Nintendo reveals Switch 2 price and release date

Following on from its surprise announcement back in January, the Switch 2 has been properly unveiled by Nintendo in a livestream event, which also revealed its release date and price.

So if you want to be blue shelled into oblivion in the latest Mario Kart, you officially have between now and 5 June when the Switch 2 launches to find its UK MSRP of £395.99 (or £429.99 in a bundle with Mario Kart World). That’s compared to the £299 that the original Switch cost when it launched in 2017.

The latest incarnation of Nintendo’s hybrid of handheld and under-the-TV console features a larger 7.9-inch screen outputting at up to 1080p, and now supports 120 frames per second.

When connected to a TV, the Switch 2 can output in 4K, and its Joy-Con controllers have been redesigned for comfier ergonomics. They now connect magnetically to the console, too.

Also detailed on the livestream reveal event was Mario Kart World, which we got a glimpse of back in January. Turns out it’s an open world game now, and while that makes as much sense to us as making Pong open world or adding a battle pass to Dear Esther, we’ll reserve judgment until we get some hands-on time. The race circuits do look extremely pretty, though, and they feature noticeably more detail than their counterparts in Mario Kart 8.

There’s a new Zelda in the works, and please take a deep breath before speaking its full name: Legend of Zelda Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Apparently it’s a prequel to Tears of the Kingdom.

Kirby Aerial Riders and a new Donkey Kong game called Donkey Kong Bonanza, are also coming to bolster the Switch 2’s first-party offering, and the latter’s due on 17 July.

Contrary to all those primary colours and gently bobbing, smiling faces that comprise Nintendo’s typical games, Dark Souls developer Fromsoft is working on a new title to give the Switch 2 a bit of street cred with the edgier gamers, too. Duskbloods is a PvPvE title, and if it doesn’t feature NPCs who talk in riddles and fiddly boss battles we’ll eat our Joy-Cons.

You can catch all the details, including several other third-party games confirmed for a Switch release, in the full 1.5-hour livestream linked above.