The countdown to the end of the Nintendo Switch’s lifecycle continues on. The Big N confirmed via the most recent financial briefing that they will announce their next console within the current fiscal year, which means the Switch is on its “last legs.” Granted, this “last legs” are ones that will have lasted for eight years by the time the new system arrives, has become one of the best-selling hardware platforms ever, and has one of the best gaming lineups ever. Context is key. However, before it departs, it might be getting some more old games for people to play in a new light.
As insider Stealth notes, the Nintendo Switch could be getting a re-release from the GameCube and DS eras within 2025. Given that the Switch 2 is scheduled to come out after March, based on all accounts and testimony, it’s possible that these re-releases will arrive then.
While neither Stealth nor the original source has any clue what the games will be, it’s not hard to picture Nintendo doing this to attempt to “fill out the lineup” one last time before the new system hits. In 2024 alone, The Big N has had multiple remasters or remakes of past titles, including games like Luigi’s Mansion 2, Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, and Mario Vs. Donkey Kong. Those titles were on the Nintendo 3DS, GameCube and Game Boy Advance respectively. All of them got the remaster/remake treatment depending on what was needed for it.
Given the vast lineups of both the Nintendo DS and GameCube, it’s hard to predict what could be coming in 2025. If this is true, Nintendo thinks, at the very least, that people would want these re-releases and that they would be willing to pay for them on the eve of the next console’s arrival. It could also be that they’ll pick games to bolster Switch sales one last time to show they haven’t “given up” on the console. Only time will tell what the case is here.
Regardless, 2024 isn’t over yet, and Nintendo also made it clear during the most recent financial briefing that they would have a Direct during the month of June that would reveal other big titles that are coming to the Switch for the remaining months of the year. It’s possible we could get a tease of 2025 games, too.
No matter what way you look at it, Nintendo is prepping for both the near future and the far future.
