Why Are Players Collectively Going Back to Lick *Switch* Cartridges as Their Bitter Taste Goes Viral Again?

Recently, an outrageous yet highly viral topic suddenly resurfaced among Japanese players: just how bitter are Switch game cartridges, really? The spark wasn’t a new product launch, nor some Nintendo stunt, but a Japanese player who, after eating fresh cherry blossom buds, was instantly dragged back by that bitterness to the memory of licking a Switch cartridge for the first time years ago. A tiny everyday incident somehow ended up setting off the entire gaming community like accidentally triggering an alarm in an FPS.

According to information circulating in Japanese communities, player @D_tniann2236 said his father told him fresh cherry blossom buds were delicious, but after taking a bite, all he tasted was bitterness—so much so that it immediately reminded him of a Switch cartridge. That instantly struck a chord with many veteran players, and before long, more and more people were digging out their cartridges at home to test them again. Even the rumored taste of Switch 2 cartridges got casually dragged into the discussion. More exaggerated still, related memes and joke posts spread rapidly, with a single reaction post drawing over 12 million views.

The reason this keeps going viral again and again isn’t just because it’s bizarre, but because it naturally carries the feel of a classic “gaming urban legend.” When the original Switch launched in 2017, the bitterness of its cartridges became such a talking point that many overseas players and media outlets personally tested it. Nintendo didn’t do this as a prank; it was a deliberate safety measure to prevent young children from accidentally swallowing the tiny game cartridges. To that end, the surface was coated with Denatonium Benzoate. As the original text notes, it is considered one of the bitterest chemical substances known to humans, yet harmless to the body.

What makes it most interesting is that time hasn’t faded this memory at all—instead, it has turned into a permanent Easter egg within the player community. Some people had almost completely forgotten about it, but after seeing the post, they couldn’t resist trying again. The result was exactly the same as seven years ago: the bitterness shot straight to their skull, and they regretted it immediately. The way it spreads is a lot like a chain of headshots: first the meme lands, then curiosity drives a second wave of sharing, and finally even bystanders feel tempted to pull the trigger themselves.

From the perspective of community virality, this kind of content is much more likely to blow up than ordinary news because the barrier to participation is incredibly low, the sense of involvement is strong, and it naturally invites people to verify it for themselves. You don’t need to buy a new console, understand hardware specs, or even have played a particular game—as long as you have a Switch cartridge at home, you can instantly join the conversation. For Nintendo, this counts as a passive nostalgia-driven breakout moment; for players, it’s a reminder that those seemingly strange details in hardware design often have very practical safety logic behind them.

If this has also sparked your curiosity, my advice is simple: just knowing about it is enough—there’s no need to actually challenge the limits of your taste buds. After all, this isn’t a hidden level, and there’s no achievement trophy waiting for you. Most likely, all you’ll get from licking one is a face full of pain. Rather than reliving that bitter taste, I’d rather think of it as one of the most classic community memes of the Switch era—ridiculous, but effective, and somehow able to make a perfectly timed comeback every few years.