Would you believe it? The Nintendo Switch 2 seems just around the corner, at last, and rumor has it that the long-awaited handheld will also be bundled with a new Mario Kart! So says a leaker apparently trusted by the moderators over at the r/NintendoSwitch2 subreddit, anyway.
Since its unveiling in 2016, nearly 150 million Nintendo Switch consoles have been sold. That makes the handheld Nintendo’s best-selling platform of all time. As popular as ever, the damn thing also hasn’t been significantly updated (aside from the release of an OLED model in 2021), or been given a successor over that span, making it the longest-running Nintendo console of all time, too.
However, rumors of the next-gen Switch have reached a deafening pitch over the last year, and that brings us back to Reddit. On Saturday, the leaker claimed to have a final retail version of the “Switch 2” and opened a thread for an Ask Me Anything session. Of course, there was a catch: You couldn’t ask for proof-of-life photos.
Usually, such declarations would be hard-pressed to pass the sniff test. Except this time around, because the post remains alive and well after the leaker shared some “evidence” with one of the subreddit’s moderators. The moderator also noted that the OP could only answer questions regarding the hardware because they had not turned on the console.
One critical detail they were able to share was that their supposed retail unit is “a special edition of the Switch [2]” bundled with a game where “the number 9 is in the title.” Naturally, many commenters read that as a tease of Mario Kart 9, a yet-unannounced sequel to 2017’s Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. When considering Nintendo first-party franchises likely to release alongside a new Switch, Mario Kart fits the bill; MK8 Deluxe came into existence just a month after the handheld launched and is by far the best-selling game released for it, at more than 64 million copies sold. What new courses and characters might version 9 of the iconic kart racing game hold? Nintendo will have a difficult time topping MK8 Deluxe’s 96 tracks and 48 drivers, including all its DLC.
Some other Switch 2 tidbits the leaker revealed include white and black colorways, as well as a game-specific themed one, which presumably refers to that Mario Kart special edition; a cartridge slot similar in dimensions to the existing console’s, likely to maintain backwards compatibility; Steam Deck-like proportions, only thinner and lighter; and updated controllers with more reliable Hall effect analog sticks.
The OP says they’ll “post proof” on Christmas Day, but that they’ve heard the official Nintendo reveal won’t happen until January. I suppose we can hold our collective breath over the holidays to find out if the OP is pulling our Joy-Cons or not. What’s another week when everyone’s already been waiting nearly eight years, anyway? Compared to GTA VI, this Switch 2 news is actual progress.
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