All of our guesses about Nintendo Switch 2’s mysterious C button

We likely won’t have any hard answers to any of these questions until the Switch 2-focused Nintendo Direct scheduled for April. But that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate! We put our heads together and came up with a list of what we think the button is for and what we hope the button is for. There are no wrong answers — er, or at least not until we get real answers in April — so feel free to chime in in the comments on what you think the C button will do!

This one is probably the most probable of the theories out there. As Polygon editor-in-chief Christopher Plante previously speculated, the C button is rumored to open an in-game text or video chat system that allows Nintendo Switch 2 owners to communicate freely with one another and make the process of joining multiplayer games easier. It would be a welcome improvement on the original Switch, as well as offering the opportunity for a playful new UI experience.

Every once in a while, we could all use some help. Who better to offer that helping hand and a word of advice than Lieutenant Columbo, the shrewd and zen-like detective immortalized through the late, great Peter Falk? If you press the Columbo button, you’ll be treated to one of the detective’s wry catchphrases and witty bon mots. If that doesn’t sound like a quality-of-life feature, I don’t know what does.

Nowadays, it feels like everything and anything has an obligatory AI assistant. Your phone, your car, your blender — you name it. So why shouldn’t the Nintendo Switch 2 (other than that nobody asked for it)? Pressing the C button could possibly conjure up an AI assistant avatar modeled after one of Nintendo’s many iconic characters, offering helping in-game tips or shouting a catchphrase.

Screen capture/screen sharing (‘click’)

A lot has changed in the world of gaming since the Nintendo Switch launched in 2017. One thing that could definitely do with a change is the way players share screenshots and videos of their favorite gaming moments with one another. That’s where the Switch 2’s C button could come in. One of our leading theories is that the button could, in addition to a proprietary chat function, allow players to snap pictures or stream videos of their favorite in-game moments or interactions. What would this function be called? Why, “click,” of course!

Who doesn’t love the sound of collecting a coin in Super Mario Bros.? Don’t you wish you had a button dedicated to delivering the sweet dopamine rush of that dulcet tone in whatever game you’re playing, Mario or not? Well, that’s what the C button might be for! Just keep pressing it to your heart’s delight, whenever the occasion calls for it! Beat a really challenging boss? P-yoing! Got a super hard achievement? P-yoing! Feeling down? P-yoing!

Polygon deputy editor Matthew Reynolds has his own idea for what the C button is for:

You ever been playing an intense game of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and thought to yourself, Man, I really ought to watch Federico Fellini’s 8½? Relatable, am I right? Well, you’ll no longer have to choose to between looking at one screen or another for your choice of entertainment with the Nintendo Switch 2’s dedicated Criterion Channel button. With a library of over 1,500 titles to choose from, the Criterion Channel could be the killer app of Nintendo’s latest console.

You know what console doesn’t have a dedicated Criterion Channel app? PlayStation 5. Checkmate, Sony.