Nintendo Switch UI leak leaves fans feeling deflated

Nintendo may have accidentally just revealed a crucial bit of info about the Nintendo Switch 2… by posting said information on the Nintendo Switch.

Alright, this one is a little tricky to explain so let’s take it step by step. A couple of folks on Twitter, @necrolipe and @CentroLeaks, recently posted that the intellectual property warnings on the Nintendo Switch have been updated.

Now, while that might not immediately seem juicy, there is a little tidbit in here that’s pretty interesting: the direct mention of “BEE-006”.

BEE-006 is a model number. Every Nintendo Switch has one. The OLED version of the Nintendo Switch has the model number HEG-001, for instance.

This isn’t the first time the “BEE” line of model numbers has popped up in relation to the Nintendo Switch 2 either, as back in May someone managed to get ahold of one of Nintendo’s shipping manifests which, coincidentally, also referenced the “BEE” model code.

Now, this is all pretty concrete. The next bit is partially speculation on behalf of people online.

Pokémon Legends Z-A will launch on the Switch next year.

As the intellectual property warning on the Nintendo Switch’s operating system mentions the BEE model code, people have taken that to mean that the Nintendo Switch 2 will run the same OS and have the same user interface.

A couple of things here. Firstly, that is just a guess. Nothing has been confirmed.

Secondly, if that did happen to be true… that’s not actually a big deal.

You see, the Nintendo Switch actually uses the same OS as the Nintendo 3DS. It’s an updated version, obviously, but it uses the same architecture.

Also, just putting this out there, this could be a backwards compatibility issue. If the Nintendo Switch 2 is using new cartridges, it might emulate a version of the OG Nintendo Switch operating system when you play previous generation titles on it.

We won’t have long to wait to find out, thankfully, as Nintendo’s CEO did promise that we’ll hear some Switch 2 news before April. I mean everything except the name of the thing has leaked at this point anyway, but still.