Nintendo Switch 2 cartridges taste funny so you don’t try to eat them
Switch 2 cartridges are designed to taste so disgusting that you’ll spit them out, but you know people will try it anyway.
Switch 2 cartridges are designed to taste so disgusting that you’ll spit them out, but you know people will try it anyway.
Back when the original Nintendo Switch launched, it became something of a trend to lick the physical game cartridges, if not pop them in your mouth altogether.
This was because Nintendo had deliberately coated the cartridges in a special agent that gave them a bitter taste and prevent small children from accidentally swallowing them.
Ironically, this only made people want to lick them more, to learn how the cartridges tasted, and that’s sure to repeat itself with Nintendo Switch 2 games – no matter how much Nintendo advises against it.
As confirmed in an interview with GameSpot, Switch 2 cartridges will use the same foul-tasting material. If you’re curious, it’s called denatonium benzoate and is also used in nail polishes to help stop people from biting their nails.
‘We don’t want anybody to be at risk of any unwanted consumption. We have indeed made it so that if it enters your mouth, you’ll spit it out,’ says Nintendo Switch 2 director Takuhiro Dohta.
Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto also admits to taste testing a game cartridge during the Switch 1’s development and it was disgusting enough to ensure he’d never do it again.
He expressed disbelief that multiple people tried it themselves, despite Nintendo’s warnings: ‘I can’t believe that other people are trying that.’
Unfortunately for Nintendo, anyone who was willing to lick a Switch 1 cartridge will likely try it again once physical Switch 2 games become available, if only to see if there’s any tangible difference between the two.
Some physical Switch 2 games will come with what Nintendo’s calling game-key cards, instead of cartridges. Unlike regular cartridges, game-key cards don’t include the full game and require downloading additional data via an internet connection.
Nintendo recently confirmed that these could be shared with other people and sold on second-hand, so they’re not tied to a specific account.
It’s unclear whether they’d been coated with denatonium benzoate too, but no doubt some curious fans will take it upon themselves to find out.
While Switch 2 games are more expensive in general, they are slightly cheaper digitally. Mario Kart World, for instance, is £74.99 physically but £66.99 as a digital download.
This is clearly meant to incentivise people into purchasing digital copies over physical, since publishers don’t have to share a percentage of the sales with a retailers.
It’ll also mean there’s less cartridges around for people to lick.
Switch 2 cartridges are red and Switch 1 are black – they both taste gross (Nintendo)Email [email protected], leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
ArrowMORE: Switch 1 won’t die as Nintendo admits not all fans can afford Switch 2
ArrowMORE: Switch 2 may suffer Joy-Con drift as Nintendo rules out Hall Effect sticks
ArrowMORE: Steam Deck owners are sniffing its exhaust vent and Valve can’t get them to stop
