A pre-launch Nintendo Switch has just been uncovered, and it might be one of the first units ever made. Nintendo’s most recent system first hit stores in March 2017, where it won over players with its unique ability to function as both a standard home console and a hand-held gaming tablet all in one.
Since then, the Nintendo Switch has enjoyed a successful lifespan, even with the release of competing consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X last November. Although the system has been hampered somewhat by a recent lawsuit surrounding its Joy-Con controllers and a relatively lackluster release schedule for 2021, players are still getting the most out of their Nintendo Switches - though few can say that they had one before it was released to the rest of the world.
Yesterday afternoon, the old-school Nintendo data miners and console hunters at Forest of Illusion announced that they discovered what is said to be the world’s oldest Nintendo Switch on Twitter. They say they acquired it from a seller in Hong Kong, and that the unit dates back to April 2016 - just about a full year before the Switch's official release. In subsequent postings, Forest of Illusion would elaborate on the nature of the unit as a development model and a few slight differences from the Switch that was eventually sold in stores, namely the shape of the volume buttons on the side. Images of this early Nintendo Switch Console can be seen in the tweet below.
Buried treasure from Nintendo’s past has been showing up quite a bit recently, mostly coming from a series of massive data mines last summer. Among the items uncovered in these headline-making leaks is the name of an unmade Super Nintendo Donkey Kong sequel, Pokémon Gold And Silver character sprites that were ultimately unused in the finished product, and even proof that Luigi was originally going to be a playable character in the classic Super Mario 64. Even before that, a maintenance worker by the name of Terry Diebold unearthed a prototype of the ill-fated Nintendo PlayStation back in 2015, eventually selling it for about $360,000 last year.
Forest of Illusion’s recent Nintendo Switch discovery is a fascinating look at how hardware is distributed to developers ahead of its official launch date, and how small details can change even one short year before the finished product arrives on shelves. There’s no confirmation as to who owned the pre-launch Switch unit before the Hong Kong seller who gave it to Forest of Illusion (according to them, the data files within the system are too recent to be posted), but this remains an interesting find all the same.
Source: Forest of Illusion