Nintendo has announced that Pokémon: Legends Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 Beyond will be released on the original Nintendo Switch. You won’t have to upgrade to a Switch 2 for those games, and possibly other upcoming Nintendo releases.
This news came from a recent Q&A with investors, where Nintendo’s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, expressed the company’s plan to launch both games this year on the current console. This plays into Nintendo’s decision to support its existing system as long as people still want to use it.
Pokémon: Legends Z-A was announced in 2024, but not much information about it is available yet. On the other hand, Metroid Prime 4 Beyond had a trailer announcement to show it was coming soon, too. This is the first update from Nintendo about these games since they talked about Switch 2 last month, and it seems to show that the company will move forward with these games on the original Switch, as well as many others.
The new Nintendo Switch 2 will be able to play games from the original Switch, as Nintendo stated in the reveal. There’s a huge chance that both Pokémon: Legends Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 Beyond could be released at the same time as both the original Switch and the Switch 2. This is similar to what Nintendo did with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which was available on both the Wii U and the Switch.
While we’re all looking forward to the release of the Switch 2, those who will stick to the Switch for a bit longer have nothing to worry about. Nintendo seems firm in supporting the console as long as there is attention to it. Even with the guarantee from Nintendo, it’s still questionable how Nintendo will handle the gap in game releases before and after the console comes out. The choice to launch some games on the original Switch seems to be due to the significant investment already made in developing those games for that system. Nintendo likely wants to avoid delaying development or limiting the player base by making the games exclusive to the Switch 2. Plus, the Switch 2 can play older games, which supports this decision.
Source: Nintendo, VGC
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