Nintendo Switch 2 Was Almost Called The Super Nintendo Switch

Nintendo has revealed the Switch 2 was almost called the Super Nintendo Switch at one point. While many fans seem fine with the naming convention continuing the ‘Switch’ brand, there was already some speculation – and even hope – in the community that Nintendo would add ‘Super’ to its name as a callback to the Super NES.

As it turns out, the idea to name the next-gen console the Super Nintendo Switch was actually passed around at the company before they opted to go with Switch 2 instead. This is mainly due to the fact that the new console is backward compatible with the original Switch, while the Super NES could only play new games built for that hardware and nothing from the original NES.

Following the Direct showcase yesterday, a special interview was held with Nintendo developers Kouichi Kawamoto, Takuhiro Dohta, and Tetsuya Sasaki who received a bunch of questions regarding the Switch 2’s cross-platform capabilities, improvements over the original Switch and more. One question asked how the company landed on the name Nintendo Switch 2. Kawamoto gave a response:

“There were a lot of ideas for the name, and we really struggled to find the right one. We even considered ideas like Super Nintendo Switch. However, Super NES, which came out after the NES, couldn’t play NES games. Since Switch 2 can play Switch games, it didn’t feel right to use the same naming convention as Super NES. Switch 2 is a new system with improved performance, but we’d like players who get their hands on it not to focus on the specs, but rather to think of it as the latest system developed by Nintendo. So, in the hope that it becomes the new standard for Nintendo Switch, we named it Nintendo Switch 2.”

Be sure to check out our ongoing coverage of all Switch 2 news right here. The Nintendo Switch 2 launches on 5 June 2025.

Source: Nintendo