What to expect from the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct
We’re now less than 1 month away from the full reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2. On Wednesday 2nd April 2025 Nintendo will finally reveal more details about the Switch successor in a special Nintendo Direct after years of rumours and speculations about what is expected to be the one of the most successful console launches in Nintendo’s history after we got a quick first look of the console in the initial reveal trailer.
Will it be everything you want it to be? What games may we see in the Nintendo Direct and what is the price going to be? There are still so many unanswered questions and today, I’m going to show you what we can potentially expect to see in the Nintendo Direct.
A more powerful console
When it comes to what to expect from the Nintendo Switch 2 as a console, there’s very little left unsaid about it. We had a whole host of leaks over the summer last year from within the factory that was making the different components for it. But there are still some questions which haven’t been fully answered by Nintendo in the reveal trailer.
Credit: Nintendo
The big one is to do with how powerful the Switch 2 will be. As we have all been playing the Nintendo Switch for so many years right now, I think it’s far to say that we are all aware of just how underpowered the console currently is. The sheer amount of lag which Animal Crossing New Horizons has when you walk around a decorated island is insane, but it’s not just that.
Games have only become bigger and the problem is that they are designed to be played on PCs and consoles which have more power. When the Nintendo Switch launched, it was already using outdated hardware. As a result, a lot of games need to be adapted to run smoothly on the Nintendo Switch.
Developers have made it clear that they are want to launch their games on Nintendo Switch, but because of the outdated hardware, they would need extra development time to optimise their games for Switch and it doesn’t make sense for them to do.
So, developers just haven’t launched on Switch or where they have, the games don’t run as well. It’s sad, because there are so many third party games which I think would be amazing to play on Nintendo Switch and instead, I have to look at purchasing them on other platforms.
Credit: My Time at Evershine, Pathea Games
With the reveal trailer of Nintendo Switch 2, there were a ton of third party developers who immediately announced that their games were coming to Nintendo Switch 2 which raises my hopes that the Nintendo Switch 2 is more powerful.
From what the leaks have shared, the expectation is that the Switch 2 is going to be as powerful as a PlayStation 4 Pro or an Xbox Series S. Even midway between these two makes me super excited because it could finally mean we have faster loading times and no more island lag in Animal Crossing. Also, those games which haven’t made their way onto the Switch could also stand a chance of being available on Nintendo Switch 2.
Prettier games are coming?
I think at this point it is a given that the Nintendo Switch 2 will be more powerful and we can see it is desperately needed. Presuming that it is, what this should mean for games is that we may, finally, be able to break free of the 720p/1080p graphical limit which is seen in handheld and docked mode respectively.
Not much has really been said about what the graphical performance may be like on Switch 2, but there was one post from the On Your Tail social media team seemingly suggesting that you will be able to play On Your Tail on Nintendo Switch 2 in 4K.
From what I can tell, they are the only game developers to come out and hint at 4K on Nintendo Switch 2 being a possibility, so I would take this with a massive pinch of salt.
I am personally expecting the Nintendo Switch 2 to run at 1080p all the time, but I’m not 100% convinced that 4K will happen. If the new Nintendo console will be as powerful as a PS4 Pro, it is definitely possible that we may see a Nintendo console run 4K natively. If it does, the likelihood is that it will only hit 4K when the console is docked, but that would be a massive surprise if we were to see confirmation on prettier looking games in the Nintendo Direct.
What is the C button for?
There’s also the outstanding question of what the additional button on the right joy con is for. A previous link revealed that this button is labelled “C” and since then there has been a lot of speculation as to what this button may be. However, in the reveal trailer, this button was very noticeably unmarked. So, Nintendo is keeping a little but of surprise there for us.
Credit: Nintendo
The speculation of what this button does has gone in a lot of different directions, but the two which are standing out as the most likely are that the ‘C’ button activates either an inbuilt chat function, or that it triggers a change in controller set up, most notably mouse-con.
Personally, I’m drawn more to the idea that it is going to be something to do with the chat function which is a feature I really hope comes to the Nintendo Switch 2. It was very much missing in Nintendo Switch and the workaround of having voice chat only available with the Nintendo Switch Online app in some games was not the best option.
The other thing which supports the idea of there potentially being chat functionality built into the Nintendo Switch 2 is from a teeny tiny little dot that was found on the top of the Switch 2 in the reveal trailer by Nintendo Life.
This small dot appears to be a microphone on Nintendo Switch 2. It’s so small and was only on the screen for a second, but, for me, that is unmistakably a microphone.
Credit: Nintendo Life / Nintendo
If it is a microphone that was seen, then there is the possibility we will go back to having a core feature that we have missed out on since the Nintendo 3DS. It will allow us to be able to chat with our friends natively on the console without having to rely on 3rd party apps and it means we could potentially get some games and features make a return to a modern Nintendo console, and that makes me really excited.
How will Mouse-Con work?
The other option for the mystery ‘C’ button is that it may be the way you change your controller options. We already got to see the new larger Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con in action, but this time around, we saw them with a new gimmick which confirmed one of the patents Nintendo filed a while ago - being able to use Joy-Con in a similar way to using a computer mouse.
The Nintendo Switch 2 first look didn’t reveal much about this new mode other than showing the Joy-Con whizzing around the screen on new Joy-Con grips. I’m hoping that we find out more about how these are going to work and how they are going to be able to control games when we see the full Nintendo Switch 2 Direct next month.
Credit: Nintendo
It’s definitely a clever update for the Joy-Con and I can see how they can be used to improve the gameplay experience, but I’m not particularly keen on the idea of the Joy-Con moving around as mice. It feels more like a gimmick to me which has limited use for me.
I play my Switch in two ways: completely handheld or docked on my TV where I’m lying in bed or on the sofa whilst I play. I don’t have a flat surface to take advantage of the new mouse movements and I know from experience that there is very little sensor pick up if I try to use a mouse on a bed sheet. As a result, although it’s interesting to see the Joy-Con being used in a new way, I honestly can’t see myself using mouse mode at all.
What I really need to see in the full Nintendo Switch 2 Direct is more information on how these are going to be implemented before I will know for definite, but at the moment, I am thinking this is probably a feature which isn’t needed within the console space right now, but it could be a good sign that we may be getting more PC optimised games on Switch 2 in the coming years.
All the games, please
When it comes to games, the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal contained very little which was to be expected. The only game that we saw in the trailer is a Mariokart game. What wasn’t clear from the trailer was whether this is a brand new Mariokart game or DLC for Mariokart 8 Deluxe and I’m torn between which one I think it may be.
Before the Switch 2 got revealed, I personally had two thoughts on what the big launch title would be: either a new Super Mario game or a new Mariokart game because we haven’t had new versions of either of these games for so long! The last brand new Mariokart title was Mariokart 8 on Wii U and that came out in 2014! It’s been over a decade since the last new Mariokart game! We are LONG overdue a new title and it makes sense for this one to be the launch title because of how long it’s been.
Credit: Nintendo
The art style we saw on screen to me points to DLC for Mariokart 8 Deluxe, but what makes me question if it is DLC is seeing 24 places on the grid. Mariokart games have only had a maximum of 12 players so seeing double that number in the Switch 2 reveal tells me that it probably is a brand new title.
I am sure we are going to see more details about this new Mariokart and finally have confirmation of the name of it and my guess is that this will be the main launch title for the console.
There were also leaks which revealed a bundle SKU for the Nintendo Switch 2 which indicates a Mariokart game is involved. So, there is a possibility that when the new console launches, we will have a bundle available for a brand new Mariokart game.
In terms of a Super Mario game, the last one we had was Odyssey and we haven’t had a sequel confirmed for Nintendo Switch. My guess is that Nintendo probably won’t make a sequel for this, but they may do a reveal teaser for a new Mario game being launched later this year and even though Mariokart is a system seller, it’s going to be weird if Nintendo don’t launch a new Super Mario game in the first year of the Nintendo Switch 2’s life.
Credit: Nintendo
I’m also keen to see Nintendo go back to their roots a little with their first party games and include a game in the box. This was last done with the Nintendo Wii which came with Wii Sports and for a lot of people, this was the only Nintendo game they played on the Wii. It was the perfect way to explain the Wii remote to players and get them used to the idea of using their hand to interact with sports as if they were actually playing them.
With Nintendo Switch, we didn’t get anything like this included with the console. Instead, we had full price releases of two games which sold poorly. We had 1-2 Switch which showed off the HD rumble technology in the Joy-Con and there was Nintendo Switch Sports which didn’t have as much content as it’s predecessor.
At least one of those two games should have been available for free on Nintendo Switch at launch in the same way that Wii Sports was bundled into Nintendo Wii and I would like to see Nintendo going down this route again with the Switch 2. Maybe they can prove me wrong with the mouse mode and introduce a bundle game which allows you to experience the new controller set up and get a feel of how it is going to be used in other games. That would be amazing to see!
Otherwise, there’s only one game I really hope to see more than anything in the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct. I want to see a brand new Animal Crossing teaser. Not a trailer, a teaser.
I loved the teaser of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and I want to see something very similar to that again. Tom Nook in a dark room and three words: Animal Crossing 2026. I still have a lot of reason to believe that we will see a new Animal Crossing game in 2026 and if we are going to see that, it will probably just be a teaser trailer for right now and we may see a full trailer later this year.
Core details are still unknown
Outside of the games, there are two big pieces of information we still need which have not been leaked before the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal. We still don’t know either the price or the release date of the console.
We don’t know anything about the price of Nintendo Switch 2 just yet, but despite there being a lot of speculation about it, most seem to agree that Nintendo Switch 2 will be somewhere around £350/$400 USD/€400. This is roughly in line with what I would expect as well given the cost increase from the previous generation is similar to what we’ve seen with both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
Credit: Nintendo
We also don’t know when the Switch 2 will be released. Most of the rumours are suggesting a June or July release this year and whilst I can see that happening, I personally feel like that is too late for Nintendo. We know that we will get a launch date for the console, but I’m still of the opinion that we will see the console launch in May.
I’m also half expecting Nintendo to do something possibly a little crazy, and I may be completely wrong in this, but a lot of the Nintendo Directs of late have had games be dropped as a surprise and when they are revealed in the Direct, they are available to purchase straight away.
Whilst I don’t think Nintendo will launch the console on 2nd April, I do think they may announce that pre-orders are available on the same day. This would give the surprise that Nintendo is known for but also would indicate that they want the console in as many hands as possible as soon as possible. It would also be a way to give genuine buyers a chance to get a hold of a console before the scalpers have a chance to properly set up their bots. So, that is why I think they may just drop pre-orders on the day of the announcement.
It’s not going to be long now before we get more information about Nintendo Switch 2. After years of rumours, months of leaks and an official first look at the new console, we are now so close to getting our hands on the console. I for one will be buying one, but what about you? Will you buy a Switch 2 at launch or are you going to wait for a bit and see what games come out first? Let me know in the comments below, and I’ll see you in the next one.
