It's the dawn of a new year, but also the dusk of an era: the Nintendo Switch is getting eight years old in March and its successor should be revealed by then, but in March at the latest, according to Nintendo's president, Shuntaro Furukawa (see the message from May). You can now start holding your breath.
There have been a ton of rumors and a variety of leaks flying around in the last months, where we may or may not already have a good picture of how the Nintendo Switch 2 will look like, but it doesn't really matter much. What matters are the games that come with it and here we already had a substantial code name leak that has proven to be correct: we got a new Zelda game code-named "Edward" in 2024, which means that Nintendo is probably working on "U-King-O" as well, a remaster of Breath of the Wild for the next system, code-named "Ounce". And if that's all true, then this will likely be what Zelda fans can look forward to in 2025.
It may feel too soon for a remaster of Breath of the Wild, but keep in mind that Breath of the Wild is also getting eight years old soon. It has been this long and this is the next 3D Zelda in line to get a remaster or remake after Skyward Sword HD in 2021. In addition to better visuals, it could also profit from a better integration of its DLC contents, as well as many of the quality of life improvements that came with Tears of the Kingdom. But let's talk a bit more about this in the next weeks...
At least this time we won't get a dual release, where new Zelda game launches for two Nintendo systems at once, put right between the old and the new. This role might go to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, however, where we have seen a first trailer back in June and where we know that this will still come to the Nintendo Switch, as promised many years ago. But it's getting quite late for that and Retro Studios might be able to offer a much better looking version for the Switch successor.
But being the third most successful video game system after the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, the Nintendo Switch will certainly see some more support going forward for its massive install base alone, with titles such as Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, both coming in the next three months. Maybe we will finally get those ports of The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD in 2025? Or will we have to settle for the GameCube versions of these games as part of Nintendo Switch 2 Online offerings? Let's find out together...
Happy New Year!
