The Nintendo Switch 2 has just celebrated its first birthday, and the console has already amassed an eclectic library of must-play games.
But what’s next? Last week, Nintendo put out a near hour-long Nintendo Direct presentation that was designed to tell us just that. Mario is still conspicuously absent, but there’s plenty to get excited about while we wait for the plumber’s triumphant return.
My Switch 2 wishlist is growing all the time, but here are three standouts on the upcoming release slate.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
This really should have been the mother of all surprise reveals. A rare internet-breaker. Sadly though, it was leaked several months ago so everyone and their grandma already knew it was coming.
Still, to see Nintendo itself actually confirm that a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is not only coming to Switch 2, but coming this year, was a bit of a thrill.
Unfortunately, the Japanese gaming giant confirmed little else. We heard some familiar Zelda motifs and watched an admittedly charming patchwork setup of the seminal N64 game’s story.
We also got a very brief glimpse at the fairyless child Link sleeping on a bed of straw. But that’s it. After several months of speculation and hype, Nintendo opted not to give us even a millisecond of gameplay, meaning we don’t yet know exactly what kind of remake this is.
Ocarina of Time has of course been remade before, for the 3DS in 2011, which is now widely accepted to be the definitive version of the game. So why do it again?
The Switch 2 version could just be a 1:1 remake of the original with much shinier graphics and improved gameplay. But in a post-Breath of the Wild world, would Nintendo go back to the old style of 3D Zelda games without modernising the experience in some way?
We don’t yet know the answers to these questions, and as annoying as that is, it is quite fun to wonder for a bit longer.
Star Fox
The Star Fox series is one of Nintendo’s IP misfits. Unlike Mario, Zelda and Kirby, which have all had countless entries, Star Fox tends to go years – in this latest case a decade – without new entries. And most of the games it does have are just remakes of Star Fox 64, the only near universally beloved one.
Hilariously, the upcoming Switch 2 game, just called Star Fox, is also a remake of the N64 entry. It's a now incredibly old-fashioned rail shooter about an anthropomorphic fox pilot on a mission to save the Lylat System with his mercenary animal friends.
You can blast through the campaign in less than an hour, and the whole point is that you play it again and again to discover new routes and improve your score.
How well this decidedly arcade-inspired experience will go down with a new audience in 2026 remains to be seen, but here’s the thing: Star Fox 64 remains a fantastic game, maybe the best of its kind, and the Switch 2 remake looks like the ultimate version of it.
We’re going to see the game in high definition for the first time, with much higher production values and new cutscenes. And after Fox McCloud’s cameo in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, we might be about to enter a golden era for the franchise.
If it begins by re-experiencing his best adventure with shiny new graphics and glorious 4K fur, then so be it.
Nintendo Switch Sports Resort
I’ve had a soft spot for Nintendo’s motion-controlled sports games ever since I took a fiver off my dad for beating him at Wii Sports golf one Christmas. Good times.
The series is making its Switch 2 debut later this year in Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, a collection of 12 new and returning sports to thrash your relatives at.
Taking us back to Wuhu Island, the iconic setting from 2009’s Wii Sports Resort, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort looks like more of the same, but that’s no bad thing.
Thanks to their built-in sensors, your detached Joy-Con controllers once again become rackets, boxing gloves and golf clubs in accessible sporting contests you can play solo or against others.
Classic sports like tennis and bowling are enduring crowd-pleasers, but it’s new additions like skateboarding and thumb wrestling that have caught my eye. Nintendo seems to be particularly excited about the latter, if the amount of time it reserved for demonstrating it during the game’s reveal is anything to go by.
My only gripe with Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is that we have to wait until late October to play it, with Wuhu Island being the perfect virtual summer getaway.
