What Can We Expect From A New Nintendo Switch?

According to recent reports and rumor, Nintendo is planning on coming out with a new Nintendo Switch console early into 2019. Seeing as the Switch itself was released only in March 2017, people are wondering what this new console could entail after only two years. Luckily, we have an entire history of video games, and especially Nintendo, to explore for answers.

Let’s start with Nintendo’s crazy outings from previous consoles to show that they’re not afraid to try new and strange things. Nearly every system that Nintendo has come out with has had reworks and different versions that vary from the original designs. 

Looking at the Nintendo Game Boy line and post-Game Boy handhelds alone allows fans to understand their mentality a little more. The original Game Boy handheld came to the US in 1989. The big 7-year gap between it and the Game Boy Pocket in 1996 is massive, but one of the only large gaps in the line-up. Did you want color in your Game Boy? You only had to wait two more years in 1998 for the Game Boy Color. Three years after that saw an entirely new system from the line, Game Boy Advance, that used much shorter cartridges (but allowed backwards compatibility).

Two years later, we got the proto-DS-shaped Game Boy Advance SP, which made the system into the now-well-known folding design that most of the modern Nintendo handhelds utilize. But, why is this significant? Just a single year later, the Nintendo DS came out for the holiday season in 2004. This is a defining moment for the Nintendo motivation that we may be seeing for the Nintendo Switch because the Nintendo DS Lite, a smaller, lighter version of the DS came out not even a year and a half later.

As for the Nintendo 3DS, those didn’t come around until 2011, but the 3DS XL was the very next year and the New 3DS XL (which included new features built in) was only three years after that. There were more consoles peppered in between, like the Nintendo 2DS, but you get the gist of it. The fact of the matter is that people don’t understand that Nintendo comes out with new models on the regular, and they tend to make some significant changes.

What could the New Nintendo Switch be?

Now, why is all of this significant? Keeping in mind that Nintendo constantly pumps out new systems to keep their market fresh, the Nintendo Switch for 2019 is likely to be a way to bridge the gap between those still using the Nintendo 3DS/2DS systems and the current era of the Switch. Seeing as how Nintendo has been treating this system uniquely as both a home console and portable system since the Switch was announced, this is officially their crossover platform. A new system is likely to make a final devastating blow on the Nintendo 3DS, since new games are coming to a screeching halt for the system.

Majority of titles and franchises have already moved their way onto the Nintendo Switch, such as the upcoming Super Smash Bros Ultimate and announced Animal Crossing games. Pokemon fans, aside from the Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee games, are worrying about the announced 2019 “Core Pokemon RPG” that was hinted at during E3 2017 and how they will have the chance to bring their prior Pokemon from older games (and the 3DS Pokemon storage application, Pokemon Bank) onto the Switch. It’s likely this new system may have a feature that can allow the transfer.

Theoretically, a new Switch could also take on a Nintendo 3DS-like appearance and still use the same cartridges, but a much smaller screen for portability. Knowing their past, they may even have a foldable design, a la Nintendo DS and 3DS. A handheld option for gamers on-the-go was the original idea behind the Game Boy all the way back in 1999, which seems to be the design for an upcoming Official Nintendo phone case.

The Nintendo Switch already offers the portability, but a smaller (potentially cheaper) option that doesn’t hook to a television is the way that a lot of fans would have the possibility of picking up the system, making it a true successor to the 3DS line. The only recommendation I’d have is to find a way to give the system more battery life for more intensive games like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey. Whatever it is, it's unlikely meant to be a skin change like the Pokemon Let's Go edition or the Super Smash Brothers aesthetic are in the upcoming releases this year.

Whatever it is, it will use Nintendo Switch Online. We detailed the features in the new online subscription service and then we wrote a guide on how to sign up for it properly.