Nintendo Switch 2 Direct Unveils 7 Major Surprises

New video game hardware announcements can become somewhat predictable. With each new generation of consoles, you can expect to see near-certain staples like better graphics, faster load times, and new takes on beloved, plumber-and-turtle-oriented franchises. Even Nintendo, which has consistently delivered these improvements across several generations, from the N64 analog controller to the tiny GameCube discs, wacky Wii motion controls and Virtual Console, the Wii U tablet screen, and the Switch’s built-in portability, has done so with the Switch 2. However, being Nintendo, the company again unveiled a few genuine shockers during the Switch 2 Direct.

It's 2025, and we finally get online play. As a long-time Nintendo fan, having been introduced to their games at the tender age of four in 1983 through a playful babysitter who rolled footballs at me like Donkey Kong's barrels, I can say with a mix of joy and bitterness: it's impossible to talk about this awesome reveal without a bit of nostalgia.

Nintendo, as we all know, has historically struggled with online play. Aside from Satellaview and Metroid Prime: Hunters, the company has barely scratched the surface of what's possible with a unified multiplayer platform like those created by Sony and Xbox. Finding and communicating with friends on a Nintendo platform has never been as straightforward. Even the Switch required a separate app for voice chat.

Shockingly, change appears to be here now. During the Direct, Nintendo unveiled GameChat, which looks... really neat?! It's a four-player chat that supports noise suppression, video cameras for showing friends’ faces, and screen sharing across consoles, allowing you to keep an eye on up to four different displays inside a single screen. We know from the new Switch 2 accessibility features page that GameChat also supports text-to-voice and voice-to-text, allowing players to communicate in multiple ways.

While we haven’t seen what, if any, unified matchmaking interface might tie into this just yet, it’s already a big step. I’m hoping it means the last nail in the coffin for the abominable friend code forever.

When I saw the first frames of this trailer, I thought I was seeing Bloodborne 2. The ambiance, character design, and environments all screamed the FROM Software house style. Thanks to Eric Van Allen at IGN, I now know that I was watching footage from The Duskbloods, a multiplayer PvPvE game designed by the softly-smiling monarch of video game masochism, Hidetaka Miyazaki. I do not know where this man found time to direct a Nintendo-exclusive game, but I’m grateful. FROM doesn’t really miss anymore, so I’m anticipating a tasty treat.

Speaking of people who need a vacation, apparently Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai has moved on from Smash to a new Kirby game? That was a surprise. The original Kirby's Air Ride was a pleasant-looking but aggressively unfun Kirby racer for GameCube. However, Sakurai has made no secret of his deep affinity for Nintendo’s round, pink elder god, and it’s practically a certainty that a Sakurai-helmed take on the franchise will be a far more refined and enjoyable experience.

It was almost a throwaway moment, but the Pro Controller 2 sounds genuinely Pro this time around. Nintendo announced that the Pro Controller 2 has an audio jack, which is another feature that’s welcome about a decade later. More importantly, they’ve added two mappable extra buttons. I LOVE customizable buttons, so this tiny surprise actually tickled me pink.

This one genuinely shocked me. Near as I can tell, a lot of Nintendo’s Mario makers have been locked up in a secret bunker for years working on his next 3D adventure, which I assumed would be the big summer game for Switch. I was very wrong. Turns out the Odyssey team is the force behind Donkey Kong Bananza, the captivating new 3D platformer with a focus on destructible environments. Nintendo is once again playing against expectations as it so often does, trusting hardcore fans to flock to Donkey Kong’s biggest game in generations and saving Mario for another day.

Switch will also launch with extensive third-party support and Mario Kart World. While World looks like a system-seller, I figured it would be timed as a Christmas-window family game. Nintendo usually leans on Mario, Zelda, or both to sell to their biggest fans during a console’s first year. But Nintendo is looking at Mario Kart 8’s record sales with confidence, betting their most popular party game, alongside Bananza, will help move enough Switch 2 units to make launch a success.

Open-world Mario Kart is here, whether it be for good or for ill. I’m betting on good, as the zany physics, weird vehicles, and combat mechanics of Mario Kart should lend themselves well to navigating between and across tracks, battling friends, and sowing chaos. The short look we got seems to indicate a continuous world a la Bowser’s Fury, but much larger and supporting myriad drivers.

The Switch 2 costs too much. I get that everything is expensive right now, as tariffs go up, the yen goes down, and American inflation reignites. But $449.99 USD is a hefty price by any standard, and Switch 2 is the most expensive launch in Nintendo’s 40-plus US sales history. In fact, Switch 2 costs $150 dollars more than its predecessor’s launch price, and is $100 dollars more than the next-most-expensive Wii U. Successful Nintendo consoles and handhelds have often relied on lower prices as a differentiator, but Switch 2 will be looking to succeed without a price advantage.