"And three-quarters of a year in, it's perhaps fair to say there's not exactly been a rollercoaster of must-have games released. Given the disappointment of Metroid Prime 4, and the sheer paucity of other first-part originals, it's becoming tricky not to think of it as a $400 Donkey Kong Bananza machine that has a side-hustle in ports. With a desperate need for the console to be given any sense of vitality in 2026,"
"It was a very peculiarly put-together showcase. Any who try to fathom the decisions made by Nintendo are doomed to spiraling madness, but after the very pretty but previously announced Orbitals, we saw a visual novel sequel, a soccer anime oddity, and then what looked like a 2002 PC shovelware knock-off of a generic Capcom game, Tokyo Scramble. It was a deeply inauspicious start, suggesting that these desultory offerings were the games Nintendo thought we should be most excited about in 2026."
"First up was Valheim, the 2021 PC survival game, arriving on Switch 2 without a new addition or significant update, presented looking choppy and blocky (which I suppose are at least thematic) for the brand-new console. This five-year-old game still has a loyal following on Steam, with 30,000 people playing every day, so it's not exactly forgotten, but it's a weird pick to make such a fuss of."
Eight months after launch, Nintendo Switch 2 has produced few must-have games, with Metroid Prime 4's disappointment and a scarcity of other original first-party titles. The console currently feels like a $400 Donkey Kong-focused machine dependent on ports and older releases. The Direct Partner Showcase offered little new vitality for 2026, featuring previously announced Orbitals, a visual-novel sequel, two soccer-themed games, and Tokyo Scramble, a title likened to early-2000s shovelware. The showcase emphasized ports such as Valheim, appearing visually choppy on Switch 2, and a Switch 2 upgrade for 2017's Hollow Knight that had been announced earlier.
#nintendo-switch-2 #first-party-games-shortage #ports-and-remasters #nintendo-direct-partner-showcase
Read at Kotaku
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