After months of speculation, the Nintendo Switch 2 was officially announced early in 2025. Unfortunately, that reveal didn’t include much information about what games to expect when the system launches, outside of confirming a version of Mario Kart will be there at launch. Fortunately, Nintendo also announced that it will hold a Switch 2-focused Direct this week on April 2, 2025. We expect the developer will announce a few heavy-hitters, but we hope they also reveal a few major surprises.
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Here are the dormant franchises we would love to see Nintendo bring back for the Switch 2.
Kid Icarus
Kid Icarus fans had to wait more than 20 years between Of Myths and Monsters and Uprising. Hopefully, they don’t have to wait as long before we join Pit again.
We know Nintendo has canceled a few Kid Icarus games over the years, so it’s not an unwillingness to return to the franchise. It just has to make sense. If the publisher doesn’t have a massive franchise like Super Mario ready for launch, something like Kid Icarus would fill that hole well.
Punch-Out!!
The last time fans were treated to a new Punch-Out was in 2009 on the Wii. Honestly, it’s weird that we never got a new game on the Switch. To its credit, Arms took Punch-Out’s slot for Nintendo fighting games, but we’ve waited long enough. It’s time to bring Little Mac back to his home turf and take on Glass Joe and crew once again.
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Excitebike
The Excite franchise has spawned several spin-offs over the years, including the beloved Excite Truck. While Nintendo might argue that it has the racing genre handled with the ever-popular Mario Kart franchise, Nintendo could do something fun with a new Excite game.
One of the easier examples is aping the Trials franchise and making it more about solving physics problems, but there are several directions you could take a new Excite game. A more in-depth single-player mode could be just what the doctor ordered for fans looking for something different than Mario Kart.
1080° Snowboarding
Snowboarding might not be as popular as it was in 1998 when the original 1080° Snowboarding launched, but hear us out. The 2026 Winter Olympics start next February, and we’ve seen remakes of the first four Tony Hawk games do very well for Activision and Microsoft.
On top of those two points, 1080° Snowboarding has continued to stay in the modern consciousness by launching on the Wii U Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online+Expansion Pack services. With all of that in mind, Nintendo has the opportunity to capitalize on the moment (and some heavy nostalgia) to finally give fans a third game in the 1080° franchise.
Golden Sun
Despite the Golden Sun series generally performing well across three entries, we haven’t received a new game since 2010. Part of that is due to developer Camelot focusing completely on its Mario Golf and Tennis franchises, though Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was a sales disappointment.
However, the Switch has become a great RPG machine, and there’s no reason to assume the Switch 2 won’t enjoy similar success with the genre. With that in mind, Nintendo should consider bringing back the long-dormant RPG series with its first game in more than a decade.
F-Zero
We mentioned that Nintendo might not want to crowd the market with racers, given how successful Mario Kart has become. That said, F-Zero is a different ball game. Not only is it much more fast-paced, but even more than Excitebike, imagining an in-depth single-player campaign is incredibly easy for F-Zero.
The franchise is filled with memorable characters begging for more content. By the later games, there were more than 40 characters in F-Zero. Everyone knows Captain Falcon by now, but let’s dig more into guys like Black Shadow and Samurai Goroh.
Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball
The chances of a new Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball game are as close to zero as you can get. This entry should really read “Mario Sluggers,” but we can’t deny that Nintendo recently signed a deal to be the shirt sponsor for the Seattle Mariners.
Griffey hasn’t played in Seattle since the turn of the century, and Angel Studios has been purchased by Rockstar, so we’ll never get a true new game in the series. On the other hand, Nintendo could make a Mario-based sports game and bring in Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez or catcher Cal Raleigh as a secret character. Either way, the Switch 2 needs an arcade sports game or two.
StarTropics
We haven’t had a new StarTropics since the 1994 sequel, which was one of the last games to launch on the NES, making it feel dated almost immediately. With that in mind, Nintendo could do anything with a new StarTropics title.
The other option for much-requested RPG revival is Earthbound/Mother. However, Nintendo would also need to announce an English translation for Mother 3 before bringing that series back. Hopefully, it will happen someday, but we’ll stick with StarTropics for our strange franchise that involves a lot of baseball bats.
Pilotwings
We haven’t had a new Pilotwings since Pilotwings: Resort launched alongside the Nintendo 3DS. That said, it still doesn’t feel like a real Nintendo launch lineup if Pilotwings isn’t included.
Part of that is nostalgia speaking, as the flight simulator has always been more of a visual showcase for Nintendo. However, if Nintendo announced a new Pilotwings for the Switch 2’s launch lineup, veteran fans would be ecstatic.
Star Fox
Technically, Star Fox’s last release was Star Fox 2 in 2017. The game was originally developed back in the ’90s, but was cancelled despite being finished. It was eventually released as part of the Super NES Classic Edition.
Outside of that, Star Fox fans have been left out to dry for several years. Even when Nintendo does release games like Star Fox Zero, it often feels like an afterthought for Nintendo. As mentioned with Kid Icarus, a fully-featured new game in the franchise would be the perfect way to whet players’ appetites if we have to wait for larger releases like Super Mario.
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