Nintendo Switch reportedly coats game cartridges with bitter substance

NINTENDO’S latest gaming console has just hit the market, but it’s leaving customers with a bad taste in their mouths. We mean that literally.

The Nintendo Switch on display as Nintendo unveils it at a pop-up Living room in Madison Square Park in New York on March 3, 2017. Nintendo Switch is a first-of-its-kind video game system where you can play at home and take it on-the-go. / AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARY

NINTENDO’S latest gaming cartridges are leaving customers with a bad taste in their mouth, but not like you would expect.

The company does not want anyone to put the gaming system’s tiny cartridges in their mouths and has reportedly taken measures to prevent that from happening.

Jeff Gerstmann, the co-founder of the video game blog Giant Bomb, tweeted that he put one of the cartridges in his mouth and regretted the move instantly.

“I put that Switch cart in my mouth and I’m not sure what those things are made of but I can still taste it. Do not try this at home,” Gerstmann tweeted last week ahead of Friday’s worldwide Nintendo Switch release.

I put that Switch cart in my mouth and I'm not sure what those things are made of but I can still taste it. Do not try this at home.

— Jeff Gerstmann (@jeffgerstmann) February 25, 2017

When everyone says the Nintendo switch Cartridge tastes gross but you still wanna try it pic.twitter.com/k1DJxTF16L

— ヒビキ (@FizzySodaWave) March 4, 2017

Nintendo: we made botw cartridge taste horrible so nobody would eat it

Literally everyone: pic.twitter.com/dVqvbbZt0w

— CaliTeen (@DramaticUnknown) March 3, 2017

But why do the cartridges taste so awful?

Apparently, it’s coated with a material that is purposely meant to keep gamers — bloggers and kids alike — from putting the object in their mouths.

“A bittering agent (Denatonium Benzoate) has also been applied to the game card,” a Nintendo spokesman told the website Polygon.

The spokesman added that Nintendo recommends keeping the cartridges from children.

The agent that the company uses is the “most-bitter chemical compound known to humanity”.

It’s commonly used to keep people from ingesting things they are not supposed to.

Originally published as Nintendo Switch reportedly coats game cartridges with bitter substance