Nintendo Direct Dates Switch 2 Originals for 2027

Nintendo spent 45 minutes on September 9 dating Switch 2 games through spring 2027, then saved Metroid Ravenous and Kirby and the World Beyond for last. A Zelda 40th-anniversary Direct had already run on September 8. This one was the general show, and it left Nintendo’s own new games on the far side of the calendar.

The two trailers did the heavy lifting. Most of the runtime was a date factory for other publishers, plus Switch 2 editions of games people already own.

The Rest of 2026 Is Ports and Editions

Switch 2 launched on June 5, 2025 with Mario Kart World. Donkey Kong Bananza followed on July 17, 2025, Kirby Air Riders on November 20, 2025, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on December 4, 2025. Those are the big original Nintendo games the hardware already has. This Direct did not add another one for the months still left in 2026.

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, already set for September 17, got a reminder slot. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is still dated October 22, the same day SNK’s Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves hits Switch 2 digitally. Pikmin 4 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy arrives November 12 with voice commands for Oatchi through the system’s microphone. Those are first-party dates, and two of them are an old sport package and a paid edition of a 2023 game.

The new Nintendo games the Direct actually revealed are Metroid Ravenous on January 28, 2027 and Kirby and the World Beyond in spring 2027, timed to the series’ 35th anniversary. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Definitive Edition follows on February 25 with the Expansion Pass folded in, a new Calamity Mode, and save transfer from the original Switch version. Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Switch 2 Edition adds a Heroes’ Vault wave mode and a new hero, Shimmer, who can see the future. That is the in-house slate. It is thin until January.

Metroid Ravenous Hunts on January 28

Nintendo’s store listing frames the new 2D game as a survival hunt. Samus Aran is ambushed, marooned, and told to devour your foes on an unfamiliar moon. The digital pre-order is $59.99. The estimated file size is 20.2 GB. The ESRB rating is Animated Blood, Violence. Handheld, TV, and tabletop all work, and the listing flags HDR and 120 Hz on compatible sets.

It’s eat or be eaten! Survive against vicious assailants to escape labyrinthine ruins. Take control of Samus Aran, a renowned bounty hunter ambushed by unknown attackers and marooned on an unfamiliar moon. Gather your arsenal, navigate a maze of corridors, hunt down powerful bosses, and use your newly awakened Metroid instincts to devour your foes.

Nintendo, Metroid Ravenous store listing

That copy is the whole pitch. Beams and missiles still matter, and so does eating the thing that is trying to eat you. The last 2D entry, Metroid Dread, shipped in 2021. Prime 4 took the 3D slot last December. Ravenous is the 2D follow-up, and Nintendo did not name a studio in the listing.

A Samus figure and a larger-than-standard Chozo Statue amiibo launch with the game. A third figure, Samus in the Metroid Suit, is bundled in a Special Edition with a SteelBook case. Nintendo of America put the date on the trailer the same afternoon.

It’s eat or be eaten when Metroid Ravenous, the latest game in the 2D Metroid series, arrives on Nintendo Switch 2 Jan 28! #NintendoDirect pic.twitter.com/3yOE6L5X1R

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 9, 2026

Ports and Remakes Take the Fall Slot

If you strip out the two new Nintendo originals, the Direct reads as a shipping desk for other companies. Square Enix put Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion on Switch 2 on September 9 and dated Final Fantasy VII Revelation for April 8, 2027. Capcom put Resident Evil 2 Deluxe Edition, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 4 Gold Edition on October 16. Monster Hunter Wilds follows on December 4, with the Ascendance expansion in 2027.

THE DATED SWITCH 2 SLATE

Professor Layton and the New World of Steam is one of the few dated originals that is not a Nintendo in-house game. Layton and Luke go to Steam Bison, an American town at the dawn of the industrial age, and that one is coming to Switch as well as Switch 2. Danganronpa 2×2 remakes 2012’s Goodbye Despair for January 14. Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force GX and Romancing SaGa 3: Destined United share February 16. Eternal Anima, a time-travel RPG from Marvelous, is March 4.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Royal Edition is 2027, with the base game, story expansions, extra gear, and a bonus questline. Metal Slug Ultimate Collection is 2027 on Switch 2 and Switch, packing Metal Slug 1 through 7, Metal Slug X, Metal Slug Advance, and the old location-test version of Metal Slug, plus online co-op. Yo-Kai Watch 2: Haunted Domain, an enhanced remake of the 2016 and 2017 versions, has no date yet.

Kirby Walks Through the Wall Next Spring

The Direct’s last trailer was the one Nintendo wanted people to leave with. Kirby and the World Beyond is a 3D adventure for Switch 2 in spring 2027, and the store page tells you to powered-up Copy Abilities in 3D to cross an open field instead of picking stages off a map. Bomb jumps throw him into the air. A sword sticks into trees so he can climb. Other powers send him across grass at speed.

The plot hook is a girl with strange powers, King Dedede, and a wall. Nintendo’s listing asks who she is, whether she is tied to Kirby’s new strength, and what sits on the other side of that wall. Kirby and the Forgotten Land in 2022 already moved the series into 3D, but its worlds were still levels. This one is sold as free exploration, and Nintendo of America told people to explore the World Beyond using Copy Abilities the moment the trailer ended.

Kirby Air Riders, already out, gets Sword Kirby & Dragoon and Noir Dedede & Hydra amiibo on November 12, listed at $54.99, plus a new in-game event. That is how Nintendo is bridging the months until the 3D game. HAL Laboratory is on the copyright line with Nintendo. Spring 2027 is also the 35th anniversary of Kirby’s Dream Land, which came out in 1992.

The Direct did not show a new 3D Mario or a new Super Smash Bros. game. Kirby is the mascot who got the open-world brief this time, and he does not ship until next spring.

No Release Date for Persona 6 Yet

Atlus used the back of the show for two Switch 2 confirmations that used to be a PlayStation habit. Persona 4 Revival launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on February 18, 2027, then on Switch 2 on May 20. Official ATLUS West followed the Direct by repeating that Persona 6 is coming to Switch 2, still with no window.

Persona 6 was first shown on June 7 at an Xbox showcase for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The Switch 2 spot reused that teaser on a handheld screen, including the fractured line “Who are you?” Nintendo did not say whether the portable version launches with the others. Until Atlus dates it, Switch 2 owners have the May remake and a logo.

You Cannot Dock the New Bloober Game

Onyx: The Dark Grip is the odd exclusive in the pile, a 2.5D horror game from Bloober Team for Switch 2 in 2027 that only runs in handheld mode. You play as a presence called the Entity, pushing a traveler named Holden through a ghost town, and the studio’s own overview is blunt about the split.

Survive as a vessel and interfere as a god, Bloober said, then told players to manipulate the environment, solve puzzles, and keep the puppet from going mad. Touch and tilt are the reason it will not work on a TV. Bloober had already said it wanted Switch 2 to be a scary machine. This is the small game that tries to prove it, while Capcom’s Resident Evil remakes do the familiar version of the same pitch in October.

HARDWARE BETS INSIDE THE DIRECT

• Handheld lock: Onyx: The Dark Grip is Switch 2 exclusive and unplayable docked, built around touch and motion.
• Microphone: Pikmin 4’s Switch 2 Edition adds voice commands for Oatchi and a Dandori Academy time-challenge mode on November 12.
• One-console multiplayer: Star Fox’s free September 29 update adds local splitscreen Battle Mode, three stages (Kantina, Sector X, Venom), and four-player online from a single Switch 2.
• Old tracks, new karts: Mario Kart World’s free September 9 update adds 10 Super Mario Kart stages, including Choco Island, Vanilla Lake, and Ghost Valley, plus Propeller and Turnip Rally Knockout Tour routes.

Stage Fright, from the Overcooked team, is a two-player co-op escape-room game for Switch 2 and Switch in 2027. Cairn is early 2027 with a demo that went live on September 9. Ondeh Ondeh Kaya’s Tasty Tale, a music-puzzle platformer from the No Straight Roads studio, is 2027 on Switch 2. Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Keepsake Sea, a Little Mermaid expansion with Milo Thatch, Megara, and Jack Sparrow, lands on both Switch systems in November.

What Ships Before Metroid Arrives?

September 9 already dumped several playable things onto the system. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion launched that day. So did Mecca Chameleon. Star Fox Adventures joined the GameCube Classics library for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon – Classic HD is up, and Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World has a demo. The Mario Kart World Super Mario Kart tracks are in.

FROM MID-SEPTEMBER TO LAYTON

1. September 17, 2026: Fading Echo launches; Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, already dated, arrives the same week.
2. September 29, 2026: Star Fox’s free Battle Mode update adds splitscreen, three stages, and four-player online on one console.
3. October 8, 2026: The Crew Motorfest hits Switch 2.
4. October 15, 2026: House Flipper 2, It Takes Two, and Bluey’s Happy Snaps land.
5. October 16, 2026: Resident Evil 2 Deluxe Edition, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 4 Gold Edition go digital.
6. October 22, 2026: Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves launches digitally, with a physical edition in January, and Nintendo Switch Sports Resort arrives the same day.
7. November 5, 2026: Stellar Blade Complete Edition and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy come to Switch 2.
8. November 12, 2026: Pikmin 4 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy launches, with Sonic Pico Park and the new Kirby Air Riders amiibo the same day.
9. December 4, 2026: Monster Hunter Wilds comes to Switch 2.
10. December 10, 2026: Professor Layton and the New World of Steam launches on Switch 2 and Switch.

The partner reel also pointed at 007 First Light later in 2026, Far Cry 3 Classic Edition and Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon Classic Edition in spring 2027, The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother in early 2027, Hela: of Mice & Magic on December 1, Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream on December 3, and The Ascent Ultimate Edition and Palia in December. Mega Man: Dual Override showed Proto Man and confirmed Mega Man and Proto Man amiibo for launch. That does not change the first-party gap.

Nintendo closed on Kirby breaking a wall and walking into a larger map, then stopped talking. Metroid Ravenous is the next new in-house game with a day on the calendar, and it is a January hunt, not a holiday one. Until then the system is a portable catalog for other people’s hits, with a pink puffball scheduled for spring.