Nintendo could also be hiding a Swap 2 secret in plain sight

At first blush, little of Nintendo’s latest Switch 2 announcement was unsurprising. The brand new handheld was thoroughly leaked beforehand and is not radically completely different from the earlier Swap. The physique is a unique form and the display screen is somewhat larger, however the standout, genuinely new function lives contained in the console’s removable controllers; it appears to be like just like the Swap 2’s model of Pleasure-Con controllers can be utilized as a mouse.

That might open up all new methods to regulate Swap 2 video games and new sorts of ports — extra video games for what’s rumored to be an much more highly effective console. However the true cause why Nintendo is exploring this management methodology in any respect might be even less complicated: the corporate needs it to be simpler to emulate older handhelds.

The Swap 2 is not attempting to reinvent the wheel

Nintendo’s first Swap was all about flexibility

If there’s one defining high quality of the unique Swap, it is that Nintendo designed it to work anyplace. From the start, the corporate targeted on emphasizing the advantages of a handheld that is also docked as a house console. The Switch’s launch video highlighted how adaptable it’s, displaying individuals docking it of their front room, propping it up on its kickstand to play exterior, or simply utilizing it as a handheld.

That flexibility is why so many individuals anticipated — and finally, demanded — that video games get ported to the Swap. It made titles that had been historically chained to a TV capable of be taken on the go for the primary time. The Swap wasn’t at all times highly effective sufficient to run these video games effectively, however the truth that it made enjoying Skyrim on a bus potential was no small feat.

Over 146 million Switch’s have been offered, which is proof sufficient that the concept labored, and that is not even considering the explosion of handheld PCs that took the concept even additional that adopted. Mouse assist, or at the very least utilizing a Pleasure Con extra like a mouse, would make it potential for a complete new grouping of video games to make the soar to Nintendo’s new handheld. Conventional PC video games that thrive with mouse and keyboard assist are much more enticing on the Swap when you may management them with a pointer somewhat than clumsy sticks and buttons.

If the Steam Deck consists of trackpads for video games that want the high quality management of a mouse, the Swap 2’s up to date Pleasure-Con controllers might simulate a mouse for the very same goal.

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Did all the Nintendo Switch 2 leaks spoil the reveal trailer for you?

In the end, Nintendo has formally unveiled its next-generation online game console to the world, which it calls the Nintendo Swap 2. The Kyoto, Japan-based gaming large unveiled its new two-in-one hybrid machine within the type of a brief first-look trailer, which is out there to observe on its official YouTube channel.The Swap 2, which shall be getting its personal in-depth convention occasion on April 2, 2025, seems to be a reasonably iterative launch general. As a direct followup to the immensely profitable Swap, this successor platform seems to construct on the identical sturdy foundations pioneered by Nintendo again in 2017.The core parts of the unique Swap are all current right here, from the dockable nature of the machine, to the card-based bodily recreation media, to full-blown backwards compatibility with unique Swap software program. Removable controllers and a kickstand for tabletop gameplay have additionally made the minimize as soon as once more.Forward of this much-anticipated teaser video, there was an abundance

There’s an vital handheld Nintendo hasn’t emulated

Nintendo’s DS used a stylus that successfully labored like a mouse

There is perhaps a fair less complicated cause Nintendo is exploring this new management methodology. In addition to on-line multiplayer, the massive good thing about being a Nintendo Switch Online member is entry to a sequence of emulation apps Nintendo launched over the course of the Swap’s life. The corporate bought so far as emulating N64 video games by way of the corporate’s dwelling console, and the Sport Boy and Sport Boy Advance earlier than it launched the Swap 2.

The preferred handheld Nintendo has ever offered is the dual-screen Nintendo DS. By 2016, Nintendo says it had offered over 154 million units of all the varied DS fashions mixed. It might make a number of sense if Nintendo tried to emulate DS video games on the Swap 2, and the “mouse” controls of those new Pleasure-Cons might be the way in which it occurs. For many video games on the DS, stylus enter labored quite a bit like a mouse, letting you drag issues across the backside touchscreen, work together with menus, and transfer your character round.

The corporate must discover some solution to deliver the knowledge that was on the underside display screen of the DS to the Swap 2’s single display screen, however that is that tough to handle. The strongest argument that that is Nintendo’s plan is that it already did one thing related for Wii video games on the unique Swap. Every of the unique Pleasure-Con controllers had built-in accelerometers for movement controls, one thing that the corporate used sparingly for brand spanking new Swap video games, however often for ported video games from the Wii and Wii U.

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What game would you like to see on the Switch 2?

This morning. after months of hypothesis, Nintendo lastly took the wraps off the Swap 2, giving players their first official look not solely on the new {hardware}, but additionally a forthcoming Mario Kart title, which is rumored to be launching alongside the brand new console later this 12 months.Whereas particulars across the new Mario Kart title haven’t been shared, rumors are swirling about new titles that might seem on the Swap 2, together with Metaphor Re:Fantazio, an untitled Halo recreation that includes Grasp Chief, Ultimate Fantasy VII: Rebirth, and even the upcoming GTA VI. With that in thoughts we might like to know, what video games would you like to see on Nintendo’s latest console? Hold forth under! 

There’s nonetheless going to be Swap 2 surprises

We all know quite a bit, but additionally little or no

Nintendo

That I may even speculate about what these new Pleasure-Con controllers can do exhibits how a lot management Nintendo nonetheless has over the Switch 2 data surroundings. The {hardware} may need leaked, however we all know subsequent to nothing concerning the software program that may truly run on it (and what it would let that {hardware} do). It is backwards-compatible with the overwhelming majority of unique Swap video games, however that is about all I do know.

That makes this brief wait till Nintendo shares extra concerning the Swap 2 all of the extra thrilling. These new controllers might be meant to interchange a mouse, or they might do one thing fully completely different. We can’t know till Nintendo tells us.

Nintendo Swap OLED

Nintendo’s Swap OLED is the most effective Swap presently accessible, nevertheless it’s more likely to be utterly changed by the enhancements of the Swap 2.

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Mario Kart 9 teased as potential Switch 2 launch title

A brand new Mario Kart recreation was teased in the course of the first-look trailer for the Swap 2.