All You Need to Know About the Nintendo Switch Lite

If you’ve been holding out on getting a Nintendo Switch of your own, now might just be your best time to get one. Nintendo has announced the release of the Nintendo Switch Lite – a more portable, cost-friendly version of the original Nintendo Switch.

Console Features

Unlike the original Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch lite is meant to be a dedicated handheld console. For this reason, it lacks in some of the features that the Nintendo Switch possesses – such as the inability to connect the device to a TV.

The biggest difference between the two is that the Nintendo Switch Lite will have its main unit and control inputs (i.e the Joy-con Controllers) integrated into one piece of hardware. This, of course, means that you’ll require extra Joy-cons to play games such as 1-2 Switch, which require motion controls.

Apart from that, there aren’t many changes where games are concerned. Any game that supports handheld mode will be playable on the Nintendo Switch Lite, which are… a majority of Nintendo Switch games. Most of the popular games on the Switch (Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey etc.) support handheld mode.

Whether there are changes to the hardware of the Nintendo Switch (that might result in lag during gameplay) is currently unknown at this point.

Hardware concerns aside, the Nintendo Switch Lite will be released on September 20 this year, and will come in three different colours: yellow, gray and turquoise. The console will retail at the price of 19,980 yen, or $199.99 USD (~$272 in Singapore dollars).

To see the new console in action, you can check out Nintendo’s release trailer for the Switch Lite here:

Pokemon fans will also be glad to know that there will be a limited-edition version of the Nintendo Switch Lite! Tying in with Pokemon Sword and Shield, this limited-edition version will feature Zacian and Zamazenta (the Legendary Pokemon for Sword and Shield respectively) on the back of the console. Unfortunately, the console will be sold separately from the games.

The Pokemon-themed Switch Lite will retail at the same price as the standard models of the Nintendo Switch Lite. It will be released a week before the launch of Pokemon Sword and Shield, on November 8.