Last week, Nintendo revealed the New Blue Nintendo Switch Lite. It’s a Nintendo Switch Lite but in a darker blue than the original turquoise. It also looks a little bit purple, which sort of kills the thing’s name. Maybe it will look different in person though. Regardless, the game is coming out alongside Miitopia, a new game for the Switch that’s probably going to be pretty popular. I have a problem with this though. The New Blue edition feels lazy, like a phoned-in special edition that should be much better than it is. It’s almost as if Nintendo is trying to sell it as the Miitopia edition Switch Lite, but because it’s not a custom design they can’t.
To date, outside of one-offs, the only retailed special edition Nintendo Switch Lite has been the Pokemon Sword and Shield one. This is the version I purchased, and I love it. The decals on the back and the unique buttons are all gorgeous and make it feel like a genuinely special console each time I play it. While every Switch is great, if you’re after a special edition, a new color won’t cut it. This New Blue brings the total Switch Lite colors up to five, but there’s no point in getting them all because you can’t possibly play that many consoles. So why is Nintendo doing this?
I reckon that this has something to do with a lack of semiconductors in the world. These are parts required to manufacture all consoles, and there’s a shortage at the moment. Nintendo has acknowledged that this is an issue, but they haven’t explained what it’s affecting. I think this new console makes it pretty damn obvious. There should have been a Miitopia edition Switch, but instead, we’re just getting the new color that was already in the works. It seems really obvious when you think about it in this way.
We haven’t had that many special edition consoles, but there were hundreds of them for the DS family. Nintendo needs to pull its finger out and start producing more, otherwise, fans will simply be collecting these colors for no other reason apart from the fact that they exist. That’s no reason to buy a console.