Here’s when to expect major Nintendo franchise on Switch 2

Nintendo Switch 2 has a strong set of first-year titles: Mario Kart World, Kirby Air Riders, and Donkey Kong Bananza are all confirmed to launch sometime this year (plus Nintendo Switch 2 Editions for Pokemon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond). But what about Nintendo’s other franchises? Today, we’re looking at possible time frames for the next game in every major Nintendo franchise.

The first major franchise we’ll cover is the Mario series. It’s highly likely that the developers behind Super Mario Odyssey are developing Donkey Kong Bananza. With that fact in mind, we’re probably a couple of years away from a new 3D Mario game. Unless, that is, the team has somehow been working on two projects at once, but that’s just a theory some fans have discussed. In any case, we’re very okay with waiting – Donkey Kong hasn’t had a new 3D outing in decades, so it’s about time he gets the spotlight after a quiet few years on Nintendo Switch. We’re sure the next 3D Mario will be fantastic when it finally does come around.

Next up, we have Paper Mario. This one’s fairly easy to predict: we’ll probably see the next game in 2028. Paper Mario: Sticker Star released in 2012, Paper Mario: Color Splash released in 2016, Paper Mario: The Origami King released in 2020, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake released in 2024. There’s a clear pattern here, and while it’s entirely possible that the pattern breaks sometime soon, it’s safe to assume we’ll probably at least know about the next Paper Mario game in 2028. That feels so far away!

We’d also expect that Mario Sports is on the horizon sometime soon, even if it’s somehow on Nintendo Switch 1 instead of Switch 2. Camelot hasn’t released a game since Mario Golf: Super Rush in 2021, and we assume Next Level Games (the developers of Mario Strikers: Battle League) are busy with the next Luigi’s Mansion at this point. A new Mario Party game is unlikely to show up soon, given the fact that Super Mario Party Jamboree is receiving a Switch 2 Edition with extra content. This is the first time NDcube has ever added additional substantial content to a Mario Party game after launch, so we’re firm in the belief that a new entry is years away. As for Mario & Luigi, that’ll be another few years too (if we get another one at all). Mario & Luigi: Brothership only just launched last year.

A new entry in The Legend of Zelda series is also extremely unlikely to happen anytime soon. There was a big seven-year gap between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, and that’s despite the latter using the same engine and some of the same graphics as the former. We’d expect the next big Zelda title to be a revised engine (even if it’s built on the existing one) with a new setting and art style, so it’s definitely going to be a few years before we see a new entry. Remakes can always help pass the time, though, and now that Grezzo has developed their own 2D Zelda in Echoes of Wisdom, we might see even more Zelda content from them on Nintendo Switch 2. But for now, we’ll have to enjoy Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom at 60 FPS.

A new main series Kirby game is also fairly unlikely to happen soon. Kirby fans are already eating good on Nintendo Switch 2 – Kirby and the Forgotten Land is receiving a performance boost and a brand-new story. Though unconfirmed, it’s possible the games receiving Switch 2 Editions are from franchises that won’t receive a new title anytime soon. Since Kirby and the Forgotten Land is one of these, we’d estimate it’ll be a year or two until the next big Kirby game. We have Kirby Air Riders coming this year as well, so there will be no shortage of Kirby on Switch 2 in the meantime.

Another Yoshi game is certainly possible in a year or two. Good-Feel just wrapped up Princess Peach: Showtime in early 2024, and there was also the fact that fans spotted Yoshi’s Woolly World in official Nintendo Direct material. It was probably just a mistake, but we’d love to see a port of Yoshi’s Woolly World, even if it doesn’t count as a new Yoshi game. We wrote all about why Yoshi’s Woolly World deserves a third chance, so you can check that out here if you’re interested.

Animal Crossing and Splatoon are a complete toss-up. Importantly, we didn’t get a Splatoon 4 announcement at the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, nor did we get confirmation for third kits or any kind of content extension for Splatoon 3 (aside from Splatfest and Big Run reruns). There’s no doubt that the next Animal Crossing and the next Splatoon are both in development – it’s just matter of which one shows up first, and when. Releasing Animal Crossing and Tomodachi Life in 2026 would be incredible for cozy gamers, but we can see Nintendo going for Splatoon 4 instead simply due to the emphasis on events like Splatfests and such. In any case, we feel like the next Animal Crossing and Splatoon might be closer than we think – definitely not this year, but maybe next year.

Fire Emblem is definitely due for a new game. Fire Emblem Engage released in 2023, and although we probably won’t see a new entry this year, it’s a definite possibility next year. There were rumors swirling around about a Fire Emblem 4 remake for Nintendo Switch 1, but that has yet to happen. We think it’d be interesting to see a Fire Emblem Awakening remake on Nintendo Switch 1 or Switch 2 – it’s the game that saved the series, and it would make a lot of sense to pay homage to it with improved graphics and such.

Xenoblade Chronicles is probably a year or two off as well. Monolith Soft is incredibly efficient – they’ve pumped out so many high-quality Xenoblade games in such a short amount of time. In the Nintendo Switch era alone, there are seven full Xenoblade adventures, if you count the DLC as separate campaigns (which they are). Monolith Soft also assisted with Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, so they’re more than capable of working on multiple projects at once. It probably won’t be this year, but we’re very much looking forward to seeing them push Nintendo Switch 2 to its limits.

Pikmin and WarioWare both received new games in 2023, so it’ll be a few years before we see them as well. We think Nintendo will focus on Pikmin a bit more going forward, given how well Pikmin 4 performed on Nintendo Switch. It’s also interesting that Pikmin 4 did not receive a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition even though it would benefit from boosted resolution and a doubled frame rate. Theoretically, we’re unlikely to see anything from the F-Zero, Golden Sun, Kid Icarus, Wario Land, Punch-Out, and EarthBound franchises on Nintendo Switch 2.

Then there’s the big one: are we getting a new Super Smash Bros. game? Right now, Masahiro Sakurai is developing Kirby Air Riders, and has been doing so since April 2022. So the answer to that question is either “not for a long time” or “yes, but it’s being developed by a different team”. There’s no information on which of these answers is actually true, either. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was an incredibly successful game, so there’s no way Nintendo ignores Super Smash Bros. on Switch 2 – we just don’t know when we’re getting a new one.

What Nintendo franchises do you think we’ll see on Switch 2 next year? Feel free to let us know in the comments down below. We’ll certainly receive another Nintendo Direct sometime this year with plenty of announcements – perhaps even a few simple remakes and ports for Nintendo Switch 1 – so even though we  have plenty of announced titles for Switch 2, there could be some surprises left in the tank.