Nintendo Reconfirms Release Windows For Major Upcoming Switch 2 Games

In Kirby Air Riders I trust.

When is Metroid Prime 4, Nintendo? Tell meeeee

If they can release Pokémon Legends Z-A, Metroid Prime 4, Hyrule Warriors and Splatoon Raiders in the last three months of the year then that's a insane end to the year. Even more so if Professor Layton releases as well.

Are we going to get another Xenoblade game?

Interesting... do we take this to mean Hyrule Warriors could be January or February?

Metroid Prime 4 is surely November.

Kirby Air Riders could be a December release! Which is exciting as that would be the first major December game from Nintendo for quite a long time, right?

Disappointed to potentially not see anything landing in September... but a December release would be good compromise.

@CutchuSlow If Xenoblade and Fire Emblem could just make their way to the back of the queue and stop jumping in front of others... I do believe I'd finally be happy!

@CutchuSlow

I sooo hope that they bring that game to the NS2 and push the device to its limit lol.

Why is the only promising S2 game TBD

Looks like a pretty good selection of games for both consoles!
Games I'm definitely getting:
Pokémon Legends Z-A
Pokémon Champions
Games I'm maybe getting in the far future, especially if I get a Switch 2:
Kirby and the Forgotten Land Switch 2 edition Star-Crossed World
Kirby Air Ride
Tomodachi Life Living the Dream

Pretty dismal so far in my opinion. Zero interest for another Nintendo racer right now. I feel like people have rose coloured glasses on for that one, the original wasn’t awesome.

Welp, after the lack of a specific date yesterday, it starts to feel as if HW might actually be an early 2026 title (winter).

Yeah, this is pretty paltry and weak, and as someone else said, uh, what's 2026 looking like for S2 first party?

I'm really surprised Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Heaven are not also on Switch 2

@Aurumonado Interestingly a survey I got sent from Nintendo about Switch 2 listed Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream as a Switch 2 game twice (it didn't mention Rhythm Heaven) so I think it might be getting a Switch 2 edition as well, unless it was an error. One of the questions was "which Switch 2 games are you most excited about?"

@somnambulance I think Nintendo learned some lessons after the Metroid Prime 4 situation and prefer to announce games closer to release date now. It saves them having to announce delays if games have to be pushed back too.

I think it's safe to say there will be a "general" Direct before 2025 is over.

@nocdaes
Rude! What would you rather those teams were working on then?

@UltimateOtaku91 But that’s not gonna happen, right? Pokémon has a release date it’ll probably stick to, and Metroid has a 2025 release window which hopefully won’t be pushed back. But Splatoon is “TBD” and almost certainly won’t release this year. Finally, “this winter” stretches through at least February 2026. Everybody keeps assuming Age of Imprisonment will release this year, but Nintendo only said it’ll release “this winter”.

@CutchuSlow

Not anytime soon. Didn’t 3 release just over a year and a half ago?

@LastFootnote I think February 2026 makes the most sense because of the Zelda anniversary.

@NintendoLife - where is your Ninja Gaiden Ragebound review!? Been holding off on getting it until I see how it performs on Switch 2, and your preview got me excited so want to know your review score.

@nocdaes it’s funny because their last entries were in 2023. And Xenoblade’s was DLC, so technically its last full entry was 2022. Yet the way you write it you make it seem like we get a new one every three months.

This just screams “everything should be made according to my preferences”. A series you have no interest in gets a new entry. So what? You’ll still get new games in your favourite series

@Cakefish I don’t care MP4 as much as Splatoon Raiders. Why did they shadow-announce it, but not give any details 😩

@Picola-Wicola Review codes for the Switch version of the game weren't sent out until launch day, so yesterday. We're working on it!

I don't think this is a bad list at all. Quite a spread of different genres IMO. My only issue is the lack of release dates for many of these. It's telling when most of the games I've earmarked on my calendar are third-party release dates.

I thought yesterday's Partner Direct was somewhat decent but do agree it needed more bang. We are overdue for a full Nintendo Direct. Hopefully one shows up in August or September for sure.

@somnambulance Tbf, this first party announcement strategy isn't that unusual. They usually don't reveal much until it's actually close to coming out. We've gone into most years for like the past five saying "where are the games?" And they always show up. I wouldn't worry about it personally.

Wheres METROID PRIME 4?

I want to play Metroid Prime 4 so bad

@somnambulance I can see where you're coming from. I just am shocked you say you don't have stuff coming out you're interested in. Personally I've struggled to keep up with all the stuff coming out the last few years and still have so many I want to go back and play. Though I do overall agree that Nintendo's last year (2024) wasn't very good though.

@commentlife same sentiment tho Sakurai has grown as a dev since then annnnns the original Air Ride wasn't supposed to be directed by him. He took the project back over late in development. But yeah the original isn't great...potentially not all that good

@LastFootnote I know it's highly unlikely but one can wish. I also have a suspicion Professor Layton is getting delayed, it's Level 5 after all. I do think they will have one release in October which is Pokémon, one in November which will be Metroid, and then one in December which will be either Hyrule Warriors or Splatoon Raiders.

@UltimateOtaku91 Could be, could be. I’d think a September game is more likely than a December one. Although, if Kirby Air Riders isn’t delayed out of 2025, that seems by far the most likely to be a December game.

I expect Hyrule Warriors in January and Splatoon in Spring.

@contractcooker

Wow it’s been that long? My tracking of time is terrible.

Pokemon Champions is Switch 1 only?

@somnambulance 2023 was absurdly stacked yeah. I do agree that I would love updates on stuff coming out, but I guess I'm not one to stress over it I guess. Also I probably only play somewhere around 8-12 new releases a year normally, so that might be part of it too. But yeah the 2023 point makes sense. It was an insane year of quality and quantity that may not be matched for a long time, so I think that "jet lagged" feeling as you put it makes sense.

Still preferring the switch 1 line up to the switch 2 at the moment!

@somnambulance Yeah I get that. When I'm not sure what I'm playing next, it absolutely destroys my desire to actually beat games too lol.

@somnambulance

Good Q, my pessimistic interpretation would be that it's easier to move/delay a vague 2025 into 2026 Q1 than a fixed date like Nov 23 2025 🙈

Hope I'm wrong, but when it comes to Nintendo I would venture it's not yet at the highest quality standard / ready to go gold just yet and then they can't commit to a date. That, or they just keep their options open and I'm being overly speculative

Maybe take this opportunity to try out old games you may have missed, or random indie games that look interesting.

There's thousands of games on the Switch platform, surely there's a few you might want to play? Or, alternatively, find another hobby to sink time into.

This has to be the best launch year for a Nintendo console since the SNES

So glad I kept my Switch 1

Launch dates for end of 2025 and 2026 first half stuff will be announced at the September main direct for anyone wondering.

The wait for the next Metroid Prime is Beyond agonizing. RIMSHOT

Rhythm Heaven Groove!