These games are most likely to appear in the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct

Now that Nintendo has finally announced its next big console, the Switch 2, we’ve finally got a specific date to look forward to: April 2, 2025. On that day, we’ll be getting a special Direct that will no doubt reveal some heavy hitters for the console’s first year on the market. At the time of writing, April 2 is about two months away That leaves plenty of time to speculate, so today, we’re looking at some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises and which ones are most likely to appear at the Switch 2 presentation in a couple of months.

Starting with the obvious, we do know of one game coming to Nintendo Switch 2: a brand-new Mario Kart. It appears to support up to 24 racers, plus it’s got an updated art style that seems to focus on more exaggerated animations – and that’s about all we know! Given how successful Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was on Nintendo Switch, we’ll definitely be getting plenty of information on the new Mario Kart as part of the Switch 2 presentation. A couple of rumors about third-party games have been stirring recently, too. We’re not sure how much of the Nintendo Switch 2 presentation will be devoted to third-party experiences, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see a few quick announcements.

We do think a 3D Mario is very likely incoming for Nintendo Switch 2 within its first year or so – not because of any rumor or leak, but just because it makes sense. You could argue that the system will already launch with Mario thanks to the new Mario Kart, but thanks to the success of the movie it may be impossible to have too much Mario from Nintendo’s perspective. It’s also been a long time since the last 3D Mario; the last full entry was Super Mario Odyssey in 2017. Bowser’s Fury was released in 2020, and it certainly counts as a 3D Mario game, but it’s a bit shorter and is more like a really cool experiment than a full-length globe-trotting adventure. Regardless, it’s been at least five years since the last 3D Mario game. We’re hoping the developers have had plenty of time to cook up something creative. A new 3D Mario with a unique art style that’s significantly different from anything we’ve seen before could help convey to consumers that Nintendo Switch 2 is a big step forward. On that note, art styles will be incredibly important especially for titles releasing during the console’s first year. The platform is confirmed to be backwards compatible with standard Nintendo Switch software, meaning that Switch 2 exclusives need to look different enough that consumers can tell they’re an upgrade.

We don’t think it’s very likely that we’ll see a Donkey Kong, Yoshi, or Wario game at the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct. These are usually released a little bit later in a system’s life span, plus Nintendo already released Donkey Kong Country Returns HD earlier this year. Given how sparingly Donkey Kong appeared in his own games on Nintendo Switch (in only two, both of which were re-releases), we don’t expect to be seeing him star in his own adventure for a while. New Yoshi games tend to be once per console these days, and we’ve never had one during the launch year of a new system. WarioWare got a new entry fairly recently in 2023, so we estimate it’ll be about two years before we see him again.

One franchise we will almost certainly not see on Nintendo Switch 2 in its first few months is The Legend of Zelda – at least when it comes to original games. Tears of the Kingdom released in 2023 and took around seven years to develop. That was only two years ago, and given that Nintendo Switch 2 is significantly more powerful than the existing Switch, the next big Zelda game could wind up needing even more development time than that. We also just got The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom in 2024, which rules out an original title or remake from Grezzo. We could technically see a remake of a previous Zelda game on Switch 2, but feels unlikely. Nintendo has released tons of remakes and remasters lately, and making more of them exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2 during its first year is probably a bad move.

On the other hand, Splatoon is sort of a wildcard. There’s evidence for a new Splatoon game in 2025 or 2026, but then just as much evidence against it. To start, Splatoon 3 wrapped up its new content support in September 2024. That wasn’t very long ago, so the biggest piece of evidence against a new Splatoon title is that it just hasn’t been long enough. However, we did see Splatoon 2 release fairly soon into the original Nintendo Switch’s life cycle – just four months after its launch, in fact. It’d make sense that Nintendo would want a live-service multiplayer game on their new console as soon as possible. Even if it’s not Splatoon and it’s a new IP instead, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a title that fits this description on Nintendo Switch 2 revealed during the presentation later this year. Animal Crossing as a launch or first-year title on Nintendo Switch 2 alongside Mario Kart would be absolutely fantastic – that combination would almost ensure the console’s success, if both games are great – but considering how long Animal Crossing games take to develop, that seems unlikely. Though perhaps New Horizons’ incredible sales figures have encouraged Nintendo to allocate additional staff to development.

Another franchise we have no chance of seeing is Pokemon. There’s tons of evidence to support this, too – take a look at the Nintendo DS era. Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 released on the standard DS in 2012 even though Nintendo 3DS launched over a year earlier. Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon arrived on 3DS in 2017 even though Nintendo Switch had launched. As a rule of thumb, Pokemon will always develop for whichever active console has the largest install base. We’ll certainly see Pokemon games on Nintendo Switch 2 eventually, but it’ll take time. In the meantime, the upcoming Pokemon Legends: Z-A will be playable on Nintendo Switch 2, though it’s currently unconfirmed if it will run or look better on the console compared to Switch 1.

Metroid is technically a possibility for a launch title. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has been in development for a long time now, and it’s confirmed for release on the existing Nintendo Switch. However, Nintendo could potentially pull a Breath of the Wild and launch the game on Switch and Switch 2, perhaps with better performance in the latter version. That said, because this is still a Switch 1 title at its core, Metroid Prime 4 wouldn’t count as a Switch 2 exclusive launch title. Another decent prediction is a new Super Smash Bros. game. Masahiro Sakurai has been working on a new project since roughly April 2022, and to this day we don’t know what exactly it is. It could wind up being something different, but given Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s massive success on Switch, it makes perfect sense that Nintendo would want to replicate that success on Switch 2. It’s also unknown if a new Smash on the system would be an enhanced port of Ultimate or a complete reboot with fewer characters (but with reworked movesets or new game modes to compensate). Do keep in mind that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be playable as-is on Nintendo Switch 2, so if a new Smash game is in fact an enhanced port of Ultimate, its sales may be impacted because you can simply play Ultimate instead of buying a completely new game. Something different is the most likely choice, in our opinion. A new Smash may not appear on Nintendo Switch 2 in its first year, but we will absolutely see it at some point down the line.

There are a few other Nintendo franchises we don’t expect to see: Kirby, Pikmin, Mario Party, or Xenoblade. In Kirby’s case, HAL Laboratory usually does not release a game on a new console until at least a year or two have passed – though it’s been a few years since Kirby and the Forgotten Land, so it’s technically possible but there is no precedent. Pikmin had a fairly recent entry in 2023, Mario Party had a recent entry in 2024, and Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is dropping in March 2025. Xenoblade games are really large and time-consuming, so releasing two of them during a small time frame might not be the best idea for player retention. Still, we’re really looking forward to what Monolith Soft can do with more powerful hardware.

To recap our predictions: Mario Kart is confirmed, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see a Splatoon game (or an equivalent online multiplayer-focused IP) or even mention of a new Super Smash Bros. at the Nintendo Switch 2 presentation in April. We assume a good chunk of the event will be dedicated to showing off the console’s features, too, so it won’t just be game announcement after game announcement, if we had to guess. There’s always a possibility that Nintendo goes for an oddball pick and shows off a brand-new IP – that’s almost impossible to predict, but it’s something we’d welcome regardless.

What do you expect or want to see from the Nintendo Switch 2 presentation, and which games do you think we’ll see from Nintendo during its first year? Feel free to let us know in the comments down below.