Nintendo Switch 2 exclusives are still "very important" despite ongoing support for Switch 1, company president says

The Nintendo Switch is easily one of the most successful consoles of all time, having sold more than 150 million units and counting. As such, Nintendo doesn't want to pull the brakes on games coming to the console, but it's also committed to bringing "very important" exclusives to the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.

Company president Shuntaro Furukawa said as much in a recent Q&A after its latest financial results, reconfirming that Pokemon Legends Z-A and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond are still slated to come out on the OG Nintendo Switch sometime this year. Of course, the Nintendo Switch 2 is backwards compatible, so you should still be able to play that duo on the shiny new handheld-hybrid.

Per machine translation, Furakawa explains that because so many people play on the Switch, the company wants to release software for it, but he reassures fans that other big games will only be playable on the console's successor. "On the other hand, dedicated software is very important when launching new hardware," he adds.

That's not unsurprising news since the best Nintendo Switch exclusives have seen unprecedented success - Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are some of the best-selling games of all time, and even Nintendo's B-tier series have managed to sell well over 10 million copies on the console, like Luigi's Mansion 3 and Ring Fit Adventure.

The publisher hasn't formally announced a single exclusive for its new system, nor have any third-party developers, though it did briefly tease the next Mario Kart game that looks to have 24-racers on a single track. We'll need to wait for the next Nintendo Direct in April to hear more about what games and exclusives might be coming to the system - I have my fingers crossed for a new Kid Icarus, personally.

Check out all the upcoming Nintendo Switch games to see what the console has left in store.