If you've ever owned a Nintendo Switch, you'll no doubt know what the system's menu looks like. However, a prototype Switch NAND that's been discovered shows that Nintendo had a much grander home menu for the Switch, in the early days of the system's development. The UI images are taken from a mockup that was found on the NAND of a prototype Nintendo Switch unit. The user who shared the images notes that they must be moderately early on in the Switch's planning cycle, as the final UI style was locked in around late 2016. The early menu images are dated 2015, though it's uncertain if the album date is correct.

In the images, you can see a large banner would have been displayed for each game, with the game icons shown at the bottom, as well as the battery for individual JoyCons, the Switch itself, and the internet connection all being shown in the bottom right corner of the screen, instead of the top. The mockups also show 3DS and Wii U titles being used as placeholder images.

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[fst312]

Don’t really care for this theme, I just want to be able to arrange my games in any order I like, the way the 3ds was. Don’t really want the last game I played to alway be first on the list. I never used group folder like thing and I won’t.

 

[malekmaroc7]

This would give the Switch MUCH more personality!

 

[Ligeia]

They kind of did but I am pretty sure everyone forgot about the groups

I didn't ! lol I use them everyday. It's kinda impossible to proprly browse games without them, when you have a lot of games

 

[DuoForce]

Why does this look better than the final design?

 

[hybori]

They took away the Wii Shop Music, oversimplify the menu design and we still have no themes

I wonder if there's any changes for the switch 2 or will it be just the same

 

[BaamAlex]

Why isn't that the standard?

 

[SK91]

That banner is uncomfortably large, the final may be pretty simple but the game icon art does just fine imo

 

[Stwert]

I'm in the minority it seems but I like the final Switch menu. Only thing that bothers me is that you can't add custom folders on the front page.

Me too, oh don’t get me wrong, I don’t object to some eye candy for those who prefer it. But for me the menu is just a means to an end. Get in, get to game as quickly as possible, start playing.

I sometimes find that the busier the screen, the more distracted I am, the menu we have is nice and clean, so I can rattle through it without my eye being distracted by pretty pictures.

It’s why I’ve still never really gelled with my Xbox One/series X menus, too much faff going on. Even my PS4/PS5 can be annoying at times, though I prefer them to my Xboxes.

I loved the PS3 menu, even though there were several sections and background images, I could rattle through that thing without looking, until it got to picking a game of course, unless I was jumping into the last one I played.

I could rant on for hours about the many, many irrational things that bug me about menu design but judging from the majority of responses to this article I’d be thoroughly bashed

 

[Ligeia]

Me too, oh don’t get me wrong, I don’t object to some eye candy for those who prefer it. But for me the menu is just a means to an end. Get in, get to game as quickly as possible, start playing.

I sometimes find that the busier the screen, the more distracted I am, the menu we have is nice and clean, so I can rattle through it without my eye being distracted by pretty pictures.

It’s why I’ve still never really gelled with my Xbox One/series X menus, too much faff going on. Even my PS4/PS5 can be annoying at times, though I prefer them to my Xboxes.

I loved the PS3 menu, even though there were several sections and background images, I could rattle through that thing without looking, until it got to picking a game of course, unless I was jumping into the last one I played.

I could rant on for hours about the many, many irrational things that bug me about menu design but judging from the majority of responses to this article I’d be thoroughly bashed

Totally agree, the Series X & PS5 menus are a cluttered mess. I don't wanna see dozens of ads on my home menu, just my games organized the way I want them If at least you could thouroughly customize those menus, but god forbid you don't get exposed to those ads !

 

[Sonic3320]

I understand the speed concerns, especially with the 3DS home menu.People complained about the wii u speed but when I had one it was decent after a major system update (I think it was 3.0), the only time it was slow for me is when my hard drive broke and I had to use a cheap flash drive to keep playing Bayonetta 2 and Mario Kart 8. On the 3DS no matter what I do it takes almost two minutes to turn on and it gets progressively worse with themes and DS forwarders on the home screen (that is why I prefer to use twilight menu instead, although it raises the amount of clicks to reach the DS games, it doesnt affect the home menu loading if I want to turn on the console and play 3DS games).

Even though, I think Nintendo should had made the Switch OS with more character and soul, it is just too corporate. The Wii Menu is a major example that you can make the graphic interface of the console have so much character and it doesnt get in the way of usability as the 3DS (and the Wii U, even though I personally didnt had issues with)

This gives me windows 8 vibes for some reason

for me it looks a lot like a previous version of the Xbox One dashboard, before the Xbox Series release, but without the tabs on the top of the screen and the news banner on the left side

 

[tommasi]

Looks like Switch 2 dashboard to me

 

[Stan4d]

View attachment 415625​

I feel like it needs more rounded edges. I prefer the Wii U menu wayyyyy better

 

[Bladexdsl]

still NO folders

 

[HarveyHouston]

I don't know why they didn't stick with something like this. Steam kinda does the same thing!

 

[The Catboy]

I didn't ! lol I use them everyday. It's kinda impossible to proprly browse games without them, when you have a lot of games

מזל טוב
You are actually the first person I’ve met who uses them, lol.

 

[shadow1w2]

A little more personality.
Dang what happened to make them flatten out and go dull?
Nintendo must have some serious issues with the higher ups right now being super controlling if they had to dumb the menu down then keep it that way for years.

Actually wouldnt this be made around the time Iwata was still around?
That might explain a bit.

 

[SylverReZ]

Gotta save budget for better sticks.

What does this have to do with the early Switch menus?!

I understand the speed concerns, especially with the 3DS home menu.People complained about the wii u speed but when I had one it was decent after a major system update (I think it was 3.0), the only time it was slow for me is when my hard drive broke and I had to use a cheap flash drive to keep playing Bayonetta 2 and Mario Kart 8. On the 3DS no matter what I do it takes almost two minutes to turn on and it gets progressively worse with themes and DS forwarders on the home screen (that is why I prefer to use twilight menu instead, although it raises the amount of clicks to reach the DS games, it doesnt affect the home menu loading if I want to turn on the console and play 3DS games).

Even though, I think Nintendo should had made the Switch OS with more character and soul, it is just too corporate. The Wii Menu is a major example that you can make the graphic interface of the console have so much character and it doesnt get in the way of usability as the 3DS (and the Wii U, even though I personally didnt had issues with)


for me it looks a lot like a previous version of the Xbox One dashboard, before the Xbox Series release, but without the tabs on the top of the screen and the news banner on the left side

I agree, Ryan. It does quite remind me of the Xbox One dashboard, believe it was before the Series models got released until they made it much worse.

 

[MariArch]

i dont mind the minimalist design rn, but to have options would be nice

 

[LightBeam]

Those big 720p .png files were too big for the Switch cartridges



Also crazy we never had themes for the Switch when the fucking 3DS had those, with custom music, sounds and icons. If they had a real reason they would have said it, or maybe not, but I'm going to say that because they haven't said anything then it's very most likely because they just didn't care at all

 

[KingVamp]

Well, I'm glad they didn't shove the news onto the main part of the screen. Honesty, I just prefer the background be your custom theme/background. I really hope the next console have more personality like music and themes, even if the default remains minimalist. I mean, it is pretty funny that the avatar has more themes than the console itself.

Also, I'm sure the UI will change somehow, to separate itself from the Switch.