The moment is nearly upon us, Nintendo are blasting us into the ninth generation of consoles with the Nintendo Switch! But what is this Nintendo Switch? We hope that this article, which will be updated continuous until release, will tell you everything you need to know, and more about the Switch. Please note, the information in this article is all confirmed information, and there will be no rumours included.

Without further ado, find out everything we know so far about Nintendo Switch, after the break!

The Games

There are already several games which we know are definitely coming to the Nintendo Switch, which you can see below:

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It has also been confirmed, by Nintendo, that there are over thirty different third party developers, most of which are very well known, that promise support for the consoles, and that we should expect this number to grow!

Release Date

The Nintendo Switch is set to release on the 3rd March 2017 in most European countries, Japan, North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

The Concept

The main concept of the Nintendo Switch centers on the Joy-Con controllers, which enable you to play games both at home and on the go. You can be playing the Legend of Zelda on the TV, click the Joy-Cons in place, and lift the Nintendo Switch out of its dock to play on the go.

Nintendo are determined to show us the flexibility the Joy-Cons provide. The Joy-Con Grip (below) holds the Joy-Cons in a format reminiscent of a traditional controller for TV play, but they can also be attached to the Nintendo Switch system for use on the go (above).

You can also use the Joy-Cons separately — one in each hand — for more relaxed play style, or use one Joy-Con individually and give the other to a friend for multiplayer gaming, whether on the TV Screen or using the built in kickstand to play on the Nintendo Switch itself.  The “Pro Controller” — a by-the-book traditional controller sold separately, has a more ergonomic design for home gaming, but on paper has the same features as the Joy-Con Grip controller.

Each Joy-Con has a set of buttons, a control stick, and four shoulder buttons — two for upright play and two more so the Joy-Con can be removed and held sideways for multiplayer games. There is also an NFC Reader/Writer for use with Amiibo, a capture button to take screenshots and record gameplay. Both Joy-Cons are capable of precise motion control as each one has a gyroscope and an accelerometer (wrist straps come in the box).  Finally, there’s an IR Motion Camera in the right Joy-Con which can sense how far away an object is, as well as a haptic feedback system called HD Rumble, which recreates the sense of touch, such as feeling like the Joy-Con is being filled with water (a feature also present in the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller).

The Joy-Con is more akin to the N64’s C Buttons than the traditional D-Pad; from left to right: DualShock 4, New 3DS, Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, Joy-Con, Nintendo 64 C Buttons

Nintendo Switch comes packaged with either two dark grey Joy-Cons or one blue and one red.

 

 

The Hardware Specs

Power

We have no concrete technical specifications on Nintendo Switch yet, but Nvidia posted a blog back in October to confirm they are working on a custom Tegra processor for the device.

Storage Space

Nintendo Switch has 32GB of internal storage, and theoretically supports microSDXC up to 2TB. 256GB is the largest microSDXC card currently available.

Battery Life

Nintendo’s official Nintendo Switch battery life estimate is 2.5-6 hours, compared to a 3.5-6 hour estimate for New 3DS. The Nintendo Switch uses a USB-C port to charge.

The Screen

Nintendo Switch has a 6.2 inch capacative multi-touch screen at a resolution of 1280×720, with a PPI (pixels per inch) of 237.

PPI is a good comparison point of how crisp the screen will be compared to other devices, because it takes the size of the screen into account — for example, the 38mm Apple Watch has a screen resolution of 272×340, but it still looks very clear because the screen is only 1.34 inches diagonally (giving it a PPI of 326). Here’s the PPI of some other devices for comparison:

Nintendo 3DS: 132 PPI

Wii U GamePad: 158 PPI

PS Vita: 220 PPI

Nintendo Switch 237 PPI

iPhone 7: 326 PPI

iPhone 7 Plus: 401 PPI

Google Pixel XL: 534 PPI

GameCards

Nintendo Switch uses DS/3DS-style Game Cards, stylised as “GameCards”, because squashing two words together is still fashionable.

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