Since its release, Switch 2 has seen various first party releases, from Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Kirby Air Riders last year to Pokemon Pokopia, Splatoon Raiders, Starfox, Ocarina, and Switch Sports Resort this year.

Nonetheless, there's been a persistent narrative in online circles that the system is lacking first party releases.

I feel like a part of this is that previous Nintendo systems kind of trained players to expect a mainline Mario early in the system's life, and that this combined with the very long wait since Odyssey has created a sense of withdrawal that no other release will satisfy.

Adding to this, there's a pervasive sense online that some people seem to only really care about a very limited number of key Nintendo franchises, your 3D Marios, your Smash Bros, your mainline Zelda, and that everything else, your Xenoblades, your Donkey Kongs, your Kirbys and your Splatoons somehow "don't count".

Add this all up and you get the current state of affairs, where despite a steady flow of first party content, there's still a narrative of "where are Nintendo's games?"

Essentially, "I didn't get the specific game I want and expect from Nintendo" gets mutated into "there are no games".

is this a fair assessment, or am I missing something?

No new mainline Zelda or Mario in sight after s year on the market is a crazy strategy from Nintendo. Switch had both in 2017.

I agree. The fact that we're still to get a new 3D Mario, 3D Zelda or Smash, make people create this crazy narrative of "no new games".

That said, this notion will probably change a lot in 2027 since we'll probably get Pokémon Winds/Waves + 3D Mario.

You’re spot on. Also a general lack of consistency between what counts as a big release between Switch & Switch 2.

I’ve seen people say updated ports of games like Animal Crossing or Mario Wonder don’t count as major releases despite the best selling Switch game being an updated port.

I’ve seen people say cross-gen titles like Pokemon Legends & Metroid Prime didn’t count as big holiday titles despite the big launch title for Switch being a cross-gen title.

I’ve seen people say games like Mario Tennis & Yoshi don’t count because they are B/C tier then turn around and count games like Fire Emblem & Xenoblade which sell similar numbers.

I’ve seen people say remakes of Star Fox & Ocarina of Time don’t count as big releases despite Pokemon Let’s Go, Pokemon D/P, Link’s Awakening, Mario RPG, etc selling on par with new releases.

There are games for sure for the system I just won't buy a new Nintendo console without at least one of the three game series mentioned and often at least two. Mainline Pokémon games is in the same sort of system seller park for me. If they release a Switch 2 lite with the new Pokémon games next year, it will be the first time I will consider buying the system.

Also, some years back we had games both for handheld systems and home consoles to look forward to. Now with only one system to focus on in combination with games taking longer to develop the general feel is that there is less to look forward to compared to 2-3 generations ago.

Your right in your assessment.

However I think people that view Nintendo consoles as something you get for a small handfull of exclusives (3D mario, Zelda, Xenoblade ect) can also be right in their thinking that to them, it is lacking games (that they want).

So its not a "there are no games",  its meaning is "there is nothing there yet, for me" when they say that.

and tbh, I'm one of those that don't care about Splatoon or Kirby games, Pokemon.
Even the new concept of Mario Kart seems flawed to me (the world aspect is not appealing).

If I buy a Nintendo console, I want a Mario platformer with it.... that seems totally reasonable to me.


That said, it has only been what? abit over a year....
Nintendo will get around to doing what they are supposed to do at some point (3D Mario and Zelda), and people will have more reason to get the hardware by then.

Even with the Switch, it took abit before I got one... I didn't get one day1.

Nintendo has a good line-up this year with a lot of games. It's just missing that one big 3D Mario / AC / Smash / BOTW, and even Pokémon is skipping this year.

It seems other than Mario Kart it's going to be 2+ years into the Switch 2 before we get another one of their highest tier titles. While Switch 1 got 3 in 6 months.

There's a ton to play on Switch 2, just not their biggest games. If you look at the top 10 Switch 1 titles MK is the only new entry we have in one of those series. And no I'm not counting Legends Z-A as a main Pokémon game, they don't sell the same. Nor will Ocarina sell like BOTW.