Our Hopes And Predictions For The Switch 2 Nintendo Direct

John Walker: I have this weird suspicion that Nintendo’s going to go low. I realize $400 seems like the lowest possible price for the tech, and Nintendo is known for never selling consoles at a loss, but I also think there’s a reason it went for the LCD instead of the OLED. I have a feeling it’s going to be $350.

Zack Zwiezen: Finally, I get a chance to bring out my magical crystal ball that can tell the future. I’m looking into it now, and it shows me $400.

Kenneth Shepard: 599 U.S. Dollars.

Ethan Gach: Based purely on the rules for winning The Price is Right I’m going with $450. Also I think it makes a separate bundle with a game for $500 an easy upsell. There will also be some question about how much of the sticker price is in anticipation of consequences from Trump’s ongoing trade war.

Zack Zwiezen: It’s been reported that Nintendo is aiming for June, which seems very plausible. The OG Switch was announced about five months before it launched in March 2017. A June 2025 launch is about six months after Nintendo revealed the Switch 2. I could just check my crystal ball, but I don’t need to. June 2025 is the launch window.

Kenneth Shepard: Shadow dropped on April 2 right after the direct. Nintendo will harken back to the original Wii marketing campaign and show up to your house with the Switch 2 and a square card reader in hand.

Ethan Gach: The June vibes have been intensifying but I wouldn’t be shocked to see it slip to August instead.

Zack Zwiezen: I’m not a big Nintendo gamer. The only thing I really desperately want and need at the launch of Switch 2 is a shiny new 3D Mario game. Give me a new Mario game as big and awesome as Odyssey, and I’ll buy a Switch 2 on day one. Considering the last big 3D Mario game was Super Mario Odyssey, released in 2017, it seems like we are due for a new one.

John Walker: It’d be weird if there weren’t a new Super Mario, right? My wish is for something that realizes the amazing promise of Bowser’s Fury, an open-world-ish 3D Mario game with all the imaginative innovations Nintendo could do with all that space. It’d be crazy if there weren’t Wind Waker and Twilight Princess remakes, but then it’s been crazy that those haven’t happened for every year of the original Switch, too. Can we all agree to collectively boo if there’s word of a Pikmin 5?

Kenneth Shepard: Breath of the Wild 3 and a Pokemon MMO.

Ethan Gach: Donkey Kong Country 6, some first-party gimmick party game called, like, Mouse Attack or something, and a port of Sea of Thieves.

Zack Zwiezen: The rumored ability to use a Joy-Con as a mouse sounds wild and could make it easier to port PC-only things to Switch 2, though I have a feeling Nintendo will still require all games to be playable without using the mouse feature.

Kenneth Shepard: The Switch 2 can do your taxes for you, which is why it’s shadow dropping: so it can get in people’s homes before taxes are due.

Ethan Gach: GameCube games will get added to Switch Online via the Expansion Pack Deluxe. Paying extra for this will also be the only way to utilize voice chat. The Virtual Console will return to the eShop, but NES games will be $10 each, with $10 added on for each subsequent console generation. There will be no built-in social media sharing. You’ll be able to share save files with the people on your friends list.

John Walker: I’m at my most pessimistic here. As I’ve bemoaned previously, I think this is just going to be a better Switch, and as such lack that Nintendo weirdness you’d usually expect in a follow-up console. I really hope I’m wrong.

Zack Zwiezen: Perhaps the C button is just the new screenshot button and C stands for capture? That would be a really boring answer. Another option is that C stands for connect and this will be the button you use to sync stuff or maybe even connect to an OG Switch? The wildest idea I’ve come up with: The C button stands for camera. In this scenario, you’ll be able to hit it, and the Switch 2 controller will become a virtual in-game camera controlled via motion in games that support photo modes. The truth is that I don’t know what the C button will do, but hopefully it’s not something annoying that makes me hate using the Switch 2.

John Walker: I think it stands for “Connect.” It’ll auto-connect to other Switch 2s in the room, and other joy-cons, allowing instant co-op and game sharing.

Kenneth Shepard: C stands for “Car horn,” so the Switch 2 honks if you press it.

Ethan Gach: The C button stands for ChatGPT integration and will summon a Shigeru Miyamoto MiiBot that gives you tips for playing games.

Zack Zwiezen: Mobile chips and hardware have come a long way since 2017, so I expect the Switch 2 will be a much more capable machine and should be able to run most new games, though likely at lower framerates or resolutions. Interestingly, I wonder if the Steam Deck’s success in recent years has helped devs get better at optimizing settings for a portable, smaller device with a limited battery. If so, that could be very helpful for Switch 2 ports.

Kenneth Shepard: It will be powerful enough to run old Switch games like they should have run on the last one, god willing.

Ethan Gach: People are going to be asking for a Switch 2 Pro by Christmas.

Zack Zwiezen: Yuuuuuuuuuuup. I expect that for the following 20 months or so, getting your hands on a Switch 2 will involve scanning Discord servers, religiously following Wario64 on Twitter for stock updates, and being ready to drop everything at a moment’s notice to snag one before a thousand resellers show up with bots to vacuum up any units that arrive in warehouses or stores. Or you might be able to pay triple the price to get a Switch 2 via eBay. But don’t do that. Don’t reward the resellers.

Ethan Gach: Absolutely not. I think pre-orders might be touch-and-go, especially if there’s little to no scalper protection and resellers are inflating demand. But I also think Nintendo delayed this console by a full year to make sure it had enough stock so that you could walk into a Target or Best Buy once school is out and upgrade to a Switch 2. The alternative is Nintendo risks a small but not insignificant group of Switch owners upgrading to a PS5 or Steam Deck instead.

Zack Zwiezen: Grand Theft Auto V. Rockstar brought the GTA Trilogy to Switch, as well as some other games. But GTA V remains unavailable on Nintendo hardware. That’s a huge market that could be buying Shark Cards in GTA Online. And with GTA 6 unlikely to arrive on Switch 2, GTA V might be the next best thing. And hey, maybe a GTA IV port, too. I also wouldn’t be shocked if some more Xbox games arrived on Switch 2. Forza Horizon 5 on a Switch 2 sounds splendid.

Ethan Gach: I expect Microsoft to load up the Switch 2 with former Xbox console exclusives including Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the rumored Gears of War anthology, Diablo 4, and a bunch of other games. Elden Ring is a riskier but more exciting bet. But I’ll go big and say Final Fantasy VII Remake comes to Switch 2 before the end of 2025!