Nintendo’s next hardware remains unseen, but a report from Eurogamer that surfaced earlier today suggests the console — referred to by its codename, NX — will feature drastic changes over its predecessors. The details of its allegedly handheld-style design, befit with detachable controllers and a built-in display, has prompted some Nintendo fans to come up with their own illustrations.
These include a reporter from Eurogamer, who offered an unofficial picture of the concept on Twitter.
Here's the Nintendo NX design (NB: not Nintendo's illustration, but useful pic of concept) https://t.co/zPMrglRVov pic.twitter.com/nZQuLj2DAH
— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsEG) July 26, 2016
The controllers can reattach to the sides of the screen to create something resembling a Game Boy Advance or Wii U GamePad, according to Eurogamer’s sources.
To others, though, the NX recalls systems from even further back in Nintendo’s past. A lengthy thread on NeoGAF includes many of these comparisons, including one to Nintendo’s very first home console, the Family Computer.
Known as the Famicom, the red-and-beige hardware include slots on either side where two controllers could be stored. The Famicom didn’t have a display as the NX purportedly does, of course, although Nintendo’s latest console is said to be able to hook up to the big screen. (The system also lacked a native disc drive, just as the NX apparently does.) That aside, it’s worth remembering that a console with a controller dock is something Nintendo has tried out before.
Older still is the Game & Watch Micro Vs. System. This tiny console was part of Nintendo’s Game & Watch line of handhelds that came with pre-installed arcade games. The Micro Vs. System played games like Donkey Kong 3 and Boxing, and it had a clamshell-style design with a screen that flipped up to reveal two controllers. These controllers were otherwise kept inside the portable, meaning that to the layman, the system just looked like a tiny LCD screen with a few buttons.
Nintendo fans are just as eager to look to the future in considering what the NX could look like, however. Several forum users have shared their own design ideas, with the most popular one closely resembling the Wii U GamePad, albeit with the ability to remove the center screen.
Others went for a more homegrown, hand-drawn approach. The illustration below also borrows from the New Nintendo 3DS, affixing analog stick-like "nubs" to the corners for added control options.
Some have gotten less creative with their suggested NX designs, however. See below for one user’s suggestion for the new hardware, which is a GamePad with some Wiimotes attached. This served as Nintendo's prototype for the controller, first seen in an Iwata Asks session about the Wii U's development.