Remember when the Nintendo Switch was referred to as the NX? In those dire days as the Wii U lay on its deathbed and its successor was a mere whisper on the wind, the name “NX” invited mystery, intrigue, sleek hope. Nintendo ended up going with the more wordplay-y Switch, leaving the codename “NX” to fall into the annals of history much like Dolphin or Revolution. But remnants still remain — as dug up by Paul Kelley, a German translator and games preserver.
The Nintendo Switches Codename was the NX and this was an early Logo / Boot Up animation used during development of the Console ( It was found in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Prototype ) This was never seen outside Nintendo pic.twitter.com/B1bS5zCKOu
— Paul Kelly (@PaulFelixKelly) November 20, 2022
A logo! An honest to goodness logo! …Nothing more complex than that, but it’s still really cool. And hey, it was made by someone who probably put work into it. Work that would never see the public eye… which is a shame, because it’s really nifty. How many devs put similar efforts into things that end up scrapped, discarded, or otherwise abandoned? At least we can get a glimpse of this one. What other NX artifacts are out there?
We may never know in full. But via the hard work of gaming historians and preservationists, we can find out. Hats off to them.
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Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
