Nintendo NX reveal trailer

The Nintendo NX mystery is finally over. Nintendo has published a "preview trailer" for its upcoming console named Nintendo Switch, confirming what the heck the thing actually is. The handheld/home console hybrid rumors were true, but they were just the start - Switch has more potential configurations than you can shake a cartridge at. Here are the ones Nintendo has demonstrated so far.

Nintendo Switch can use a base station with separate controller

This is the deluxe home theater mode. You drop your central Switch bit - the part with the screen - into a dock attached to your TV. Then you use a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller to control the action on-screen. But you don't have to use a separate controller, because…

Nintendo Switch's base station also works with the controller attachments

You can use a separate accessory to combine the two "Joy-Con" controller parts into a standard-ish controller. With two joysticks, buttons galore, and even a pair of grips, it has all the amenities of a standard controller in a much more, erm, square form factor. It also looks like it charges the Joy-Cons.

Snap the two Joy-Con parts to Nintendo Switch and take it on the go

Here's where Switch really starts making sense. You can snap the left and right Joy-Cons to the Switch console, lift it out of the dock, and take it on the go. In this form it looks like a streamlined Wii U GamePad, but it isn't tethered to a separate console since all of the brains are right there between the controller sections.

Pop out the Nintendo Switch kickstand and play with unattached Joy-Cons

If you're on the move but still want to recline a bit, you can set Nintendo Switch up on a flat surface using the kickstand. Then you can pop off the Joy-Cons and use them to control the game wirelessly, one in each hand. Kind of like a Wii Remote and Nunchuk but without the annoying corded connection.

Or give a Nintendo Switch Joy-Con to a friend and play together

Each Joy-Con has its own analog stick and buttons - hold them on their side and they work like a scaled down controller. You can keep one for yourself, give the other to a friend, and play a round of Mario Kart. More players can join in if they bring their own Joy-Cons, and you can even sync up with other Switch consoles for local multiplayer on more than one screen.

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I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.