Nintendo fans eager to get their hands on the Nintendo Switch 2 and likely Mario Kart 9 can sign up for a chance to do so very soon.
A short trailer confirmed the new hardware alongside a brand new Mario Kart game, and Nintendo soon after revealed that registration for a handful of hands on events across the U.S. begins tomorrow, January 17 on Nintendo’s website.
“Get hands on with the Nintendo Switch 2, the successor to the Nintendo Switch system, at events in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas,” Nintendo said. “Tickets will be made available through a free-to-enter, randomly selected drawing.”
Registration begins at 12noon Pacific / 2pm Central / 3pm Eastern on January 17 and runs until 11:59pm local time on January 26. Results of the drawing will be revealed “soon after.” Those eager to participate will need a Nintendo Account to do so and must be over 18 years old.
Nintendo has not announced what games will be playable at the event, though it’s likely to include Mario Kart 9 as it’s the only one confirmed so far. This new entry only received a few seconds of gameplay during the trailer, but this alone was enough to suggest 24 person races are coming to Mario Kart for the first time.
The New York event takes place from April 4 to 6, the Los Angeles event from April 11 to 13, and the Dallas event from April 25 to 27. Only U.S. residents are permitted to apply for a ticket, though various other events are taking place outside of the country for non-American fans.
This includes Toronto, Canada from April 25, to 27, plus European locations including Paris from April 4 to 6, London from April 11 to 13, Milan from April 25 to 27, Berlin from April 25 to 27, Madrid from May 9 to May 11, and Amsterdam from May 9 to 11. Nintendo is also visiting Melbourne from May 10 to 11, Tokyo from April 26 to 27, Seoul from May 31 to June 1, and Hong Kong and Taipei at later dates.
Though these latter two are yet to be announced, confirmation that one of these events — which typically take place before a console is released — will still be taking place on June 1, it’s therefore likely the actual Switch 2 release will come after.
The events will also take place after the Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Direct, which arrives in April. The brief trailer has already confirmed a few things about the new hardware, of course, such as backwards compatibility features and the addition of a second USB-C port.
Most details, such as its other games and what the heck the mysterious new Joy-Con button does, were left out, though the Joy-Con mouse theory did gain a little traction.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
