2018 was an amazing year for the Nintendo Switch, with so many great games getting released on the portable powerhouse, not least of which was Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in December.
So now that the Christmas tree has been taken down and you've vowed to not look at another mince pie for at least 12 months, what's on the horizon for Nintendo Switch fans in this New Year we call 2019? We've helpfully compiled a list of all the good stuff coming out at retail in January and February, so feast your eyes and prepare your wallets – this could be painful.
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Fitness Boxing - 4th January
Now this one sneaked out in December in Europe, but it's coming out in January in North America so we'll mention it one last time.
If you fancy some Joy-Con waggling action this Christmas you might like to pick up Fitness Boxing for your Switch. Unfortunately, the US will have to wait until the New Year to duke it out with this one. Get off the couch and get moving with fun, boxing-based rhythmic exercises set to the instrumental beats of songs by popular artists. You can personalize your workouts by selecting from different fitness goals. Train your way, whether you're on your own, with a friend, at home, or on the go!
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - 11th January
If you never had the pleasure of playing this on the Wii U, then you are in for a treat. New Super Mario Bros. U is some of the finest 2D Mario platforming action known to man, so it's a welcome addition to the ever-growing Switch library. Luigi's first starring role in a platforming adventure, New Super Luigi U, is getting the deluxe treatment too, and comes packed in.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes - 18th January
Hit the road in an all-new adventure with gaming's most hardcore otaku assassin. Enter the world of the Death Drive Mark II, and hack and slash your way out of its various games. Pass a Joy-Con to a friend for local co-op, with special team-up charge attacks. You won't want to miss this latest game from visionary director Suda51.
Trials Rising Gold Edition - 26th February
While we wait for January's inevitable Nintendo Direct where it is revealed what Wii U port we'll be getting for February, we are at a loss to know what to highlight here.
Our pick of the current crop of Switch retail games for February is Ubisoft's Trials Rising. In the game, you will explore over-the-top action and physics-bending motorcycle racing in the latest edition of the Trials franchise. All-new features, more competitions, and more tracks mean more to play!
More Awesome Nintendo Switch Games
Aside from the highlighted games above, there are lots more Switch retail games which might take your fancy in January and beyond.
Awesome Accessories For Your Switch
We saw a whole slew of interesting accessories released for the Switch in the past few months, but more are on the way. Here are some tantalising accessories coming up in January and beyond, which we found for your consideration.
So that's it for January and February - did we miss anything? Let us know with a comment and also tell us if you've pre-ordered any of these goodies!
Comments 61
Personally I'd highlight the portable, definitive release of Tales of Vesperia, one of the best action RPG's ever made, over a glorified Wii Sports boxing wannabe as one of the biggest January games, but that's just me.
That said, this is already a very solid start to the year, and I can't wait to see what's revealed in the inevitable January direct. Here's hoping we get a full-fledged presentation this year and not just a mini direct!
Looks like it will be an expensive month once again, with me getting NSMBUDeluxe, Tales of Vesperia and probably Travis Strikes Again. I’ve also preordered Celeste, though I probably won’t see it until springtime.
A March release date for Pillars of Eternity II? Great!
I reckon there'll be a Direct in the next 2 or 3 weeks. My money is on Daemon X Machina or Metroid Prime Trilogy releasing in February with Yoshi arriving in March. Yoshi is already on the Eshop so its release can't be too far off. As someone pointed out on here before, it's unlikely they'd release 2 platformers back to back so yeah March is a good bet. Who knows though, Nintendo still hope to reach that 20 million target before April and the new President did say a few weeks ago, they will need to be more aggressive with software releases to achieve that, or something similar.
Any word on a US eshop release of the Darius collection?
Darius Gaiden had the trippiest soundtrack: Think 808 State and YMO meeting in a lounge, shortly after a screening of Macross Plus.
Tales of Vesperia seems like a pretty big release. Certainly more noteworthy than yet another barely touched-up Wii U port.
I'll pick up most of the anime styled games.
I counted 3-5, maybe 6 games worth considering. Of those, 2 are definite sales and the others are a maybe. There’s some serious shoveling going on this year. And it ain’t snow.
Just Travis Strikes Again for me
Tales of Vesperia should be instead of that Fitness thing nobody cares about...
Travis strikes again definitely, NSMBUDeluxe most likely and... Tales of Vesperia has a high probability, but might read some reviews to convince myself.
"Retro Fighters Pro Charging Stand for Poke Ball Plus"
I got the HORI pokeball charger that is a better design. This one looks like to poke in the butt of someone and could break instead.
"Girls und Panzer: Dream Tank Match DX (Multi-Language)"
Why won't this come to Amazon US or a US retailer????? Import duties are a killer.
"RemiLore: Lost Girl in the Lands of Lore"
This is also on Amazon US and BestBuy and GameStop so why isn't that listed?
Looking forward to travis strikes again. Probably not much else on my radar for the next couple of months. Civ 6 is consuming my life at the moment anyway lol
Just NSMBU Deluxe at the moment but a Direct will probably increase that.
Well the long awaited for switch and then cancelled for switch title steep is free this month on psplus, so that will be worth a try if I'm ever getting tired of horizon... which is unlikely lol.
Travis strikes again is my most anticipated new switch game. It has that nice, out there feel
Tales of Vesperia is a monumental release. One of the best JRPGs of the 7th gen, being released in full 1080p 60fps in battles, full 720p handheld (actually has parity with Xbox One/X1X version).
Getting that, NSMBU Deluxe (one of my fave platformers behind DKC), No More Heroes, already got Onimusha, getting RemiLore (that game looks super fun), and Pillars of Eternity 2 (even though I think that's a placeholder date). And Trials Rising.
But we're about tapped out. No confirmed release dates after Mario, which means a Direct is coming very soon
There will be a Direct this month, I can guarantee it. We know almost nothing after January.
Nice to see Tales game released for the switch. Tales of Vesperia is a great a game. Glad we finally got the Definition Edition of it. ^^
Guess I'll be mostly importing the next few months with Onimusha, Zoids Wild, Tales of Vesperia and Travis being the only ones I'll definitely get. Potentially Trials, Liar Princess, The Raven, or Pillars of Eternity II might be worth getting too, we'll see.
Ugh my wishlist is gonna hurt!
Where is World of Final Fantasy Maxima physical release ?
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire for me!
Nice start!
Pre-ordered Mario Deluxe, Darius and Rad.
Needs to focus on older games... Missing a bunch of 2018 games I want. But want Travis. Otherwise I think January for me will mostely be smaller publishers like SRG and LRG.
Unfortunately I don't have the monetary means to check out everything I think it's worthwhile:
1. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
2. Travis Strikes Again - No More Heroes
3. Tales of Vesperia - Definitive Edition
4. The Book of Unwritten Tales 2
5. RPG Makes MV
6. Pillars of Eternity II - Deadfire
...that's a lot!
Dragon Marked For Death is going to be the best game of the month on Switch and it isn't even listed.
http://dragonmfd.com/en/
Nothing here at all lol lame! Thank God I got smash to play for the next few months!
Not much for me besides nsmbu and onimusha
I thought Outrun was released in January or does that not qualify for this list somehow?
@NintyNate Well, to be fair there is always a Nintendo Direct in January now so we will likely have more announced.
@Jokerwolf It looks really interesting, but I hate how it is split into two different games. If it’s on sale I might check it out.
So much shovelware. But hey, at least there's no lootboxes, right?
"While we wait for January's inevitable Nintendo Direct where it is revealed what Wii U port we'll be getting for February, we are at a loss to know what to highlight here."
😂😂😂
@Jokerwolf there definitely be a direct? I sure hope so! Metroid, bayonetta, DXM, new games for this year and I'm still hoping for new F-ZERO!
There is not much coming. Fitness Boxing is too expensive and the rest of the games are mostly not interesting, at least to me.
NSMBUD is actually a pretty big deal if you haven't played it before. Arguably the greatest 2D Mario game released on Switch, and a possible system seller for reaching that fiscal year goal.
Mostly I hope the next Direct gives out some release dates. There's a lot of games we know about for 2019, but not when to expect them.
One of the few times where there really isnt anything for me. Interested in Mario but I will wait til it's on sale or if they announce Mario Maker probably avoid it altogether.
Seriously though why are they taking their sweet time porting Mario Maker. It's the one WIIU port that everyone actually wants
There are a few things I'm interested in, but my main thing for the next couple of months is going to be catching up on 2018 titles I haven't been able to buy yet. For all the complaints about 2018, there are at least half a dozen games and expansions that I still need to get into my collection.
Nothing for me this month on the Switch. Which is a good since I have amassed a huge catalog of indie games. Plus I still haven't touched Smash and I'm slowly working my way through Pokemon Lets Go Evee.
I'm not interested in any of those games except for RemiLore: Lost Girl in the Land of Lore.
Hope to see another 1080.
I WANT TO BUY YOU NSMBU
no
i can't
I just bought the Combo last year for the Wii U. It's tempting, though, loved it.
Also, I hope Yoshi releases in March or early April, really looks good!!
I have a huge backlog so I'll be waiting a month or two to pick up Mario U Deluxe, probably when it's on sale. Super excited for all of the releases this year!
Mario for me. And Skrim to help distract me during dry January
Backlogged so mostly waiting... will probably get Mario and Sphinx eventually. I hope the game-breaking bug in Sphinx is fixed. That would probably decide it for me.
At first I thought the tagline said "New Super Mario Bros. U strikes again" which would actually be accurate! In any case, it'll be striking my wallet again. I haven't played a good 2D Mario in a while. Also the fact that I can play as Luigi in the main game while playing single player was just about a game seller on its own. 😂
Also Downwell on the 31st. I love that game on my phone, but the controls aren't great. I'm going to play it a ton on my Switch
With no links to buy on GameStop or Best Buy, this article seems less informational and more of an Amazon ad.
Um... my tree is not coming down for a few more weeks thank you very much.
Tales of Vesperia....the one Tales of game that people kept saying was one of the BEST tales of games ever over the years. Finally, i will get a chance to play this former XBox 360 exclusive. The HYPE levels continue to increase! The fact that TOV, [Tales of Vesperia], is gonna be on the Switch is amazing because there would be NO WAY this game would come on the WiiU if Switch didnt exist. Period. Good job Nintendo! You're making good moves. Keep up the tempo!
Is rad Rodgers any good? Didn’t even know this was coming out
Nothing for me
@Kainbrightside got it preordered. It'll be the first Time I play an onimusha game
January is gonna be a packed month. Tales of Vesperia will be a game I will hope to get. New Super Mario U Delux and Travis Strikes Again will be big exclusives to help keep the momentum going for the Switch.
Quite a few here i'm going to get -
Mario Bros Deluxe
Travis Strikes Again
Tales of Vesperia
Rad Rodgers
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Onimusha
and possible The Raven Remastered and Dragons:Dawn of the new Riders.
Rad Rogers has my interest. Duke for life baby!
Travis Strikes Again day one
RPG maker for me.
Great year imho. Great games.
Awesome! Another fews months to save some money!
Oh, hell yes! Rad Rogers physical edition!!!
I doubt they'd release that in Australia, but thank God the Switch is region free.
Pre-ordered NSMBU Deluxe. Look forward to playing that again
Some of those listed on PA cost more then if you bought them directly from Amazon Japan. So look before just jumping at PA prices they come with extra cost.
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