Nintendo Confirms The Release Date For Drag X Drive On Switch 2

I'm going to have to see a lot more of this game to be convinced to pick it up. I'm guessing it'll be a full price release?

@Jack_Goetz in a Switch 2 dev interview they said it'll be a digital only game

I'll get it of course, but dunno if I'm gonna play it a ton

The 3v3 wheelchair basketball game we didn’t know we needed!

Looking forward to this. Though I hope (and assume) there will be more to it than shown so far.

@BenAV @Sylamp Good to know, cheers!

This is a game that definitely needs a good demo.

Still hoping we get a new Mario 3-on-3 Hoops soon and more arcade-style basketball games with more traditional controls at the forefront.

Really disappointed in the lack of physical Nintendo-published games this early into the system's life. They're absolutely taking the piss if they charge anything more than AU$30 for it given that Snipperclips Plus was only AU$45 with a cartridge.

I wish Nintendo would at least issue compilation cartridges for their digital-only releases. This could have been a double feature with Welcome Tour, and possibly one other game if the cost of raw materials would have been too high to justify a budget-priced release.

I need a demo for this game to help decide if it'll be a drag, or if I should buy credit to drive up my eShop balance.

Oh! Genuinely thought this was going to be a retail release but no! I guess I just missed that information.

Ok then, I'll be interested to see how it's priced...

You wanna give us a price with that Nintendo?

I'm curious about this one. Not enough to pay what probably Nintendo is willing to charge, but curious

@sanderev Hyrule Warriors needs to fit somewhere in there as well.

Definitely would be interested in trying a demo just to feel how it controls, but have zero interest in owning. More of a single player adventure guy, so DK is on my list.

I don’t think this will be Nintendo’s only August release.

Maybe not a new title, but another game with Switch 2 enhancements.

This game feels too much like a techdemo+ for the mouse mode of Switch 2. I can't get excited about this at all, so, just like the Welcome Tour, this is a hard pass for me.

@DwaynesGames Star Crossed World is already confirmed for August 28th.

@DwaynesGames It's not!
Get ready for **deep breath** Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star Crossed World 😜

I don't even care with that game.
ARMS is way much better to play and have physical release.

@Pillowpants I did get Welcome Tour, but dual mouse mode doesn’t seem fun to play for long periods of time. Mouse mode is a little awkward with the thumb sticks getting in the way of your grip.

I have zero interest in this one, seems more like a demo or something, my wallet keeps closed.

eShop only on the same day as Kirby and the $80 DLC? Yeah, that's being sent out to die like Good Job and Eco Shooter before it

@Nintoz @Grumblevolcano Thanks! I forgot about Forgotten Land’s update. 😊

Ok so there's no first party direct for sure now lol

So August is this and Kirby FL update. So then September, November and December to fill with Hyrule Warriors, Metroid and Air Riders along with something to mark the Mario 40th(although WH being down as Winter could be Jan/Feb next year). That's a busy back end to the year.

@Zeebor15 it's not on the same day as Kirby, same month but Kirby is 2 weeks after this game

I am guessing 40 Euro but probably 50 knowing Nintendo!

@Zeebor15 Um, it's not on the same day though? There's two weeks separating them. Also you can just get the Kirby dlc for 20, you don't need to pay the full price for the game again lol.

This game still looks really unfun if I'm being honest. Like others have said, a strong demo would do a lot. Only picking it up if it reviews well.

@SillyG How many Nintendo published titles were you expecting in the first couple weeks of release?

I do think compilation releases of the digital titles would be neat. A double pack with The Stretchers and Good Job would go hard. But I imagine it would also be a huge pain in the butt right wise.

@Grumblevolcano hooray for Kirby in august

I just can't get excited for this game.

Gimmicky control scheme, yet a lack of personality and charm I expect from Nintendo titles.

It's gonna be a pass from me on this one.

@FoxyDude I do like the Tron vibes, but it may not fit this game. Usually Nintendo goes more colorful.

This has less legs than Arms lol. It's not going to sell. I can applaud the representation, but do even wheelchair bound people want to be in a wheelchair in the games they play? I'm guessing the majority don't.
Also, Nintendo should have named this Dragon Drive. That might have helped.

So they did a Nintendo Today drop on June 10th revealing Splatoon Raiders and the free Splatoon 3 update. Then the following week, on June 16th they announced a DK Bananza Direct. Now they’re doing a Nintendo Today drop on June 24th revealing the release date for Drag x Drive.

Perhaps next week is a Prime 4 Direct which reveals the release date for September? The London Underground ad looks like confidence in release timing.

Yea I'm not picking this one up. The game looks like a 5-dollar game. What we should be talking about is how the trailer is LOCKED to the app and no available even on their own YouTube Channel. I know it will eventually show up, but it just shows how Nintendo wants to control their news delivery.

Free run baseketball whole arena should updated on Switch Sport

@Grumblevolcano There was a London Underground ad for Pikmin 4 as well?

"players use the mouse controls in both Joy-Con"

That reads like "Rub Your Tummy & Pat Your Head: The Video Game". Think I'll pass.

They should include the code in a $95 box of Joycon if it's going to be digital anyway. I miss getting games w/ my extra controllers. With Wiimotes we got Flingsmash, which my kids just replayed the other day. Wii Play Motion, which kind of seems the equivalent of this. Mario & Sonic at the Sotchi Olympics.

Welcome Tour should come with every single Joycon sold. 🤑

It’s look interesting. I enjoy sports games and anything that allows for local co-op or online co-op fun. If the price is right (IMO $39.99 or lower) I will pick it up at launch.

This is going to be a bomb.

@FoxyDude If they had some sort of original IP it might be more appealing... But then they run the risk of offending the paralyzed. They had to go this route to avoid fallout. This game was a bad idea. Again, this would have been a good game to use Mii characters for, but they seemed to have abandoned that.

I already forgot this game even existed

Played it at the Switch 2 event, not fun at all ruined by ***** controls and overall bad game design.

This is a massive pass!

At least we will get Kirby Forgotten Land DLC in August.

I don't love how these reveals happen in the most anticlimactic way imaginable: in yet another pointless app.

Either they still have a ton of other stuff to reveal during their next Direct or they are going to just repeat this process for like MP4 release date as well, which would be about as appropriate and exciting as burying Silk Song for like 6,4 seconds in a sizzle-reel ... what else is the alternative? A Direct Lite? That would definitely be the worst option, so I can't see that.

Not sure this is really the best way to market stuff like this in general and build the most hype possible. But Nintendo has all the data to make these decisions, so they must obviously know best. Maybe it is just them experimenting ... or maybe they just feel it is worth the trade-off to get people to install the app?

As for the game itself, I have yet to see anything about it, I find enticing. It looks incredibly dull and more like a tech demo wiped up on the go to test a concept. Looking at Welcome Tour I also expect highly questionable pricing to be honest. 99% a pass for me to be honest.

Really an odd way to drive the conversation about 3 weeks into the generation.

@Zeebor15 If you already have the Switch 1 version of Forgotten Land, you can buy the new DLC + the Switch 2 upgrade pack for 20 bucks, so it's not a "$80 DLC".

Nah I'm good. I'll sleep until Metroid Prime 4 gets a date.

@sanderev don't forget the Splatoon spinoff

Am I the only one that got HEAVY Rocket League vibes from this announcement?

I don't think I've ever cared so little about a new Nintendo release...

So this is going to be the major first party release for August? Or there's something else?

Should have called it Wheels.
And had a story/quest mode. Someday the sports and sports adjacent games will learn we just need more ridiculous sports x Dragon Quest like World Court Tennis on the TG16. Give me that evil king Wheelchair Basketball monster who is stealing all the world's basketballs.

It's not very likely but I feel the recommended price tag should be 29.99 if it truly won't offer much more beyond what was announced. Even with free updates, that's how much Rocket League costed before becoming free-to-play I think.
The controls are at least very intuitive, but I worry this will be overshadowed easily by what could also be coming to the hardware the next months.

Can't see this selling much.
Partially because it's so empty and partially because wheelchair sports aren't sexy.
Not to mention the required physical activity being a big turnoff after a long day of work.

All I care about now is the next Direct!! C’mon Nintendo, spent over £500 on your machine show me some videos of the games I can expect to play over the next year.

Persona 3 reload, Doom The Dark Ages, Metaphor Refantazio, Diablo 4 and the new Dragon Quest. All games I hope to see eventually on the Switch 2

I’m interested but I can’t see myself getting some extra joy con 2s to fully enjoy it. I already splurged and upgraded to a full set of 4 pro 2 controllers.

@Polvasti @Bigmanfan You think someone as violently hostile about the boiling frog that is the death of physical media and consumer rights WOULDN'T get the cartridge copy with everything on on it?

Plus, if any series is deserving of $80 price for game, even only half of one, it's Kirby. Kirby is perfection. Kirby is worth it. Not like that boring red jerk who can't even bother to put a collectibles checklist in his nothing of a single-player mode

Hopefully this is the same price as Kirby's dream buffet.

I thought this was supposed to be a launch day title? And I was surprised & confused last week or so, when I noticed it wasn't even on eshop.

This game looks like a tech demo for the mouse controls. It looks so sterile and dystopian. I doubt a lot of people will play this long term once the novelty wears off

GameStop has the game listed for only 8 bucks, which at that point why wouldn’t you at least try it.

I knew this was August, it said summer and here it is. And GameStop has it at $7.99. If this is true, where are all the "Switch 2 games are $80-$90 crowd"? Now we need to know the other game dates. Kirby, Metroid, Hyrule Warriors.

I remember seeing the price was confirmed in the uk to be 70 usd so they probably have more to showcase with this game because I think most people are not interested in paying that for this.

@Supadav03 GameStop have it listed at $7.99 which is lower than I expected.

@cmlobue Some colours would be a good addition to start with..

@Sirko I'd argue that wheelchair sports aren't sexy because they lack representation, particularly in the gaming space and therefore have lacked the chance to shine. I commend Ninty for going this route. We know they are gameplay first when designing games and they could have used the double mouse control set up to build some other wheel or track based game (tank controls perhaps?) but they chose to go with an wheelchair sport. This is highly commendable in my eyes and I sincerely hope this game is fun to play with a decent number of sales and makes wheelchair basketball a little less unsexy as you might say. I will probably buy it - depends on it being a bit of fun and not overpriced for the content.

They definitely should delay this game and rework it visually to have some charm.

@sanderev Maybe Kirby in Noveber and Age Of Imprisonment in December

@Jack_Goetz It's digital only. Why would it be a full price release?

@Sylamp The article says that too, as the Nintendo Today app said it.

An extremely ugly game that looks super uncomfortable to play control wise. Not sure what they're thinking with this. Should be a mini game in Welcome Tour.

@Zeebor15 $80 DLC?

@PerfectFrost Hyrule Warriors was announced for winter, so it could be December but also January or February. @leo13 @electrolite77 Splatoon Raiders is not likely to come out this year.

@DavidH oh wow, it’s a no-brainer for me then. Even if it’s short-lived, hard to complain if under $10. Thanks!

Looks like the US eShop price is officially revealed…$19.99. Still worth it for me, 100%.

Game Stop listed the price at $7.99. Might be worth a look at that price.

Edit: nope, $20 U.S.

I'm good...

Lmao we went from using video games to escape into fantasy worlds of dragons and magic to simulating being a disabled person. I somehow dont see this one being a chart topper.

Still no price… I was thinkigng about this again last week and am contemplating picking it up. Seems like a $20 game though with optional season passes, similar to Rocket League when it first launched.

@IronMan30 It's listed on eShop for 20€.

Drag x Drive doesn't look too inspired, but I'll give it a go.

Hard to be excited for this - there doesn't seem to be much substance to it's gameplay and it lacks the strong characters and theming that ARMS and Splatoon had in spades. Hopefully it'll get an overview trailer to flesh it out a little more.

@sanderev
I thought they had basically confirmed December for Age of Imprisonment?

Also worth factoring in we seem to be getting Switch 2 editions every month as well?
Zelda in June,
Mario Party DLC in July,
Kirby in August.
I'm hoping there is something else in August than Drag X Drive although if either Hades 2 or Silksong arrive around then it won't matter to me.
Guess we'll have to wait for the next Direct to fill in the blanks!

The last sentence on this article rings so true to me!

This game is so dumb, man

@KoopaTheGamer And £16.99 in UK

@KoopaTheGamer US wasn't showing when I posted, but I'll look. Seems too high for me.

@AJWolfTill They said Winter for Age of Imprisonment so it could be December, January or February. Leaning towards February because of the Zelda anniversary.

Really feels like Nintendo's throwing this out there to die. There's something to the idea of it but between the minimal promotion and how just visually bland it looks it looks like this generation's Sushi Striker where they just plop it out there and immediately forget it exists yet never put it on sale at a reasonable price afterward.

DIGITAL ONLY?! I AM OUTRAGED. NEVER BUY FOR ME. DON'T ANYONE ELSE BUY THIS EITHER. WE'LL SHOW NINTENDO. I'M GOING BACK TO MY SUPERIOR STEAM DECK.

Yeah, I was hoping maybe they'd show a little more in the trailer. It seems like a pick-up-and-play experience. But even Rocket League has lots of ornamentation. They could still have plans for it. And it's not until August, so maybe they'll do another focused Direct. 😄

@AussieMcBucket same here. You don't have digital only for Steam Deck! It's all physical games!

It's a shame that Nintendo hasn't made a proper new AAA first-party IP in ages, since the release of ARMS. We had Astral Chain, sure, but that was made by Platinum and the series is pretty much dead.

I though Drag x Drive would be the next big new Nintendo IP, but seeing that it's a digital only $20 eShop exclusive, it's clear that' it won't be.

Splatoon is pretty much the only new IP that Nintendo has made in the last decade that has actually taken off.

@IronMan30 THANK YOU! This guy gets it. That's where the real future of gaming is. Valve cares about it's fans. Period.

@sanderev I'd say Metroid in November and Hyrule Warriors in September (you forgot about this one!).

@NielsNL Oh, we didn't need this game though. It's kinda cringey.

@the_beaver Hyrule Warriors has a "this winter" release window, last time I checked September is not winter

@Jack_Goetz Seems you spoke too fast

@Sylamp Lol, a lot of times they say "Winter 2020" or "Holiday 2023", and the final release date is in November, so... You can't trust that stuff.

@chardir For now, August is also getting the Kirby and the Forgotten Land DLC.

One of the most unappealing games I've ever seen. Incredibly generic in every form, and...wheel chairs?

@Oldstalk It would appear so. 😅

Hard pass. I am sure it plays well, but I have zero hope the online scene will last more than a year.

Not for me as Im over motion controls but happy for anyone wanting to dive in at what is a reasonable price.

This seems dead before release.

• Mouse control showcase (not the most enticing selling point)
• A name and look that looks pretty similar to much other eShop cashgrab games (read: general consumer will just glance over this).
• Online Only, right? If so, it requires a big player base — which seems doubtful.

I'm sure Nintendo could've chucked this idea and a sack of money to the Rocket League devs for a Switch 2 specific game mode, rather than this.

Is it the least Nintendo looking Nintendo game to date? Anyone have any other contenders? If I saw it without prior knowledge, I would not guess it was by them.

@Jack_Goetz It's £19.99

@Kyloctopus It's £19.99

Why do you refer to it as a "sports" game, and mention that people are in "vehicles"?
It's clearly a wheelchair basketball game.
I had thought that Nintendo were being weirdly defensive in their marketing by using weasel words to avoid stating the obvious. But it seems that Nintendo Life is doing it too? Who is breathing down your necks, guys? And why in the world would anyone be afraid to use the term wheelchair basketball? It's literally an olympic sport in real life.