After months of rumours, Nintendo has finally announced the next introduction to the Switch console family: the Nintendo Switch Lite!The Nintendo Switch Lite has been given a release date of 20th September 2019. We're glad we don't have long to wait! As a surprise to no one, Nintendo will be taking full advantage of having the console on shelves in time for Christmas 2019. With a fairly reasonable price tag of £199.99 it’s bound to be a winner.

The Look

The main question we have in the Venom office is which colour we're going to get! There are three console colours available: grey, yellow and turquoise.  The Official Nintendo website also lists a limited edition version of the Lite. The casing depicts Zacian and Zamazenta (legendary Pokémon from the new Sword and Shield games) on the back. Red and blue buttons can be seen, rather than the standard white featured on the Lite. We're sure this won't be the only special edition released, either!

The Nintendo Switch Lite feels a lot like an updated GameBoy Advance or Nintendo DS. It's noticeably smaller than the original Switch and has lighter coloured buttons.

The Games

In the announcement video, Nintendo made sure to put our minds at ease by guaranteeing some of their biggest and most popular games will still be compatible, the list includes Super Smash Bros, Super Mario Odyssey, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 and many more. Another feature of the Lite that they included heavily in the announcement video was that it’s still able to perform the game share feature with the original Nintendo Switch.

Power

A major plus to the Switch Lite is that it is reported to have a longer battery life than the original Switch, Nintendo are claiming that the battery will last between 3-7 hours whereas the original is 2.5-6.5 hours. It’s not surprising that the battery is expected to have a higher capacity as the main selling point of the Lite is that it’s portable and to be used on the go and there’s nothing worse than your batteries dying halfway through a level.

The Drawbacks

Something which may not sit well with a lot of fans of the Nintendo Switch range is that the IR motion camera and HD rumble features have been removed. That means that some games cannot be played on the new Lite version as it comes. However, Nintendo have made a point of reminding us that Joy Con controllers (sold separately) can still be used to play these titles with the Lite. The choice to remove the built-in kickstand could prove to make this a fiddly and awkward way of playing. The Lite is also not compatible with the Nintendo Switch dock, so is a handheld only console.We’ll have to wait and see if the Lite can achieve the dizzying popularity that the original Switch experienced upon its release back in 2017, which saw 2.74 million units sold in its first year, smashing Nintendo’s target of 2 million.Do you like the look of the new Nintendo Switch Lite? If so, let us know what you think and which colour you’ll be pre-ordering!At Venom HQ we're busy working away on a range of awesome accessories for the Switch Lite. Keep an eye on our main website to find out when they'll be available. Don't forget to keep up to date with all the latest gaming software releases on the blog, too!