It's finally official: The Nintendo Switch 2 has been unveiled in a first-look trailer, and a lot of the whispers about what it would be have turned out to be true.
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00:00It's finally official!
00:01The Nintendo Switch 2 has been unveiled in a first-look trailer, and a lot of the whispers
00:05about what it would be have turned out to be true.
00:09One inconvenience of the original Switch was that it could be frustrating to slot the Joy-Cons
00:13back into the console.
00:14Some recent leaks indicated that the Switch 2 would fix that problem, claiming that the
00:18new Joy-Cons would magnetically connect to the system, as well as have some added buttons,
00:23a metallic casing, and the capability to be used like a computer mouse.
00:26The trailer for the Switch 2 shows off the new Joy-Con connectors, and they look incredibly
00:31slick.
00:32There's a beefier section for triggers that sinks into the casing of the Switch 2 when
00:35the controllers are connected.
00:37It does look like they slot in with some kind of magnet, especially due to the click sound
00:41when they connect to the console.
00:43The mouse functionality seems to have been hinted at, too, in an oddly adorable shot
00:47of the Joy-Cons racing along a flat surface.
00:50It's not totally clear what the new Joy-Con's casing is made of, but they do look shinier
00:54and sturdier.
00:55All in all, the new controllers look like across-the-board improvements, but no word
00:59yet on whether the biggest issue, stick drift, has been remedied.
01:03Mario Kart 8 has been carrying the franchise load for a very long time.
01:06The game is older than the Switch itself, dating back to its Wii U release in 2014.
01:11Yes, it got a deluxe re-release when the Switch launched in 2017, but fans have been playing
01:16pretty much the same Mario Kart game for over a decade.
01:19This is unfair!
01:23Thankfully, it can soon lay down its burden.
01:25While much of the rest of the Switch 2's launch library is being kept under wraps, Nintendo
01:29did make clear that a new Mario Kart entry will be front and center on the revamped console.
01:35We don't know a ton about the new game yet, not even whether it has a 9 in the title,
01:39but it appears to have a larger sense of scale when compared to previous entries.
01:43There are now 15 players on the track, rather than 12, and some of the characters look to
01:47have gotten a slight redesign.
01:49Rumors of a new Mario Kart releasing alongside the Switch 2 have persisted for months, and
01:54now gamers know that it's the real deal.
01:57One of the major selling points of the Switch was, and remains, its portability.
02:00The Switch 2 maintains that element, but also makes it a little bit heftier, especially
02:05in regards to the screen, which is considerably larger.
02:08What does that actually mean in terms of specs?
02:10Unfortunately, the trailer doesn't get into the specifics, but leakers have said that
02:14it's even bigger than the upside 7-inch Switch OLED model, with an 8.4-inch screen.
02:19There's some disagreement about whether or not the 8.4-inch measure refers to the display
02:23screen or the entire glass panel covering the front of the Switch 2.
02:26Other leaks have indicated that the screen will only be a single inch larger.
02:30Nintendo is sure to unveil the official measurements soon, so it shouldn't be long before we know
02:34either way.
02:36Nintendo confirmed the Switch 2 in May 2024, when company president Shintaro Furukawa tweeted
02:41that the company would formally announce the Switch's successor before the end of the fiscal
02:44year.
02:45In addition, rumors have flown fast and furious, including over the release date.
02:49While some worried it wouldn't come out until 2026, gaming industry insiders predicted that
02:54the Switch 2 will be here much sooner than expected.
02:57One of the biggest contributors to these rumors has been GameKey, a gaming accessories maker
03:03that allegedly showed off mock-ups of the Nintendo Switch 2 during the 2025 CES trade
03:09show.
03:10GameKey has reportedly been visited by Nintendo's legal team since then, but not before its
03:14reps told CES attendees to expect the Switch 2 to release in April.
03:18Nintendo has only confirmed that the Switch will be coming in 2025, but also teased a
03:22more in-depth Nintendo Direct livestream in April.
03:25Those leaks are beginning to sound even more credible, and that Nintendo may shadow-drop
03:29the Switch 2 at the end of its next presentation, Beyoncé-style.