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A post on the Lemmy ‘showerthoughts’ community arguing that Nintendo’s Switch 2 should have been called ‘Super Nintendo Switch’ has drawn attention online. The claim is a fan observation, not any indication of Nintendo naming plans.
A post on the fediverse platform Lemmy arguing that Nintendo’s newest console “should have been called Super Nintendo Switch” is drawing attention online, reviving a naming debate that has followed the console since before its release. The post, published to the Showerthoughts community on the lemmy.world instance, is framed as a casual observation, but it has prompted renewed discussion about how Nintendo brands its hardware.
The post appeared in Lemmy’s Showerthoughts community, which describes itself as a space for “lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life” — thoughts that occur during everyday moments like showering or driving. The community, which has roughly 43.9 thousand subscribers across the fediverse, requires that the entire thought be expressed in the title of the post, which in this case is simply the claim that the Switch 2 should have borne the “Super” prefix.
The observation draws a comparison to Nintendo’s own history. In 1990 and 1991, Nintendo followed the original Nintendo Entertainment System (or Famicom in Japan) not with a numbered sequel but with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System — a successor that was more powerful than its predecessor while retaining broad compatibility with the established brand identity. The Lemmy post notes that the Switch 2 fits that same pattern: a more powerful version of an existing, successful console rather than a fundamentally new concept.
Nintendo ultimately chose the name Switch 2, which the company confirmed and launched on June 5, 2025. The numbered naming aligned the product with conventions used by Sony and Microsoft — the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series succeeding earlier numbered or titled machines — and Nintendo has said the name was intended to communicate clearly that the device is a direct successor to the original 2017 Switch.
Why the Name Debate Persists
The post reflects how consumers interpret hardware names. A name like “Switch 2” signals iteration: same concept, better specs. A name like “Super Nintendo Switch” would have signalled lineage and nostalgia, referencing the Super NES, one of Nintendo’s highest-selling and longest-remembered consoles. The debate also corresponds to documented consumer uncertainty that numbered names can create — some buyers initially struggled to distinguish the Switch 2 from a mid-generation refresh like the Switch OLED, a confusion Nintendo addressed with marketing stating that the Switch 2 is a full next-generation console.
For Nintendo, naming is a commercial consideration. The original Switch sold more than 140 million units, making it one of the best-selling consoles ever, and the company identified preserving that brand equity as a priority for its successor. The choice of a plain number departed from Nintendo’s own tradition of descriptive successor names like the Super NES and the Game Boy Advance. Industry observers and reporting at the time widely linked the decision to the branding problems of the Wii U, which many consumers perceived as a tablet accessory rather than a new console.
Nintendo’s History of Successor Names
Nintendo’s console naming has alternated between two strategies. Numbered or lettered successors include the Nintendo 64 to GameCube era breaks and the 3DS following the DS. Descriptive successors include the Super NES after the NES and the Game Boy Advance after the Game Boy Color. The Wii U, launched in 2012, is frequently cited as an example of naming-driven consumer confusion; the system sold around 13.5 million units. The Switch 2’s launch on June 5, 2025 was accompanied by a marketing campaign that repeatedly emphasized the words “Switch 2” to establish the console as a successor.
The Lemmy Showerthoughts community, where the post appeared, is part of the decentralized fediverse and has produced a stream of similar widely shared observations, such as “both ‘200’ and ‘160’ are 2 minutes in microwave math.” Posts there are explicitly casual in nature, and the community’s rules bar political content and require originality — context that frames the Switch 2 naming post as fan commentary rather than reporting or insider information.
What Is Fan Opinion, Not Fact
The viral claim should be distinguished from confirmed information. There is no indication from Nintendo that “Super Nintendo Switch” was ever considered, rejected, or discussed internally; the post is a fan observation. The engagement figures cited for the Showerthoughts community — roughly 43.9 thousand subscribers — describe the community overall, not the individual post’s reach, and it is not clear how widely the specific post has circulated beyond Lemmy. Any suggestion that the naming choice was controversial within Nintendo, or that a rename was ever on the table, remains unverified.
Naming Strategy Going Forward
No console rename is possible at this stage — the Switch 2 is on shelves worldwide under its confirmed name. The open question is what Nintendo does next: if the company produces a further successor a generation from now, the choice between a numbered name (Switch 3) and a descriptive one will indicate whether the numbered convention is now Nintendo’s default. In the near term, Nintendo is focused on the Switch 2’s software lineup and hardware availability, and fan discussion around naming is likely to resurface with each major hardware announcement.
Key Questions
Did Nintendo ever consider the name ‘Super Nintendo Switch’?
There is no public evidence of that. The suggestion originated as a fan post on Lemmy and has not been corroborated by Nintendo or any reporting on the company’s internal decisions.
Why did Nintendo choose the name ‘Switch 2’?
Nintendo has said the numbered name communicates that the console is a direct successor to the original Switch, avoiding the kind of ambiguity that surrounded the Wii U’s release.
When did the Switch 2 launch?
The Switch 2 launched on June 5, 2025, worldwide.
What was the ‘Super’ naming convention Nintendo used before?
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, released in 1990 in Japan and 1991 in North America, succeeded the NES with the ‘Super’ prefix rather than a number, establishing the naming pattern the Lemmy post references.
Where did this claim come from?
It came from a post on the Showerthoughts community on lemmy.world, a Lemmy instance, where users share casual observations. The entire claim is the post’s title.
Source: fediverse
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