Rumor: Nintendo Switch 2 Console 'Leak' Hints at New Feature (Scroll Wheel Triggers and Traditional Console instead of handheld)

I'd really hate it if they went back to traditional console. 90% of my switch playtime is in handheld.

I'd hate it too, and 99% of my playtime is docked.
99% of my play is docked and I don’t like that half the cost of my console went into making it portable rather than faster.
- The portability is the whole reason it has games for it.
  
  Another low powered home console wouldn't have sold anywhere near enough to justify ports or exclusive games. The entire interest cycle in the console was exclusively a product of being a handheld that could play expansive games.
Assuming any of this is legit:

Is it possible that the “Switch 2” has a hybrid version like the Switch, a handheld version like the Switch Lite, and a home console version? (Or even just hybrid and home console versions, with a handheld to come later?)

These could all run the same software with very similar hardware, but the home console would either be cheaper or offer higher resolutions and/or framerates than the docked hybrid console.

Customers might get confused, but this is arguably more straightforward than the current lineup.

The downside is that developers would need to handle 3 different configurations (handheld, docked, and home).
- The downside is that developers would need to handle 3 different configurations (handheld, docked, and home).
  
  No publisher wants to put the resources into this for absolutely no gain on their part. They'll target the easiest, cheapest and fastest method to get a game working and then leave it at that.
Even if this is legit, this could just be prototype hardware - in a larger form to make it easy to swap out parts.
Not mine, but I sure as hell enjoy the ease of moving it to my cabin when I go there. Or moving it between rooms. And when I am on the go, yes I enjoy handheld too. Perfect solution IMO. What makes it the best is that it's the swiss army knife of consoles.

I’m sure this was just a developer kit and nothing to worry about, but if Nintendo is legit dropping handheld support, that would be a GIGANTIC mistake. They’d be squandering every drop of goodwill they’ve earned with the Switch’s success. Nintendo has found a wonderful little niche making super high-quality games with last-gen hardware that can be enjoyed on a TV or on the go.

I love my PS5, but I still turn to my Switch over and over again because of its versatility

Agreed. Nintendo either needs to stick to making handheld/console hybrids or commit to making bleeding edge hardware capable of pushing AAA Graphics at 4K 60FPS. And even then, they would have stiff competition with the libraries of Xbox, PlayStation and PC.
- It'd be a real interesting move for sure. Personally I have a PS5 and gaming computer for when I want lifelike graphics, frames, etc. I love my switch for cartoonish characters like Mario and Donkey Kong, it's couch coop games, and it's relaxing feel when playing games. I'm honestly not that concerned about it's performance.
  
  That said, I am excited that it'll probably add an SSD.

Clearly sounds like a devkit

Someone on Reddit 🤢 was saying this was probably a very clever and creative story that was made up.

The whole story about being from the TSA is unlikely. Only because for development stuff that you want to keep on the downlow, you would use private flights instead of going to your public air terminal.

I simply cannot believe that they'd go back to a non portable format after the Switch's wild success. The dual factor approach is a massive part of its appeal
- I agree with this. Honestly they should try to make eGPU that a Switch 2 can slide into. It would make the graphics so drastically different though that the Switch 2 mobile would probably struggle though.
- I said this in another thread, but Nintendo doesn't change shit up for no reason. People look at their consoles and go "Oh! Nintendo just tries crazy stuff and sees what hits. Then moves on to the next crazy thing." But that's not really what they do. Consoles were not stable at first and didn't have regular gaming conventions. So many many companies were just trying any idea that popped into their heads. And most failed and disappeared. Nintendo just had a pile of reserve cash for failures and also tended to have a different thing at the time that was succeeding. But if you focus instead on their handhelds rather than consoles, they have been wildly consistent. GB -> GBA was all reverse compatible. That was from 1989 to 2004. So each iteration gave a decent reason to upgrade, but you also were able to continue playing your game collection you built. Then, the DS had GBA support, the 3ds had DS support. And these were all pretty successful devices.
  
  Nintendo didn't change much from NES to SNES, because NES was successful. Then when they had a bunch of new competition and things were obviously moving into a 3D direction, they took a swing with the N64 to some success, but not enough to keep Sony from becoming a real consistent player. GC failed so they decided to try something different instead of competing on the performance side of things. And the Wii succeeded. And they didn't change much with the next console. However, they also didn't change enough... like the fucking name. So people didn't even realize it was a new console. So it failed. And then they took what succeeded (handhelds) and added it to the other thing that succeeded (Wii ideas -- don't compete on performance, compete with unique games and features). I'll be honest. I expected the Switch to fail with its huge launch library of 1 game, but I am really glad it didn't. I also don't think Nintendo has a big reason to change the system too much. Add power and exclusive games to the new system but have reverse compat. People will have a reason to upgrade without feeling like they will be ditching something that they spent a lot of money on (like literally every handheld iteration they have had outside of the game and watch).
  
  I could see them wishing they had a separate handheld and console again just for security purposes (when GC failed, they had the GBA succeeding, WiiU and 3DS, hell even the DS was moving over a million units a year during the WiiU era). But I don't see how they justify doing it. Either turn switch into their primary handheld line and make a newer handheld that has reverse compat along with a console, but what does this console offer? I cannot see them getting into the performance game again with PS and Xbox being so far ahead in terms of hardware and games library. Give a system with maybe the power of an XBox One that can be handheld and supports 4K on the TV and 1080 in the hand and can finally run pokemon Violet at a decent fps. Make money.
- If it is a true story then the device was probably a dev kit. I don't see them radically changing the hybrid formfactor unless it stops selling well. Or maybe unless there is some radical new direction like going to VR.

I feel like Switch successor "leaks" have become meaningless noise at this point. There have just been so, so many reported "leaks" and supposed possible release dates/years. I don't even pay any attention to it anymore.

Not really a lot of noise. GPU from Nvidia leaked, this is most likely a dev kit, which is a kit given to makers of games, not the actual device.

This news just lets us know how far along they are, and honestly as someone who cannot wait to be able to play Nintendo games in 4k, I’m super interested in finding out more.
Yeah but the Switch Pro is right around the corner!

If it is not a portable, I am not buying it. Not trying to throw a petulant hissy fit. I am just a portable gamer and don't like to playing single player on my TV.

I think it'll be a huge mistake if it's not
@TAG Nintendo has all but opted out of mobile gaming, and does not produce a dedicated portable system. To create a new console, and a separate portable console, both in hardware and software, at this juncture seems unfathomable.

Yeah it’s got to still be a handheld. The Switch has been too popular to go back.

There was a patent filed back in the Wii U days (September 2015) which also described a scroll wheel trigger. Looking back at it now, it seems very Switch-like, though people back then probably would have assumed it was a Wii U Gamepad 2. Maybe it was an old prototype for the Switch that they've converted into a Switch 2?

Here's the patent, and here's the linked PDF with some images.

Wasn't there a Wii U prototype that had scroll wheels way back?

An improved overall hardware upgrade and fixing of controller connection issues/drift and id be totally happy.

I honestly think this sounds legit but only as an R&D. I doubt someone would travel outside HQ with a prototype that didn’t make the cut.

Synchronicity hitting hard today. I was literally just talking about the idea of scroll wheels in place of the usual triggers.

Rumors will be rumors and we should take them with a grain of salt, but I thought this would be interesting for discussion.

What gameplay applications do you think these possible scroll wheels would be useful for?

If the console is a traditional console, would the switch then become what the Wii U gamepad was always meant to be? The console could be backwards compatible with the switch able to take the games on the go or stream them locally, or act as a second screen.

In all likelyhood this is just a dev kit, but you would still think it would be a handheld, right?

What do you think?

Not to be too dismissive, but I agree that it should be taken with a grain of salt. I also would expect that somebody who's supposedly a part of Nintendo R&D specifically will be more likely to be walking around with many attempts at proof-of-concept hardware ideas that aren't (yet) intended to ship in a final product, and only an incredibly tiny portion of such ideas will ever make it far enough to even be in consideration for a new device.
- The weird thing is that it seems late for Nintendo to still be working on R&D for the Switch 2. This is probably less than a year from announcement. At this point, I would expect them to be hammering out agreements with suppliers, so the hardware should be more-or-less done.
  
  Then again, I have no idea what the timeline is like for console development.

Sounds like a devkit. If there’s any truth to this whole account, the only interesting thing is the scroll wheels on trigger buttons

Yeah, not sure why this is being reported as a form factor at all. Anyone covering the games industry for any amount of time should be familiar with dev kits, and particularly pre-launch dev kits.

Shit, most of them look like PCs.

This is coming from a TSA agent, not sure how much I trust it. Either way I hope this isn't true. I think part of the switch's success was it's embracing of a standard modern controller layout (4 face buttons, shoulder buttons, triggers, d pad, 2 analog sticks, capture and home buttons). I love being able to bring standard Bluetooth controllers across multiple devices. I really don't want to have to buy a bunch of new controllers with a new switch, it makes the transition that much harder for a niche/alienating feature only Nintendo will really know how to use