.
In the summer of 2023, Eurogamer got word the system's capabilities had been demoed to developers around Gamescom. In the time that followed, there were numerous further leaks regarding the Switch 2's overall design and functionality - A prototype console shell along with internal components popped up online, chatter about its optical sensor made the rounds, and purported retail listings for Switch 2 MicroSD Express cards were found, and that's not even all of them.
This was all happening without Nintendo itself uttering more than a scant few words about the hardware. In fact, the only thing the company confirmed was that it would reveal its Switch successor before the end of March (which it now has), and the console would be backward compatible with Switch 1 games.
So, what do you think of the upcoming Switch 2? Will you be getting one when it releases? Let us know.