What To Expect When You’re Expecting A New Console – Editorial

In a few short months, I will have been involved with Nintendo World Report for 17 years. Outside of that causing me to have some degree of existential dread due to the passage of time, it also means that the lead up to the Switch successor isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been embedded in this world for the likes of Project Cafe (the Wii U) and the NX (Switch), and while the success for each platform is wildly different, recurring patterns emerge. As we sit here in January 2025, mere days or weeks away from a reveal of just what exactly the “Switch successor” is, here are a few things to keep in mind while you await your next Nintendo console.

The Truth Is Less Exciting Than The Rumors

Whether the Switch 2 comes out in April or 2026, the reality that’s shaping up is that this will not be a gigantic leap forward, at least in the way some of the talks out there have shaped up. It would be a huge change for Nintendo to have a bleeding-edge system because after all, this is a company that released a console in 2017 based on years-old technology. That console wound up becoming one of the best-selling ones of all time.

Without diving into specific rumors, the word out in the ether is that the form factor and overall style will be relatively similar. It’ll be a step forward, but it’s not going to triumphantly surpass the Steam Deck. Also it’s likely not going to be an OLED screen. Yes, I’m bummed about that too.

Expect A Surprise or Two

Going into the full rollout of the Wii U in 2012, the “surprises” weren’t the most thrilling things but there were still games we did not fully know about going into its full reveal. E3 2012 brought about Nintendo Land and PlatinumGames’ The Wonderful 101. The September 2012 event that confirmed the November release date revealed that Bayonetta 2 was coming. These were all things that weren’t telegraphed beforehand.

Going into January 2017’s Switch release date event, we did know a new Mario was coming due to the October Switch name reveal trailer and at the time, there was already chatter about a new 3D Mario coming out. Comically, we have the same chatter now, especially since it’s been four years since that team last worked on something substantial in the form of Bowser’s Fury. But in the days leading up to January 2017, no one knew about 1-2 Switch or Arms. Those were legitimate surprises.

It’s logical that Nintendo will trot out Mario, whether it’s a new game from the EPD Tokyo team responsible for Odyssey and Bowser’s Fury or a brand new Mario Kart. It’s also logical that some internal team at Nintendo is going to reveal some wild new concept for a game that heavily leverages whatever gimmick is yet to be revealed for the Switch 2. I will sit here hoping for Ring Fit Adventure 2 in year one.

Count Your Lucky Remasters

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a port of a game released three years before the Switch came out, was one of the Switch’s best-selling games. I do not know what game Nintendo will try to put in that spot for Switch 2, but bet your bottom dollar that Nintendo will have a remaster or three in the first 12 months of the new console.

The darkest one would be Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Deluxe, especially because that game would probably still be guaranteed to sell 30 million copies, but looking at the very few Wii U games left untouched and the first few years of the Switch, I see a couple of likely options.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild HD (which would be a hilarious name) seems like a real possibility, especially with some reports of a nicer-looking Breath of the Wild being used to show off the power of the new console. As far as other Switch games from 2017, Fire Emblem Warriors: Definitive Edition and Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Monolith Made It To The Right Console Spec This Time seem like things that could exist. Glancing at 2018, maybe Super Smash Bros. Ultimate gets an ulimate-r release. Depending on what the Switch 2’s gimmick is, Nintendo Land could finally come back from the dead or maybe 2025 can be the year where everyone comes around on Star Fox Zero. If Breath of the Wild doesn’t get the remaster nod, maybe we finally see the long threatened Wind Waker and Twilight Princess ports. There are a lot of possibilities and that’s without even mentioning Kirby, who has a Wii game (Epic Yarn), a Wii U game (Rainbow Curse), and two 3DS games (Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot) that haven’t come to Switch yet.

Maybe Nintendo even looks a little later for a remaster. Why make a whole new Animal Crossing when you can try to have lightning strike twice with an upgraded port of New Horizons?

The Original Switch Won’t Be Dead Yet

While Nintendo has confirmed backwards compatibility so any new Switch 1 release will in theory be playable on the successor, it’s still to be expected that Nintendo will have a few remaining OG Switch games in the hopper in 2025. As of now, the farthest we have a game with a date is Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition on March 20. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Pokémon Legends Z-A are also announced for 2025.

Even if the Switch 2 comes out in April or May, I would still expect a handful of Switch 1 releases in that time period or later. It’ll likely be low-ceiling or low-cost projects (which has honestly been the MO of the Switch for the past year), but we could still see some cool stuff. I still place a lot of doubt on Metroid Prime 4: Beyond being a cross-gen game, largely because unlike Zelda, Metroid has never had a wide appeal. For context, the entirety of the Metroid series has roughly sold the same as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I’m extremely stoked for a new Metroid Prime, but that game doesn’t really have the proven legs to put the cross-gen resources into it. Especially when you have backwards compatibility and have it there as a chaser for the fanbase.

Looking to the past (and I understand it’s not a 1:1 comp), the 3DS had 20 games come out from Nintendo after the Switch came out. That output won’t be the same due to back compat and the different situation Nintendo finds themselves in, but if Nintendo’s going to be releasing a Fire Emblem remake, weird Kirby spinoffs, or a Metroid game, it’s probably coming to the older thing.

Deep Breaths

To tie into the dumb joke in the title of the article, let’s talk about the concept of lamaze. It’s a common technique used for birthing that focuses a lot on using deep breathing and other relaxation concepts to reduce the pain of giving birth. It’s silly to look at a method to make an entire human being coming out of your body less painful and tie it into a new video game console, but here we are. Take deep breaths. Reddit and forum threads will not have all the answers as to when Nintendo will reveal their new system. Nintendo has stated they will discuss it more before March 31, 2025. You can just sit back and wait for the busy morning in the next few weeks where Nintendo says “it’s time” and we all sit back to watch some hot marketing materials. The Switch 2 is coming. It will hopefully be cool. Relax and enjoy the ride. If you missed out on one of the thousand or so games on Switch, now’s the time to catch up, and you can rest easy because Switch 2 will be backwards compatible (as confirmed by Nintendo).