Nintendo’s hybrid handheld-home console theSwitchhas been revolutionary for both handheld and home gaming, quickly becoming one of the Japanese video game company’s best-selling systems, especially after coming fresh off of the troubled Wii U. However, ever since theSwitch’s release, many fans have expressed that they can’t help but feel that the console’s UI is rather barren, especially compared to those of Nintendo’s other systems.
The Wii U was rather unique in that it introduced fans to a more lively home screen, with Nintendo’s signature Miis gathered together, displaying speech bubbles of other players' posts from thenow discontinued social platform Miiverse. Likewise, the Nintendo 3DS allowed fans to purchase themes for their system’s home UI, and even organize games into folders. And while the Switch allows none of this, one fan has created an impressive UI redesign mockup for the system.
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Over on Reddit, user Frieznburg posted their fan-madeNintendo Switch UIredesign to immediate praise. The post quickly went viral, showing a much more lively home screen for the hybrid system, complete with box art-style thumbnail cards for games, displaying the year of release and playtime for each title, as well as the ability to organize games in folder-like “Collections.”
The Reddit user moved the Switch’s main array of home menu icons off to the left-hand side of the screen to make room for bigger game thumbnails, though it looks like holding the ZL button would expand this menu to display what each icon means. Adding each game’s official logo to the Switch’s UI is a nice touch as well. Listing the playtime for each title above its thumbnail also addresses one of many Switch owners' biggest complaints, being that there is no intuitive way to see their playtime for each game in their library, as they can currently only view summarized stats of some games' playtime on their profiles. Previous systems likethe Nintendo 3DSallowed users to view much more in-depth stats on their playtime.
The Collections in Frieznburg’s UI mockup would allow fans to organize their Switch games however they want, even showing some organized by genre, like RPGs and FPS games. Of course, the subtle splashes of color on the mockup also add a breath of fresh air to the currently rather bland home screen as it is, since Switch owners can only choose between a white theme and a dark theme at the moment.
After over 4 years, fans have steadily come not to expect such a drastic upgrade to the Switch’s UI to officially come their way. However, the current abundance of supposed leaks, rumors, andspeculation surrounding a Nintendo Switch Prohave fans hoping to see more out of the system’s UI design in the future.
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