Topic: What do you think the next Nintendo console will look like?

I think it'll look identical to the current Switch, such that you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at it switched off that it was a Switch 2. If this system truly is going to release in 2024 and is visually different from the current Switch, I figure we would've seen the equivalent of the crazy Summer 2016 NX experience by now but that's not the case at all.

So I think we'll see one of 2 things:

• Next system is a Switch 2 which is pretty much identical to the current Switch except more power
• Instead of a system reveal in the 1st half of 2024 and release in 2024, we see a general Direct in January/February 2024 solely for the current Switch that reveals a load of new games (something like the February 2022 Direct).

They need a different solution to 2 screens if it's going to dock as that's a fantastic waste of estate. Either it needs to be more modular and allow seamless communication with another switch or maybe a cheaper screen unit without the innards, or some sort of communication / sharing to smart devices (which I can see tbh.)

@Grumblevolcano At the very least I expect NG Switch to be slightly chunkier.

If it'll be running higher demanding games it'll need a bigger cooling solution.

Not including a potentially bigger board for a larger SoC and more RAM.

@Magician I would have thought NVidia mobile tech would be much better optimised for space. I'm no expert of course, but Steam Deck looks like a bulky handheld PC.

@GrailUK I am no expert either, my friend. All I know is that I've been playing my PS5 Slim and between the liquid metal, heat sink, and fan...that baby still runs hot. I can only imagine what a smaller SoC working hard would need to keep that platform from feeling like an active flare in your hands.

@Magician Well, this time next year, maybe all our questions are answered! Man, I hope so, but I'll also just take another solid year of games hahaha

@Magician Wrong! You don't get a free lunch with dual screens 👍🏾

You use more CPU GPU power for dual screens 👌🏾

You could disable the second screen for games. But that would make a dual screen feature pointless a waste of time!

@Kingchin A waste of time indeed. Of the roughly 15k games available currently on the Switch, it's fair to assume 95% to 99% of that catalogue would ignore dual screen functionality (for maps, menus, etc) as those games transition to the new platform.

@Magician it will be slightly chunkier if Nintendo goes with the Samsung 8nm. But if Nintendo goes with TSMC 4nm or 5nm it's possible Switch successor is a similar size to the Switch.

Ps. the cooling fan system in the current Switch is actually quite good for thermals. But anyway hopefully a even better cooling fan system in the Switch successor.

@GrailUK The Switch sucessor will get announced and revealed by Nintendo at some point next year. So yeah let's see what they cook up 😉

As for Nintendo games it should be a bumper year 2024 - Metroid Prime 4, new 3D Mario for the Switch sucessor, and other unannounced games...

@Grumblevolcano I think you're mostly on the mark here, except I think they're going to do a February Direct focused on Switch 1, then reveal Switch 2 in April/May for a September/October launch.

@KingdomTears Lovely mockups. If the WiiU had been a success I feel like something like this might have been where Nintendo would be heading towards...minus the button customization (that is way too much of a cost for a base system)but honestly I expect it to look like a oled switch, with perhaps a smaller screen bezel. With the major changes being the internals. There really isn’t much one needs to change about the form factor of the switch.

The issue is going to be marketing imo, and the one benefit to the home consoles as they can do more to make the each iteration look different even if you can stuff the internals in last gen's box.

My dream is it will be powerful enough so 3rd party games run great and we get great support…especially fighting games

I think the format will remain the same but the GPU will use a T239 with DLSS3.5/RT/RTL to boost graphics. There's no way a hardware GPU will fit and do the power needs that would have a nuclear meltdown Switch if that happens. So it's going to be a T239 with DLSS3.5/RT/RTL to boost the graphics for those games that would show improvement but for the rest it would still be the same. Any handheld doing GPU 4K levels wouldn't last in the Thermal Meltdown nor allow you to hold it. Also the battery life would die the moment it was turned on as what would drain the battery life.

Nvidia GPUs tend to be a bit more power efficient than their AMD equivalents but not to the extent that you could have something that's half the size of the Steam Deck but still as powerful.

Also, it's way more about the size and weight of the cooling and battery than the SoC itself and that's pretty much a level playing field for everyone.

Times have changed. People want backwards compatibility for their new consoles. Microsoft and Sony have already gone that route.

People expect Nintendo to follow suit! It just gets tiresome having to buy a new console and Nintendo spending most of their development time re-releasing old games for the umpteenth time in HD/Deluxe versions at full price!

I personally getting seriously fed up with it! I rather see the Switch 2 continuing the success of the Switch 1, with better next-gen joy-con controllers (with hall-effect for example), OLED screen, better docking capabilities, etc and with full backwards compatibility of the Switch 1.

This way Nintendo can actually focus their development on new exciting games, instead of this endless re-releasing old games cycle we have been plagued with.

@Jeronan I never said this system wouldn't offer backwards compatibility with Switch, quite the opposite in fact. I'm saying that a system like this could offer backwards compatibility for the DS, 3DS, Wii, Wii U, Switch and all of their traditional home and handheld consoles also, at least through NSO (any physical media backwards compatibility would be Switch only of course).

Plus many of Nintendo's previous consoles have been backwards compatible, so I'm not sure why your suggesting that Nintendo will shift this way following PS and XBox's lead

@Jeronan thank you for suggesting something other than simply "the same but with better specs" however

This isn't a Nintendo only problem, Sony and Microsoft are both playing this game also. The simple fact is that these re-releases help fill in the schedule during a time where most new AAA releases take 4-6 years to develop. Most of the time development on the remasters/remakes, at least in part, is shipped out to third-party or smaller studios within each publisher, but whatever the case, this isn't generally the reason the flow of new titles has slowed. That's just how long it takes to develop brand-new games in the modern era unfortunately

Humanity is doomed to play the same video games over and over that will continue to be remade every 20 years (often less)... [ominously]foooorrrr aallllllll tiiiiiiiimeee!!!![/ominously]

With a few AAA blockbuster games in between... that will also be remade every so often.

The Last of Us has already been released/remastered/remade/whatever no less than THREE times and it doesn't even have a third bloody instalment yet. Grand Theft Auto will be piggybacking on ONE instalment for 12 years at least, and has been released on three generations of hardware. In comparison, the PS2 had FIVE instalments.