Nintendo’s ongoing refusal to announce the Switch 2 has reached the point of being downright absurd. As leaks continue apace, we’re piecing together the unacknowledged console like a jigsaw puzzle, rapidly leaving Nintendo with nothing else to say but, “Yup, that.” The latest pieces come from third-party manufacturers; some via a GameStop employee leaking new SKUs listed on the store’s systems, and others from third-party peripheral company Genki.
The biggest of all these little bits and pieces is Genki’s belief, as told to IGN, that the new Switch 2 might look as though it fits into your current Switch dock, but that’s not likely to be the case. “Certain indentations seem to prevent it,” says IGN, reporting from trade show CES. Genki caused a commotion by showing up to the event with what they claim is a 3D-printed model of the Switch 2, which would be less of a big deal if Nintendo had ever actually officially announced the thing. (We are in the ridiculous situation where Nintendo has explained that the console will be backward compatible, without officially acknowledging the backward compatible console.)
However, what seems far more peculiar from IGN’s conversation with Genki is what third-party accessory makers don’t know at this point, given their desire to have product available as soon as the device is launched. For instance, those mock-ups Genki has printed feature a mysterious new “C” button on the right Joy-Con, and no one knows what it might be for (if it’s actually real—infuriatingly, the leaked shots of a controller only showed the side and reverse). Genki told IGN their were rumors of it being something to do with a camera, although there’s no word on the Switch 2 featuring a camera at all. It seems sensible to note that both the N64 and GameCube controllers featured C buttons, and they were nothing to do with cameras.
Also unknown is whether new Joy-Cons will work with old Switches, and vice-versa, but Genki says it’s “assuming” they will, and that everyone in their field is “banking on that capability.” What a pickle.
Read More: If The Switch 2 Is Just A Better Switch, I’ll Be A Bit Disappointed
Meanwhile, over on Reddit, a naughty GameStop employee has seemingly leaked a photo from their store’s computer system, showing a bunch of new Switch 2 SKUs that demonstrate the system will support Express Micros SD cards.
Listed on the computer are three Express Micro SD card options for the device (please don’t spend more just because someone’s pretended their SD card is magically special for the Switch, just make sure it has a good transfer speed), ranging in size from 256GB to 512GB. There’s also a “Joy-con Charger Grip for Switch2-AUS” listed, but honestly I’m far more interested in the TMNT Switch carry case mentioned below.
Nintendo rebranded its Japanese X account yesterday with a new banner showing Mario and Luigi gesturing enthusiastically to a white, empty space, leading many to leap the the assumption that significant was about to happen. So far, though, nothing has. The U.S. account is still plugging Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, for what it’s worth. But honestly, at this point the tea-leaves-reading antics of the terminally online make far more sense than Nintendo’s failure to actually bloody announce the thing.
It’s hard to see what the game plan can possibly be at this point, in not announcing a console that everyone already knows exists. Unless they’ve got one hell of a twist up their sleeves, I cannot fathom what the marketing team is waiting for. Of course, the moment Nintendo does say anything, pre-orders will still be record-breaking and the Switch 2 will probably sell faster than any console before it—perhaps that’s such a certainty, the company is finding it funnier just to sit back and watch us all tearing our hair out.
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