Round Up: 10 Switch 1 & 2 Games We Played BitSummit 2025 - Here's What We Thought

BitSummit has once again come and gone, and unlike last year where it was a bit difficult to find indie developers committing to a Nintendo Switch release well before the Switch 2 was announced, we found a renewed enthusiasm for Nintendo as we pursued the two floors BitSummit took over in Kyoto’s Miyako Messe convention center.

BitSummit is a yearly gaming convention dedicated to not only Japanese indie developers but those from around the world. 2025 marked the 13th iteration which grows larger every year; this time around, they even had Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu make an appearance to perform some of his famous, genre-defining music on the second day.

But you’re here to read about the games of tomorrow, right? While many indie developers commit only to a Steam release well before even thinking about Nintendo's handheld hybrids, we once again did our due diligence to track down 10 games that you will eventually get to play on a Nintendo Switch.

BitSummit 2025 - Every Switch 1 & 2 Game We Played

Hades 2 - 2025 (Switch 1 & 2)

Okay – let’s get the big boy out of the way. At the Nintendo Indie World booth we were intrigued to see three games available to play, the most prominent of them being Hades 2. We all already know the sequel to one of the best action roguelikes ever made is going to be a great game, and you might have already played it in early access on PC, but you’re likely curious how well it runs on the Nintendo Switch 2.

While we only got our hands on the handheld mode, we’re happy to report it runs at a crisp 60 frames-per-second at what looked like standard 1080p resolution. More importantly, the ghosting effect of the Switch 2’s LCD screen didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the frenetic action.

Our experience playing through the entire Erebus region right up until just before the boss encounter against Headmistress Hecate was smooth as butter, and we can’t wait to play more of it when Hades 2 comes to the Switch 2 at the same time it leaves early access.

Pico Park 2 + Mouse Stage - Out Now / Mouse Mode coming soon (Switch 2)

Another game at the Indie World booth was Pico Park 2, the sequel to the 2019 cooperative puzzle-action game Pico Park, and while it’s out already, we got to play four unreleased levels exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2 that utilized the Joy-Con 2’s mouse mode. We’re not being hyperbolic when we say it was the most delightfully chaotic fun we had at BitSummit and perhaps the best use of the mouse mode we’ve seen yet.

You see, of the three other teammates we had to solve these puzzles with, two of them only spoke Japanese. We had to press down on the R Bumper and move the Joy-Con in order to aim our different colored Pico’s distance and trajectory. Once we released the R Bumper, our Picos would go flying across the stage; as this was our only method of movement, hilarity ensued as we timed pressing switches and flying into obstacles that matched our individual Picos’ color without knocking each other into pits.

Language barriers aside, we managed to clear three of the four difficult stages, and came away thoroughly interested in trying out more exclusive Pico Park 2 levels with the mouse controls.

Obakeidoro 2 - Summer 2025 (Switch 2)

Obakeidoro 2 was also at the Nintendo Indie World booth, we sat down with the developers and seven other players to get the full experience of this asymmetrical party game where you take control of either monster ghost girls or the chibi humans they’re trying to capture.

Each match lasts only three minutes as the six chibi humans dash about a haunted mansion, stunning the monsters with their lanterns and avoiding pitfalls and other obstacles as they try not to get captured. The two chibi monsters – ours was riding a little toilet – can phase through walls, grabbing humans and throwing them into a little jail in the middle of the map.

The uncaptured humans, however, can hit several locks hidden throughout the map to free their friends. We played as the monsters first and despite our best efforts, the humans freed their friends several times, though we managed to eke out a heart-pounding victory in the dying seconds.

We then played as the humans and got captured several times; however, by utilizing team up moves one of our allies was able to throw our chibi schoolgirl across a gap in order to reach a final lock to free our friends, giving an easy win and a taste at some hidden depth to this anime-inspired party game.

Ratatan - TBA (Switch 1)

Yes, we got our hands on Ratatan, the spiritual successor to Patapon, which was actually announced during BitSummit 2023 and took home this year’s Vermilion Gate Award, which is awarded to the title that delighted with innovation and intuitive design more than any other.

And we don’t disagree with the BitSummit judges one bit for choosing Ratatan. Fans of Patapon will feel right at home with the rhythm-based gameplay of Ratatan, as you control one of several music-loving gremlin creatures called – wouldn’t you know it – Ratatans that, in turn, use music to motivate their little armies of Cobuns to attack and defend with charming beats.

This time around, Patapon and Ratatan creator Hiroyuki Kotani has seamlessly weaved in roguelike elements after each stage that greatly change how you play against opposing armies and massive boss monsters. We chose the guitar-wielding hedgehog Harigittan and played through the tutorial. While it took us a few minutes to get the hang of playing to a beat, before-long we were taking down castles full of adorable little foes while bobbing our head along to the catchy beats.

We’re looking forward to seeing more of Ratatan and the roguelike elements as it launches on Steam Early Access on 25th July, though there’s no sign of a Switch release date yet.

Bashful Adoration - 2027 (Consoles TBC)

Speaking of party games, we also sat down with KittyWumpas, an up-and-coming studio out of New Zealand, and their witch-themed 3D platformer packed full of multiplayer party modes titled Bashful Adoration.

The game stars four witches that are absolutely enamored with a boy named Merlin. They bicker for his affection in cute little scenes played out between 3D platforming stages filled with collectibles and baddies to whack with brooms, hearkening back similar games you might’ve played on a Nintendo 64 or something more modern like A Hat In Time.

It also features more multiplayer party modes that we could keep track of, including one inspired by Rocket League and a deathmatch-type mode with Super Smash Bros.-like percentage build up. These percentages were also seen in the one multiplayer mode we did play: a payload tug-of-war where the payload was none other than Merlin himself.

Taking control of your favorite of the four witches, standing near the love-potioned Merlin will have him slowly float toward your base; however, your rival witches can fly on by and whack you away. The higher your percentage, the farther you’ll fly and bounce around the map.

We’re looking forward to seeing more of Bashful Adoration leading up to its expected 2027 release.

Lovish - 2025 (Consoles TBC)

Back in 2021, we reviewed a charming retro-inspired Metroidvania titled Astalon: Tears of the Earth by developer LABS Works. At BitSummit they showcased another title called Lovish, though this time around it’s a 2D action platformer that takes place in bite-sized rooms with over 150 random events that can occur and greatly change each playthrough.

You take control of the cute little Sir Solomon on his quest to save Princess Tsuna from the Devil Lord. He originally started his quest with some companions but worried Princess Tsuna might fancy them instead of him after being rescued; as a result, he ditched them and set off to rescue her on his own.

We played through about a dozen levels and defeated one boss, greatly enjoying the great retro soundtrack and tight platforming while hunting for Secret Crowns hidden in each. After each level, increasingly absurd events occurred: we unlocked a shop to purchase upgrades like a double jump that allowed us to re-explore past levels, but later found a cryptic message that told us to avoid collecting coins in stage 4-2 in order to summon a space wizard.

Lovish is all the right levels of absurd and perfect for some handheld gaming on the Nintendo Switches.

SacriFire - 2026 (Switch 1 & 2)

Polish developer Pixelated Milk pitched SacriFire to us as Vagrant Story meets Superhot, and while that didn’t make any sense to us at first, it did after playing the lengthy demo. We gave them the benefit of the doubt as we reviewed their previous title Regalia: Of Men and Monarchs - Royal Edition Review well.

In SacriFire, you take control of a newly appointed Bishop named Ezekiel. On the day he becomes one, some thieves attack their chapel and steal a box that contains within it all evil. Ezekiel and the other Bishops give chase through simple platforming levels packed full of enemies.

When we ran into an enemy, we warped to a battle screen where an action gauge filled to allow us to attack and cast spells; however, the true genius of SacriFire’s combat system comes from how if we stopped moving, our enemies and their attacks – including projectiles – stopped as well, just like in Superhot, giving us time to strategize how to take them down.

We’re very keen to see more of SacriFire and this unique battle system when it comes to the Nintendo Switch 2 sometime in 2026.

Neverway - TBA (Consoles TBC)

While not officially announced for either Switch console yet, we’re giving Neverway a slight pass because the development team behind it – Coldblood Inc. – assured us that a Switch release is the eventual goal, and we think their darker take on a Stardew Valley-like farm sim would be absolutely perfect to play on either handheld hybrid.

We sat down with the developer to play through two different demos: a story-focused snippet and a short combat tutorial.

For the former, we took control of Fiona as her life spirals out of control: she loses her job, her boyfriend breaks up with her, and she can hardly get out of bed. As a helpful little status icon indicated to us, she begins to disassociate on the way home from picking up her work belongings; during, a girl on the train says she can make Fiona’s problems fade away before some creepy spidery creature threatens to pull Fiona into an abyss.

Jumping to an island Fiona moves to in order to get away from it all, she heads to her new home and unpack her stuff, passing by the houses of named residents that she will get to date while you presumably help her farm her way out of her depression – or become the immortal herald of a dead god? We’re not quite sure yet. The combat tutorial highlighted a healthy dash of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past inspiration as we looted a hookshot to cross gaps and swung a sword to take out waves of floating skull monsters.

We’re excited to see more Neverway – and to eventually learn of an official Switch release date.

Earth Atlantis 2 - TBA (Consoles TBC)

We had a lot of great things to say about the first Earth Atlantis, a unique, underwater take on a shoot ‘em up with a striking sepia color palette. Developer Pixel Perfex returned to BitSummit to showcase Earth Atlantis 2, which plays like a more realized version of the original with a gorgeous submerged world full of color and powerful underwater monsters to take on.

During our time with the demo, we explored what looked like an underwater Egypt in our little yellow submarine, shooting various aquatic monsters to loot power-ups that gave us the extra missiles or bombs you’d see in any number of schmups inspired by Gradius. However, Earth Atlantis 2 takes a much more as you can explore at your leisure as you seek out fair-but-difficult bosses.

The boss we took on was an ancient megalodon with a rocky layer of armor that, when we shot it enough, broke off to reveal a weak point. Even then, the developer helped us out by granting us extra health to get us through the difficult encounter that typically would take several tries to overcome. Once defeated, a new part of the map was revealed and we could continue onward.

Pixel Perfex promised more than 20 unique bosses to take on and more gorgeous underwater environments that we’re looking forward to exploring.

Earthion - September 2025 (Switch 1)

There was another shoot ‘em up that caught our attention, and it was a much more traditional one. Earthion, you see, is not only being developed by Ancient Corp – a studio founded by renowned composer Yuzo Koshiro – it’s being developed on 16 bit hardware so it truly looks and sounds the part.

That said, from the slick way the starship you control flips into battle at the start of each stage, to how the story presents the starship pilot Azusa Takanashi from a lower angle like she’s in a Gundam anime, Earthion feels like it takes 16-bit presentation to the next level, which has us interested in seeing more than that of the small sliver of the first level that we played at BitSummit.

As a classic horizontal-moving shmup, fans of the genre will be right at home here; while the demo we played wasn’t too difficult, we saw the potential for white-knuckle bullet-hell in the later stages along with a promised challenge mode that will undoubtedly cause some thrown controllers.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to play Earthion on Switch; it comes to PC on 31st July, though it's been pushed back to September for consoles.

And that wraps up 10 interesting games we played at BitSummit 2025. As there were so many developers there, undoubtedly we missed some great titles coming to the Switches. Regardless, which ones are you excited to play? Let us know in the comments.