by Matt Patches and Polygon Staff
Nintendo Switch Secret Button 🤫. #nintendo #nintendoswitch #games #gamer #games
Nintendo's next console is upon us — ish? Dubbed "Switch 2" by folks used to Sony unimaginatively adding numbers to the end of the PlayStation, the next iteration of Mario gaming hardware will reportedly arrive in 2025, following a change in the launch window. The delay leaves those who never dipped into the current-gen Nintendo catalog with a tough decision: Buy a Switch now, or wait for a Switch 2, whenever it actually hits shelves? Backwards compatibility is still unknown and not one of Nintendo's historical achievements.
But as gamers who have long been glued to the drift-prone hybrid handheld, we have other questions. Mainly, what does Nintendo actually call this thing?
Nintendo is not a company that iterates on the same concept over and over again. It loves a gimmick, and the hard swings have led directly to naming inspiration. A new gaming console that's a cube? GameCUBE is it. A dual-screen laptop? Simple: Nintendo DS. Even the 3DS and Wii U are betting on familiar names based on new technology. Unless the Switch 2 is a true successor console like the Super Nintendo — and the original Switch might be perfect enough to demand such brand loyalty — the name of the device is basically unpredictable.
