Skip to main content

The Nintendo Switch Lite is now available for pre-order

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Nintendo Switch Lite system isn’t scheduled to release until September 20, but you can make sure you get the system you want on launch day by pre-ordering it in advance. Pre-orders are currently available at multiple retailers, but we don’t know how long they’ll be in stock.

Recommended Videos

On Amazon, you can currently pre-order the Nintendo Switch Lite in all four of its available styles — gray, turquoise, yellow, and the Zacian and Zamazenta Pokémon edition. Aside from the color and visual design differences, the four consoles are otherwise identical and are all priced at $200.

If you prefer to shop at another retailer, you can also find the Switch Lite available for pre-order at Target and Best Buy, as well as GameStop. Regardless of your choice, it should be obtainable at the same price, and retailers with brick-and-mortar locations should also allow you to pick it up in the store on launch day.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Zacian and Zamazenta Pokémon console is being released to celebrate the upcoming games Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. They will be the first full-fledged Pokémon role-playing games on the Switch. The simpler adventure games Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! were released in 2018, and blended elements of Pokémon Yellow with those from Pokémon Go.

The Nintendo Switch Lite launches just a few months before Black Friday, but don’t count on its price being slashed during the holiday shopping event. Nintendo is notoriously stingy with its console sales, so you are risking very little by purchasing the system at launch.

Just prior to the launch of Switch Lite, Nintendo is also releasing an updated version of the original Switch system. It isn’t more powerful and doesn’t include any unique features, but its battery life has been improved to a maximum of nine hours. The system that launched in 2017 could only manage around six hours. For those who want to dock their system, this is the preferable purchase, but younger kids will appreciate the smaller size of the Switch Lite. On top of that, its fixed controls mean that the directional pad has replaced the buttons found on the standard left Joy-Con.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Switch 2 launch game Deltarune is getting surprise mouse support
deltarune heroes in old portraits

Deltarune is one of the most-anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 launch games, and now its creator Toby Fox says it's getting exclusive, mouse-mode-only content. This content was hinted at in the trailer, but only briefly. If you aren't familiar with Deltarune, it's the follow-up to the cult classic Undertale. Fox assures fans that the content will also be in other versions of the game, but it will play slightly differently due to different control schemes.

"As an effort to make the most of being a launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2, I really wanted to try do something special," he writes. He says the difference in content lies in being able to use mouse controllers on both of the Joy-Cons at once. All non-Switch 2 versions of the game will have the exact same content. Before the FOMO kicks in, though, Fox goes on to say, "There is no meaningful difference in content amount, dialogue, setting, music etc between any version, so you will have a full package of fun no matter which you get! No one gets left out!"

Read more
One week later, this is what still surprises me most about Nintendo Switch 2
Mario Kart World appears on a Nintendo Switch 2 screen.

Last week, Nintendo gave us a whole wealth of Nintendo Switch 2 details. We learned about its games, its mysterious C-button, and got more details on how its mouse controllers worked. It was a presentation filled with surprises too, from a shocking Kirby Air Riders reveal to the announcement that GameCube games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online. I experienced some real shockers of my own when I went hands-on with the Switch 2 and found myself enamored with its new control scheme.

I've had a lot of time to process all the news since then, and even changed my tune on things I was initially critical of, like GameChat. Sitting down to reflect, there's one thing that still surprises me more than anything: just how next-gen the system actually feels.

Read more
Switch 2 woes cross the border as Nintendo delays preorders in Canada
The Nintendo Switch 2 is being held in a pair of hands.

Nintendo Switch 2 troubles have been extended to our neighbors north of the border. Pre-orders for the highly-anticipated hybrid console have been delayed in Canada just before they were slated to begin.

Jonathan Ore, senior writer for CBC Radio Online, shared a statement from Nintendo of Canada on Bluesky on Tuesday saying pre-orders for the Switch 2 have been delayed in the country to "align with the timing of pre-orders" in the United States. The statement reads as follows:

Read more