Here’s what’s on the menu for Nintendo in 2025

Nintendo is already cooking up a storm for 2025, and the menu is looking delicious. While this isn’t an exhaustive list of Nintendo’s 2025 plans, we’re here to highlight a handful of the confirmed new titles for popular franchises and HD remasters and, for dessert, talk about solid news (and some solid speculation) about the elephant in the room: the Nintendo Switch successor. Let’s dig into it!

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Release Date: TBA

Revealed all the way back in 2017, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally set to release this year, with the exact date still to be confirmed. After its development was completely restarted in 2019, with Nintendo passing the reins from Bandai Namco Studios to Retro Studios, it’s been a long and uncertain wait for fans clinging to nothing but their hopes, dreams and the iconic Metroid Prime 4 logo reveal from 2017’s E3. Thankfully, last June’s Nintendo Direct delivered fans a proper trailer showcasing Samus doing what she does best (being cool, shooting aliens and constricting into that impossibly tiny morph ball form) and teased the game’s antagonist, Sylux, from the Metroid Prime Hunters game. The trailer gave desperate fans something to hold onto until the full game releases this year and, thankfully, the wait is almost over. Hang tight for just a bit longer, Metroid Prime fans.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A

Release Date: TBA

A brand-new Pokémon Legends game is coming this year! Like Prime 4, though, we still don’t know exactly when it’ll drop. Not much has been revealed about Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but from the trailer, we know it’ll take us on a new adventure through Pokémon X and Y’s Lumiose City, which is undergoing some urban redevelopment. We also know that Mega Evolution is making a return in some form. I’m hoping the Lumiose City Gogoat shuttle makes a comeback too… regardless, that’s just about all we know for now, but with Pokémon Day coming up on February 27th we might get some exciting new information soon!

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

Release Date: January 16

Revealed originally in the June direct last year, an HD remaster of 2010’s Donkey Kong Country Returns is swinging to the Switch incredibly soon. Releasing January 16th, the remaster will be a visually enhanced version of the original Wii platformer, and will also include remastered versions of the additional levels added to the 2013 Nintendo 3DS port. Get your bananas back solo or with a buddy in local two-player co-op, and experience 80 levels of gorilla goodness and monkey business.

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

Release Date: March 20

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is coming to the Switch on March 20th, offering a remastered version of the original massive open-world RPG. It promises to also include newly added story elements, among other things. Originally released in 2015 for the Wii U, fans and newcomers alike can now look forward to diving into an enhanced version of Mira on the Switch.

Professor Layton and the New World of Steam

Release Date: TBA

Announced back in 2023, Professor Layton and the New World of Steam marks the long-awaited return of Professor Hershel Layton and his apprentice, Luke Triton. The exact release date is still to be announced, but the professor is definitely back in business this year with a brand new adventure. After Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy, Hershel has kept a relatively low profile, with his daughter, Katrielle, stepping into the spotlight as the face of the most recent game in the series, Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy. While she did an excellent job, it’s exciting to see that the professor is back this year. Professor Layton and the New World of Steam brings Hershel back into the centre stage alongside Luke, promising to be full of new puzzles to solve and mysteries to explore in the American western-inspired steampunk town of Steam Bison.

The Nintendo Switch 2, electric boogaloo

Onto the aforementioned elephant in the room, the Nintendo Switch Successor. Last May, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa revealed via X post that Nintendo was set to make an announcement about the Switch successor within this fiscal year. Japan’s fiscal year ends on March 31st, meaning we are set to receive concrete information on the Switch successor within the next three months. It could be tomorrow, it could be next month, it could be the end of March. No one knows. The best case scenario, though, is that we hear news about it soon and we see some form of presentation akin to the unveiling of the original Switch, with information regarding the name of the successor, release date, price, release games, specifications and features.

With a new console release comes the need for a strong lineup of day-one games and launch window games. There are speculations that the release of the Switch successor could come with a new 3D Mario or Mario Kart game. The original Switch released with a giant day-one hit, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, so it’s expected that the Switch 2 releases with something just as large. It’s been almost eight years since Super Mario Odyssey and eleven years since Mario Kart 8’s release, meaning it is about time we get a new one of either of these games which could be the big game the Switch successor needs on release.