Nintendo announced Tuesday that Switch 2 exclusive Drag x Drive — the company’s wheelchair basketball game that shows off the system’s mouse controls — will arrive on Aug. 14. That’s the same day another kind-of-a-big-deal sports game, Madden NFL 26, lands on Switch 2.
The release date of Drag x Drive is also providing a little more color about what’s left for Switch 2 in 2025, and what Nintendo’s release cadence might look like for the six months after the new-gen system’s launch.
Drag x Drive looks like an intriguing experiment from Nintendo, and is priced accordingly at $19.99. Drag x Drive also looks to round out a relatively quiet summer month for video game releases on Switch 2, and may shed some light on Nintendo’s plans for how it plans to release games for its new system in its first year. In August, Nintendo will also release the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which will include an expansion called Star-Crossed Land. That Switch 2 content promises all-new Mouthful Modes.
In July, we have one big game from Nintendo — Donkey Kong Bananza — and another Nintendo Switch 2 Edition re-release in Super Mario Party Jamboree with new Jamboree TV content. Like August, there’s something of a pattern here: something older, and something new.
Nintendo’s September is looking pretty dry at this point. The company doesn’t have anything officially scheduled yet, with third parties picking up the slack with multi-platform releases like Borderlands 4, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, and Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion.
October will have at least one major release in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, another Switch-Switch 2 cross-generation release.
Nintendo has two 2025 Switch 2 releases on the books without hard dates: Kirby Air Riders and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (which is also bound for the original Switch). Metroid Prime 4 seems like it would fit in perfectly in September, as Switch 2 owners may still be feasting on the Switch 2 re-release of Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Kirby Air Riders (and whatever other surprises Nintendo might still have in store for 2025) may help round out the fall calendar, while highly anticipated third-party games — Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition, Hades 2, and Hollow Knight: Silksong, and… this year’s Call of Duty? — give Switch 2 owners some variety. Zelda-themed brawler Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is slated for a “winter” release, but that could mean early 2026.
Of course, Nintendo can also fill in the gaps with fresh GameCube games for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on Switch 2 — Super Mario Sunshine, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Super Mario Strikers, Luigi’s Mansion, Pokémon Colosseum, and Chibi-Robo have been teased. And even though 2025 already looks like Switch 2 owners will get a steady drip of big and not-so-big releases, Nintendo is well known for its surprises. Expect the unexpected.
