Global video game company Nintendo has revealed its upcoming handheld-console hybrid gaming system, Nintendo Switch.
The suspected successor to Nintendo’s existing consoles the Wii U and 3DS made its first official appearance today on the company’s website.
The Nintendo Switch, formally known as “the NX”, allows users to play both on the go or via a TV.
It incorporates a portable, battery-powered tablet with detachable “Joy-Con” controllers that can be used in a similar fashion to the remote provided with Nintendo’s previous gaming system, the Wii.
Once the Nintendo Switch has been plugged into its dock, it uses an attached TV as a display, with the Joy-Conn controls functioning like a traditional gamepad controller once they have been connected to an additional accessory.
“The mobility of a handheld is now added to the power of a home gaming system to enable unprecedented new video game play styles,” Nintendo said in a statement on its website.
The tablet will feature a high-definition display, a NVIDIA-powered processor, a portable kick-stand and cartridge-based games.
A trailer posted to the official Nintendo YouTube page reveals a number of planned game titles, including a version of the upcoming Wii U game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a new Mario platformer and Mario Kart racing game, an unnamed NBA game, open-world role-playing fantasy game Skyrim, and third-person shooter Splatoon.
Following its announcement of the Switch’s upcoming reveal yesterday, Nintendo’s share price jumped as high as 4.6 percent, adding more than US$1 billion (A$1.3 billion) in market value to the brand.
Nintendo’s previous gaming console, the Wii U, released in 2012, introduced a similar design involving a gamepad with an embedded touchscreen. The console did not enjoy the same success bestowed upon its predecessor, the Wii.