What's the difference between "Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition" and "Minecraft"?

Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition is the older version of the game that does not offer crossplay with other platforms. In other words, you can only play with other Nintendo Switch players in this version of the game.

Minecraft is the more recent version of the game that runs off of the Bedrock engine. It allows crossplay with the Xbox One, Windows 10, and Pocket editions of the game, which also run off of the Bedrock engine. Marketplace assets carry over between all of these versions also, including MINECOINS. A Microsoft account is required to unlock this feature.

Minecraft can be installed via a patch for those that already own Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition. In addition, you can transfer your DLC purchases from Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition over to Minecraft.

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Minecraft Nintendo Switch edition does not have updates such as the new 1.12.0 update. It also does not offer different resource packs or cross-platform multiplayer. The only resource pack it offers is "Mario Mash-Up". It also does not offer Eshop copies, which means it is gamecard only.

Minecraft: Switch Edition was the original console port of the game before the Switch got a port of Bedrock (which is what the current Minecraft is on that platform). Once the Bedrock port came out, all updates on Switch Edition stopped.

So the differences are:

• Cross play with all Bedrock ports of the game (XOne, Win10, PS4, Android, iOS)
• Gets the current Minecraft at the same time as other platforms. This alone makes the list of changes rather extensive.