Nintendo Showcases Every Partner Direct Switch 2 Game In New Infographic

I think the amount that are coming to both is going to get old soon, where are the ports that would never have worked on switch 1? Starting to get worrying what is actually in the pipeline, especially with lack of dates for some in this list.

I think we're due a second direct with Nintendo and the larger third party efforts in August now that the quarterly financial report has been released. There's still some gaps and unknowns in the release schedule. I hope these things aren't revealed casually on the Nintendo Today app though.

I'm sure the replies were totally normal to that post.

Look at all of those game key cards!

Worst partner Direct yet since most of the “physical” games are fake games.

What about the Japanese direct though?

I think it's starting to dawn on some people that they bought the Switch 2 based on hype, without really understanding the usage cases that made it a good fit. Don't get me wrong, there are a ton of people for whom the Switch 2 is a great choice, but it's not a console for everyone ... at least not yet.

If you already have a decent PC or a current Gen console, this year the Switch 2 is going to offer mostly games you already own with lower performance at higher prices, or the worst performance option for multiplatform games. I think that's why a lot of people felt let down by this direct ... but honestly, I don't see how this caught anyone off guard. This is exactly what we should have been expecting, based on the marketing we've seen to date.

And if you're the Switch 2's actual core market, people who owned a Switch and nothing else, this was fine. More of the games you've wanted to play for years now coming to a system you actually own, and fewer and fewer multiplatform games you don't have access to.

So it just comes down to why you bought a Switch 2. If, despite every bit of evidence to the contrary, you thought Nintendo would deliver tons of exclusives and exciting partner content, yeah, this was very disappointing. But that's kinda on you ...

If you bought it to finally have accuses to games you were locked out of because you didn't own a console, this was ... fine. Not amazing, but fine.

These „Game-Key Cards suck!“ comments get boring. Many if not most of these games would have been digital-only or on small cartridges with „additional download required“ on NS1.

That said, Nintendo should finally offer the option to put NS2-only games on small (and cheap) NS1 cartridges. If a full installation onto the internal storage is required to provide high loading speeds for the proper NS2 experience, so be it.

This all feels very WiiU/3DS (early adopters). Nintendo got a big head after the Wii+DS/Switch, and so they go full throttle with weird, tone-deaf, and anti-consumer practices all without looking at what the current demands gamers have in their own sphere as well as the broader sphere. The third party support is pretty lackluster. Hardly any big hitters from other consoles, no real exclusives outside of From Soft (which wasn’t featured), and no upgrade packs announced for any major third party games where you would expect it.

I don’t see this working out in Nintendo’s favor.

@Max_the_German

They are also extremely counter productive. The response to push back over game keys isn't going to be a shift toward full games on cartridge, it's going to be a shift away from any physical release at all.

I get that it sucks and no one is happy, but people should see game keys for what they are ... a game that WAS NOT going to get a physical release, period, getting a game key as a compromise.

Personally, I was hoping third party devs would be more aggressive with getting their games on the system. There were some neat announcements but I expected more.

Hopefully by year 2, we will start seeing more simultaneous releases.

@TheExile285

It's really hard to have solid gameplay footage or roadmaps in July when you got your dev kit in June. I think that fact seriously doesn't get enough attention and is overlooked. Nintendo didn't give out dev kits to most developers until after release. Some studios still don't have one.

That's why we are really only seeing small, uncomplicated, minimalistic games built on a largely platform independent engine like Unreal where the developer is confident the port wont be resource intensive, or games from the few developers that got dev kits ahead of time. For everyone else, it's simply too soon to commit to a port.

And if your plan was to launch on Switch 2 as your lead console, your game is AT BEST 55 days into development. You likely don't have much to show.

@MegaChem Yep, the game key cards only give access to the game, they’re not the games themselves, although they’re being sold under the title “physical games”, that is untrue.

@HeadPirate I don't think you have any evidence to suggest these key card games would be digital only if key cards didn't exist.

In fact given that all the biggest publishers who could afford full cards are doing it I find that idea a bit preposterous.

This whole "Game Key Card" thing would be a lot better (though obviously not great) if you didn't have to have the key card in EVERY time. Like, once every month? Every two weeks? Something like that? Free up that card slot for other physical games that have the decency to be all on the cartridge.

@HeadPirate While that is true for a lot of studios, what about the studios that had dev kits in advance for launch titles. Namco Bandai is the biggest culprit for this because while I'm glad the new DBZ game is coming, I had hoped they would announce ports for games like Digimon Story Time Stranger, MY HERO ACADEMIA: ALL's Justice, etc too.

Just worried this is gonna be like Switch 1's launch where we just straight up miss out on a lot of releases.

I can count at least 5 games that interest me from that list. It amazes me how people can completely discount certain games just because they aren't AAA mega blockbusters.

@HeadPirate thank you for understanding this, the number of people saying that Nintendo should have forced only full cart releases recently is ridiculous.

That doesn't mean we would have more full cart games, it would just mean more code in a box or digital only games. I get people are upset but trying to blame the slow death of physical media on Nintendo for not holding publishers at gun point to pay for the carts is really silly.

People love to say "the publishers could afford to do it" but if the publisher's share holders don't want to pay the upfront cost for carts on top of development then we get digital only and that is way more likely to happen than them thinking every game deserves a huge upfront manufacturing cost.

People have no proof that smaller cards would be cheaper or that publishers would be willing to sell games that come with an additional massive price tag, and yet they expect these companies with millions of customers to subsidize their preferred method of play.

It ain't happening guys, either collect old games or accept physical is on the way out and GKCs were an attempt to save them, don't act like Nintendo or publishing companies being cheap caused this.

Although some people honest to god think that major game producers should make decisions that cost inordinate amounts of and probably lose their jobs to get replaced anyway just to satisfy their desire for games on cards, but I don't think we can argue with irrationality.

@HeadPirate : That's what third parties want people to think. They only care about their bottom line, hence why they often rush unfinished crap to shelves and "physical" releases with little to nothing on the supplied media, regardless of platform.

It's the fact that the masses lap up their anti-consumer slop that third parties continue to get away with it. Something's got to give, and I'm glad that people here are being vocal about their disdain for "key cards". The relative minority of releases that were released as such on Switch 1 were problematic enough, but there needs to be pushback if we are going to see any material difference to the way that third parties do business going forward.

Nintendo deserves a good chunk of the blame for even allowing the practice to take place on their platforms in the first place. I imagine that had Nintendo still been ruled under Iwata's thumb that we would never have seen such disdainful practices propagate on their platforms, even at the expense of putting off the less scrupulous of third party publishers.

Nintendo were also extremely short-sighted for not allowing Switch 1 cartridges to be repurposed for Switch 2 games, particularly those that do not require the (rumoured) 64GB storage or increased read speeds. Releases such as Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S, Octopath Traveller 0, Shadow Labyrinth, Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac, all of these should have had proper Switch 2 physical releases, cross-compatible with the Switch 1, without the need for the higher capacity/speed media.

@Medic_alert : LRG/Sega's physical release of Yakuza Kiwami shipped on a 32GB cartridge for a mere US$35. That's budget price territory for far, far smaller games.

We routinely get third parties skimping on cartridges when they charge $60, and now even $70! I refuse to believe for a second that these cartridges are anywhere near as expensive as some have been speculating if a 32GB cartridge can be sold for as little as US$35.

@SillyG

Your own argument is completely negated by you first statement.

3rd parties are only concerned with their bottom line. Therefore, if physical games where profitable, they would sell them. If demand for full games on cart justified the associated costs, they would offer them to make money, the thing that you said was their only motivation.

The lack of investment in physical media, again, by your own argument, is proof physical media is not sustainable or profitable enough. You can't expect any company to sell a product they do not make profit from, nor can you fault a company for responding to a decline in demand by no longer selling a product.

That's why it's so hard to get a good 8 track player at Walmart. That's not a conspiracy and no one is to "blame" ... it's just how markets work. And while that sucks for the few people who still want 8 track players, it's time for them to accept that they have become a marginalized minority and that expecting companies to cater to them is completely unrealistic. At some point you need to ask yourself if responding to every new CD release with "WHAT, NO 8 TRACK RELEASE?" is really the hill you want to die on. And I don't think you can blame people for being tired of hearing it.

@HeadPirate "I get that it sucks and no one is happy, but people should see game keys for what they are ... a game that WAS NOT going to get a physical release, period, getting a game key as a compromise."

I don't think this is actually true, though. If Game-Key Cards weren't a thing, a lot of these games—the vast majority of them, probably—would have physical versions. In many cases they might be more expensive than they are, but they'd have physical versions.

I would gladly pay $60 for that new version of Bravely Default if it were a true physical game and didn't take up a bunch of space on my SD card. I would have bought it Day 1 at $60. Instead it's effectively digital-only and $40, but I won't be paying more than $20 for it. I can wait a year or two.

So little of what appears on the S2 list seems to require the hardware in any way. As is typical for a new system, most of the first year is usually filled with port-ins of titles that were already in the works for the last generation and the devs add a few upgrades where code isn't complete.

I look forward to 2026, when ACTUAL S2 titles arrive. Perhaps the whole brouhaha over Game Keys will subside, though I think most devs aren't going to backpedal as I'm virtually certain that the price for a game on card is more favorable to Nintendo than to the dev.

@HeadPirate : How could they possibly gauge a "decline in demand" when they haven't even bothered testing the waters? The fact that early sales data indicated that Cyberpunk 2077 has been outselling "key card" releases (in spite of its higher retail price and older-skewing target audience) negates the point that you thought you made.

And to compare this situation with media that was rendered obsolete some four decades ago? 🤦 Nobody here was bemoaning the unavailability of obsolete media. If you wanted a better analogy, you could have pointed out the obvious reasons why Nintendo no longer produces or manufactures games for their older hardware, but that's not even remotely the point that anybody here was trying to make.

And regarding that ridiculous analogy, CD is an objectively superior format. Those who want to continue to listen to music from their favourite artists still have the option to do so, given that they were willing to upgrade (and even proceed to convert them to obsolete formats, if one so chooses), just as gamers will have to upgrade to newer hardware in order to play the latest games. Again, not the point.

The difference between music and games in this context is that we are outright denied the option to own a lot of current generation software, while a lot of music is still available to own (whether as physical discs/records or audio files).

@SillyG

If companies only care about money, and selling games on carts is in demand and will make them money, why don't they do it?

Look man, I totally get that you want physical games. Power to you. I respect your right to that opinion and that desire.

I just really wish you would accept that most companies don't want to sell you physical games, respect their right to THAT opinion, and stop trying to make every conversation about how you don't.

My wallet feels good after deciding not to buy a Switch 2 at launch. This confirms that feeling

Welp my wishlist is going to have a fit. So many new games to buy!

@BBBBBBBBBBB

I mean, I get it. People are upset that a product they want, or in some cases may even be required for how they enjoy video games, is going away. There is nothing unreasonable about that.

I'm old. There used to be this thing called "TV" and it would play "shows" that you didn't have any control over. You couldn't pause or rewind and the only way you could watch them was be being at the TV at a given time. Insane, right? Anyways, it was pretty common when one of these "shows" would get cancelled that people would complain about it for months. The arguments were basically the same; it was just greedy corporations looking for more profitable shows even though a lot of people still wanted to watch the old ones.

So I can understand where people are at right now. But believe me, if people are going to get this upset every time a product they love gets discontinued, by the time they are my age they are going to be VERY bitter. I'm just doing what I can to spread future happiness!

I think the game I’m most excited for is Once Upon a Katamari. Good to see the series in a healthy state at this point.

Very interested in Hela!

Besides that not much for me.

Love to see that after a break of almost 2 months, coming back to NL feels like having missed only 1 week worth of news with 90% of their news here being for unsubstantial information or available in another article.
Making 5 news out of Bananza for each little details when everything can be condensed into one, now that's dedication!

@Broch83 Hela looks promising. While watching the trailer, for a moment I thought it looked like Bloober Team game, then dismissed it, only to see their logo at the end They're a bit inconsistent as a developer but I'm hopeful this will be one of their good ones.

@SpontaneousOutburst Raising prices isn't anti-consumer, especially when they're making a big announcement letting everyone know they're doing it.

If you wanted to argue raising prices is going to price people out, that isn't anti-consumer, its just bad business.

@Axecon My wallet feels good after buying it. And quite a few games from this direct confirmed that for me as well.

I'm looking forward to cronos....now if I'll be playing on switch 2 is a question I can't answer yet

It was a very weak Direct. Perhaps the weakest I've seen from Nintendo in a while.
If their intention was to entice ppl to buy more Switches, I doubt that this Direct will persuade them to do it.

Yeah I'll be buying anything I want from this list on Steam if they'll be available there. Game key cards can go to heck. I'd rather not have third party support at all at this rate because it feels essentially non existent like this anyway.

A hand full of nothing. We’re 2 months into the Switch 2’s life. These are some of the games that were anounced for GameCube 2 months after its release:
Soul calibur 2
Zelda Wind waker
Luigi’s mansion
Mario sunshine
Resident evil 1-3 remake
Resident evil 0
Resident evil 4
Final fantasy
1080 avalanche
Starfox adventures
Eternal darkness
Crazy taxi
Pikmin
Animal crossing
Star wars rogue leader
Wave race
Smash bros melee
Metroid prime
Mario kart double dash

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

So I played the adventures of Elliot demo.

This is 2D Zelda with Final Fantasy Tactics Sprites in 2DHD.

And honestly, that’s pretty damn good.

Still would like a “of mana game” with 2DHD or even a “Tales” game (bandai), but I also really like 2d zelda games.

The problem I had with this Direct, which in my mind, goes down as one of the worst in recent history, is the timing of it. The Switch 2 just came out. People are clamoring for new games to buy for it. Most have Mario Kart World and people are starting to finish Donkey Kong Bananza, so what's next? This was the opportunity to give some release dates for things like Metroid Prime 4 and Kirby Air Riders. This was the time to start sharing some big time games coming to Switch 2, like Red Dead Redemption 2. This was the time to give people dates on Final Fantasy VII Remake and Elden Ring. Instead, we got Just Dance, a game that has been on every console for 20ish years now, and a long preview for a campfire cozy simulator.

I love the Switch 2 and I'm having fun with it, but the offerings are slim right now. Mario Kart World is fun, Donkey Kong Bananza was fantastic, and I'm enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 and Street Fighter 6, but there has to be more than that, especially for a brand new console. This direct would have been fine if this was year three, but releasing this when you haven't even been on the market for two months yet is tone deaf and concerning.

@SillyG Well said👌🏻

@PikminMarioKirby correction, the cartridges are fake. As long as it makes me able to play a game, the game is never fake

Physical media is dying, it's nonexistent on PC, the next Xbox likely won't support physical and Playstation won't be far behind as 95% of game sales are digital for them already. Nintendo will eventually be the same, I wouldn't be surprised if we see an digital only Switch 2 launch in a few years time. Selling digital games cheaper than the physical version is them trying to convince you to go digital, key cards are already making you go digital just in a round about way.

There's nothing anyone can do to stop this trajectory, best get used it as there's no where to turn to as every other platform is even more digital focussed, either stop complaining or just give up playing games altogether when the time comes.

Alright, at least one positive for me now: I tried out the Adventures of Elliot demo, and I really like this game! Didn't expect to like it as much as I do, but they sold me on getting the game at least.

What form my purchase will take, I'll have to see, but it will absolutely not be a game key card purchase. I would like to be able to play this game plenty of times in the future and not have to rely on it still being up on the eshop, thank you very much.

@HeadPirate

“I get that it sucks and no one is happy, but people should see game keys for what they are ... a game that WAS NOT going to get a physical release, period, getting a game key as a compromise.”

That seems like a pretty shaky assumption. Maybe the rare indie title, but for big publishers? Seems highly unlikely. They just go with the cheapest, easiest option—as businesses tend to do.

And yeah, when those decisions clearly don’t benefit consumers, it’s no surprise people get frustrated. If you’re fine with it, that’s good for you—but it doesn’t mean the criticism isn’t valid.

@StratThe

You can WANT anything you like. The problem isn't with wanting a bunch of new games, it's with expecting a bunch of new games, when every bit of information we got from Nintendo, Nintendo's partners, and 3rd party game developers said otherwise.

Nintendo's been VERY clear about the fact that they didn't take any teams off Switch games to work on Switch 2 games, how only a handful of partners were given dev kits, and how no dev kits where given to any 3rd parties. They flat out told people the first year would focus on ports, and even they would come slowly.

You can argue that maybe that's not the best way to handle a new system, sure. But if you bought a system KNOWING FULL WELL that was Nintendo's plan ... you have no leg to stand on when it comes to be upset about them doing exactly what they told you they were going to do.

Not to motion the fact that this lineup is unprecedently large. The Switch only had 10 games at launch, and had only confirmed 11 more after 4 months. So a 21 game showcase after 55 days, adding to the 22-25 launch titles isn't bad, and I don't think anyone should have been expecting more then twice the number of games the Switch had.

So, no, not blaming anyone for wanting a first party, new release focused console. I wanted that too. But the Switch 2 never claimed to be that.

@Yosher That's pretty much where I'm at. The Switch 2 is just gonna be a first party title machine for me.

And even if I'm playing "handheld" I usually do that at home on the couch anyway, where I have the option to Sunshine/Moonlight stream any game from my more powerful gaming PC to any device in the house, whether it be my phone, laptop, HTPC, or my CFW OG Switch, so third party titles have reasonably little use for me, aside from the very rare occasions I might take the Switch 2 out somewhere traveling.

I'm into vinyl -and even music cassette tapes- collecting which is a novelty, but I don't find the appeal for video game physical media. I think there's too much talk about game-key thingie which is something that don't affect gameplay. Still if you have fun collecting boxes I can relate

It would have to be a generational, once in multiple lifetimes, quadruple-A, 11/10 (Spinal Tap: The Game?), play-this-yesterday-if-not-before title to get me to even consider going for a Game Key Card.

EA monkey-pawed Madden by making it a GKC when they didn't have to. Ergo, my 4½ decade plus NFL/WLAF/NFL-E/NCAA/AFL/XFL/UFL/UFL*/ELF-following ass is going nowhere near.

• Yes, there's been two distinct UFL entities. The second is a merger of XFL v3 and USFL v2.

Was going to get shinobi but it's not on cartridge so will be skipping and I'm not intrested in most of the games here

Monster hunter stories 3 can’t come soon enough!

@StratThe

I could totally get behind what you're saying if the main point here was that Nintendo mislead people. But they just didn't.

Here is every official Nintendo commercial for the Switch 2. There are 4 games IN TOTAL featured in them, and the only unreleased game is Mario Kart World.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-m4g53BhDI&list=PLztuFPRnw-7BW_A2i0xPCLFjjSAfZ2qmF&index=1

The Switch 2 direct features about 13 games, with only 5 of them being unreleased. It makes no claims that tons of other games are coming soon or are even in the works. More time is devoted to the features of the system then to showing off games. So if your expectation is that there were going to be a ton of games out really soon ... where did you get that from? Who said that? Certainly not Nintendo.

So I don't think Nintendo is in any way responsible for expectations that people just made up on their own with no evidence. I'm not sure why that is contraveral. I also think that people are accountable for researching large purchases to ensure it's the right product for them. Again, can't see why that's contraveral. You speak to expectations set by "the media", but again, if you choose to listen to outside sources rather then trusting the information that's contained in official advertising from Nintendo, that's on you. Nintendo isn't accountable to the expectations set by people they have no control over, only to the expectations they set for themselves.

If someone needs a car for them and their 5 children and buys a FAIT 500, I don't think it's "victim blaming" to say you probably should have researched that a bit more. You bought the wrong car, and it's not FAIT's fault. It would be different if FAIT was advertising the 500 as a prefect car for large families ... but they are not. Just like Nintendo isn't advertising the Switch 2 as having a ton of games and new releases.

@HeadPirate This. As someone who always wanted to play games coming to other platforms, getting stuff like Elden Ring and FF7R on Switch 2 is a dream come true. See big that Persona 3 Reloaded is coming to Switch made the Direct for me.

No matter how much you polish it, promote it, or push it, this is quite possibly the worst lineup ever.

@HeadPirate Fellow oldie here. Im at the point where Im no longer interested in stuff and particularly stuff sat on a shelf doing nothing.

I think the other point on physical for me is the ability to run it in 20 years. Modern hardware isn't going to last like the old consoles of today do.

I've moved on as I did with all of the iterations since floppy disks. Physical to digital is just the latest iteration. Digital to streaming will be next.

Nintendo managed to make me a retro gamer with their new console and two games. Well done...

There is nothing to look forward to in the direct.

Why the #Nintendo partner direct left me feeling rather cold.

https://metro.co.uk/2025/08/02/nintendo-partner-direct-left-wondering-ambition-readers-feature-23814091/

Can't believe it's happening, but I think we're actually entering the dark ages of Nintendo. What the hell is going on with them, can't believe they've dropped the ball this hard on Switch 2.

@HeadPirate I personally don't think anyone is misleading anyone. The point here is that people are simply excited about the new console, right or wrong they want to experience new stuff on the new console knowing full well what is capable of, they want to see it put to good use as quickly as possible. That's all. So they're disappointed after that last direct. You are saying they shouldn't be because nothing was promised. Ok I respect you're happy to wait. That's fine.

I’m still in pain that there’s no Switch 2 version of Katamari. What a missed opportunity 😭

I really hope the next proper direct blows people away with new games. Clearly these third party games aren’t doing it for the vocal minority. Meanwhile I’ll go back to enjoying MKW, DKB and my massive Switch OG backlog

@Max_the_German

Get used to them. It's a terrible, anti-consumer practice, and people are rightfully defiant against it. Just because you're okay to accept lowered standards, doesn't mean the rest of the world is - and we'll push against it as long as we feel the need to.

@HeadPirate

Your comparison is invalid. Your argument implies that digital-only and key-card releases are superior to full physical releases. Key cards are a step backwards in several ways*, whereas going from 8-track to cassette, and then compact disc saw a massive improvement in sound quality and usability.

There is no inherent advantage to having a key card that requires moving physical media, without the benefits of that physical media semi-permanence. It's costing more to manufacture, it's worse for the environment, it negates the enjoyment of collecting, and it's flat out lame.

These companies could at least just put the full game on the cartridge and raise the cost if they're so focused on their bottom lines.

Truth be told, when I hear people say "these anti-key card arguments are getting on my nerves", what's really being said is "I'm okay with disappointment and lowered standards, and you should be too". Also, I'm hearing "corporate profits are more important than your enjoyability".

As if many of these companies aren't swimming in dough from expanded and collector versions marked up for a few cheap pieces of plastic or releasing wave after wave of dlc isn't allowing these companies to make money hand over fist. And in my opinion, that's fine, but those standards are as low as I'm willing to go. The key-card situation is greed, plain and simple.

@electrolite77 all the games that I mentioned, except for Mario Kart and Resident Evil 4, came out during GameCube’s first year. Still, by December 2001, two months after GameCube was released in Japan, all of them were already anounced (even RE4, which came out in 2005)

@Broch83 Just realised I got my Hela and Cronos mixed up. You must have wondered what I was talking about.