Nintendo Switch UI gets new close-up in deleted tweet

The Binding of Isaac developer Nicalis posted a picture to social media that may have shown just a bit too much of the Nintendo Switch’s user interface. The tweet has since been deleted, but not before we could take a good look at what appears to be the Switch’s mid-game home menu.

Nicalis, Inc. on Twitter

The photo Nicalis tweeted appeared to be a tease of a different sort. Alongside The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth Plus, two other classic games by the indie studio appeared on screen.

“Isaac was lonely so we brought a few friends to keep him company,” the company wrote. These friends are the action platformers 1001 Spikes and Cave Story, two fan favorites published by the studio. Neither title has been confirmed for Nintendo Switch yet, but Nicalis heavily implied they were on their way to the console.

Yet most were taken not by that piece of news, but by the chance to take a closer look at the Switch’s user interface. We’ve seen it very briefly before, but this image differs from our first peak at the menu.

Nintendo

The first time we saw the Switch’s menu, the background was white. There was one user logged into the tablet, as indicated by the top-left corner. No software appeared to be running, although both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe were loaded onto the system.

In Nicalis’ pic, the biggest change is that the background is black, not white. But beyond that, there appears to be different user account sharing this system. Notice how under 1001 Spikes, the game that the current user is playing, there’s an option to “change user”? It appears that players can switch between user accounts without ending their current gameplay session.

On the Wii U, pausing a game by clicking on the user account with the intention to switch players prompts users to close their software and return to the Wii U’s full menu. It appears that that won’t be the case with the Nintendo Switch, which is a nice change from the older console.

There’s also a small green dot to the right of the Game News tab, which could be used for notifications. That suggests there’s an unread update waiting in that tab, and the green light seems like a classy way to highlight that.

Chelsea Stark/Polygon

The rest looks to be similar to the Wii U’s mid-game pause menu, just ... a lot sleeker. We’ll get to toying around with the menu further when the Switch launches on March 3.

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