With Nintendo Switch 2 news dominating headlines this week, there's no denying that the Japanese gaming giant is banking on its new hybrid console for the foreseeable future. Despite how little we know about it, leaks and rumors suggest that the Nintendo Switch 2 will be its best console yet.
This has us all excited for a potential Nintendo Switch 3 in the future—though we all know that’s likely a decade or two away. But assuming 2030 rolls around and we’re zipping through the skies in flying cars, walking across neon-coated cities, and microplastics in our lungs, what do we want from Nintendo Switch 3?
An Improved UI
Let’s be honest: the Switch’s UI and Home Menu are terrible. They’re too generic and outdated, making the console feel stuck in the past. Even the PlayStation Portable had a better UI than the Switch.
We still don’t know much about Switch 2’s UI design, but we’re hoping for at least some meaningful improvements that will change how we navigate the system. Maybe customizable themes? A better eShop that isn’t filled with shovelware? Something more functional and user-friendly, please.
A New Open-World Legend of Zelda
I’ve always been a sucker for open-world Zelda games. If the Nintendo Switch 3 is going to be a hybrid powerhouse with upgraded hardware, it could deliver the best open-world Zelda experience yet—surpassing even Breath of the Wild.
Maybe the Switch 3 could support ray tracing, though we all know Nintendo prioritizes art direction over sheer graphical fidelity. A new open-world Zelda title would complete the trilogy of Nintendo’s modern Zelda masterpieces, and we definitely need something fresh and innovative for the future.
Better Third-Party Support
Switch 2 is already promising when running modern third-party titles, but if Switch 3 takes hardware capabilities even further, we could see major AAA games launch on console day one.
Wishful thinking? Maybe. But imagine The Witcher 4 or the next Cyberpunk title running natively on the Switch 3. That’s the kind of future I’d love to see.
A Bigger Screen
A 4K Nintendo Switch would shake up the industry. Integrating that into a hybrid console would take serious technological expertise (and maybe a little black magic), but it’s not impossible.
A 10-inch screen, up from the Switch 2’s rumored 8-inch display, would be a solid upgrade. Sure, it wouldn’t be revolutionary, but we could see significantly improved visuals in handheld mode with OLED technology.
Better Joy-Cons
This should be a standard expectation. Everyone wants Joy-Cons that don’t start drifting after six months. Maybe someday, Nintendo will finally address the issue and introduce Hall Effect sensors. But that might be too consumer-friendly, and we all know how the industry feels about planned obsolescence.
Still, it would be great to have durable Joy-Cons. While we’re at it, can we please stop using L3 to sprint?
These are my wishlist items for a potential Nintendo Switch 3. Of course, that’s still a long way off. I know it’s a little ridiculous to dream about a third console when we don’t even have the Switch 2 in our hands yet, but hey—it’s fun to be optimistic about the future of gaming.