Nintendo Switch UI design is a topic that tends to divide fans of the console. Some like the clean and clear simplicity of the interface, while others complain that it's boring and want more options for customisation.
It's therefore only natural that the appearance of apparent early mockups from a couple of years before the console's 2017 release have reignited the debate. The files show a busier menu design and a whole bunch of icons and avatars, some of which will look very familiar to anyone who had a Wii U (not got a Switch? See our roundup of the best Nintendo Switch deals).
The mockups were shared on X by German games translator PaulFelixKelly after appearing among files found on a Nintendo Switch Nand eMMC, the multimedia card where data is stored, on a pre-release prototype. The images were presumably placeholders and may never have been considered for the final version of the console (many icons and game logos are from the Wii U and 3DS and include games that were never planned for the Switch).
However, some fans like what they see, from the home menu design to the two folders of icons named 'Friends' and 'Avatars'. These include pixel art Donkey Kong and Yoshi and even some less famous characters, including Nikki, the mascot of the Nintendo messaging applications Swapnote and Swapdoodle.
"We were so robbed," several people have commented on the posts. "Why does this look so much better than what we got?" someone else wrote. Many fans like the home menu showing the game at the top. Others noted that they find the minimalist approach of the real Switch UI to be "boring" or even "depressing", while one person is simply "worried about the fact we never got a Nikki pfp".
However, others are glad Nintendo... er... switched up the final design. "I like the final version, it's straight to the point. You just have the games there and choose one to play," one fan wrote. Others also commended the Switch UI's efficiency and fluidity, while one person jested: "the current menu suddenly doesn't look so bad."
Paul noted that the dumped files also included early design concepts for the Switch before the Switch branding was adopted. At that point, Nintendo was calling it the Nintendo NX, but the images show that the design was already close to the Switch we know, with the main difference being the colours and the sticks on the Joy-Cons. It seems clear that well before Switch became a thing, Nintendo was already very clear on what it wanted to create.
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