Nintendo Switch cartridges taste awful — and so do Nintendo Switch 2 cartridges, Nintendo confirmed.
Nintendo uses a bitterant called denatonium benzoate applied to its Nintendo Switch cartridges to dissuade people from putting cartridges in their mouths. It’s a substance that tastes absolutely foul, often used in similar situations — to keep people from consuming things they shouldn’t be, like antifreeze. While a Nintendo Switch cartridge might not be poisonous, you could choke on it. Children, especially, are at risk; they put all sorts of things in their mouths.
A Nintendo spokesperson confirmed to Polygon in 2017 that it uses this non-toxic coating to “to avoid the possibility of accidental ingestion.
