The tiny game cartridges for the new Nintendo Switch console have been made to taste horrible as part of an effort to stop children from swallowing them.
The console isn't out yet but reviewers have been testing the device and its games, which come on SD-sized cards, for roughly a week.
For some unknown reason, one of the reviewers decided to lick the game cartridge to see what it tasted like.
It's not entirely clear who this person was but now they're all at it. And they're all saying the same thing: the games taste disgusting.
Jeff Gerstmann, editor and cofounder of gaming website Giant Bomb, wrote on Twitter "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
Alex Hern at The Guardian said he licked "Zelda" and that it tasted "gross".
—Alex Hern (@alexhern) March 1, 2017
Nintendo told gaming site Kotaku that it has coated Switch games in a chemical agent to stop children from swallowing them.
"To avoid the possibility of accidental ingestion, keep the game card away from young children," a Nintendo spokesperson told Kotaku. "A bittering agent (denatonium benzoate) has also been applied to the game card."
The spokesperson reportedly stressed that the bittering agent is "non-toxic".
