It's the end of an era. After 8 years and dominating the console market once again, Nintendo is moving on to their next home console after the Nintendo Switch appropriately titled the Nintendo Switch 2. After months of speculation following its initial reveal in January, the Nintendo Switch 2's first games have finally been revealed as well as the release date of June 5th, 2025 and price.
The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct began with the only title we knew about going into it, Mario Kart World. This was the perfect game to show off at the start because it highlights the graphical increase as well as the frame rate improvements. Additionally, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the best-selling Nintendo Switch game at 67.35 million units as of February 2025, so it makes sense to make the successor be a launch title exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2. It'll also be taking advantage of the new GameChat feature, which allows party chatting and screen sharing on a Nintendo console for the first time since it was experimented with on the WiiU.
Nintendo went on to explain the new features of the Nintendo Switch 2.
- GameShare — Play games that used to require multiple game cards with multiple people with 1 game.
- 7.9" screen (Nintendo Switch is 6.2") and 1080p screen that allows for HDR
- Up to 120FPS
- Joy-Con 2 Controllers connect magnetically
- Larger control sticks and SL/SR buttons
- Mouse controls with the optical sensors on the bottom of both sides of the Joy-Con 2s
- More dynamic audio including 3D audio on certain headphones
- Built-in microphone
- Adjustable stand on the back of the console
- 2 USB ports (bottom and top)
- 256 GB of internal storage (Nintendo Switch storage was only 32GB)
- The new dock has 4K resolution support with a built-in fan for ventilation
- GameCube titles on the Nintendo Classics service, formerly titled "Nintendo Switch Online."
Several Nintendo Switch titles are coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 with enhanced features, similar to what Sony and Microsoft have done with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, respectively. Most of these titles seem to add more than just graphical fidelity and higher, more stable frame rates. Nintendo gave details on what these enhancements will be on their website.
Super Mario Party Jamboree
- New modes that use mouse controls, the microphone, and a compatible USB-C camera
- GameShare compatibility
- WQHD (1440p) resolution in TV mode
- Mode exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2: Jamboree TV
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild / The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Support for the Zelda Notes service in the Nintendo Switch App
- Improved frame rates, resolution, and HDR support
- Faster load times
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
- New story mode titled Star-Crossed World
- Improved visuals and frame rate
Pokemon Legends: Z-A
- Improved performance, resolution and frame rate
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
- Support for mouse controls
- Enhanced resolution, textures, and load times
- Two display modes (Quality Mode with 60fps and a 4K resolution and Performance Mode with 120fps and 1080p resolution in TV mode/720p in handheld.
Despite being a Nintendo Switch 2 direct, there were only a handful of Nintendo Switch 2 exclusives revealed, as the majority of launch titles will be from third party partners. Nintendo themselves only had a handful of exclusives.
- Mario Kart World — First completely new Mario Kart title in 11 years, launching alongside the Nintendo Switch 2.
- Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour — Small game to explain the features of the Nintendo Switch 2 and play minigames. This game feels like it should be packed in.
- Drag X Drive — Basketball-like 3v3 game where you use the Joy-Con 2s in mouse mode to control your wheelchair and perform tricks.
- Kirby Air Riders — Sequel to the Gamecube racing title Kirby Air Ride. Super Smash Bros. director and Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai will be directing it. This will be his first time working on a Kirby game since the original Kirby Air Ride.
- Donkey Kong Bananza — 3D Action platformer featuring Donkey Kong where the entire environment appears to be destructible.
The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct had a lot of exciting information, but one of the largest topics of discussion was a crucial piece of info that was missing: the prices of the console and the games. The Nintendo Switch 2 will be released at $449.99 with a bundle with a download code for Mario Kart World at $499.99.
The price isn't outrageous when you compare it to the PlayStation 5 ($499 with a disc drive, $399 without) and Xbox Series X ($499 for the Series X, $299 for the Series S) when they launched in 2020. Since the GameCube, Nintendo systems have always been seen as the affordable option as they were focusing on a more casual audience. The Switch 2 being comparable in price to the half-decade old consoles from Sony and Microsoft is expected, given the world's economic climate post 2020.
What really left a bad taste in the fans' mouths was the price of the games. Since games have moved on to HD, the big budget titles were typically released for $59.99. Since 2020, Sony and Microsoft changed the MSRP to $69.99 for their larger titles. Nintendo, still working with 2017's Nintendo Switch, kept their big budget games at $59.99 until The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom released in 2023 for $69.99 to much criticism. One was the fact that it is asking for a premium for a game largely based on its predecessor, Breath of the Wild. Another major criticism was about the precedent that it'd set.
Fast-forward to after the Nintendo Switch 2 direct and the game's prices are revealed on theirs and retailers' websites. Donkey Kong Bananza is the expected $69.99, but the egregious pricing is in Mario Kart World's $79.99, a $20 increase in Nintendo's big titles from previous years. If Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is any indication, Mario Kart World — especially with it being Nintendo's only first party title launching on June 5th, will most likely end up one of the top-selling games during Nintendo Switch 2's life. Charging a premium for a game that is sure to be a best seller may be a good idea business-wise, but it doesn't do anything to earn the graces of your customers.
Mario Kart World isn't the only game to charge $20 above the previous generation. Several of the Switch games being released on Switch 2 with additional features such as both Legend of Zelda titles and Kirby and the Forgotten Land are $79.99 despite all but Tears of the Kingdom being $59.99 when they launched. You do have the option to pay for the Switch 2 upgrade, but that doesn't change the fact that they're charging over 30% more in some cases for a few new features.
There are a few reasons Nintendo could be charging more for games this time around (besides your typical corporate greed). The prices could be higher due to inflation and the rising cost of development, but development cost has increased before and the cost of games has never gone up this drastically. The other reason could be the tarrifs imposed on our allies by Trump.
While Nintendo fans were eagerly awaiting news of the Nintendo Switch 2, the rest of the United States was waiting for Trump's tariffs announcements on his so-called "liberation day." These tariffs are widely sweeping and affect many of our trade partners — including 24% on Japan, where Nintendo is headquartered. It's reasonable to assume that the tariffs factored into the price of the system and games.
At least, that was the theory until the morning of April 4th, 2025. Pre-orders were set to start worldwide on April 9th, but Nintendo made the unprecedented move to delay them for the US, and they cited Trump's tariffs for the cause. Like many other industries around the country, Nintendo's workers are unsure if they are going to wait for the tariffs to end (if they end before June) or if Nintendo is going to increase the price.
If Nintendo increases the price, it's not going to go over well for the fanbase. On Apr. 3 and 4, Nintendo hosted two livestreams from their "Treehouse" where Nintendo of America employees played Nintendo Switch 2 games live on YouTube. The comments, which was always known for being level-headed place online, were flooded with people demanding Nintendo to "drop the price." This has already put heat on Nintendo, and any further price hike may do harm to Nintendo's image that will cast a shadow over the entire console generation.
Whether Nintendo decides to increase the price or not is to be determined. For now, all fans can do is wait and speculate while they dream of owning the most powerful Nintendo console during the most volatile American economy.
