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Nintendo’s Switch is about to get buried under new releases.
Two months after E3 2019, the picture of what’s coming to Nintendo Switch through the rest of the year and into 2020 has come into focus. Between the tail end of a hot summer that already gave players Super Mario Maker 2 and Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and a fall-into-winter slate stacked with first-party heavyweights, Nintendo’s release calendar looks about as loaded as it’s been in the console’s lifespan. YouTube channel Commonwealth Realm laid out the ten titles worth circling on the calendar, and the list reads like a greatest-hits reel of franchises Nintendo fans have been waiting years to see return.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons is officially dated for March 20, 2020, sending players to a deserted island via the Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway Package.
- Pokémon Sword and Shield launches November 15, 2019, taking trainers into the brand-new Galar region.
- Luigi’s Mansion 3 introduces the Poltergust G-00, the playable Gooigi clone, and the multiplayer ScareScraper mode set inside a haunted hotel.
The Big Three Anchoring the Slate
Nothing on the list carries more weight than Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nintendo’s decision to give it a firm March 20, 2020 release date, rather than leave it as a vague “2020” placeholder, signals how central the life-sim is to the Switch’s spring lineup. The island setup — complete with new crafting systems and outdoor decorating tools — represents the biggest structural shake-up the series has had since its debut.
Pokémon Sword and Shield arrives first, though, on November 15, 2019, and it’s the title carrying the most commercial pressure. It’s the franchise’s first mainline entry built specifically for a home console, and the Galar region gives longtime trainers their first genuinely new geography to explore since Sun and Moon. Right behind it, Luigi’s Mansion 3 rounds out the holiday push with the Poltergust G-00 vacuum, the goo-based Gooigi mechanic, and ScareScraper, a co-op mode built around a haunted hotel rather than the mansion of the first two games.
Remakes, Ports, and PlatinumGames’ Wildcard
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening gets its top-down reimagining on September 20, 2019, giving the 1993 Game Boy classic a full visual overhaul while keeping its dungeon-crawling structure intact. Square Enix follows in early 2020 with Trials of Mana, a full 3D remake of the game westerners never got a proper release of back in the Super Nintendo era. CD Projekt Red is also bringing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition to Switch as a portable port, cramming Geralt’s entire open world — base game and both expansions — onto a handheld screen.
Astral Chain, PlatinumGames’ original IP that turned heads at E3 2019, rounds out the list as the wildcard. It lets players control two characters simultaneously — a human agent and a chained Legion creature — while fighting off alien invaders, and it’s the kind of new franchise bet that Nintendo doesn’t often make room for amid a calendar this stacked.
Pokémon Sword and Shield hits November 15, Luigi’s Mansion 3 follows soon after, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons closes it all out on March 20, 2020 — three franchise cornerstones inside a five-month window.
Confirmed Releases and Upcoming Announcements
It’s worth remembering this slate is stacked on top of a summer that already delivered Super Mario Maker 2 and Fire Emblem: Three Houses, both of which shipped to strong reception before any of these ten titles even had firm dates. Nintendo also used its recent showcases to tease bigger swings further out — an untitled sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and new DLC expansions for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — neither of which has a release window yet but both of which suggest the Switch’s momentum isn’t slowing down once this current batch ships. For anyone tracking Nintendo’s release cadence, the Nintendo hub is the place to keep watching as dates firm up.
Sword and Shield’s November 15 date is the one to actually mark down first. It’s the earliest of the three tentpole releases, it’s a mainline Pokémon game built from scratch for a home console, and it lands right as Luigi’s Mansion 3 is hitting shelves alongside it — which means the holiday shopping list for anyone with a Switch just got a lot more expensive.
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