I’m afraid the Switch 2’s design lacks Nintendo’s special sauce

In my 8 to 5 grind, I cover a lot of mobile devices, from Steam Deck to ROG Ally X And beyond. That’s why I felt like I was watching a parody when Nintendo finally got around Remove the housing from the switch 2. I thought I was looking at a Lenovo Legion Go 2 With a slap of distinct colors around the joystick instead of RGB. I love my country Steam surface. I love my switch. I’m afraid Nintendo is doing too much to make its handhelds interchangeable with the rest.

Don’t get me wrong, I would have liked a more powerful Switch that could play The Legend of Zelda: Kingdom Tears Without rampant frame rate drops. Still, the dark aesthetic of Switch 2 It goes against Nintendo’s usual design ethos. The portable sequel is, in every way, the same basic design as the first Switch, just with a larger screen and more ports. Nintendo had an innovative design with the Switch 1. Every portable computer manufacturer copied Nintendo. Then Nintendo turned around and copied Nintendo.

I didn’t need them to completely redesign the console. I just wanted to show me something really new that would reward fans who loved Nintendo’s willingness to try – even if those things didn’t work. Nintendo will likely save the fancier JoyCon color options for the full release of the device – they’ll likely be scheduled after the next Nintendo Direct on April 2. I also hope that the company shows us something – anything – that will make the next device something special. Nintendo only has to look back 15 years when it first got involved Pictures for 3DS Back in 2010; They remembered to include some beautiful aquamarine color options.

We haven’t seen everything the console has to offer. Nintendo just gave information-hungry customers a rough outline of what to expect with the new magnetically attached JoyCons, better speakers, and an additional USB-C port. I would have liked to see some additional JoyCon capabilities, e.g Lenovo Legion Go’s mouse-like FPS mode. In the video revealed by the company, the JoyCons ran across the table like mice. Each controller probably includes some type of infrared sensor to track movement. There might be some interesting use cases for this. I’d like to know more, but Nintendo won’t tell me.

Initial images of the Switch 2 lack Nintendo’s “je ne sais quoi” of previous products. Nintendo is associated with both fun and weirdness. Remember, this company brought us the Gamecube, a purple controller with a handle. It also came out with the WiiU, a strange console with a controller that elicited more confusion than excitement.

Nintendo is the kind of company that can take risks. The Switch 2 is safe, even if it’s simply more of what players already enjoyed. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing but it seems to help tell customers which device is in question. The original key looked like a toy. The default JoyCon colors of bright red and bright blue make it an easy-to-use device for kids and adults.

It doesn’t help that we have to wait another four months for more direct information on full specifications or launch titles. Until then, more speculation, rumors and leaks will inevitably spoil the surprise of the full release. We still haven’t seen it The Switch 2 will achieve 4K resolution Some games. We’d love to see it push the original Switch games to a higher resolution, but that might be asking too much.

The waiting is always the worst part. April is a long way off. Meanwhile, I’ll flood my office with bright lights and action figures. I don’t need another black device to get me in the gaming mood.