Summary
Although there’s been no official announcement,rumors of a new Nintendo consolehave been doing the rounds for quite some time now. Many industry insiders are adamant thatNintendohas been quietly working away at a successor to its hugely successful hybrid for several years at this point, with some even believing that the Japanese giant’s next console could be in the hands of players as early as next year.
As for what this new system might look like, there are plenty of theories floating around online. Some claim that the Switch 2 will focus on power rather than portability in order to compete with the likes of PlayStation and Xbox, while others are reporting that it will be a handheld/home console hybrid just like its predecessor. If a newly publishedNintendopatent is anything to go by, it seems that the latter may well be the case.
Filed in late 2022 and published in October of this year, the patent in question is for a portable gaming device. It includes four drawings ofwhat the new console might look likeand highlights some pretty big differences from the original Switch. For starters, this new handheld no longer uses Joy-Cons, with players instead having to make do with a joystick to the left of the screen and four face buttons to the right, as well as two shoulder buttons on the top of the console.
Where things start to get interesting is at the bottom of the device, which is where players will now find the home button. According to the patent description, the rationale for moving it here is that players will rarely need to use it during gameplay sessions, thus allowing Nintendo to free up space on the front of the device. The bottom surface is also where players will find the console’s USB port (54), speakers (55 and 56), and a button forcapturing screenshots and gameplay recordings(44).
The top of this portable gaming device is not too dissimilar to the Switch, with the only major difference being that the positions of the volume rocker and the power button have been swapped around. There’s still a headphone jack and a cartridge slot, which should come asgood news for fans of physical media. Sadly, there’s no indication as to whether this new console will be able to play games from the original Switch, though many are expecting it to be backward compatible.
If this patent is indeed related to Nintendo’s next console, the fact that there are only six buttons and a single joystick for gameplay shown in the drawings will probably be the biggest talking point. The patent mentions that the console uses a pressure-sensitive touch screen though, so it’s possible that games for the new device will be designed with this in mind. Alternatively, the description states that an input to control directional movement could also be included on the right side of the device if needed, which would bring it more in line with the design of the original Switch.
