Nintendo have announced that their game cartridges are coated in a type of bittering agent to deter children from swallowing them.
Sad days for those who were looking forward to a helping of 1-2 Switch cartridges for dessert tomorrow.
In all seriousness though, the idea to coat them in a bittering agent is a fairly good idea as most children will in fact be handling the Switch at some point and be in charge of putting their own game into the console. We all know what children are like, and so do Nintendo it seems.
Mike Fahey, the man behind Snacktaku -Kotaku’s food orientated segment- was one of those brave/foolish enough to put this cartridge inside his mouth. He explains that a type of oily residue is left behind and there is a strong bitter taste that spreads throughout his mouth. He got in touch with Nintendo and they responded with,
“To avoid the possibility of accidental ingestion, keep the game card away from young children. A bittering agent (Denatonium Benzoate) has also been applied to the game card. This bittering agent is non-toxic.” – Nintendo
All in all, I strongly recommend you go for a cereal that resembles a cartridge rather than eating an actual cartridge. Golden Grahams, Cinnamon Grahams, Shreddies…stuff like that.
Source: Kotaku
