The Nintendo Switch is my favourite console of all time, and I want it to live on for as long as possible

A successor to the Nintendo Switch console arriving in the second half of 2024 had been starting to feel as inevitable as Princess Peach’s relaxing afternoon in the castle grounds being rudely interrupted by Bowser. But reports claim that in fact we won’t be getting the so-called Switch 2 until early 2025, likely because the console is still selling well despite its age. 

A lot of people are pretty disappointed about this. And in many ways, I’m one of them. I recently wrote about the things I want from a Switch successor. I want more power, a more interesting UI, and more robust online features. We’re now well into the 4K gaming era with Xbox and PlayStation, and of course I want to see how good Link and Mario’s latest adventures could look with a higher resolution makeover. 

But here’s the thing: the Nintendo Switch is without doubt my favourite console of all time. From the moment I unboxed the original model on launch day, heard that now iconic Joy-Con “click” for the first time, and saw The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the World running on a handheld device,  I was head over heels for the thing. I then spent the next month or two of ordinarily painfully tedious train commutes losing myself in a watercolour open-world Hyrule, popping the Switch into its dock in the evenings so I could take on the Divine Beasts on the big screen. Nearly seven years and several hardware refreshes later, the Switch still gets more of my attention than both my Xbox Series X and my PS5.

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I naturally put well over 100 hours into Tears of the Kingdom last year. I also played and loved Pikmin 4, a series that had never really clicked with me previously. While Baldur’s Gate 3 deservedly claimed the RPG crown for most people in 2023, if I’m honest about it, it was the Switch remake of SNES classic Super Mario RPG that I personally had the most fun with. I had tons of enjoyment revisiting the original Red Dead Redemption (a rock solid Switch port) on a portable device. And as for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, well, you can read what I thought about that game here. 

The more I think about it, the more I think I’m pretty happy to have another year of Switch. Part of that is due to the fear of change. The next Nintendo console is very likely to be a sensible iteration on the current one, rather than a grand reinvention. But I’m wary of Nintendo messing with a winning formula so as to make sure that potential upgraders can see there’s a clear difference. Will we lose the Joy-Cons? What if the Switch 2 isn’t fully backwards-compatible with the Switch? What if the messaging reaches Wii U levels of confusion and nobody buys one? Perhaps worst of all…what if it’s just not the same? 

What if it’s just not the same? 

These are, obviously, pretty silly things to be worried about. Besides, another Wii U situation feels particularly unlikely, given how much Nintendo has gotten right this generation. Technology moves on, consoles are succeeded by more capable successors, and Nintendo isn’t going to stop making Mario and Zelda games any time soon. But most of what I’m unhappy about with the current Switch is on paper, rather than in practise.

When I’m playing the upcoming Splatoon 3 DLC on that wonderfully vibrant OLED display (something it sounds like I might have to surrender on at least the first-gen version of the Switch 2), I doubt I’ll particularly care that it’s only only 720p. Just like I didn’t care with all the other Nintendo Switch exclusives I’ve enjoyed over the years. And as much as I love the Steam Deck OLED, I still often find myself gravitating towards my Switch for a lot of indie games as it’s lighter and the battery lasts for longer. There are no guarantees that either of those things will remain true on the next console. 

One more life

Perhaps I’ll feel differently as 2024 rolls on. There’s no getting away from the fact that Nintendo’s current release calendar is looking pretty lightweight at present (even if there’s no game I’m more excited to play this year than Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, a remaster of a GameCube classic that I missed back in 2004). And I’ll admit, it would be nice to play more third-party games on a Nintendo console without fearing that it will buckle under their weight. Nobody wants another Batman: Arkham Knight fiasco. 

But to say Nintendo struck gold with the Switch is understating it. That instant handheld-to-TV magic trick still gets me every single time. Even after all these years, I’ve been able to play more brilliant games on the Switch than any Nintendo system before it. And yet there are still plenty of unplayed games in my backlog, formerly Xbox exclusive gems like Pentiment are bolstering the 2024 slate, and no doubt Nintendo has at least a couple more software-related surprises up its sleeve come the summer and beyond. A swansong year as good as the one we thought the console just had is looking like a tall order, but if Nintendo can pull a Metroid Prime 4 and a Wind Waker HD port out of its Cappy, then the Switch really will go out in style. 

As tech lovers we’re conditioned to always be thinking about the next big thing, and when the time comes I will of course be hurriedly pre-ordering the next Nintendo console. But right now no other gadget brings me as much consistent joy as the Switch, so why wish it away?