Nintendo confirms that Switch 2 cartridges taste bad, just like Switch 1

Just like its predecessor, Nintendo Switch 2 will feature cartridges that taste bad.

Early on in the Nintendo Switch 1’s lifecycle, there was a brief phase in which system users tried tasting their physical games. Very quickly, the consensus was that the coating on the cartridges wasn’t something you’d want to try more than once, if that.

Nintendo specifically made them that way to deter people from accidentally eating their games. Each cartridge is coated with denatonium benzoate, which is what some farmers use to prevent animals from eating their crops. If you have a toddler in your house who’s accident prone or even a pet, that certainly comes in handy.

As for Switch 2, Nintendo’s Takuhiro Dohta informed GameSpot that cartridges for the console will once again give off the same unpleasant taste. He told the site:

“We don’t want anybody to be at risk of any unwanted consumption. We have indeed made it so that if it enters your mouth, you’ll spit it out.”

Dohta advises consumers to avoid licking their Nintendo Switch 2 cartridges. That said, no harm will be done if you do give it a try aside from the bad taste.

Nintendo’s Kouichi Kawamoto also said that back when the company was working on the original Switch, he did lick a cartridge once, but that was his only time. “I can’t believe that other people are trying that,” he said.