Guide: New Nintendo Switch Games Releasing In 2018

That's a looooot of low budget shovelware and indie games...

Not a peep about Dark Souls and we're almost in August.

Decay of logos and sinner are a couple more I am looking forward too. Crazy justice as well.

Come on guys. You have Mega Man Legacy Collection releasing May of 2019. Also, where's Titan Quest on July 31st?

Glad I stocked up. The World ends with you, Mega Man 11, Pokemon and Smash are in my radar, but it’s a bit thin on what I’m interested in/haven’t played before until then.

I’m getting a bit worried about Dark Souls Remastered. Where is our intel about a release date for Christ sake....

WHAT?! This is the Police 2?? Where have I been? I need to finish the first one, stat! I'm also waiting on my Grim Fandango Remastered date. Looking forward to Crossing Souls, Undertale, State of Anarchy, and then the retails.

What about SMT V?

There's practically a game a month (or more) for me.
August - Okami, Monster Hunter Generations
September - Dragon ball Fighterz, Xenoblade 2
October - Starlink
November - Pokemon Lets Go
December - Smash Bros Ultimate

Smash is an obvious Day one for me. I’ll keep my eye on Pokémon Let’s Go!, Mega Man 11, PAW Patrol: On A Roll and a few others, but otherwise my year looks pretty barren in terms of new Switch games. Also, is Okami HD getting a physical release?

@WiiHawk
Okami is out on August 9th. It's potentially my most anticipated game this year (aside from RDR2).

@ReggieFils-Aime It is, in Japan. Think it includes english text if I remember right.

Its possible I just missed them in the article but A good shepherd like a good librarian Library party is out 26th July. And that When they cry game. Layton mystery journey dx is out next month.

And a Neptune game has been announced.

thats alot of games.

@tobibra
Eh, I don’t feel like importing. Hopefully it comes to the US or I’ll just buy it digital.

@WiiHawk It's on the list, releasing August 9th.

Ahhh, just like the Wii days. Shovelware city!

Still, good to see developers have some confidence. Some great stuff hidden on that comprehensive list too.

Having dark souls in the article banner, and not giving a solid release date? that's a bait and switch if I've ever seen one.

I am excited about these games:

Retail:
Smash Bros.
Pokémon 2019
Metroid Prime 4
Yoshi
Pikmin ??

eShop:
Okami
Undertale
Minit
Firewatch

Um, are Pikmin 4 and Metroid Prime 4 really confirmed for 2019?

@ReggieFils-Aime You do as you wish, if you were to change your mind, that games not really expensive to import ^_^

Seasons of Heaven is still in development? Whoa.

Metroid, Yoshi, Toejam & Earl and Dragon Quest Builders 2. The rest.... not for me.

Pikmin and Metroid Prime 4 in 2019 seems a bit optimistic, but I'm glad for the article being about future games instead of "summer" and then listing games in October and November anyway.

Not much in 2018 for me, a couple for my kids, but next year has potential.

After a terrible July, and a not much better August for AAA physical games, and only in the second half of September is there a couple of weak titles.

Nintendo deserves another big share price drop, maybe then it will wake up, stop sticking its fingers in to many pies and release games.

If the Switch is a 3ds replacement then at least let us know if we are getting a proper home console any time soon.

Where's Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and Super Meat Boy Forever?

Oh geez. Anybody got a money tree?

We Happy Few, Tunic, Control, Super Mario Party, Let's Go Eevee, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Kingdom Hearts 3! .... And maybe a few other indie games here and there..... Gonna be broke for the last half of the year T-T

Well this was almost inevitable, and I even kinda said/asked for Nintendo to do this myself too: And that was that if the Switch wasn't going to get all the biggest third party AAA games then Nintendo should at least get all the indie games on the system that it possibly can--which is exactly what it appears to be doing now.

I guess we should all be careful what we ask for.

But I only said what I said because I didn't want another Wii U on our hands, where there was both no real big AAA third party support or any particularly stand-out indie support either (at least not enough to make up for the lack of those big AAA third party titles).

But that's a LOT of indie games to sift through right there.

I hope My Time at Portia gets a firm release date for this year. I've been dying to play that on Switch and help scratch my Fantasy Life itch.

We still think Dragon Quest XI is coming this year? Loving the optimism!

Off the remaining titles for 2018, Valkyria Chronicles 1 & 4 are on top of my list. Then, I'm also considering Tales Of Vesperia, The Banner Saga Trilogy, and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire.

I can't shake this feeling that Xenoblade X and Tokyo Mirage Sessions are getting ported over soon; they're the last WiiU games missing besides 3D World. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, don't know. I'd go ahead and add Persona Q2 to the list while at it, I highly doubt that'll be a 3DS exclusive at this point, if it stays on the system that is; almost August and we still know nothing about it.

Regardless, next year is where it's at. Off the confirmed games, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, Daemon X Machina, and Steins;Gate Elite alone have already topped my 2018 game list.

What happened to Wargroove? Has it been cancelled on Switch?

Given Fire Emblem got delayed to 2019, I was planning on using Wargroove as my 2018 strategy RPG purchase.

@ArcanaXVI Was just going to say the same thing

It would be great in lists like this if you could separate the shovelware from the legitimate releases from reputable developers.

Flipping Death, Mega Man 11 and valkyria 4

Starting September, all the Big games I want to play are on PS4 or PC. But should have enough on Switch for my commute - if not can tap Ys8 on sale.

@kemosabii : Same place where RedOut and 90s Super GP should be, lol. @NL: Nice of you to throw RedOut a bone . . . I wish I shared your optimism.

There about 7 games on that list that are must buys. That is enough for me for the year. Sprinkle an indie or two with a good review and I have a backlog still.

Apart from the obvious big titles, I'm also keenly awaiting Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. ☺

That’s a boatload of shovelware.

Unexplored is finally coming out!!!

No pictures? Really? A list with zero pictures. Did I go back in time to the early 90's and come across an AOL forum?

What about Hollow Knight: Gods & Glory (Aug 23), Moonlighter (2018), and Hyper Light Drifter (2018)?

My wallet will be staying in my pocket this year then. No Yoshi no doshy.

Guaranteed purchases for the rest of the year (as long as they release this year of course).

Overcooked 2
Monster hunter generations ultimate
Dragon ball fighterZ
Mega man 11
Super mario party
Yomawari the long night collection
Dark souls remastered
Team sonic racing
Super smash bros. Ultimate

Monster hunter gen!!

One of my most anticipated games "Dragon Marked for Death" by IntiCreates got skipped over on this list for some reason, even though it's featured prominently on Nintendo's website.

And Dragon Quest XI in 2018... C'mon guys. Other people noticed a lot of errors in this list too... But this is NintendoLife. You guys are known for not correcting errors or making updates. I'm still having flashbacks from your holiday shopping guide last year.

No Yooka-Laylee? It's listed by Limited Run Games as August of this year as per their website E3 announcement page.

@those who are crying shovelware

show the shovelware in that list.

You know what would have made this list a lot better for me?
Rune Factory 5

Seeing 90's Super GP on this list is encouraging, but I'm afraid I've lost all hope of it ever coming out. Please, Nicalis; let us know what's going on!

Switch has no games!!!!1!

Seriously though, yeah, that's a whole lot of shovelware on the horizon. I really miss launch era Switch where indies were a carefully curating group of games treated like major releases. It made them feel special, like real games to look forward to rather than the plastic egg machine in the supermarket where it doesn't matter which egg you get it's going to be disposable trash and nobody ever gets the golden plastic wristwatch.

@Grumblevolcano Bite your tongue. There's Valkyria! The better Fire Emblem! (hides...)

@Ryu_Niiyama

@zool We're not, because the switch is a Wii u replacement, not a 3ds one, and who'd want a "proper home console" anyways after the switch

@NEStalgia Nah, Valkyria's going right to the "If I ever clear my backlog I may check it out" list.

Fallout

@Mountain_Man

Agree! I'd go one step further and wish for a similar list but with "the ones to keep an eye on" highlighted (according to NL). Why? There's simply no time for me to read up on all and know which are interesting or not. So this would bring higher value to me as a reader.

@Grumblevolcano Pfft, suit yourself. You're missing out while waiting for Waifu Emblem!

There's at least 20 titles there I am interested in and I'm sure more will be added once I learn more about the others.

As for the lack of 3rd party AAA titles, Good I Say! I've already seen what most of them are trying to do and aiming towards and frankly (with the exception of Bethesda that at least has given the Switch a chance with some quality titles) the less I see of those dull, homogeneous money sponges clogging up the eShop and Switch library the better as far as I'm concerned.

Let's go, super Mario party, monster Hunter, and smash, which I preordered. Not to mention tons of games I don't have yet like pokken, aces, etc.

@NEStalgia Timing is poor, why would I get Valkyria with the (probably) 200+ hour Torna DLC for Xenoblade 2 near it

How could you forget Asterix and Obelix XXL 2 Remastered

I'm getting Starlink Daemon X Machina Digimon Survive and any other Digimon coming to Switch and that's it

Hyper Light Drifter is so MIA it didn't even make the tentative lists...

@Grumblevolcano that's a valid reason... . But then why so impatient for FE?

@Braden Pretty sure the developers of Rune Factory went belly-up after Rune Factory 4 sold poorly (despite being an awesome game), so I wouldn't expect to see Rune Factory 5 any time soon... or ever.

@Mountain_Man Actually Rune Factory 4 was the best selling one in the series I think, and most of the people who worked on the Rune Factory games got hired by Marvelous and the 5th was mentioned a few times by them and someone at the XSeed booth at E3 said it was in development

@Braden @Mountain_Man yeah, the rune factory team was hired by marvelous right after Neverland closed.... And as the publisher they're the rf rights holder anyway, so rf5 is no less likely than it ever was.

They worked on other 3ds games in the meantime though.

Wow! Lots more than I initially expected I’d want this year. I’ve already prepurchased Okami for next month and preordered Smash for day 1 as well prepurchased the eventual Dark Souls Remastered. I’ve heard it might get released at the end of August. But a bunch of indies I’m interested in on Switch, as well as some of the NES games they’ll offer with their service

I want to know when Hyper Light Drifter and Mark of the Ninja are coming.

@Braden Well, that's awesome. I'd love RF5 on the Switch.

That's shovelware fest 2018. You have to be way too optimistic to argue that he Switch's line-up for this year is a good one. Borderline drought.

I'm hoping that the reason Dark Souls has gone so quiet is that it's being saved for the next Direct with some major tie in to the full online service reveal. I can hope, right?

Glad to see some mention of Metroid Prime 4 and Pikmin.

More than plenty of games still to come that I'm interested in. Way too many to list, but my top 5 most anticipated are:

Smash
Starlink
Pokemon
Mega Man 11
Valkaria Chronicles 4

Still need to catch up on the huge amount of Switch games we already got this year. My poor backlog.

I didn't see it on the list, is there any any word on when Carcasonne will be released?

@NEStalgia Do you want me to shut up and take your money bags?

I just picked up Crash Bandicoot a few days ago and I'm enjoying it. Next pickup will be Octopath Traveler once my internship ends late August, then FIFA 19 (friend I used to play FIFA with just picked up a Switch so ultimate team with him should be a blast), then Super Mario Party and Smash Bros. Ultimate. I definitely wish there were a couple more titles from Nintendo (besides Let's Go) but hey, I can't complain with this lineup!

Dragon Quest X came out last year in Japan, not this July. And don't forget Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country. It's being released as a standalone, full retail game at stores in September.

Capcom where is the MHGU demo???? I have the Japanese demo but surely we're getting the same right?

Is lacking tons of confirmated games in the list.
Warframe
Battle Cats Pop,
Dragon Marked for Death,
South Park and the Stick of Truth,
and many others.

Wait, first Hello Neighbor, now Bendy & the Ink Machine??

What’s next, Five Nights at Freddy’s? 😂 Then we’ll have all the indie horror fads on one console!

Can’t wait for Mega Man 11, Smash Bros, and Pokémon! I hope the Big N releases a few surprises to turn this so-far good year into a great year.

I have had Dark Souls pre-ordered since day 1. This sucks.... I am ready to play that on Switch.

@NTELLIGENTMAN they're reserved for a certain gentleman of repute.

This list is far from Complete? Where is Disgaea 1 Complete? Steins;Gate, and Wargroove, just to name a few?

Also, clearly the Switch has no games...

What the heck? Dragon Quest X still haven't came out in the Western Region yet?

Nintendo won this year's E3.

(not mentioned)
Moonlighter Sept 25th
Mineko's Night Market (either late 2018 or TBA in 2019)
Raji An Ancient Epic (TBA 2019 or later)

Is Mother 3 and AC even coming? Have not been reading news lately.

Wow 90% crap lol only a few things there I'm after but most is awful grrr

Definite 2018 buys for me:
Valkyrie Chronicles 4
Disgaea 1
Yooka-Laylee
Pillars of Eternity 2
Smash Bros.
Okami
SNK Heroines (not 100% sure yet, but a strong maybe)

Other 2018s I still have to buy:
Hyrule Warriors Definitive
Captain Toad
Ys VIII
Wolfenstein 2
Octopath
Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion
Mario + Rabbids Expansion
DKC Tropical Freeze

And then there are a few games I'm still on the fence about. So, pretty much a full slate for me. To be honest, at least a couple of these probably won't be bought in the end because time is short. So even if no new games are announced between now and the end of the year, 2018 is definitely full enough for me.

Almost said 100 channels and nothing on, then I saw Pikmin 4.

NOW THATS A LIST!! you guys should update this list periodically and throw it up there like every 2 weeks or so!

I think more people need to remember that 90% of just about everything is dreck. Did you guys rush out to see every movie released in 2018, or any other year? Did you download every piece of music released in your favorite genre? Of course you didn't. You went to see a few select movies. You maybe put another few in your Netflix queue just to pass the time, because you thought they might be worth watching while you scrolled through your Facebook feed or commented on NintendoLife. And I bet you were sorry you did for at least a few of them, because they were terrible.

To take this even farther, I can fire up my Kindle right now and look at Amazon's current recommendations - recommendations specifically targeted at me based on my purchasing history - and I guarantee you that I can scroll through about five pages of titles before I find one book that makes me think I might want it. Or I can look at the list of 2018 releases on PS4, and again find a ratio of at least 10 shoddy, unoriginal or just plain unappealing games for every one genuinely worthy game that I could pay $60 for and not regret.

But for some reason, people look at a list of Switch titles and act like it's reasonable to expect nothing but diamonds and gold, like every title released on Switch should be a game for the ages.

It's an insane expectation. Life doesn't work like that.

I almost spit out my teeth in excitement when I saw Alwa’s Awakening... when the heck was that confirmed?!?! That’s awesome!!

Hopefully Dark Soul's doesn't come out near MHGU.

Started to read through the list because I like to keep a running list in my notes of games that are upcoming. Very easy to forget or lose track of a game. After the first month I gave up. Too much to sift through. Wish they would separate indies/eShop only titles from retail releases. I would make things much easier to skim through.

Blade Strangers
Mega Man 11
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Undertale
Okami HD
Super Smash Bros Ultimate
My Time at Portia
Shovel Knight: King of Cards
Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded
PlataGo!
Super Mario Party
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Team Sonic Racing

Yup, I think I'm good for this year.

@Braden that would be great, is there any hope for rune factory 5? I seem to remember hearing that there wasn’t

I'll be picking up Okami for sure, Valkyria, any RPGs I can get my hands on, including previously released ones.

Got burned on indies, though, decided to play some of the indies I bought in sale, tried three and all three had game-breaking bugs that required resetting the game to continue.

Fe - I love the game, but once the camera suddenly stayed behind and controls stopped working. Other time I got on top of the invisible level ceiling (not doing anything weird, just using the final upgrade) and couldn't get back down.

Earthlock - first swamp boss, the event that was supposed to happen didn't trigger, so I was left watching it and my characters facing each other for all eternity.

Plague Road - a plague beast spawned three Meatlings... And they proceeded to attack me time after time as their turns never ran out. I turned the game off once each passed thirty turns in a row with no signs of ever actually letting me move again.

So yeah, we're getting tons of indies, but there's no quality control at all.

Cya
Raziel-chan

The game I’m looking forward to most is probably the game I’m least confident in coming out in 2018: Dragon Quest. If that makes it out before years end I will be a very happy boy at Christmas.

Got a watch list of FighterZ, Mario Party, Go Vacation, Hello Neighbor, Smash, Dragon Quest, Pokemon, Dark Souls, Tales of Vasperia, DC LEGO Villians. Some for me, some for my kids. Plenty to keep us busy the rest of the year when added to our current backlog of games.

If Nintendo don't fix up their storefront on the eShop, then I'll probably get very few games - just too many to keep my eye on, and I'm not going to scroll through every single game in the eShop to remind me of what's looking good and what's a definite pass. Give me my own curation tabs, and I'll be a happy gamer!

@luke88 There is hope for a RF5 because the development team was hired by Marvelous and there have been a few people mentioning it being in development, but it isn’t actually confirmed so we just have to hope they are right.

I’m looking forward to Tales of Vesperia. Loved that game. I’m hyped for Mega Man 11. I also pre ordered Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu for my wife. I’m not sure about most of these indie titles. Is there any that someone recommends?

Maybe you could divide the list into all the crap thats coming on the eshop and then the rest.

Not on the list but on my radar, viktor vran. August 28th I think.

@Prof_Yoshtonics That's what I was wondering.

@Banjos_Backpack Same here after Go Vacation which launches in 2 days!

Anyone know of there's any plan for Helldivers on the Switch?

But... what with Victor Vran: Overkill Edition?

Too many games but most of these are cheap shovelware

This is breaking my heart!! Why oh why is Pikmin included? It’s not been confirmed. For all we know Miyamoto may have been referring to the shanky 3DS title in the past and not Pikmin 4. My Pikmin heart can’t take this.

Quite sad really that there's barely a single game on that list of any interest to me.

I think Nintendo knocked all their big hitters out of the park in the first year

@Rafke can't agree on that here. I bought the 3ds version & all dlc before i finally put aside time to play more than a few hours of it. All of a sudden, I couldn't get past the login screen. I forgot what it exactly it did now, but i could only find a very few users that experienced my issue (it was on the final update version), & none of them ever report back if they ever found a solution. I wasn't about to change systems or buy a new MicroSD card & swap everything, so i sold it. That experience soured me, but the time i did spend with it made me realize that is not a franchise I enjoy playing. I guess you had to start with the original to really enjoy it, & to not get stomped by everyone while trying to learn more than the basics of game play. I like the concept, but I'll just watch it on YouTube if I ever get the desire to see those characters fight each other. I liked the single player mode where you went through huge levels fighting all kinds of weird enemies (not other smash fighters), but not enough to buy it.

@Bondi_Surfer use the wish list for games you may be interested in or will buy in a sale, then gradually remove them as you buy or change your mind. That's what I do, but I've also been looking at it each week recently, so maybe it'll get harder when I go back to playing my other systems.

@Grumblevolcano Fire Emblem was never delayed. They said it was "planned" for 2018 but never said it was definitely coming out in that year.
Planned isn't the same as official.

Hey guys, we've sweeped through your comments and added a bunch of games we missed.

We're also working on a way to separate the big retail releases from the eShop releases to make it easier to scan through and plan your purchases.

Keep the feedback coming! We'll keep updating this

But still no games coming to Switch according to some people.

Where's Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Godzilla the Game on Nintendo Switch ???

Only one purchase for me MHGU

Can people please stop moaning about shovelware and just appreciate the fact the Switch is getting all these games, many of which actually look pretty good? The Switch's release schedule is a heck of a lot better than the Wii U's was at pretty much any point in its lifetime.

(Thanks for splitting up physical and retail by the way!)

So many titles. SO little quality playable games.

The thirst is real!
Lacklustre year after last year.

@Matthew010 Please define what "shovelware" is. Does the PS4 and Xbox One also have a lot of it?

HYPER LIGHT DRIFTER IN SEPTEMBER

YAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

@Braden interesting, thanks! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for that. It would be a great addition to the Switch library.

@Dog Shovelware is cheap looking and priced games that have had no thought put into them except the developer wanrs to cash in on a popular console. I don't follow PS4 or XBOX One news but I expect they would have it too, yes.

I actually think this is a good balance. Couple of heavy hitters and some third party gems mixed in with indie fillers is all you need... I mean in 6 years youd be looking at owning 25 to 40 games on a console... There is already at least 8 to 10 must have games in the first 18 months.

Octopath Traveller just joined that group plus 2 more coming this year... That doesn't include the Indie gems that are bound to show up.

@NEStalgia Forgot to reply to this one but... you stay away from me Tom Nook! Never ever trust a Tanuki...

@Matthew010 well being indie games are really the only ones worth playing nowadays sounds good to me.

@Banjos_Backpack shovelware>AAA (even still)

@Galenmereth i dont "shop" through a games list, I know what game I want before I even turn the system on. Problem fixed. But to each their own. Quality, quantity doesn't matter to me which is more important, cause I know what game I want going in. I dont "shop" for video games, (nor have I ever in decades of gaming), If I go to a game store or a online shop I know exactly what release I am looking for.

Theres always a great game or 2 in a pile of games. If you already know whats coming out or your waiting on a title, then you don't have to shop for anything, Last month it was Hollow Knight, this month Dead Cells, Sept/Oct it'll be Hyper Light Drifter, and Dec it will be Smash, its really that simple for me. 1 game, at a time, now it just comes down to waiting for the release. I don't mindlessly shop through pages n pages of games that I've never heard of, just to spend my money. LOL I buy games I KNOW before-hand. Thats sorta like going to a game-store, you USUALLY know what you want before-hand...you dont just walk around and flip through the A-Z and go "oh this looks cool, I'll grab this b/c its on sale" LOL. No gamer does that...most gamers go in, "yea...you got copy of Dying Light?...no ? which store..k thnks" lol. Same with online...if I go to ESHOP its to BUY a specific game, and I dont even search via the piles of games, I go to the search bar, type the games name in, it pops up or.......

gasp...heres a genius idea USE YOUR FAVORITES/WISH-LIST...I got 71 titles on my favorites/wish list (some purchased, others not as of yet). Why even look at the eshop recent releases or upcoming list ? I just refer to my "favorites" or "wish" list. Theres enough games I want on that list that I wouldn't ever have to shop for anything for a very long time.

But thats me, I dont shop for random movies, nor music, nor games and for that matter novels/books either...I know when I enter a site, or a physical store, exactly what I'm looking for. I wasn't agreeing or disagreeing, because I never shop this way. So the topic is moot.

@Itzsfo0 I'm not interested in very many indie games. I've played 3 over the last few years - Snipperclips, Overcooked and Overcooked 2.