Back when it first came out, the Nintendo Switch was both a wonder and a frustrating mystery. It basically had the guts of what could have been one of the most powerful tablets of its time, as clearly proven by its gaming capabilities. And yet in typical Nintendo fashion, that hardware would never realize its full potential because of the locked-down operating system that Nintendo uses on it. It could, for example, browse the Web or play videos, but you can never do that directly without installing mods.
With the Nintendo Switch 2 just around the corner, there is once more an interest in what the device would be capable of. We have none of the specs yet, but it’s at least expected to be more powerful than the well-aged hardware of the OG Switch. That does open up the possibility of even more functionality, at least given the right accessories. This concept, for example, envisions slapping on a second screen that would transform the Switch 2 into a NewDS, something that we know will never come to pass.
Designer:
The Nintendo Switch 2 is bigger than its predecessor, so it’s large enough to emulate a Nintendo DS experience, at least when you turn it on its side. That won’t be the most comfortable way to use it, though, as you’ll need a separate grip to hold the Joy-cons in that position. It would definitely be easier if you just added a second screen, which this concept suggests.
Taking advantage of the fact that there will be two USB-C ports on the console this time, the concept design presents an accessory that attaches to the bottom of the Nintendo Switch 2, connects to the USB-C port there, and covers the main screen like a folio when not in use. That means having to turn the device upside-down whenever you try to use it, which makes more sense when you realize that the air vents would be covered otherwise. This unusual design also takes advantage of the dock alignment slots at the bottom to provide better stability.
Such an accessory opens a whole new world of use for the Switch 2, which goes beyond just emulating DS games properly. You can multi-task playing and watching a walkthrough, for example, or even have new Switch 2 titles that make full use of having dual screens, one for information and another for the game itself. But it’s also exactly because of these use cases that Nintendo will probably never implement anything that would support such a feature.
For one, it would need to be a first-party accessory if it is going to be something that game developers can depend on, but that would also make games more complicated as they’d have to support both single and dual-screen scenarios. It would also make Nintendo do extra work to develop its custom OS to support extending the UI to a second screen, which opens a whole can of worms called “software bugs.” Perhaps the concept of a rotating webcam is going to be more probable, but the applications of that functionality are even more limited.
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