April 2, 2025, is a day that will go down not in infamy, but in fame. In the early morning hours, Nintendo hosted their second Nintendo Direct of the year, focused on their upcoming console, the Switch 2. In a post-E3 world, Nintendo Directs are the company’s choice for unveiling new updates and games within the company, and this most recent Direct has many exciting announcements to look forward to this year.
The Switch 2
A good portion of the Direct focused on the new console itself, coming out on June 5, 2025. This is, of course, Nintendo’s sequel to the Switch, which came out between the eighth (eg. PS4 and Xbox One) and ninth generation (eg. PS5 and Xbox Series X) of consoles back in 2017. The eight-year hiatus between the Switch and Switch 2 does not disappoint, bringing many upgrades that Nintendo fans have been looking forward to for years.
The Switch 2 boasts many hardware improvements across the board. Chief among them is a larger, 1080p screen display that operates at 60 fps, with High Dynamic Range (HDR) support. The console features eight times the storage space for 256 gigabytes, with MicroSD express expansion for greater storage. The joycons now feature magnetic locking with the handheld rather than mechanical, hopefully meaning longer lifespans for both the handheld and the joycons. There are a variety of smaller, quality-of-life improvement too, such as an integrated fan into the dock, an extra USB-C plug in the handheld, and minor changes to the joycons themselves.
There were also notable software additions announced which not only bring about new features, but hint at much-needed optimizations on the console. GameChat is Nintendo’s response to Discord. GameChat is a Nintendo Online exclusive, allowing users to hop on calls of up to 4 people. The GameChat shows up as an overlay underneath games, and supports voice chat, video chat and screen sharing, all while playing a game. Additionally, GameShare is a way to share your games both locally and online with your friends. It was unclear to me if other Switch 2 owners must also own the game, but regardless, this is a very welcome feature. Multiplayer games, including backwards compatibility with older titles, can now be played between other Switch 2s. Owners of the Switch may be surprised at this possibility, as the Switch is infamously bottlenecked for its systems resources. If the Direct is to be believed, this may suggest that the Switch 2 has been greatly optimized, as it is unlikely the Switch would be able to support simultaneous streaming of four video streams, voice calls, and games while playing your own game.
The Games
While the Switch 2 upgrades are no doubt exciting for future Switch 2 owners, I did promise something exciting for all gamers, and the second part of the direct is the part I believe to be most exciting for everyone. Once upon a time, gamers used to look forward to the annual E3 conference, a tradition which went on for almost 30 years before ending in 2021. Console makers and game companies alike showed off products that were soon-to-be — a testing ground for the gaming market. For a variety of reasons, E3 has since died off, but I believe the most recent direct has made a strong case not only for the demand for an E3 like program, but that Nintendo might be the one to fulfill this ecological niche.
Scattered all throughout the direct were Nintendo’s franchises. Mario Kart saw the announcement of a new launch-title game that was teased at a previous direct, an open world interconnected racing island that is a massive change over the usual Mario Kart formula. Three new games were also announced: “Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment” (set to release Winter 2025), “Kirby Air Rider” (set to release 2025), and a new 3D Donkey Kong game: “Donkey Kong Bananza” (set to release July 17). The latter two are sequels to franchises that have not been touched in at least 20 years, which may signal to Nintendo fans a shift in the company’s priorities. The former is from second party developer Koei Tecmo and will be a prequel to the recent “Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”. Switch 2 owners can also look forward to access to GameCube classics and select upgraded (read: remastered) Switch 1 games.
What was far more exciting were the non-Nintendo games. Halfway through the one hour direct began announcements from the AAA developer studios. “Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition,” “Hades II,” “Street Fighter 6,” “Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion” (releasing Sept. 2025), “Split Fiction,” “Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3+4,” “Hitman: World of Assassination Signature Edition,” “Bravely Default: Flying Fairy,” “Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut,” “Borderlands 4,” “Sid Meir’s Civilization VII,” various 2k titles, “Cyberpunk: 2077 Ultimate Edition,” “MARVEL Comic Invasion” (releasing Holiday 2025), “Fortnite,” and “Final Fantasy VII Remaster” are all expected to be available June 5 or sometime this year. Besides Daemon X Machina, I believe all these games are ones already running on other platforms, however, the expansion of more and more AAA companies being features on the Switch 2 is certainly a welcome one, and a trend I think all gamers should be excited before in the age of cross play and greater interconnectivity.
44 minutes into the Direct came one of the most anticipated announcements yet. “Deltarune,” a parallel story to the smash indie hit “Undertale,” was not only announced for the Switch 2, but was announced full-stop. Before the Direct, fans were left wondering when “Deltarune” would be announced, and after the Direct, we know now it will release June 5 with the Switch 2. Toby Fox, the developer of “Deltarune,” decided to use the Direct as an E3 substitute, and he was not the only one. “Hollow Knight: Silksong” saw its first mention of a release date (2025) since the sequel was announced in 2019. “The Duskbloods,” a new Switch 2-exclusive FromSoftware game was announced for 2026 (incase FromSoft doesn’t ring a bell: they are the same guys who made “Dark Souls”). Other notable games announced included “Starseeker Astroneer Expeditions,” “REANIMAL,” “Human Fall Flat 2,” and “Enter the Gungeon 2.”
With the success of these big-name reveals, aswell as the greater diversity in publishers we are seeing on the platform, I believe its reasonable to guess that future Nintendo Directs will be even larger in scale. It may be possible that one day, we will see even more AAA and indie developers announcing games and release dates through the Nintendo Direct format. And in a post-E3 world, I believe every gamer should be excited for this possibility.