The upcoming Switch 2 is more than just a glorified Switch, Nintendo says, to sighs of relief heard ’round the world.
As revealed during today’s long-awaited Switch 2 Direct, Nintendo kicked around a number of ideas when trying to find a name for its next console, including the retro-styled Super Nintendo Switch. Obviously it settled on simply calling it the Switch 2, which makes sense, but also opens up some questions about how different it’ll be from its predecessor. Eight long years since the release of the first Switch, you’d really hope for something dramatically more capable, and thankfully it sounds like that’s the case.
Obviously, the form factor is the same, but we now know a good deal more about the guts of the thing, and by all measures it’s a significant leap forward with a bigger 1080p screen compared to the original’s 720p output, support for 4K and 60 FPS with compatible TVs, and eight times the internal storage. We also know big ol’ honkin’ games like Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade are coming to the console, which says a lot about the power of its custom Nvidia processor and GPU.
Anyway, during the direct Nintendo really drove home the point that the Switch 2 is a whole new console and not just an iteration on the existing Switch. “As you just saw, Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t simply an improved Nintendo Switch,” said Switch 2 hardware design lead Tetsuya Sasaki (timestamped here). “We redesigned the system from the ground up and packed in lots of new gameplay features.”
In a separate Q&A, Nintendo details some of the ways the Switch 2 outperforms the Switch, including its bigger, sharper screen, better memory, improved processor, longer battery life, and more.
Meanwhile, here’s our comprehensive guide to all of the upcoming Switch 2 games we currently know about.
