Everything we know about the upcoming console

Because the world turns, so do the console generations. The Nintendo Change is over seven years old, so it’s due for a refresh. Nintendo Change 2 rumors have been swirling for years, however now they’re actually heating up. A sequel to Nintendo’s most profitable residence console ever is coming and it’s probably coming sooner rather than later.

Will or not it’s a straight up sequel to the Change with up to date specs whereas retaining the identical hybrid performance or will Nintendo get bizarre with it? Will it even be referred to as the Change 2, or will the corporate go together with one thing just like the Tremendous Change and even the New Nintendo Change? You may by no means inform with Nintendo. Heck, possibly it’ll name the factor the Change U.

In any occasion, current weeks have introduced feverish hypothesis concerning all facets of the forthcoming gaming console. It’s vital to notice, nonetheless, that little or no data has been confirmed by Nintendo. The corporate operates by itself timetable. With that stated, listed here are the entire rumors which might be most probably to return true, given trade evaluation.

When will the Nintendo Change 2 be introduced?

As beforehand talked about, Nintendo marches to the beat of its personal drum. We don’t precisely know when it’ll maintain an occasion to disclose the console. Lots of people wrongly assumed it could occur towards the latter a part of 2024, however that did not occur.

Even Nintendo has bother conserving the lid on a serious console launch, so we might study one thing earlier than the official reveal. There are elements that must be sourced and shipments that must be made. A senior analyst at MST Monetary noted a spike in production equipment spending by Nintendo assembler Hosiden.

When will the Nintendo Change 2 come out?

As soon as once more, this is kind of a thriller. We aren’t completely at midnight, however it’s principally rumor and hypothesis. One factor we all know for certain is that Nintendo will announce the Nintendo Change 2 (or no matter it chooses to name it) by March 2025, as the corporate confirmed back in May. Some are saying there will probably be a March launch date, which is sensible given the OG Change got here out on March 17, 2017. Nonetheless, different stories put the console’s release window later in 2025.

Accent producer Genki, which has been a serious supply of leaks in current months, claims the console will be released in April.

Will it even be a correct Change sequel?

Nintendo has a bizarre monitor document right here. The baffling Wii U adopted the large success of the Wii. The Wii itself adopted the extra conventional GameCube. In different phrases, it’s attainable it’ll be one thing out of left discipline and never precisely a real sequel to the Change. Nonetheless, that is unlikely this time round. As a lot as I’d like to see wacky VR glasses or a totally bonkers console idea, all factors point out a extra conventional method.

Builders have already seen the hardware, although in a a lot earlier type, and it appears to be a daily outdated console. Whereas Nintendo hasn’t confirmed hybrid performance, it’d be a bizarre omission given absolutely the monetary firestorm of the Change. We’ve additionally heard rumors of a Mini-LED display, which might monitor for a hybrid console. It’s extremely probably this will probably be a straight-up Change 2, or one thing prefer it, calling to thoughts the Tremendous Nintendo.

To that finish, current rumors recommend a design that recollects the unique Change. Based on reporting by VGC, pictures of the console have appeared on-line they usually present an 8-inch display and magnetic Pleasure-Con controllers. There seems to be SL/SR buttons and front-facing participant LEDs on these controllers.

Will there be a little bit of Nintendo weirdness?

Every part leaked or rumored to this point on this console has been pretty, effectively, conventional. It seems like the unique Change, however higher. That is superior, however will there be any of that unpredictable Nintendo magic? Perhaps! Latest stories point out two puzzling additions that people cannot make disguise nor hair of.

An adjunct maker referred to as Genki accidentally leaked an alleged mockup at CES 2025 of the entire console. If the Change 2 is coming sooner quite than later, it is sensible that accent makers would have these sorts of mockups. There seems to be a mysterious “C” button on the bottom-right facet and no person is aware of what it does. May it provoke voice chat throughout gameplay? May it calibrate the controllers? May it create a room-sized hologram of Bowser in your front room? We’ll have to attend and see, and there is all the time an opportunity that the button will not even exist.

Now onto the up to date Pleasure-Cons, those self same leaks appear to point a brand new sensor on the connecting facet of every controller. It seems a whole lot like an optical sensor, which is what a pc mouse makes use of. This has led to hypothesis that gamers will have the ability to flip the Pleasure-Con over and use it like a mouse.

However why would anybody even need this? I can consider three phrases. New Mario Paint. In any occasion, take all of that Genki stuff with an enormous grain of salt, as Nintendo got here out and stated that the images and video were “not official.” The accent producer has additionally acknowledged that its mockup wasn’t based on an actual console, however quite “leaked data that’s circulating within the trade.”

Is the Nintendo Change 2 backwards appropriate?

If it’s a sequel to the Change, the subsequent query must be about backwards compatibility. The Change’s library is completely large, and continues to develop, so players could be rightfully peeved in the event that they couldn’t play Tears of the Kingdom on their new next-gen console. There’s excellent news on this entrance.

The corporate has formally introduced in a current earnings report that the console will be fully backwards compatible. It is going to additionally function entry to Nintendo On-line, so customers will have the ability to play all of these outdated retro titles.

What about specs?

The rumors concerning specs are in every single place, so it’s robust to pin down. We all know one factor for certain: It’ll be extra highly effective than the traditional Change {hardware}, which was already antiquated again in 2017. One analyst allegedly acquired a maintain of a spec sheet from the Korean United Each day Information that stated the Change 2 would boast an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of inner eMMC storage. This tracks for me, as these specs are about as underpowered in 2024 as the unique Change was in 2017. Nonetheless, some stories do indicate that the console would come with 12GB of RAM.

One other supply means that the eight-core CPU will probably be packaged inside an NVIDIA-produced Tegra239 SoC (system on a chip). Given the present Change runs on an NVIDIA chip, that makes numerous sense. The CPU will probably be extra highly effective, however it’s the Change 2’s new GPU that will probably be a serious differentiator. It is all-but-confirmed that the Change 2 will assist DLSS, NVIDIA’s “deep studying supersampling” upscaling tech, which might permit the console to render video games at a low decision internally whereas outputting a high-resolution picture. (Enjoyable reality: We really wrote about how perfect DLSS was for the Nintendo Switch 2 when the expertise was introduced alongside the RTX 20 sequence again in 2018.)

There are nonetheless questions in regards to the Change 2 and DLSS: Will the system assist newer DLSS features like frame generation? Will present video games be mechanically tidied up by NVIDIA’s algorithm? Whatever the precise implementation, DLSS upscaling will probably be an enormous leap over the rudimentary strategies obtainable to Nintendo Change builders.

As for the show, there are a lot of conflicting rumors. Early stories from stable sources instructed the Change 2 would have an 8-inch show LCD show, however there have additionally been rumors about an 7-inch show with a 120Hz refresh fee. Some analysts have instructed this is able to be an OLED display, whereas others have stated it could be a Mini-LED display. A Mini-LED show is mainly an LCD show that has a backlight fabricated from (shock!) mini-LEDs quite than edge lighting. This enables for native dimming, making the blacks extra black. I’m hedging my bets right here. I feel it’ll be a regular LCD, to chop prices, with an OLED or Mini-LED mannequin coming later down the road. Nonetheless, Mini-LED screens are barely cheaper than OLED shows, in order that’s definitely a chance at launch.

As for decision, current reporting means that the console will output 1080p in handheld and 4K when docked. That is significantly better than the OG Change.

How a lot will the Nintendo Change 2 value?

We do not have an excessive amount of data concerning worth however we do have loads of historical past to work with. The unique Nintendo Change launched at $300, which is just about the “magic quantity” in relation to Nintendo console releases in recent times. The Wii U additionally got here in at $300.

Nonetheless, there are many rumors circulating that Nintendo could possibly be upping the asking worth for the Change 2. Quite a few retailers have reported it’ll be $400, or doubtlessly much more costly. Nonetheless, the identical analysts who say the console will probably be $400 had been additionally pretty sure it could be out by the tip of 2024 and, effectively, it seems like that ain’t taking place.

Dipping again into historical past, there’s some priority for a worth uptick. The GameCube was $200 and the Wii was $250. The Wii U and Change elevated to $300 and, effectively, numbers wish to go up. A $400 price ticket would make it practically as costly as a PS5 and Xbox Sequence X. That will additionally put it on the identical worth because the 256GB LCD Steam Deck.

Will we find out about any launch video games?

Nope! Nevertheless it’s definitely been a long time since we’ve gotten a correct 3D Mario journey, proper? That will be one heck of a system vendor. Aside from that, your guess is pretty much as good as mine. Previous as prologue, we are able to anticipate one thing from Ubisoft and an off-the-wall title like 1-2-Change.

If there’s a gimmick or hook concerned with the console, we’ll additionally get a sport that takes benefit of that. A twin launch of Metroid Prime 4, identical to Breath of the Wild and Twilight Princess earlier than that, can also be a chance. Lastly, there have been rumblings that the massive launch title could possibly be none other than Mario Kart 9.

That is every little thing we all know in regards to the Nintendo Change 2 at this time. We’ll replace this text with rumors we belief and with data we collect immediately from sources. Any modifications made to the article after its preliminary publishing will probably be listed under.

Replace, January 10, 2025, 12:40 PM ET: This story has been up to date with particulars in regards to the Change 2’s alleged “C” button, together with the Pleasure-Con optical sensors. We additionally wrote in regards to the announcement window and launch video games. Lastly, we coated bulletins from Nintendo and Genki concerning a possible leak.