Remember those rumors that Nintendo was working on a mini-version of the Nintendo Switch? Well, it turns out they were true! The Switch Lite will be available this September 20th, 2019 and will be priced at $199.99.
Earlier this morning, Nintendo officially announced the Nintendo Switch Lite, a more compact version of the Nintendo Switch. However, unlike the Switch, the Switch Lite will not offer a dock or HDMI port or HD rumble, and will only be playable via a handheld mode. Thus, making it a truly portable device. It will come in three colors; Gray, Yellow, and Turquoise.
It will still play all Nintendo Switch games. However, some games will have limits placed on them. The Switch Lite features a 5.5″ touch screen, instead of the 6.2″ touch screen from the original Switch. It also doesn’t feature detachable Joy-Cons and the battery life is about the same (3-7 hours).
It also doesn’t appear that this is using a new Nvidia chipset as it was originally rumored to be. However, it’s nice to see that the Switch Lite does have a proper d-pad. I never liked the button d-pad on the Switch and it looks like Nintendo has learned its lesson. I’m not so sure about the smaller screen size, but I suppose I’ll have to see it up close before I attempt to write it off.
With this announcement, if you didn’t think the Nintendo 3DS was dead, it definitely is now. The Nintendo Switch Lite effectively bumps it out of being Nintendo’s official portal handheld device.
That’s not all, as there are two exclusive Nintendo Lite models being released for all of the Pokemon fans. A special edition featuring Pokemon Sword and Shield‘s Zacian and Zamazenta will be available on November 8th, 2019. Both Pokemon will be featured on the back of the unit, while the front D-Pad and buttons will include a blue and red color scheme.
You can better believe this special edition is going to sell out fast. So far, I haven’t been able to find this or any of the Nintendo Switch Lite’s available pre-order as of yet.
The Nintendo Switch Lite releases on September 20th, 2019 and is priced at $199.99.