The Nintendo Switch Featured an Unexpected Boot Animation

A never-before-seen Nintendo Switch boot animation has leaked online, showcasing an original logo for the system from when it was still in development under a codename. The asset was obtained by data mining from a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe prototype that was recently extracted from a Nintendo Switch devkit. This is not the same game that leaked in March, allowing data miners to discover two years’ worth of planned content for the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass DLC.

Before Nintendo ultimately launched its hybrid platform in 2016, the Switch had been the subject of several industry speculations for years. Prior to then, the revolutionary gadget was internally code-named “NX,” a designation that the firm officially recognised a year later, when its late CEO, Satoru Iwata, declared that what would eventually become the Switch would “transform each person’s video game life.”

And, as the Nintendo Switch’s meteoric popularity continues, so do leaks from its long-completed development. Take a look at this short boot animation taken from a development build of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which reveals a placeholder logo with the old NX codename on a bright blue backdrop. By the time the product hit the market, this visual flourish had been replaced by a static Nintendo logo that shows briefly on a black backdrop when the console boots. Though the earlier design was more whimsical, the final version of the “motion” is undoubtedly more in keeping with the Switch’s black-and-white UI.

 

 

This isn’t the first time a leak has come from a development build of MK8D. Dataminers unearthed the whole content plan for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Booster Course Pass almost soon after the DLC was revealed earlier this year. The judgement is still out on the legitimacy of that leak, however, the first three waves of MK8D DLC courses published so far have aligned with the datamined track list, with the remaining courses set to launch in three more waves over the next year.

Meanwhile, while Nintendo is clearly working on next-generation hardware, its core R&D team has a much tighter ship in the past, thus insider rumours regarding the Switch 2 are few. Furthermore, it is unknown whether the firm would upgrade its popular console with the long-rumoured Switch Pro revision before committing to a totally new system.