The Nintendo Switch is one of Nintendo’s standout consoles. It features incredible games, including my personal favorites, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Metroid Dread and more. The Switch was originally announced on October 20, 2016, and released on March 3, 2017. Its successor was revealed this January, but not with a release date or specifics.
The trailer starts with the current Switch floating in a white room and the joy-cons detached from the Switch and transformed into the new, bigger joy-cons. Then, the body of the Switch transformed, changing the plastic on the original to a more all-black matte finish. The kickstand got an upgrade as well. It has a larger and wider stand that can bend back much farther than the old one can. The joy-cons keep some color underneath the joysticks and where the joy-con meets the Switch 2 body. I do like the new look, although I think there should also be an all-white variation to choose from, similar to the Wii U. Also, the size of the screen increases to a size similar to the OLED model of the Switch.
After the Switch’s transformation, a new game was teased: a new Mario Kart. A new Mario Kart game is huge. For the first Switch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is its best-selling game. For the minute we saw the new Mario Kart game, it looks good. To start, it looks like there will be 24 racers instead of 12 like we’re used to, which would make racing either fun or chaotic. There are also character redesigns for all of the characters to look more like how Mario looked in Super Mario Wonder. Most of the characters look fine, but Donkey Kong has changed a lot, and I don’t like it. He looks too cartoonish to me, especially in his eyes, and I’m a little worried about what the other Kongs look like, too.
The trailer ends by telling us that the Switch 2 will be backward-compatible with the older Switch games, which is necessary: If Nintendo didn’t let us play old games on the Switch 2, it would be a cash-grab not worth our money. People like me would want to play older games with a better console without buying a whole new game. So, I’m glad that they didn’t make the mistake of not letting us play old games on a new console. There will be a Nintendo Direct on April 2 to tell us more about the Switch 2, like its price and its release date.
Overall, I am pleased with the Switch 2. I just want there to be different color options instead of just the matte black, and I don’t like some of the character redesigns for the new game. Even if you don’t care for Nintendo, you should watch the trailer for the Switch 2 and see what you think of it.
