Summary
Even with the Switch’s successor around the corner,theNintendo Switchstill has many tremendous exclusives on the horizon, making the tremendously popular console still have lots of value this late into its life cycle. While these exclusives aren’t the ‘heavy hitters’ you may expect, they’re all solid and look fantastic, giving us lots to look forward to as we anxiously wait to see what’s next.
So, if you’re a proud Switch owner, the remainder of this year and beyond looks very promising from an exclusive standpoint. Despite the console being clearly underpowered, Nintendo continues crushing it with charming visuals, outstanding gameplay, and pure creativity!
Genre
Platformer
During this year’s Summer Nintendo Direct,Donkey Kong Country Returnsreceived atrailer along with a release date of June 27, 2025.If you’ve never had the chance to experience this 3DS classic, then you can finally correct that mistake next year.
Furthermore, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD will also have co-op support alongside its upgraded visuals, making it the perfect game to play with a friend!
RPG, Life Simulation
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a brand-new entry into the Fantasy Life series from developers Level-5, having you time travel to uncover secrets and build your city. This RPG life simulation game was initially planned to be released in 2023 but has since been pushed to July 31, 2025.
If you are interested in cute visuals, accessible life simulation gameplay, and RPG elements, we highly recommend looking into this title!
Action Adventure
Another 3DS HD remaster that is nearing its release is Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. It just received a trailer at the Summer Nintendo Direct this year and is releasing on Jun 12, 2025, and may very well already be released by the time you’re reading this.
While Luigi’s Mansion 3 is the superior title on the Switch,and we’re dying for a remaster of the original, this remaster is shaping up to be an excellent title for anyone who enjoyed the other installments in the series!
RPG, Action Adventure
It’s been a long time coming, but the fantastic Mario & Luigi series is finally receiving its first original installment since 2015 withMario & Luigi: Brothership. And the good news is thatit will be released on June 13, 2025.
Mario and Luigi hold a special place in many people’s hearts, so seeing this series return is remarkable. We just hope the new team crushes it sinceAlphaDream no longer exists and was the main developer of the old one.But if the trailer is anything to go off of, it’s shaping up to be a banger of a time!
2025
FPS, Action Adventure
Speaking of a long time coming, at this year’s Summer Nintendo Direct,Metroid Prime 4: Beyondwas officially revealed, showcasing glimpses of gameplay and wonderfully epic cinematics.
Metroid Prime 4 was first announced seven years ago but now has avague release date of 2025,which we will take at this point. What was shown looked incredible, and we cannot wait to see what Samus gets herself into this time around!
Another Nintendo Switch exclusive with avague 2025 release dateisPokémon Legends: Z-A.While little is still known about this game, it has been confirmed that ittakes place entirely in Lumiose Cityand willbring Mega Evolutions back.
If this is anything likePokémon Legends: Arceus, but better, we can easily see this being one of the best installments in the series in a long while,especially since the Legends series seems to be where Game Freak experiments with fresh and unique gameplay mechanics!
Puzzle, Adventure
Announced at a Nintendo Direct back in February of 2023,Professor Layton and the New World of Steamaims to bring this Puzzle Adventure series back in full swing for the first time since 2017.
The unfortunate news, however, is that there is still little to no information on the game out there just yet, nor is there even a release window or year. Regardless,we’re just happy to see a new Professor Layton game being developed again!
Choose Your Own Adventure
Despite being on Steam since June 11, 2025, Refind Self: The Personality Test Game has yet to find its way onto consoles. That is, of course, until its Switch port was announced to be in development in April of this year.
However, there is currently no release window for Refind Self: The Personality Test Game’s Switch release. Still, if you’re a fan of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ and exploration games, we strongly recommend keeping tabs on this title for when it hits the Switch platform!
Party, Board Game
It’s all fun and games until Nintendo reveals a brand-newMario Partytitle that will indeed have you gradually getting increasingly irritated as the game seemingly goes out of its way to torture you. Meaning we will more than likely love Super Mario Party Jamboree all the same because we apparently can’t get enough of the pain this series brings us.
Super Mario Party Jamboree will be released on July 21, 2025,giving us enough time to mentally prepare ourselves to get steamrolled by RNG and our friends. You gotta love it.Help.
One of the biggest surprises at this year’s Summer Nintendo Direct wasThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom,as it finally has players play as Zelda, as she battles through Hyrule in attempts to save Link, using a magic wand to duplicate and place objects.
While that news is fantastic on its own,it will be released on June 26, 2025,which was just the cherry on top. We’ve been waiting for a Zelda game where you play as Zelda forever, and we can finally experience precisely that later this year, and it looks phenomenal to boot!
