Will the Nintendo Switch 2 Be Too Big?

The Handheldmarkt is a hugely different place than when the Nintendo switch was launched as the successor of both Wii U and 3DS – although the switch is still the king with more than 140 million units that have been sold since March 2017.

We recently received our first view of the Nintendo Switch 2, and the full unveiling was only a few days away on 2 April. Although it looks free to the original switch, there is one thing that we can say: it is certainly bigger. But a game system can only become so large before it is no longer portable, and the Switch 2 wonders us: could it be at big?

Since the switch debuted, the handheld market has been exploded and multiplied. At the top are portable PC devices such as the steam deck and Asus Rog Ally X, while the rest of the market has an ever-growing number of options, such as the Retroid Pocket 5 and the Ambernic RG35XXSP.

The larger handhelds offer slightly closer to a 1: 1 experience for the Nintendo switch, albeit with access to a huge range of PC games. The smaller handhelds, which focus on retro emulation, have a variety of prices, sizes and form factors – so if a model looks too big or uncomfortable, you can almost certainly find a quality alternative.

Systems such as the steam deck and its brothers have screens ranging from 7 to 9 inch-that ignores Acer’s comically oversized 11-inch Nitro Blaze 11– And weigh everywhere from 670 to almost 900 grams. For comparison: the ‘largest’ switch is the Nintendo Switch OLED edition, which has a 7-inch screen and weighs 420 grams with the controllers. The semi-bearable Wii U-tablet weighs 491 grams.

Let’s concentrate on the Valve steam deck, the most popular PC handheld and closest to a challenger. The deck weighs 673 g with a 7-inch screen. If you go around online, it is not difficult to find enough comments that the steam deck is too heavy and far too large to be portable; There is even a market for lap cushions specifically for handhelds.

Even the standard Nintendo switch borders to be too large to be portable for many people, especially if you take into account the need for some players to confirm a case to protect the screen and those sensitive Joy-Con sticks and rails.

Nintendo holds system specifications on the Nintendo Switch 2 close to the vest prior to the 2 April Nintendo Direct unveiling, but estimates are flooded by information leaks, details of accessories and observers with eagle’s eyes that combine Nintendo’s unveiling trailer.

What we can see in that trailer seems to suggest that the Nintendo Switch 2 has a screen of approximately 8 inches and is about 30% larger than the original switch, everything told. However, we cannot really estimate the weight, because the current increases will not necessarily scales with weight.

But we wonder: is one greater System really what Nintendo fans want?

Portability has always been an important aspect of Nintendo Handhelds, of the Game & Watch units released in 1980, all the way to the modern Nintendo Switch systems.

AD -campaigns for these systems show that people play them on trains, at hip roof parties attended by local youth, or in parks with children who (for some reason) do not shout against each other. Even in home institutions, recent advertisements often appoint people who do not play the switch in dock mode on their televisions, but in the entire handheld mode.

It also seems to push against the focus on children that Nintendo systems usually have. The Nintendo switch placed a sturdy flag in the ground with how small the Joy-Cons were: this system is for small hands. I don’t know that the Switch 2 Joy-Cons are big enough to be a problem, but the extra size and the weight will be much more extreme for an eight-year-old compared to the perception of a 26-year-old.

The Nintendo Switch 2 becomes a big fleshy boy, regardless of the exact measurements in millimeters and grams. It is even big for a Nintendo handheld, since it is larger than the switch and probably heavier than even the Wii U -Tablet.

It almost seems that Nintendo chases the luxury handheld market with this size, instead of the dedicated core audience – a mistake that made it and learned with the Gamecube. Nintendo does not have to compete with Microsoft and Sony, so why would it? The same applies to trying to match these other handhelds in size and functions.

Or maybe Nintendo is only ensuring that people cannot see that it is new if the system is not clearly larger. Even those years later, Nintendo still has to prick the failure of Wii U. As smartphones have proven, however, there is an upper limit for what people want to take with them when it comes to electronics.

Bigger is not always better – at least not for everyone. All this does not mean that the approaching Switch 2 is not incredibly exciting; It is still Nintendo -hardware and Nintendo -hardware is usually excellent (switch the stick -drift aside).

Nintendo could Make a very good thing for the raised screen size, or the hardware can be smooth enough that the larger screen and extra weight do not feel extra trouble. And yet it is still going to play that new Mario Kart and what Nintendo cooks even more for the launch of the system later this year. We will know more if the Nintendo drops immediately on 2 April.

Published by Andrew Hayward