New Nintendo Switch OLED With Display That Still Lags Rivals

Today Nintendo has again announced the Nintendo Switch. That is, what is officially and very creatively called Nintendo Switch (OLED model), brackets, and everything.

It's very cool! It has a bigger and better screen, Ethernet compatibility, and improved speakers. It has a larger adjustable stand and doubles the internal storage 64GB. It even features a panda color. All of these improvements are appreciable and, to say the least, my colleague Callum is very excited.

And it would be too ... if it weren't for the fact that I still want an honest Switch Pro. Fortunately, there is still hope.

Rumors about a 4K Switch have been around for centuries and not just the "my uncle works at Nintendo" type. Reliable sources reported a 4K switch in enough detail that the only reasonable explanation, other than "Nintendo is handling the leaks," is that Nintendo is waiting for the right time to launch it.

Although it was not the right time. But do you know what the right time is? It's Zelda time. It seems more and more likely that Nintendo will launch the new Switch practically next to the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, better known as Breath of the Wild 2.

It's possible, if not likely, that Nintendo has a different schedule for a more powerful Switch before the entire global pandemic hits. But, as it stands, it wouldn't make any sense to release an untitled Switch Pro to go.

After all, the Nintendo Switch continues to sell like hot cakes in its good 1080p form. In fact, as Bloomberg pointed out, the Switch is on its way to becoming the fastest console, with 100 million units sold.

The Switch and Switch Lite had enough momentum to reach their current numbers. And while Nintendo probably hasn't released any major titles from any of its major IPs since Smash Bros. Final, in 2018, Switch sales show no signs of slowing down.

The launch of the OLED switch, coinciding with Metroid Dread in October, will probably be enough to keep this momentum going through 2022. This is what Nintendo is still doing, after all; they publish iterative changes to their consoles to renew sales. I have to remember how many versions of 3DS were there?

But, as excited as he is for a new Metroid, it's still a bit more of a niche series than Mario and Zelda. That Nintendo wants to save its broad features for Breath of the Wild 2 seems obvious to me.

I'm not the type of gamer who worries too much about graphic power. After all, I'm a fan of Nintendo and the company gave up polygon racing after the GameCube. But I wouldn't mind playing Breath of the Wild 2 with added visual fidelity and would be willing to bet on a few silver rupees that Nintendo bets on other like-minded Zelda fans.