I have a confession to make: my strongest desire in the wake of the official Nintendo Switch 2 reveal isn't necessarily to know more about it. It's not finding out whether that USB-C port on top is actually for a second screen, and it's not to learn more about Mario Kart 9 (or is it Mario Kart 10?) or anything of the sort. No; I want to know what the new Nintendo Switch 2 cartridges taste like.
Some context is perhaps necessary to understand that this is not some unusual perversion or fetish of mine, though there is an argument to be made that it is an unhealthy obsession. Most importantly, and in case you somehow weren't already aware, Nintendo Switch cartridges – the physical units that games come on that you actually insert into a Switch – are coated in a bittering agent. Specifically, every single one of them bad boys has a healthy helping of denatonium benzoate, according to Nintendo.
This is not news and was widely reported back in the early days of the Switch circa March 2017. The intention, broadly speaking, appears to be avoiding ingestion by anyone, but most obviously children. When it became public knowledge, a broad swath of folks just had to try it for themselves – myself included. The difference between me and them is that I, for one, never stopped.
Keeps on ticking
As a cool gamer, I still regularly purchase physical Nintendo Switch games, and the knowledge that there's that nasty chemical (and trust me, it is nasty) coated on them is always front of mind. When I buy a new Nintendo Switch game, my first inevitable thought upon opening it is not, "I sure am excited to play this," but instead, "I should lick this, just in case." I won't keep you in suspense: every single one of them has continued to taste bad.
Which brings us to the Nintendo Switch 2. We've known for some months now that "the successor to Nintendo Switch" would include the ability to play Nintendo Switch games, and the official reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2 seemingly confirmed that physical cartridges are continuing and that Nintendo Switch (OG) carts will also work in the Nintendo Switch 2, with some exceptions.
What the reveal didn't show is what, exactly, a Nintendo Switch 2 cartridge might look like. My assumption, given the backwards compatibility, would be some sort of extrusion that prevents them from being used in an original model Nintendo Switch while still allowing Nintendo Switch games through the same slot on the Nintendo Switch 2. This is the route the Nintendo 3DS went with when it came to being backwards compatible with the Nintendo DS, and it's reasonable to assume something similar will be in place here. If it ain't broke, after all.
All of this is to say, the particular flavoring of the Nintendo Switch 2 cartridges (the sheer existence of which doesn't feel like too much of an assumption despite not yet having seen one) has not been touched on yet. With Nintendo having continued the bitter agent on the original Nintendo Switch games all through this point and, it seems, into the future, there's every reason to believe that it will continue with the Nintendo Switch 2.
But not knowing is what gets me. Will the taste be slightly different in some way to differentiate them? Will it be the exact same, because who cares? Will Nintendo use more or less denatonium benzoate this time around for a stronger or weaker aversion? Maybe the Nintendo Switch 2 will use an altogether different chemical compound. Maybe it won't!
I guess I'll just need to lick one to find out.
We're set to learn even more about the Switch 2 on April 2, but be sure to check out everything we know about Nintendo Switch 2 if you want to know more.
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