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Nintendo has put the finishing touches on a brand new Nintendo Switch that will hit store shelves on September 26, 2024. Unfortunately it is not the console millions have been waiting for.
During a packed Nintendo Direct presentation broadcast on YouTube this week, the company revealed a brand new entry The Legend of Zelda series, known as Echoes of wisdomwhich returns to the top-down style of previous adventures and features Zelda as the playable hero.
The new title will be released worldwide on September 26, with Nintendo planning a special edition of its Switch Lite console to commemorate the launch. An early glimpse of the console during the presentation revealed a gold color with black buttons and a small Triforce icon nestled under the right analog stick on the front. There is also a large Hylian emblem on the back of the console.
Aside from the sleek paint job, everything else about the Nintendo Switch console remains unchanged. Unlike the standard Switch and Switch OLED model, which have detachable Joy-Con controllers that can be used wirelessly for multiplayer or when the console is connected to a television, the cheaper Switch Lite is designed for gaming on the go.
It has a more compact design with a smaller 5.5-inch LCD touchscreen and 32GB of built-in storage… although that can be expanded via a microSD card. You’ll get around seven hours of battery life before you need to reach for the charger, although that varies depending on the title you’re playing.
Nintendo will launch a limited edition Switch Lite to celebrate the launch The Legend of Zelda:Echoes of wisdom worldwide on September 26, 2024
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There’s no word on the UK price, but recent limited edition Nintendo Switch Lite consoles – like the Pokémon Dialga & Palkia Edition – sold for £199, same RRP as the unthemed version of the handheld, so we’d expect the new one Legend of Zelda iteration to come up with a similar price tag.
Elsewhere in the Nintendo Direct we saw sneak previews of it Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Dragon Quest 3 HD – 2D remake, Darkest Dungeon 2, Stray, And LEGO Horizon Adventuresto name a few.
But there was no sign of the feverishly anticipated successor to the Nintendo Switch.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa promised in May that an announcement about the so-called Switch 2 would be made before March 2025. In a post on X, formerly known as Twittersaid the boss of the Japanese gaming giant: “We will make an announcement about the successor to the Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will be over nine years since we announced the existence of the Nintendo Switch in March 2015.”
The Nintendo executive had already confirmed that this week’s presentation would focus on the “software line-up for the second half of 2024”. Nintendo airs several trailer showcases every year, with many of the titles appearing in the Direct presentations being a complete surprise to viewers.
With less than a year until the Nintendo Switch 2 is announced, rumors about the Switch’s successor are swirling. The latter is the second best-selling console ever released by Nintendo, topping worldwide sales of the Nintendo Wii, Game Boy and Game Boy Color, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and quickly approaching the gold medal position, currently held by the Nintendo DS.
Sony PlayStation 2 remains the best-selling console of all time, with approximately 155 million units sold worldwide. By comparison, the Nintendo Switch has sold 141 million – although it still has a final roll of the dice with a whole host of new ones during the busy Christmas period Zelda And Mario titles (and a shiny new limited edition).
Whispers from the secretive Japanese gaming company suggest the Switch sequel will have a larger 8-inch touchscreen, offer backwards compatibility for Nintendo Switch games and feature redesigned Joy-Con controllers that snap to the side of the console with magnets .
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This is Furukawa, president of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to the Nintendo Switch this fiscal year. It’s been over nine years since we announced the existence of the Nintendo Switch in March 2015. We’re having a Nintendo Direct…
— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) May 7, 2024
A more powerful processor to improve the handheld’s resolution and graphics seems obvious, with Nvidia – the company behind the system-on-a-chip within the current Switch generation – being the most likely candidate.
Onboard storage is rumored to be 512GB, much closer to the Xbox Series S and a significant upgrade over the 32GB and 64GB in the original Switch and Switch OLED respectively.