If you've somehow been living under a rock, there have consistently been rumors and reports about the Nintendo Switch 2 of late, including a well-sourced series of reports about it getting delayed to Q1 2025. And yet, in the wake of another new Nintendo Direct featuring a smorgasbord of games still to come, I am left with one prevailing thought: regardless of what comes next, the original Nintendo Switch still has plenty of life left in it.
To be clear, yes, the Nintendo Switch is really beginning to show its age. While Xbox and Obsidian's Grounded leading the charge during the announcements today was largely expected due to recent reports and Xbox's own acknowledgement without naming names, seeing the actual graphics associated with its Nintendo Switch version genuinely made me wince a bit. There's no denying that some new hardware would ultimately allow for a more powerful little on-the-go console.
There is, however, equally no denying that Nintendo just announced the following video games are all set to release imminently or later this year for the Switch (and, in many cases, other platforms too):
- Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed
- World of Goo 2
- Grounded
- Penny's Big Breakaway
- Endless Ocean Luminous
- Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection
- South Park: Snow Day!
- Another Crab's Treasure
- Contra: Operation Galuga
- Pepper Grinder
- Pentiment
- Tales of Kenzera: Zau
- Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the mist
- Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble
- Monster Hunter Stories
- Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!
- Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
- Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
- Gundam Breaker 4
- Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
- Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream
- Kingdom Come Deliverance - Royal Edition
- Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley
- Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- Sweep the Board!
Nintendo Switch who?
You might argue that there's no huge, massive release in that list. There's no Zelda, and there's no Mario. And while that's technically accurate, there are still so, so many games in that list that immediately excite me and many others. A new version of Shin Megami Tensei V, with an added 80-hour campaign? A remake of Epic Mickey? A new Super Monkey Ball? The classic Star Wars Battlefront games, now with Kit Fisto? That's just scratching the surface, and already my entire year could largely be spoken for.
Sometimes I think that if Nintendo were still putting out 3DS games, I'd still happily be buying them.
Maybe I'm just a sucker for this sort of thing, though. I've never really been swayed by graphical fidelity; I'm much more of a mechanical novelty sort of player. If you've got something interesting going on under the hood, I can forgive some rough-looking art or cinematics. I'm always more interested in an ambitious idea poorly executed than a boring one that's technically perfect. Sometimes I think that if Nintendo were still putting out 3DS games, I'd still happily be buying them.
This does in some ways feel like the goal of modern Nintendo. From the outside in, releasing consoles out of step with the Xbox and PlayStation arms race seems to leave the company in a unique position. There's no real expectation of parity, and Nintendo itself has previously said that the Switch has broken away from what it "previously considered to be a conventional hardware lifecycle." The only reason I fully believe all of the reports about the Nintendo Switch 2 is because it seems obvious that Xbox and PlayStation are also looking at what comes next, whatever that is, and so it seems likely that Nintendo would be looking to once again fill the same sort of role, but in a new generation.
But until then, there is plenty to look forward to. While shareholders maybe aren't too keen on waiting for whatever the next version of the Nintendo Switch ends up looking like, it certainly seems like the future of the current one is arguably just as shiny as it's ever been. Here's hoping that Princess Peach: Showtime only further proves my point when it releases in March.
Even if none of the aforementioned titles are of interest, there is genuinely plenty of upcoming Switch games to look forward to still.
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